Following from the weekend’s quite simply abysmal performance at home to Swansea, Arsenal returned to Champions League duty, in a competition where they haven’t performed too badly this season, as they travelled to Olympiakos. However, with qualification already sorted, a weakened Arsenal side succumbed to defeat in the Greek capital.
Arsenal had only four survivors from the weekend, with most players being rested and left at home. This gave opportunities to fringe players such as Chamakh and Squillaci to prove themselves, while young and diminutive full-back Jernade Meade was given his full debut, and also saw the long awaited return of Tomas Rosicky to the starting line up after another injury problem. However, despite a significantly improved performance, Arsenal lost 2-1 to the hosts.
Bright start
Knowing that a win gave them a chance of topping the group, Arsenal started very well early on, playing the better football and creating more chances than Olympiakos. The players seemed to pass the ball around with fluidity early on, and we could have taken an early lead, but for a wayward shot from the horribly inconsistent Gervinho.
With Olympiakos not posing too much of a threat at this stage, Arsenal had more half chances to score, before Ramsey wasted a golden opportunity. After good work by the Gunners, a cut back to an open Ramsey just inside the box looked destined to end up in the back of the net, only for the Welshman to miscue his attempt at goal.
Arsenal finally managed to score shortly before the break. With the hosts fighting their way back into the game, and seeing a shot cleared off the line, Arsenal stepped up the pressure. After some good work by Gervinho, he cut the ball back to Rosicky in the middle who made no mistakes, scoring with a composed first touch finish.
Same Old Arsenal
The half time interval saw the replacement of the impressive Rosicky for the bench warmer Arshavin, and saw Arsenal continue their attacking ways. However, in true Arsenal fashion of late, this did not last.
Arsenal’s passing quickly fell apart, and they looked more and more like the side that has won only 3 of the last 13 games in all competitions, as Olympiakos created more and more chances. The lead lasted until a dubious corner was awarded and then a poor knock-down by Squillaci landed at the path of Maniatis, who slotted the ball home with ease.
From this Arsenal never recovered, as Olympiakos asserted their dominance over the Gunners, as they deservedly took the lead for the first time. Substitute Mitroglou, with near enough his first touch, fired a brilliant finish past Szczesny to leave the Gunners facing another loss, and the realisation that they would end up second in the group.
Better, but not good enough
Though this was another loss at a time when Arsenal are severely underperforming, at least fans can take positives that it wasn’t as bad as against Swansea. Arsenal played with confidence for the first half, which is a step in the right direction, and can possibly be associated with the return of Tomas Rosicky, a player Arsenal have sorely missed.
With Rosicky reminding us of his quality on the playing field it gives us more options in the middle, and young Jernade Meade put in a promising performance to show fans that there is a better option at full back than Andre Santos.
Arsenal have now lost at Olympiakos three times in the past four seasons, and though we have qualified for the knockout stages a drastic increase in performance is needed if we have any chance of progressing further, especially as finishing second leaves us with the daunting task of facing either Borussia Dortmund or Barcelona.
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