Following Arsenal defeat by Manchester City, Mesut Ozil immediately took to Twitter to send a message to Mikel Arteta.
Arsenal lost 5-0 to Pep Guardiola’s Premier League champions, with Granit Xhaka seeing red in the first half for a lunge on Joao Cancelo.
With fans fuming on Twitter after the loss, Xhaka’s former Gunners teammate Ozil used one of Arteta’s favourite phrases, to sum up the game.
The German simply tweeted: “Trust the process” in a nod to Arteta’s unflappable belief that all will come good for the Gunners under him.
Arsenal have now lost their first three league games and are yet to even score a goal with the pressure rising on Arteta with his side rooted to the bottom of the table.
Arteta left the comfort of working as Guardiola’s assistant for his first managerial job just under two years ago, but is increasingly in the firing line with the Gunners falling further behind the Premier League elite.
Arteta has reportedly been given until the October international break, in just over a month, to revive Arsenal’s fortunes after spending over £130 million ($153 million) in the transfer window.
His experimental selection of Sead Kolasinac, Rob Holding and Callum Chambers in a back three quickly backfired as the diminutive Gundogan outjumped Holding to head home the opener on seven minutes.
More shambolic defending allowed Torres to tap home the second from Cedric Soares’s sliced clearance.
A massive mistake from Ederson nearly gave Arsenal a lifeline when his clearance was charged down by Emile Smith Rowe and rolled inches wide.
But Granit Xhaka’s ill-discipline then left his side with no hope 10 minutes before half-time.
The Switzerland skipper recently signed a new contract to end speculation over his future, but red cards have been a recurring feature of his six years in north London and his wild two-footed lung on Cancelo brought the 12th sending off in his club career.
“After we took the red card it was a completely different game but everyone has to look themselves in the mirror, stick together and move forward,” said Arsenal captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
“We need to talk between us players. We are Arsenal and we need pride. We need to be honest with each other.”
Against the 10 men, Grealish had the space to show why City spent £100 million on making him the most expensive player in Premier League history.
The England playmaker’s trickery left Chambers and Holding on the floor before squaring for Jesus to tap into an empty net.
City enjoyed a glorified training session after the break as Arsenal could barely get a touch.
Rodrigo’s inch-perfect curling finish from long range made it 4-0.
Guardiola introduced Sterling and Mahrez for the final half hour and it was from Mahrez’s perfect cross that Torres headed in off the post six minutes from time.
