Hector Bellerin and Petr Cech have reflected on their disappointment following Arsenal’s defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in the derby at the weekend.
Having lost one nil at Wembley Stadium, Bellerin told the Official Site as he met with the media post game that losing is always frustrating but in a derby when you feel you should’ve at least taken a point the feeling is considerably worse.
Asked about his thoughts at remaining in the tie until the end completely, Bellerin was disappointed that we hadn’t been sharper when we were on the attack.
‘Yes, but we waited too long. In the first half, we were waiting for something to happen. We didn`t create chances, we didn`t have the ball like we should have done and then in the second half we paid for it. We need to take the initiative a bit more, to attack more and keep the ball because we didn`t do that today. In the second half, at the end they were tired, the weren`t pressing as much and we were creating a bit more space so we had chances. It`s a bit frustrating because you could see that we could have gone home with a point or even three. I think we weren`t at the standard required, so it`s something to look at for the next game.’
With the gap to Spurs now stretching to seven points, Bellerin knew it would be difficult to claw that back, but with the games we have left all we can do is give our best on that score and hope they slip up as we have done.
‘There`s still plenty of games to play. There are loads of points still to play for, so we need to look forward. We can`t just be stuck looking back at this game. We need to analyse, need to make sure we don`t make the same mistakes and we`ve still got quite a few games to play. We still need to play some of the big teams in the top six as well, so we`ll see. You never know what can happen in the Premier League.’
As for Cech, in his own interview he acknowledged how damaging a result it could be for our top four hopes this season.
‘If you look at the table, we needed to win this game to close the gap and we couldn`t do so. I don`t really think you need any comments when you lose this game. It`s very disappointing for everyone.’
With a such a rivalry between both the sides, that obviously adds an extra dimension to the defeat.
‘If you don`t support those two clubs then you will not really be able to imagine it, but we all know how much it means to everyone and obviously we are disappointed. Not only because we lost the north London derby, but because it`s very disappointing for the fans. As I said, the position we were in in the table before this game, it put us in a position where we had to win and we didn`t even get a point so it is very disappointing and very difficult.’
He went on to add.
‘I think in this type of game you need to take your chances and I know that we had two at the end, but unfortunately we didn`t take them. I said before the game that it was a game with a huge importance, not only because it was the derby and this is the most important game for our fans, but because of the position in the table. We were behind, we needed to close the gap – and we failed to do so.’
