I don’t think so, Ferguson never does anything without a good reason, it was one of his minds games designed to faze Wenger out, and it blew up in his face, it might be the main reason why Arsenal won.

So what was the purpose of the Ferguson "I expect Henry to play"gambit? It has to be remembered that it was in the context of "I am preparing a team to play Arsenal with Henry playing". That United had everything ready to deal with Henry’s pace. No he hadn’t lost it; the aim was to sew seeds of doubt in Wenger’s mind. He wanted Wenger to worry about how Arsenal would cope without Henry; he wanted him to dwell on absence. Wenger has always depended on pace, first Overmars, and Anelka, and then Henry. That is also why he has bought Reyes.

Now Henry played in the two league matches against Man U this season, he played quite well in the second, not so well in the first. Whatever the reasons we lost both matches, indeed there could be no complaints about the second defeat. So Wenger knew that without his best forward, and Ljungberg not fully match fit, he was in for a tough game. So Ferguson’s insistence that Henry was playing must have made Wenger more anxious about how he would cope.

Now Wenger, usually, starts from personnel, not tactics, good players win matches, not tactics. Good tactics with lousy players will fail. But Ferguson put a big question mark in Wenger’s head over his personnel, was Reyes and v Persie good enough? If Ferguson was ready for Henry, what was in store for not fully developed, and possibly hot headed, V Persie, and Jose Reyes only just recovering confidence.

Wenger has always played to win, he has rejected 4-5-1, swears by 4-4-2, but these were not normal times. The press pack, deliberately or not, magnified the mind games, Arsene hadn’t beat Man U in 27 months (leave out the Community Shield), the pundits, Lawrenson, Hansen, Strachan all argued Man U would win. They were mentally tough and had Arsenal’s number. Arsenal would not be able to stand up to a combination of getting stuck in, and the skill of Rooney and Ronaldo.

There is no doubt that it all could make Wenger brood, the thought of losing the cup to Man U was unbearable. Arsenal had performed better in the league, but lose the cup and he would be denounced as a failure. United would be proclaimed the better team.

Thus the mind games, and the lackeys of the press, more lackeys to gold than to red noses, piled up the pressure. Arsene broke with the habit of a lifetime, he planned a team not to lose, and he picked the best defence and the oldest striker. He packed the midfield taking no chance on Freddy. The plan was to constrain Man U, and break when possible. Arsene’s tactics were a direct consequence of the mind games and the pressure to win at all costs.

The plan didn’t fully work, very few chances were made, Man U played a pressing game keeping men behind the ball. That doesn’t preclude attacking, and indeed they found Arsenal’s attack so lightweight that they discovered they could attack at will.

Now Bergkamp is hardly a target man, and where Reyes was supposed to play is debatable. Fabregas disappeared from the right wing leaving Lauren exposed, but not really creating chances.

So Man U created numerous chances as Arsenal struggled to get out, Wenger’s tactics were not exactly working, but one bit did, the concentration on resolute defence. Lehmann had the game of his life. It should be called the Lehmann final – but he was backed up by Senderos and Toure. Whenever Rooney beat Cole, Senderos was waiting. Did any of us ever believe that we would see a Wenger team defend so well?

What is hilarious is that some Arsenal fans have demanded a plan B for quite a while, well that’s what plan B looks like. It’s not pretty, plus Wenger’s team haven’t got a lot of experience in playing that way. Quite clearly the plan didn’t work as well as Wenger hoped, but something sunk in about the tactics, mental strength under the cosh being one.

The pundits say Wenger got the tactics wrong, and that Ferguson got them right. Are they sure? Wenger has the cup not Ferguson. Perhaps Mourinho helped clear Arsene’s mind by saying he loved Arsenal when they were losing, but hated them when they were winning. So Wenger’s tactics weren’t to the presses or Man U fans liking. Tough titty, unlike Mourinho they don’t even like Arsenal when they lose.

What if Arsene had stuck to his normal game before Alex’s mind games got to him? We will never know, but an open game would have benefited Rooney and Ronaldo, it might have been 3-4, 2-2, 2-4, we will never know, because Ferguson’s clever mind games cut off that option.

Pack in the mind games Alex, if third, and runners up in the cup is all you can win with a squad costing £160 million, then the energy will be best exerted elsewhere.