Alexandre Lacazette admits he and his teammates let their manager down despite coming back to draw 3-3 against West Ham United.
The Gunners slipped to a three-goal deficit within the first 32 minutes at the London Stadium, but they did manage to steal a point thanks to two own goals and a late Lacazette header.
The draw will feel like a win for Mikel Arteta's men after such a bad start to the afternoon, but it is still an opportunity missed with Arsenal chasing down the likes of West Ham for a European spot.
And Lacazette believes he and his teammates must take responsibility for their first-half display, claiming they did not follow Arteta's plan in the first half.
“My feeling is mixed between being proud of my team for coming back in the second-half and being disappointed with the first-half," he told Sky Sports after the game.
"We didn’t respect the game-plan from the coach and we conceded three goals. This is not what we wanted."
Speaking about his goal and the own goal he forced out of Tomas Soucek, Lacazette added: "I think the first goal is mine. That’s not nice. The second goal, the third goal in the second-half, we came back for the draw."
The Gunners' striker was also quizzed on why Arsenal started so badly as goals from Jesse Lingard, Jarrod Bowen and Soucek left them with a mountain to climb.
The game arrived three days after Arsenal progressed in the Europa League with an unconvincing 1-0 defeat to Olympiacos, advancing 3-2 on aggregate.
“Maybe we were under pressure because we knew it was a big game, this is where we have to improve as well. We have to work a lot to be ready for the rest of the season," he replied.
“It’s really complicated when we play these kinds of games, the difference at half-time. We need to work a lot.
“I think given the bad first-half, we could come back and score more, but this is football. We can’t be perfect.”
