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However, the ease with which Arsenal beat the Black Cats will obviously see the pressure put back on Reid by Black Cats supporters.
"I thought the desire was there in this game but it was just that the belief wasn't," said the Sunderland boss after the game at Highbury.
"We should have had some confidence after beating Aston Villa and then Cambridge 7-0, but looked as though we didn't believe we would get a result here.
"We had a great start, as last year we were 2-0 down in four minutes. This time, it took nine minutes.
"Seriously though, it was very disappointing. We all know how Arsenal start so well and we impressed that on the players before the game.
"I don't want to take anything away from Arsenal's fantastic squad but we caused our own downfall without a doubt by not defending right.
"Firstly, we didn't defend a corner and then we gave away possession to go 2-0 down.
"If you are cut open by good play from world-class players then that's one thing, but we gave them a helping hand with our defending.
"They won everything. They won every tackle and every second ball, while we gave the ball away too cheaply."