Aaron Ramsey said Arsenal were guilty of "a silly mistake" on Manchester City's first goal in Sunday's Carabao Cup final but defended his team's desire and effort.
Man City eased to a 3-0 win at Wembley Stadium with Arsenal putting up little resistance after Sergio Aguero opened the scoring in the first half by taking advantage of weak defending by Shkodran Mustafi.
Mustafi seemed to misjudge a long goal kick from Claudio Bravo and gave Aguero a clear run through on goal.
"Obviously, we're all very disappointed," Ramsey told the club's website. "We wanted to try and win the game but we made a silly mistake which led to the first goal and that was disappointing. It's always difficult when they take the lead and they're such a quality team. They deserved the win today."
Arsenal's players were widely slammed by pundits and fans for a perceived lack of effort after Vincent Kompany doubled the lead in the 58th minute, but Ramsey insisted they put in the work that was required for a cup final.
"We were determined from the beginning," he said. "We created a couple of opportunities and their keeper made a great save on one of them. Perhaps we could have taken the lead, but we can't afford to concede goals in the way that we did today."
Ramsey returned from a groin injury and started despite a three-week layoff but said the lack of recent playing time had no effect on his own performance.
"No, I felt like I was ready to play the game," he said. "I've missed a little bit of training but I've worked hard this week to get back. I felt ready and it was just one of those days where things didn't go right for us on the pitch."