Paul Jewell emerged from a heavy defeat against one of the world's great teams and declared his side needed "real men" to bounce back next season.

"In the first half I thought we were terrific but it took a lot out of us and you go into the second half and think 'okay, let's try to do it again', but with the opportunities Arsenal spurned it could have been any score," said the Derby boss.

"Then we got back to 2-3 - I don't know how - but this group of players is on the floor and Arsenal are on a diferent level. We need to move on because we are playing miles above our level at this present time.

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"It's not the first time we've conceded six and you don't have to be a brain surgeon to see we concede too many goals and don't score enough.

"The first half took so much out of us and with respect you only have to look at our substitutions and at theirs - we are miles apart.

"I'm not saying tonight's 11 players will have to go but I'm talking about the mentality of the whole football club. I want to see some real men in the trenches next year and we need to get out of this rut we are in. With the introduction of a few quality players and a few quality men we will do that."

Looking ahead, Jewell said: "The club hopefully will be so different at the start of next season and hopefully this horrendous season won't affect us. I think in a couple of years we can maybe look back and see we have learned from our mistakes from this season and got stronger.

"We had some real good stuff going on in the first half, but if it wasn't so serious their goals would be hilarious. The last thing I told my players before they went out was that whatever Arsenal got tonight they had to earn, but that didn't happen.

"It was a house of cards - the usual stuff - we were beaten by a great team but if you play like that you are going to be embarrassed.

"We played some real good stuff with high energy in the first half game, but the mentality of the players isn't right and they are low on confidence - the sooner we get this season out of the way the sooner we can look ahead."

Of Robert Earnshaw's first top flight goal for the Rams, the gaffer added: "It was a good goal. Let's have it right though, we were three-one down and they should have been out of sight but too many people don't have the strong mentality I am looking for to get us out of the Championship.

"Some of the second half was comic book stuff, but you have to put it into the context of the class of the team we were playing. They have the young footballer of the year and one of the best strikers in the world started on the bench.

"You look at their goals and they were more or less tap-ins - one on ones with Roy Carroll.

"I am learning things all the time about people. I certainly know who I want to keep now and who I want to bring in and hoepfully it's going to be a case of onwards and upwards.

"Most of the time your first impressions are right. Once in a while someone has a good game but most of them are playing at a level that is beyond them.

"The sooner we get some real men in there with some pace and desire we will be a different proposition."


The journey starts now - get your 2008/09 Derby County season ticket secured!

 

The journey starts now - get your 2008/09 Derby County season ticket secured!