"You could smell the fear in my players in the first 45 minutes. I have never seen that before, no matter who we have played," he said after the live television clash at St. Mary's.
"We have always had the stomach for the fight, but that was not there tonight.
"I had to bring Leandre Griffit off in the second half to protect the youngster - he was playing well, but the people around him were playing with fear.
"Arsenal's tactics were excellent. We had a plan to play against them but because of the negative thinking we could not put it into action.
"I told the players that if you smell like that again you will never play again.
"You can't live life like that, never mind football. We were far braver in last season's FA Cup final than we were tonight."