Well, that was bad. Not quite as bad as coming home and finding an angry crow in your sitting room and it’s flapping around and squawking and doing bird plops all over your carpet and then you hear sounds from the bedroom and you find out your significant other is engaged in coitus with your arch-nemesis.
But still pretty bad. Here’s how the players rated.
Pathetic Arsenal but that is the fun of supporting this football club. Positives are Walcot and Alexis continue to score goals
Theo also had that beautiful chip cross to Alexis for the assist, let’s not forget.
Let’s also not forget that was the spit shine on the shit-filled shit bag. With worms and stuff.
I don’t think we can pin the blame about not having attacking options on the bench on Walcott. To be fair, I didn’t see the whole game, but we can’t get a pretty good goal and assist out of him and complain about his limitations. At that point it’s like a baseball pitcher not getting any run support, except it’s the defense that let us down.
I agree @ Scott P. Bringing up Walcott’s “limitations” in a game when he had a goal and an brilliant assist smacks of justifying previous criticisms. Criticise him for his at times tame shooting, yes but Theo Walcott was one of the very few positives from this game
Blogger won’t like that
I thought Walcott was pretty good, I just meant that when you’re chasing a game and the opposition are sitting deep, the aerial ability of someone like Giroud is a handy weapon to have.
Walcott and Sanchez were the positives tonight but our defending is simply embarrassing. You can forgive the first just about, the second was simply atrocious keeping. But third made me vomit with rage!
How can you forgive the first goal. from watching it on tv i could see a guy lurking outside the penalty area and no one was giving attention to him and i knew he would have a shot and thats what happened. where was the leadership and organising the defence? even on freekicks, not just this game, but every game we let opposition players run behind our defence and they are not offside. its not acceptable at all by any standards.
Agree that we’ve been crap from set pieces this season. But in this case, Ozil was close to getting his man and the shot took a massive deflection. These things happen in football and it’s about how you respond to those set backs…..and THAT is why I’m worried 🙁
#RAGEVOMIT
Wenger only has Stan to make happy with all the savings. Well done at that front.
And ofcourse there is no realistically available who is better than Giroud, Walcott or Welbeck
*no one
Please sing a different fucking tune. The team out there should have won. It was not because we didn’t buy [insert overrated player’s name here].
All players who got significant time on the field, plus the coaching staff and the manager are responsible for this and the previous calamities. Lack of preparation, lack of concentration and lack of execution.
Im starting to feel we should seriously consider selling a couple of our starters and replace them with someone more consistent. Sure our team is capable of challenging when all our players are on form, But the inconsistency levels in our team are off the charts. I dont know how it is even possible to be this inconsistent. Cruising through the pre season kicking ass and taking names, only to immediately turn to Shit on the opening day of the season. Then slowly building up form again and at Leicester I really thought we are back on boys, But in… Read more »
We didn’t lose because we didn’t score enough goals. You might want to look at the scoreline. If 2 goals don’t win you a game it isn’t because you didn’t score enough.
Oh my oh my!
Waiting with baited breath for Arsene’s comments!
Not wanting to do the hokey cokey with Arsene in or out,but genuinely wondering people’s reactions if he was sacked/resigned?
Welcome Klopp
It can’t be long now for the Manager. The same problems recur season after season with no sign of real improvement, and this looks like it will be our earliest exit from the CL in many years. There is more money in the bank than ever before but the team is going backwards under Wenger. Too many mediocre players in the squad who should not be in the starting eleven.
