Aaron Ramsdale says Arsenal can have no excuses for their poor performance as they slumped to defeat against PSV Eindhoven last night.
Arsenal were beaten 2-0 by the Dutch side, but Ramsdale refused to blame the bobbly pitch at the Philips Stadion or tiredness from the packed fixture schedule.
PSV secured the win thanks to second-half goals from Joey Veerman and Luuk de Jong, but it could have been more as they had three more efforts ruled out for offside. Arsenal, in contrast, never got going and they failed to score in a game for the first time this season.
“There were a number of things,” said Ramsdale, when asked why Arsenal didn’t flow against PSV. “But we are a good enough team not to be blaming things, obviously the pitch, etc.
“There is no point talking about that. We just didn’t really compete too well off the ball. Credit to them as well obviously, they were good with how they set up.
“But it doesn’t help when you come away from home, goalkeeper makes a mistake, 2-0, uphill battle and it is one we have got to get back from. There are plenty of things we can take from this, as a team and individually.”
Despite the loss, Arsenal are still top of their Europa League group going into next week’s match at home to Zurich.
PSV, who are two points behind Arsenal, travel to Bodo/Glimt and if the Gunners match their result then they will win Group A and get a bye through to the last 16.
“If we manage that, and we go through top, it’s what we set out at the start of the group to do,” said Ramsdale. “We would have loved to have done it tonight, but we have got one more game to seal top spot.
“That’s what we will be going for at home in front of our fans and hopefully we will put on a better display as tonight wasn’t good enough. The travelling fans travelled out here and we didn’t put in a shift for them really.”
Arsenal are also still top of the Premier League, where they are two points clear of Manchester City, and Ramsdale wants to see a reaction at home to Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
“I don’t think it’s a reality check, I just think we need to go back to what we were doing, our basics better than what we have shown in the past two games,” he said.
“What has gone on on the pitch we can’t change right now, so Sunday it is full focus on the Premier League and getting back to winning ways we hope.”
