Kevin Whitcher
Arsene Wenger obviously decided that first place in the group ahead of Schalke was not critical enough to send out a stronger team against Olympiacos. The wisdom of that decision will bear fruit the Friday before Christmas, but the German team did their bit by failing to win in France.
Still, if as a consequence, Milan or Real Madrid come out of the goldfish bowl, the benefits of first place suddenly look a bit negligible, so I could not bring myself to feel too worked up about this group matchday six encounter.
Arsenal’s performance was interesting to say the least, but doesn’t bear much scrutiny. Let’s be honest, the likes of Squillaci, Rosicky, Arshavin and Chamakh have had so little matchtime lately, defeat was always on the cards, especially when the inexperience or simple lack of quality surrounding them is taken into account. The team’s passing was at times very sloppy. You could argue that some of the irregular starters had an excuse for lack of sharpness. Gervinho and Aaron Ramsey have no such excuse. They are simply mediocre players when it comes to controlling the football. Football 365 gave us an interesting stat at the beginning of the week - On average, 22% of goals in the Premier League this season have come from individual errors. Arsenal's rate is 63%. Presumably this means goals conceded. By and large these are a consequence of giving the ball away.
Even so, in Greece, Arsenal managed to create some chances, but as a rule, their accuracy in front of goal needs some work, as does the awful first touch of too many players and inability to make a clean pass to a team-mate. Olympiacos enjoyed chances as well and eventually pressure told as they stuck two away after the break. Arsenal had gone 1-0 up thanks to a quality finish by Tomas Rosicky, reminding us of the player he can be.
Due to the nature of the line-up, this means very little to the team that faced Swansea last weekend and is likely to turn out for West Brom next. However, the lack of composure on the ball seemed very familiar. A word for the young left back Meade though. I thought he performed well all things considered. And a word for Chamakh, Gervinho and Ramsey… Go. Please.
A new issue of The Gooner went on sale last weekend and will be available at the West Brom game on Saturday. It can also be bought online here. There is also an e-version of the issue available to read on your ipad/tablet/iphone/android. The app is free and you can download the first few pages of each issue as a taster before deciding whether or not to purchase the whole thing.
