Mikel Arteta was less than impressed by his makeshift side as Arsenal crashed out of the FA Cup at the third round after a 1-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest.
Lewis Grabban came off the bench to seal the win with seven minutes remaining on an afternoon when the Gunners struggled to create any serious chances and looked very lightweight in midfield.
Here’s what the boss had to say when he faced the ITV cameras:
“They won, they scored a goal and we didn’t. We weren’t good enough on the day and we are out of the competition which is really disappointing. We have to apologise for that.
“Drive, quality, [being] convincing, too many errors, too many giveaways in dangerous areas and that capacity to mentally approach the game, or change it, adapt it when it was needed to find a way to win and we didn’t.
“When you have nine players out, that’s a big explanation but I don’t want to use excuses. The team I put out there, I expect them to play better and to compete better than what we’ve done today. We haven’t done it today. When you don’t do it in the cup against any opponent, you are out.
“That what we’ve done today is nowhere near the level and the standards that are required.
“Today showed that we weren’t capable of winning against Forest in the cup away from home. We weren’t good enough to put in a performance where we deserved to win the game.”
