Theo Walcott was feeling in a bullish mood despite Arsenal’s Croatian shambles on Wednesday night.

The Gunners gave themselves a massive problem in the group knowing that they have to play Bayern Munich twice as well as face a hostile trip to Olympiacos, but speaking after the game, Theo was quick to assure fans that one result doesn’t destroy an entire season.

Asked how difficult the group is after the defeat, Theo told Arsenal.com “We can’t blow one result and say it’s the end of the season. We’ve still got a long Champions League run. We’ve had setbacks before and we’ve managed to bounce back from them.

“We’ve been in this tournament for 18 years now so we’ve had a lot of experience and we know how to deal with setbacks. We should be able to come back stronger. The manager will make sure that it’s put to bed in the changing room and that it will stay there.

“The journey home won’t be nice but we need to reflect on this game and move on quickly.”

I guess for many fans it was less the fact that Arsenal lost, although that is never pleasant, and more the manner in which they did it – trying to shoot themselves in the foot and managing to blow off their entire leg once again.

Theo added “It’s always difficult when you’re playing with 10 men. We’ve had experience of playing against 10 men we actually found it quite difficult.

“To be honest you wouldn’t have thought that we had 10 men.

“We played extremely well in the second half, we had a lot of the ball and we had to go for it, to be bold and wise. It was just too late.

“We need to move on now. We’ve got a big, important game at the weekend but everyone will be very disappointed.

It was a game we’ve seen countless times – one against far weaker opposition in which the Gunners design their own downfall in the most ridiculous fashion.

If a silver lining can be found then it could be that it serves as a massive boot up the arse ahead of Saturday’s game at Chelsea.

…I said ‘if’.