Per Mertesacker believes Arsenal lost Saturday’s north London derby because they “weren’t active enough”.
Arsene Wenger’s team were beaten 2-1 at White Hart Lane as Harry Kane’s second-half brace consigned them to a first defeat since New Year’s Day.
Mertesacker feels the team did not retain the ball well, and he was disappointed with the manner in which both goals were conceded.
"They were always at us - and we couldn’t get the ball so quickly in our half"
“Obviously we’re not satisfied with that result,” he told Arsenal Player. “We weren’t active enough.
“Just at the end we started to play our game, but it took us too long. We didn’t defend badly but we couldn’t take advantage of any counter-attacks.
“It was very difficult for us, so we’re very disappointed that we couldn’t find our way to play.
“I think we reacted all the time. When you defend, you react sometimes. When we had the ball, we couldn’t find solutions.
“They were always at us - and we couldn’t get the ball so quickly in our half. We couldn’t make sure that we get good counter-attacks and good breaks to help.
“We’re very disappointed with a lot of ball losses, especially in our half. They lost the ball and we won it but then couldn’t find a solution to get out of the situations.”
Mesut Ozil was on target at White Hart Lane
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