Jol said: “You can lose against Arsenal even if you are playing their so-called second string side.
“They simply bring in Cesc Fabregas, Gael Clichy, Julio Baptista then there’s Theo Walcott, Johan Djourou. The 2-2 draw in the first leg felt worse than a defeat.
“We went from football heaven to football hell. The worst part is the second half stays with you, especially when e-mails come in.
“Arsenal have a team within a team. They can freshen up the team in five or six positions. I can’t take that risk.
“Even against Milton Keynes Dons I sat for three days contemplating if I should rotate. Eventually you take the risk and it turns out OK.
“But when I rotated against Cardiff it was only after I brought on Dimitar Berbatov that we eventually succeeded.”