Wenger has to go. Yet again our two full-backs looked totally lost defensively and mostly because they had no cover from their wide men in front. Alexis does work hard but if you watch that game again the number of times he just lets his man run away from him isn’t ordinary. The set up of the team has been wrong for seasons yet the old fool persists with it. It can only work in certain circumstances (ie when a team of lesser quality is completely gung-ho against us eg Leicester at the weekend and even that game could have… Read more »
Think the Ozil rating’s a bit harsh, he never went missing. Was all over the place trying to pick passes out, also made some tackles. Chamberlain had a mare in my opinion. Think Gibbs was pretty average as well, reckon he should’ve been more aware for their 3rd.. Monreal well and truly number one. As much as it stings to say, with the Champions League out the way this season we’ll have more to focus on the league. Sack off the Carling Cup and focus on the Prem.. Maybe not making the knock-outs for the first time in (16 years?)… Read more »
Well, we might have to win the bloody league, given how we’re damaging England’s coefficient (not singlehandedly, of course, but still).
I got laughed at for comparing Ospina to Almunia but does anybody really think Ospina is better than Almunia was at his “best”?
The Ox seems to lack confidence, really should have done better with his chance in the first half. And I love Mesut but that was a pathetic excuse for closing down for their first goal, just unaccaptable.
you haven’t watched almunia….he has no “best”
Eh, he was a very good shot-stopper. But so are all keepers at this level.
That’s not really a compliment for a GK at all thinking about it. What the hell are they if they aren’t good at stopping shots as a bare minimum.
I’d say that’s unfair on Gibbs, thought he was decent to be honest, but otherwise agree
Sack off the Carling Cup? Hell, that might be our only chance of trophy this year!
We missed rosicky.sign a young rosicky for arsenal pls
‘Chamberlain had a mare’? That is what happens when you pick a player who lacks mastery in football basics for a full 90 mins and that too in Europe.. We all know who is to blamed for that.. For those saying otherwise, what else did Ox do except trying to take on that LB and LW, for full 90 mins? And when I mean ‘take on’ it doesn’t mean dribbling or beating his man, or anything else. For most of these half-baked British ‘talent’, it is trying to use pace to take the ball faster than opponent nearer to corner… Read more »
Please Arsenal, I don’t want to experience watching on a Thursday…. It’s a Spud thing
Love how confident you are that we’ll finish as high as third
Do we have a choice of not competing in Europa League?
It surely would have made no sense AT ALL to have had Lacazette or Jackson Martinez on the bench as options…
I’d say it wouldn’t have because the reason for the defeat was our defending. A cover for Coquelin? Surely…
Dumbfounded as to why Cech didn’t play, if he’s injured then why the hell is he on the bench? Not having Arteta today was also a massive loss, as soon as I heard he was out I was worried, it was obvious Coquelin wouldn’t be 100% today and with Ramsey being rested it was always going to be tough for him to come back in so quickly. Injuries racking up too, losing the Boss tonight will seriously hamper us this weekend……..lets hope they can pick themselves up for a massive game…..
Personally I’m just looking forward to seeing the calf play in goals against United.
C’mon guys.
Even Moyes could beat Olympiakos at home.
Think the attackers produced a ‘7’ performance, though the details aren’t just defensive, if the Ox scores early on. The whole game changes. You have to be ruthless and he just isn’t.
Him and Walcott both.
Walcott needs more power to his game both in shooting and retaining the ball, would he lose pace if he was more muscular ? Ask that wiry chappy called Alexis and ask him if it’s a problem for him ?
Walcott’s a gutless wonder. Never goes where it might hurt, never sticks his foot in. He slows down rather than face a possible collision with a goalkeeper. Not exactly what you need in a centre-forward.
Walcott’s goal and assist suggest he isn’t the problem here…
Bonus Rating: 10/10 for Arseblog for even bothering to rate that lot at all.
sou brasileiro, e o Arsenal as veses joga o melhor futebol, as vezes joga o pior, mas nunca um futebol “ok” para ganhar jogos.
I am Brazilian, and Arsenal sometimes playing the best football , sometimes playing the worst. but a never play to win “ok” football games.
google translate
Arsene rating 8 mil out of 8 mil!!!!!!
Walcott goal and assist, good.
