'How we deal with this will shape our future'

On the emphatic scoreline…
"We had a good focus and I believe it is a flattering victory for Manchester City today. We conceded in stoppage time [at the end of the first-half] and before that they had not created much. We were quite in control but after the goal the game turned and they played on the counter-attack. We played into their hands.

"We lacked the maturity to deal with being in a dominant situation and not getting caught; it was a free-kick to us, then a goal for them. After that the third goal was a soft penalty."

On keeping to his principles…
"It is a defeat but I feel in the game it was a 0-0 with whoever scored first gaining the advantage. I believe in good passing rather than putting a man up there waving his hands in the air."

On a scrappy first goal …
"I think the first goal was a miss-kick rather than a lack of fight. We had too many players focussing on one ball, that was our problem then."

On the absentees…
"I won’t talk about William Gallas. He is just a player who did not play today so we don’t need to talk about that or any of the other nine players who missed the game."

On moving forward from here …
"I think we had enough focus and gave everything. It is not always negative and we have to take the positives and keep the belief. In a big club you have to go through these periods, and how we deal with it will shape our future."

On the importance of self assessment …
"I always look at myself, even when we win. We are not in a blaming culture at our club and we must stand up to our own responsibilities."

Source: Arsenal media