The small but hardy band gave the Aston Villa fans a wide berth before completing their desultory journey and disappearing into the bowels to begin the inquest.
Arsene Wenger went through the motions but his body language gave the game away just as his team had done in the first 15 minutes of Sunday\’s match.
The mood was sombre for the artfully-titled Lap of Appreciation. The fans had booed the team off at half time, they had chanted at the directors about the 6.5% ticket increase and most of them had left straight after the final whistle.
In the radio room after the game Wenger\’s air was one of resignation.
“They can express their feelings. You can understand that our fans are not happy when you are 2-0 down at half time, you do not want your fans to be happy you just want to come in with a better performance in the second half which we did but you can understand that the fans were not happy.â€
“They have a point you feel?â€
“They have a point, yes.â€
The last three months have been agony for the Frenchman. In the match programme he blamed the end of season collapse on playing 21 games during the previous three months. The next three are the most important of his 15 year tenure.
We know what needs to be done but does he?