Mikel Arteta assessed another defeat for Arsenal after Friday's 1-2 loss to Bournemouth at the Emirates Stadium.
The Gunners had lost in successive cup competitions against Manchester City (2-0 in the Carabao Cup final) and Southampton (2-1 in the FA Cup quarter-final) and narrowly escaped from Lisbon with a 1-0 win over Sporting through an injury-time strike from Kai Havertz. The pressure was on in the early kick-off in the Premier League, but the league leaders did not rise to the occasion again.
'There's a lot on our plate to look at'
Bournemouth brought three weeks of preparation to the trip to the Emirates Stadium, and they grabbed the lead in the first quarter of an hour when Eli Junior Kroupi crashed the ball against the back post.
Arsenal threatened through the set-pieces of Declan Rice, but there was a lack of invention in open play, and the performance lacked control for large phases of both halves. Indeed, it was another corner that paved the way to an equaliser as a handball allowed Viktor Gyokeres to win and score a penalty.
The Cherries continued to create problems after the break, and they took all three points when Alex Scott ran off the back of Martin Zubimendi to slot away a second strike for the visitors.
They have now produced a record-breaking 12-game unbeaten streak in the top flight, and credit went to the men of Andoni Iraola at full time. However, there was plenty of reason for Arsenal to reflect inwardly.
"It's extremely disappointing; it's a big punch in the face, but what I said to the boys, now it's about how we react to that."
"It's game on, it's going to require now a big spirit, a lot of fight and very clear how we're going to approach that. There are no grey areas. We are in, we are out, and we need to be very, very, very strong and determined to approach it in a different way than we've done today, especially when the game wasn't going our way."
"Today there were some very basic things that we did extremely badly against a team that, when you do that, they're going to capitalise, stretch the pitch, and the game becomes very chaotic and very difficult to control. So, it's a lot of good things that they've done, obviously, and credit to them."
"But I think there's a lot, a lot, a lot on our plate to look at ourselves."
"What I'm trying to do is give our best to the club, give the best possibility to our players, and I know, if the atmosphere, the fans, the support, the energy in the stadium is the best in the world, we have a much better chance."
"I don't think that there's any other possibility to perform better than when you have that support. But then we have to respond, and we had moments in the first half where we did it, and there were other moments that we weren't at our level. So, then we have to apologise to [the fans] and improve."
*"We were very far from the level that we were shown. That's for certain, especially in certain areas that are critical when you play against a team like Bournemouth. They were very clear. But, again, I don't want to criticise any player, especially here, publicly."*
"I don't want to go into that detail. They were quite obvious and we need to do that much better in order to have certain control and dominance in the game, otherwise it's difficult."
'It's painful'
The schedule does not ease up for the Gunners. They must get over the line in the Champions League quarter-final against Sporting, then the trip to the Etihad Stadium awaits.
If results go against Arteta's men, Manchester City could be three points behind the league leaders with a game in hand by the end of next week. Arsenal have to awaken from their slumber sooner rather than later.
"What we can control is our performances, like we've done over the last nine months, and that's the only thing."
"So, anything that is said when you have a defeat at home, you have to accept it. That's it. There are no excuses, there is no this or that. All the things that I hear are about how we're going to stand up, first of all, individually, and then as a team, to change that immediately on Wednesday."
"We've been playing so many games every three days, we're going to have to continue to do that, so that's the context, that's the scenario. We have to embrace it and especially enjoy the opportunity."
"That's one of the things that I haven't seen from the team today, that level of enjoyment in certain moments and the fight that we have to have to really change the course of the game when it gets difficult."
"We're going to have different contexts from here to June, and we need to be able to adapt and resolve all of them, if we want to achieve what we want to achieve, that's clear."
"We know what is at stake, and the fact that as a club we haven't done it for so long is a reason for that, it talks about the difficulty."
"But I just want to focus on the things that we can control, dominate and we have done. It's not like we have to do a lot of new things that we haven't done, no, let's keep doing a lot of it. Or almost all the things that we've done for nine months, because that's what has taken us all the way there."
"On Wednesday, I saw a lot of them, and today, we've gone back, so we need to learn, we need to be very critical to ourselves, and then pick ourselves up, because on Wednesday we have a big one coming up."
"The ones that are not involved, the ones that are not with us, that are really big, important players, we need them immediately with us, because then we're going to be much stronger, and then the other ones, we need to stand up. Me, the first one, and embrace this challenge and go for it."
"We have to suffer, it's painful, it's a terrible feeling, but tomorrow is a different day. If somebody had said to me in August, we are in this position right now in April, I'm sure that we would all take it."