Mikel Arteta outlined his plans to combat Arsenal's shocking disciplinary record on Thursday, saying anyone failing to adhere to good habits would be "exposed" in training.
But his rallying cry apparently fell on deaf ears as Gabriel Martinelli was sent off on the very same day, becoming the 12th Arsenal player to see red under Arteta.
Arsenal beat Wolves 1-0 on Thursday night, with Gabriel Magalhaes scoring the only goal of the game.
The Gunners were good value for their lead but nearly undid all their hard work when Martinelli was shown two yellow cards within the space of seconds and given his marching orders.
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Michael Oliver's decision to send off Martinelli was debated after the match, with many suggesting it was unfair to book the forward for a second offence while advantage was being played.
But according to the laws of the game, Oliver was well within his right to red card Martinelli for his show of petulance.
Ahead of the match, Arteta discussed Arsenal's poor disciplinary record.
"We played three games out of five with 10 men, and if that's one of the things in the last 17 games that we continue to do, our chances to be where we are going to be really low," Arteta told the club website.
"We have to play with 11 players on the pitch. We need most of the players available and fit as much as possible.
"We need to maintain the togetherness. We have to keep improving our game model and we have to go game by game."
When pressed on how Arsenal can avoid ill-discipline in future, Arteta gave what felt like a loaded response aimed at certain players.
"I think there are a few factors," he said. "First of all how we raise them throughout our academy, the type of characters that we build and that's the best way to do it in that pathway.
"Then, in recruitment, the type of characters and personalities that you are signing and making sure that they are the right ones to fit within your culture and then the other one is living by example.
"So when you see certain behaviours daily, they become habits and those habits are easy to follow and once they're integrated, I don't think anybody can escape from that and try to do something different, because it gets exposed."
Arteta defended Martinelli following the win over Wolves, telling the press: "I've never seen that. I've been 18 years in this country and I've never seen anything like it. We made it even more difficult for ourselves playing with 10 men.
"We suffered a lot in the last 10 minutes. I've never seen something like it. We have to go game by game and there are small margins to win games. We have to keep improving. Our reality is the next game."
