“Some aspects of our game were quite good but I thought we lacked quality defensive concentration and we played against Olympiacos who defended very well. I believe we had a bit of bad luck as well because they had four shots on target and scored three goals and that happens once in 100 Champions’ League games.”-Arsene Wenger.
It has been a humbling, chastising, embarrassing experience in Europe for the Gunners this far. You have doubtless been absolutely inundated with opinions and commentary from various pundits across the footballing world on the paucity and impotence of our attack, the frailty and naivety of our defence and our overall lack of gut, grit, spine and leadership quality within our ranks. But haven’t we been here before? There was a very “Arsenaly” feel to this particular defeat. I mean, after gifting Dinamo Zagreb their first win in the UEFA Champions League since 1999, it was only in keeping with the theme that we then granted Olympiacos their first win on English soil in 13 attempts, right? Let’s go deeper.
Before the game, Arsene Wenger called this a “must-win” game, and he said this when speaking to Arsenal Player:
“We have to be on our toes. We are with our backs to the wall a bit after the defeat at Zagreb.”
This is exactly why we went on to do the exact opposite during the game. Very Arsenal indeed. Nothing about how we defended for any of their three goals suggested, in any way, shape or form, that we were “on our toes”. It was anything but, and in keeping with this #OnlyArsenal theme, their first goal came about from a corner which was conceded following a defensive mix-up between Gabriel and Koscielny. It always feels as though we are prone to this sort of thing, regardless who is playing on the day. Same script, different cast. The most painful example that comes to memory is in the 2011 League Cup Final against Birmingham… enough said. Gloating over their win after the game, Olympiacos striker Alfred Finnbogason had this to say concerning our defending:
“The first corner is something we practice on the training pitch because we know they have no man on the edge of the box. When you play against this team you know they’re going to have a lot of the ball. You have to defend well, keep your lines tight and use your time when you have spaces… and you know you’re going to have spaces because they don’t want to defend. So our plan worked.”
Their second goal also had a very “Arsenaly” history behind it too. David Ospina, in goal ahead of Petr Cech for this game, got his positioning wrong for another corner and in an attempt to collect the cross, dropped the ball over the goal-line. Goalkeeping howler. Been there before too eh? Manuel Almunia, Wojciech Szczesny, Lukasz Fabianski, even Jens Lehmann have all had their clangers while playing for the club. The manager was very edgy when quizzed on this selection after the game:
“That is a simple thing. David Ospina played 19 games last season and kept 14 clean sheets and last week he had a fantastic game. No keeper is mistake-free, it could have happened to Petr Cech as well.”
“I make the decisions and selections for the team and I’m responsible for it. I know many things that you don’t and that you ignore. You cannot select a team by having a poll and getting everyone’s opinion before the game.”
Counting the huge deflection that the first goal took off Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on its way in, Arsenal made two errors leading to goals in this game. Another very “Arsenaly” thing. Let me explain. Counting both as own goals, we’ve now conceded five own goals in the last five games. Add to that the two errors leading to goals committed by Chamberlain and Cech when we played West Ham, that brings the total to seven in ten games. Last season we committed eight errors that led to goals, and conceded one own goal. Over the course of the 2013/2014 season we committed ten errors leading to goals, and in 2012/2013 this figure was 14. Considering how this season has started, we’re set to see more of these.
We also conceded twice off set-pieces in this game, and conceded from a set-piece against Dinamo Zagreb as well. All in all, we’ve conceded five goals from set-pieces so far this campaign. Very “Arsenaly”. This prompted this quote from former great Liam Brady:
“We lost a goal against Zagreb and two goals against Olympiacos to set-pieces. The first goal was bad last night, the ball coming into the box and players not really knowing what’s going on. The marking and concentration has got to be a lot better.”
Funny that he talks about “players not really knowing what’s going on”, because that’s exactly how the third goal looked like wasn’t it? And that it came so soon after we had brought ourselves level via an Alexis Sanchez header was also very “Arsenaly”. Anyone remember Monaco last season scoring their third goal immediately after Oxlade-Chamberlain had pulled one back? Or in the 2008 UEFA Champions League quarter-final against Liverpool when Adebayor (May his career rest in eternal peace) levelled the scores, and we’d just gotten back to our seats after celebrating, only to see Liverpool winning and scoring a penalty? #OnlyArsenal.
In a somewhat related aside, I don’t understand why there’s so much being made about Ospina being picked ahead of Cech, or about our selection policy overall for our two European games. The sides put out had more than enough, I feel, to beat the opposition that we faced. Having said that, Arsenal and Chelsea fielded changed sides and lost this week, while both Manchester clubs fielded their strongest available line-ups and won. That’s football for you.
So where does this defeat leave us? Fourth. Only that fourth this time means bottom of the table.
“It puts us in a bad position but we are still in it. We have to think we can deal with Zagreb and Olympiacos and we need a result in our next game away from home against Bayern Munich.”-Arsene Wenger.
Easy enough eh?
Until next time folks.
*Quotes courtesy of Arsenal Media, ESPN and Arseblog.com*
*Image courtesy of Troll Football*
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