Gareth Taylor’s side suffered a third successive defeat in all competitions – and heaviest yet in professional competition – with a 5-0 FA Women’s Super League reverse at Arsenal on Sunday night.
Stokes admitted the players were left ‘gutted’ with the manner of the loss against the Gunners but asserted the team will regroup and pull together in the hope of returning to winning ways at the earliest opportunity.
“We’ve had the conversations as a team in the dressing room,” she said.
“It’s a tough time but in the first half, we did perform. With some passages of play, we were up there.
“If you look at 5-0, we’re absolutely gutted. We’re disappointed but we’ll go back to the drawing board, do better and push each other.
“As individuals, we’ll look at our performance – both as individuals and as a team. We’ll look at ourselves and what we can do better.“
Though City were missing ten first-teamers for the trip to Meadow Park, Stokes refused to place sole blame on the lengthy injury list, adding the players who did feature should be the ones to accept responsibility.
“It’s a difficult time but we have players who can come in, play and perform,” she added.
“We have to try to look at the positives – not the negatives.
“Those players are working hard to get back with us.
“We have to perform. It’s a long season and only we can fix it.”
City have little time to dwell on the setback, welcoming Leicester City to the Academy Stadium on Wednesday 29 September (19:00 UK) in the quarter-finals of the Women’s FA Cup.
Tickets are priced at just £1 for Under-16s.