But i feel he opened up little to no space for others today. He should have made more runs like the one he did towards the end more often instead of staying in the box throughout. It was a congested Olympiakos box ffs.
He’s learning though?
I’m still not convinced Walcott can be our primary striking option(he’s done a lot to give skeptics like me second thoughts though), but we can’t really expect our Striker to go wide and create space for the wingers to play in the middle can we? Its not even like there’s space on the right hand side for him to go into. He is right footed, so to take up the vacant left wing(when sanchez cuts in) would make no sense.
The only time Walcott collected the ball in a position to use his right foot he scored. His left, unfortunately, is only for standing on so if he gets the ball anywhere right of the penalty spot he seems to find it difficult to get a shot away. He should watch videos of Henry. Drift left….make space…cut in…use his right foot. it’s not as if he hasn’t done it before. I’m not convinced he’s actually learning that much to be honest.
Ox needs to stop playing with fear. He doubts himself, you can see it in the way he attacks with the ball. He needs to trust his talent.
LMAO
The only way tonight can be pardoned is if the team grinds out a win this weekend..anything short of that..fans are gonna loose respect for this team..and I think the Ox should man up…no heads dropping.. up the morale guys.. sigh! Oh to be a gunner.. Onward and upward #COYG
I believe your name should be “49r’s”?
actually, there’s no apostrophe, if you insist on pedantry ! so it’s 49ers. ok?
Pisses me off to no end that Wellington Silva is looking clearly a cut above a shifty Bolton and the championship in general, whilst Joel is here stinking up the place.
It should’ve been the other way round. Would’ve preferred the spark and direct chaos Wellington brings than the coasting Costa Rican.
heh, like tonight had anything to do with us not having Wellington
Which isn’t to say I think Campbell is the answer either, but come on.
May point isn’t the Silva is the answer, you know that (I’m aware you obviously remember your anti-Wellington campaign that I called you out on), but my point was more on the fact I’d rather see guys like Silva, Gnabry or even Jeff (if fit) than a player Wenger himself didn’t deem good enough for us, doesn’t seem bothered himself, and was purely kept just to make the numbers.
Quite frankly, I’d rather we kept either Silva or Gnabry compared to having those two on loan and keeping Campbell.
Was that a ridiculous point to make?
With Alexis, Ozil, Theo, Ox, And Santi it should have been entirely irrelevant who we had for attacking options. This match should have been done and dusted by halftime.
Joel only had 6 minutes. The rest of the team had 84 to make a mess of it. A bit unfair to single him out. He has looked a decent player in the past. He probably needs more game time to get his confidence back.
Get out while you can, Joel.
Not if he gets only 5 mins at the end when half the team had already given up
Wenger surely has earned the right to decide when he leaves this great club… but common Arsene… become a board member or something already and bring in Guardiola or someone who can change things around now…
Totally agree mate. Has he taken Arsenal as far as he can? He seems to be out of ideas. The team is too inconsistent. Winning one week and losing the next. I think, with the money in the bank, do everything we can to bring in Guardiola. It seems the logical thing.
Why would Guardiola come to Arsenal … financial restrictions, tough league comp, ruthless fans, etc much easier to win with Barca and Bayern. We were shite defensively, but can still win three FA Cups in row and finish 3rd or 4th. Then Arsene must step sideways, he has lost the dressing room and Steve Bould couldn’t organise a piss up at a brewery never mind how to defend against a 2nd-rate side. Its all greek to me. Bring on Man Utd ffs
The ‘financial restrictions’ are self-imposed by the manager.
Blogs, compared to the likes of barca or bayern, Arsenal certainly is restricted in the market, and it’s not self imposed.
That wasn’t the point though. Our finances are not restricted any more, they were. We might not have as much money as the others, but that’s not a restriction, that’s just having less money.
That said, if there’s a club in Europe with more money to spend (that isn’t a rich man’s plaything obviously), I’d be surprised.
