Why Play In The UCL If We Don't Take It Seriously?

Match Review: Arsenal 2 Olympiakos 3 - Champions League 29.09.15

Where do you start with the debacle we witnessed on Tuesday night? Champions League elimination is beckoning as Arsenal somehow contrived to concede three goals to an average looking Olympiakos side and in doing so have given themselves little hope of getting out of the group. After years and years of failure, it is sadly time to ask, what is the point of Arsenal playing in the Champions League anymore?

Wenger made five changes from the weekend, with Ospina, Gibbs, Gabriel, Chamberlain and Coquelin coming into the line up. Coquelin would be part of our best XI and Gabriel is not far off that too, meaning the three others were more rotation options. Gibbs and Chamberlain have been in poor form recently and Ospina has been ok having played only twice so far this season. None of the changes worried me too much, as I looked at the team and saw more than enough talent to beat a very average Olympiakos team.

For the umpteenth time though, we played like a bunch of strangers and moved the ball at glacial pace. I cannot understand the lack of movement off the ball and the lack of urgency in our play. Sure teams come and sit deep and compact at the Emirates to try and stop us playing, but that’s all the more reason to move the ball quicker and try to pull the defence out of position. But we move the ball around the back, take too many touches, no-one wants to come and get it and eventually the ‘attack’ comes to nothing. Usually we couple this with a defensive error that allows the opposition to grab the first goal and we duly obliged from a corner. We allowed Pardo to receive the ball on the edge of the box and take an unchallenged first time shot that took a deflection and nestled in the corner of the net.

To our credit, we hit straight back. Finally we utilised Walcott’s pace in behind, with Alexis slipping a perfectly timed ball and Walcott converted, with a large helping hand from the keeper, who made a complete hash of an easy save. Kick on and take the game like we did at Leicester? Nah, how about Ospina sees their keeper’s mistakes and decides to one-up him?

I’ve seen some pretty horrendous goalkeeping mistakes at Arsenal. We all witnessed the incredible antics of Almunia and the first few years of Fabianski were diabolical, but David Ospina delivered a blunder for the ages against Olympiakos. His starting position as the corner was taken was perplexing to say the least. He moved out so early that the corner taker actually aimed to score straight from the kick. When Ospina got back to catch the ball, he realised his momentum was going to take him over the goal line and dropped the ball. His plan was somewhat scuppered by the fact that he dropped said ball over the line and therefore conceded an own goal anyway. It was so incredible I struggled to comprehend it at first. When something like that happens, you get the sense it’s not going to be your night.

Even by Arsenal standards though, we lost with a magnificent flourish. Having huffed and puffed and built up some sort of a head of steam, we equalised with a lovely move that culminated in a reverse of our first goal. Walcott received the ball on the right edge of the penalty area and chipped into the middle for Alexis to bury a header into the bottom corner. The Emirates roared with relief and willed the team back to the centre circle, eager for 2-2 to become 3-2.

Well that’s exactly what we got, not even a minute after kick off, it was 3-2…to Olympiakos. Usually we wait until the final minutes and get hit on the counter attack having thrown everyone forward trying to win. But that would have been boring, we’ve seen that one before, much more soul crushing to concede immediately through some pathetic defending and cut out the middle man. When the goal went in, I felt like just upping and leaving, such was my fury at the weak, half-assed nature of our play. I felt like saying ‘fuck it, if you’re not going to take this seriously Arsenal, I’ll do something more worthwhile with my time’. I didn’t, because no matter how many times I see the same story play out in front of me, I hold onto the erroneous hope that things might change. I’m always hopefully that we might show the fight and desire to win games in this competition, not scrap our way through and then get dumped out in the last sixteen. But it never happens. Since we lost the 2006 final, Arsenal have barely troubled the latter stages of the Champions League and as much as I love Arsene Wenger and what he’s done to make our club great, this competition has always been a failure for him. He has to take some of the blame for the performances that have seen us always sneak our way into the competition, but only come close to winning it on a couple of occasions.

I have no doubt that he has burning desire to win it and the fans share his desire; we are desperate to get our hands on that trophy above all others. It’s the pinnacle of club football, the ultimate prize and while United, Chelsea and Liverpool have all had their magical night, we are still waiting, with ever fading hope that one day that night might be ours. Then we’re brought back down to earth by defeats to Dynamo Zagreb and Olympiakos, shattering the dream for another year. For once, it would be nice if the players actually played like they were competing for the greatest club prize in football. Right now it seems to mean very little to them.

Teams

Arsenal (4-2-3-1)
Ospina, Bellerin (Campbell 86’), Gabriel (Y), Koscielny (Mertesacker 57’), Gibbs, Coquelin (Ramsey 60’), Cazorla, Chamberlain, Özil (Y), Alexis (Y), Walcott
Subs
Cech, Debuchy, Mertesacker, Monreal, Ramsey, Campbell, Chambers

Olympiakos (4-5-1)
Gago (Y), Elabdellaoui, Botia, Siovas, Salino, Cambiasso (Y), Kasami, Pardo, Fortounis (Y)(Vouros 87’), de Freita Couto Júnior (Santos Fortes 73’), Ideye (Finnbogason 45' (Y))
Subs
Finnbogason, Dominguez, Pulido, Masuaku, Vouros, Kapino, Santos Fortes

Player Ratings

Ospina - 1/10 - Inexcusable howler
Bellerin - 5/10 - Not great, gave the ball away too much
Gabriel - 7/10 - One of the brighter points, another very good display
Koscielny - 6/10 - Not at his best and is now out injured
Gibbs - 5/10 - Back to his old ways of costly defensive mistakes and poor positioning
Coquelin - 5/10 - Wasn’t at his best in the tackle, got run past a lot
Cazorla - 5/10 - Looked tired and struggled to create anything
Chamberlain - 4/10 - Unproductive and ineffective
Özil - 6/10 - What’s the point of having this great player if he has no one to pass to?
Alexis - 7/10 - The only one that looked like making something happen, tireless
Walcott - 6/10 - Scored and assisted, but was missing for the rest of the game
Subs
Ramsey - 6/10 - Added some drive forward but infuriated me with a wild lash over the bar
Mertesacker - 5/10 - Made a costly mistake for their third
Campbell - N/A

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