John Stones gave a brutally honest review of Manchester City’s performance against Arsenal in a candid post-match interview on Sky Sports.
The reigning Premier League champions were ripped to shreds in north London, leaving their hopes of retaining their title hanging by a thread.
Martin Odegaard, Thomas Partey, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Kai Havertz and Ethan Nwaneri all scored as Arsenal ran riot and condemned City to a chastening defeat.
Stones faced up to the media after the final whistle and did not mince his words, branding the result ‘unacceptable’ and apologising to the travelling supporters.
“It is difficult, I think all of us don’t take losing well,” he said. “It is hard to put into words straight after a game like that. Pride hurts. Sorry to the fans that have traveled to come and watch that.
“How we played in the last 30 minutes was not acceptable. Personally and collectively, it’s not us. It is not nice to be involved in that when you know it’s not your team in those situations.
“Credit to Arsenal, this is not an easy place to come to. For 65 minutes, we played some great football at times. We were in the game and it was a swinging point.
“It swung the wrong way for us. I am angry, upset personally and collectively about how the game finished.”
Reflecting on his failure to stop Partey from scoring Arsenal’s second goal, Stones said: “I could have stayed more square, I’d have to watch it back. We cannot let those situations get on top of us.
“We stopped doing the things we meant to. Difficult for me to put into words. A lot of different things that I have not figured out why we are not picking up results.
“The passion is there, the training and everyone has the right intention. We have not got to where we are without difficult times and that is through everyone’s career right now. We all have to stick together, that’s a key point that we don’t start to point fingers.”
It remains to be seen where City will go from here, with their defeat to Arsenal leaving them 15 points adrift of Premier League leaders Liverpool despite having played an extra game.
