ONE OF THESE DAYS, ARSENAL WILL score a goal so stupendous in its inception, so stunning in its execution, that the rest of the football world will bow down in awe before them. Until that day, their pursuit of aesthetic perfection, combined with Arsène Wenger’s preference for youth over experience and for brains to the exclusion of brawn, promises to stand between them and what secondary ambitions they may have.

Remember the Arsenal “Invincibles” who went a league campaign unbeaten in 2003-04? These days they are happy to be the Indulgents, flicking the ball nonchalantly between themselves on the edge of the penalty area like some overtalented five-a-side team who believe that pretty goals count double.

It is not a new criticism — even the Invincibles had their moments of indulgence — but Arsenal’s teams over the past decade have always possessed a physical and mental fortitude that meant they could occasionally win ugly. This lot, apparently, are not built for that.

Criticising Wenger’s judgment can feel like heresy, particularly after his young aesthetes came so close to lifting the European Cup last season, but defeats such as this, by a technically inferior but far more combative Manchester City team, raise questions that have become all too familiar over the past year or so.

Can a manager legitimately cite youth, inexperience and fragility for his side’s failings when those shortcomings are the result of a strategy that was designed with just such a team in mind? Can he continually replace experience with youth — laudable as that may be in some respects — and expect a team to play with the consistency of champions? It is difficult to argue with the promotion of youngsters of the talent of Emmanuel Eboué, Johan Djourou, Francesc Fàbregas, Robin van Persie and so on, but where will the fight come from when Arsenal are playing away from home and, as against City, are not getting the breaks?

Usually they will look to Thierry Henry, but when he is not in the mood — and, for all his brilliance, he continues to blow hot and cold — where are the players who will help to grind out results, as Chelsea and Liverpool do on a regular basis and Manchester United did away to Watford at the weekend? One thing is for sure, Wenger will not compromise. “We play the football we think suits us,” the Arsenal manager said, holding court in a corridor inside the stadium on Saturday evening. “We play the game we want to play. We wouldn’t be capable of playing as Manchester City did.”

Wenger told the media that “it should frustrate you” to watch a team defending as City did, but while one part of you wishes that Arsenal could be rewarded for adhering to their belief in the beautiful game in the face of ever-growing tactical conservatism elsewhere, another finds them deeply frustrating.

Yes, they perhaps should have won handsomely on Saturday, but for all the possession they enjoyed and the number of times they bamboozled the City defence, their elegance in the opposing third resulted in only three obvious chances, two one-on-ones struck against Nicky Weaver’s legs by Henry and a more instinctive effort by Van Persie that hit the woodwork.

With Joey Barton scoring the only goal from the penalty spot, after Trevor Sinclair had drawn a horribly naive challenge from Justin Hoyte, it was an uplifting evening for City as they began to put the controversy of Ben Thatcher’s horrific challenge on Pedro Mendes, the Portsmouth midfield player, behind them. Their players exchanged bear-hugs and high-fives at the final whistle after a victory that called to mind the way they overcame Chelsea in similar circumstances two seasons ago. But by far the biggest smile belonged to Weaver.

This is a player whom many considered the outstanding young goalkeeper in England until a serious knee injury that forced him to write off the past four years of his career. “There were times when I wondered whether this day would come again,” he said. “You don’t get much closer than I did to having to pack it in, but days like this remind me of when I was a kid and I first came through at City.”

Happy days, but Weaver was quick to play down his contribution by pointing out that he “didn’t have too much to do”. Bearing in mind the number of times Arsenal seemed to have carved the City defence wide open, that, however unintended, was quite an indictment.