‘Not Well’—Fleetwood Star Digs at Arsenal’s Attitude After Carabao Cup Shock

Fleetwood Town goalkeeper Jay Lynch revealed, in his opinion at least, that Arsenal’s squad did not take Tuesday’s historic defeat particularly well.

Arsenal, the reigning English champions, were dumped out of the Carabao Cup on penalties as Fleetwood, struggling towards the bottom of England’s fourth tier, pulled off one of the greatest upsets in competition history.

Celebrations after the final whistle were wild, with Fleetwood fans rushing the pitch to join their heroes and leaving the Arsenal squad rushing off the pitch in a hurry.

“It’s obviously such a huge moment for us and all the fans ran on, no one actually got chance to speak to them,” said Lynch, who saved Bruno Guimarães’s penalty to set up his side’s victory, in an interview with talkSPORT.

“I think the gaffer spoke to their gaffer briefly, but because of all the fans we didn’t actually get a chance to ask for shirts or even speak to them or anything, to be honest.

“They didn’t take it well, let’s put it that way.”

• NEXT: Carabao Cup Quarterfinal Draw: Fleetwood Learn Fate After Miracle Win

Manager Mikel Arteta appeared to show Arsenal’s frustrations towards the game with his reaction to the red card shown to young Max Dowman, failing to hide his disappointment at the 16-year-old’s dismissal for a reaction to a heavy challenge.

That annoyance bled back into the Arsenal dressing room, where captain Martin Ødegaard confessed the team were well below the required standard in any match, regardless of the opposition in front of them.

“It’s very frustrating to go out,” the Norway international admitted. “Obviously, the way we’ve played was not on the level. We need to do much, much better than we did.

“Frustrating, but congratulations to Fleetwood and we look forward to the next game already and bounce back. They did well so we have to give them credit, but ... we need to do better. I thought we improved during the game, but again, we need to step up even more, so that’s a shame.”

The chance to respond comes in a big way this weekend. There are eight Premier League games on Saturday before Arsenal’s trip to Liverpool gets Sunday’s billing all to itself.

Andoni Iraola’s Reds are enjoying a strong run of form and are celebrating a place in the next round of the Carabao Cup after seeing off Chelsea on Wednesday, leaving them with just one defeat from their first 13 games of the season—one fewer than Arsenal.