SOMETIMES it's not whether you lose but the manner in which you do it that can be most disappointing.

The manner in which Saints lost to Arsenal last night was exactly that - disappointing.

Even the most diehard Saints fan could surely accept losing to Arsenal on top form.

After all they can be imperious, wonderful, breathtaking and unstoppable.

But to lose to them without even giving it a go is not acceptable.

That's not to say that Saints didn't try - they just looked in awe.

Maybe you would argue with their injury problems taken into account they had every reason to be but if you want to play in the same league as these guys then you can't show them too much respect.

Reputations have to be ignored and the game has to be about 90 minutes on any given day no matter whether it's against Thierry Henry at St Mary's or Terry Henry at Lordshill.

But when Gordon Strachan said he could smell the fear on his players you know what he meant.

Nearly every Saints player looked so petrified of making a mistake that they never took any risks.

And that's not just trying that extra piece of skill or long range shot. It came right down to the fundamentals of the game that weren't performed adequately.

Not only did Saints concede possession too easily but even worse they didn't press Arsenal hard enough to win it back.

Instead they dropped into their shape to try and negatively contain the Gunners.

That meant they looked uninspiring in the first half hour but at least while it was 0-0 it served a purpose.

But when they fell a goal behind and allowed Arsenal to pass along their backline without pressing high up the field in the second half you had to wonder what their thinking was.

Strachan has admitted that he made a few mistakes himself.

In hindsight perhaps throwing in Leandre Griffit and Chris Baird wasn't the greatest idea.

But to be fair it's hard to criticise him too much because before the game I didn't think they were bad selections - they worked out that way.

What you have to sincerely hope doesn't happen now is that Griffit and Baird are left out for a long time.

These are two promising young players and while they do need to be protected against having their confidence destroyed they need to play games.

Leaving them out for a long spell could damage their confidence just as badly.

At the end of the day Baird hasn't played since the Cup Final and Griffit's only start of the season prior to this game was against Chelsea.

For them to then play against the might of Henry, Pires, Bergkamp, Vieira and co is tough.

But if they didn't do too well it doesn't mean they aren't ready - just that they need to play against your Fulhams and Aston Villas of this world before you ask them to play in a game like this.

But then it wasn't just the youngsters that looked in awe of Arsenal but also some of the older heads who you could, in fact should, have expected better from.

The Gunners looked threatening in the opening stages of the game but were thwarted several times on the edge of the Saints area before they could make a decisive pass - often by Fitz Hall in a good league debut for the club.

But eventually they got into their stride with Henry looking like a man who feels he can do anything. To be fair he pretty much can.

Antti Niemi had to be alert to tip over his effort that deflected off Hall on 14 minutes before Dennis Berg-kamp missed a great chance.

Henry was the architect, getting to the by-line and beating Baird, then Delap, before standing the ball up to the far post on to the head of Bergkamp who hit the side netting with the goal gaping.

Ray Parlour and Robert Pires both forced Niemi into saves before Arsenal took the lead on 35 minutes.

In a quick attack from a throw-in Henry played a one-two with Bergkamp and fed in Pires.

Baird was caught out of position and the Frenchman side footed past Niemi who couldn't get down quickly enough to stop it.

Henry came close again before the second period where the Frenchman threatened with a free kick on 51 minutes while Niemi had to make a brilliant finger-tip save from Freddie Ljungberg and stop again from Henry.

Saints managed one effort on target - a shot straight at Lehmann from Kevin Phillips, Saints' brightest spark.

There are lessons to be learned from this - if Saints want to compete with teams like Arsenal they have to believe they can.

Otherwise, you get performances like this.