‘Ruthless fans’?? You obviously have no idea of how REALLY demanding fans are (and) can be in other top teams.. Madrid, Barca or Bayern don’t win the league (or for that matter, don’t play pleasing football) for 2 years in a row- there will a new manager and half-a-dozen new players before you blink.. Hell, look at ManU now and 2 years before.
No other ‘big’ club’s fans are as accommodating as Arsenal’s.. Not even a sniff of the league for 10 years and Wenger is still there.. I wish sometimes, as fans, we were a bit more demanding, tbh..
Guardiola only goes to teams that are already the richest and/or most powerful in their league. It’ll be PSG, ManU, or City next.
I’m not sure we are inconsistent, there’s too much of a pattern. Any manager worth his salt can organise a side properly to stop Arsenal under Wenger. We’ve lost 4 games out of ten this season, all against teams who sat back and waited for us to throw our full-backs forward and leave us wide open at the back. I wonder how Van Gaal will approach Sunday? I know what I’d do, not least because I already know exactly what Wenger will do.
True…. Predictable and Gullible!
And sit back and counter is what Van Gaal will do given the team he has with Carrick and Shwei#%$^*tieger with pace upfront from Depay and Martial… Ooh I hate ManU so soooo much and can’t stand loosing to them….
Unless Wenger pulls off another last-yearisc-ManC-thrashing performance with tactics that I’m sure even surprised him…. Now that will surely be something we will cherish for a long time given what we’ve been through as fans
A terrible performance especially after conceding the third goal. We did not have one dangerous chance. Today shows that we have lost the ability to come back in games and create chances when trailing against teams defending deep. It’s incredible how poor we are defending/attacking set pieces. Its very easy to score against us from a set piece and at the same time we pose no threat from them. We had 8 corners today and they were all very easily cleared by their defense. I get the shits if the opposition gets a freekick 40 yards from goal and when… Read more »
Its Monaco all over again we never learn..bitter pill to swallow
Until you realize “we lost in a tournament we can’t win, that we only enter to generate money that we don’t spend”
Since CL games are always in the middle of my workday and I end up missing most, I guess I won’t have to miss many more after we bail out in the group stage. There – I found a silver lining!
Pretty fair ratings from blogs.
Let’s have a vote – thumbs up if you think Bayern will take 6 points off us.
Someone will have the statistics, but I bet we win a lot more when Ramsey starts , tackles, running. Commitment, balance of selfish shooting and unselfish lovely passing..
Surprisingly high numbers
Overall team performance rating……2.5
The .5 is because I’m an Arsenal fan and 2 on its own is a condemnation
a post I saw on the match report really struck me – is nobody else worried that Arsenal are showing little improvement now that we are spending the big money (okay maybe not this season in transfers, but we are paying a hell of a lot more in wages than before) from when we played with average teams? Here’s a thought: Tony Pulis is extremely good at what he does, which is taking poor teams and making them hard to beat, but would be useless in charge of Real Madrid. Maybe it is similar with Wenger; he is undoubtedly superb… Read more »
So what’s the excuse going to be this time?
“if we find someone that can improve us we will buy”
Cech or Chez and we win 2-1, they organise and command, Ospina is too short and keeps jumping behind the line, I’m not convinced “the whole of the ball was over the line”, but don’t let it get that close, yes the defence (which is how you spell the noun) were at fault, but a more commanding presence meanse they don’t sit 6 yards out. Also Gibbs had a great game along with Theo for the first hour and as always Alexis throughout…Özil was nowhere, Santi once again took a long time to get going…Is Arsene prioritising the domestic competitions?
for fuck sake szcz was awful for roma today
CheZ was awesome tonight. Probably the only keeper that did worse than Ospina tonight.
I know you all are really going to hate me for this but we need to sell Ramsey. I loved his 2013-14 year but please kid me not. HE’S FUCKING SHIT. The matches where he fucks up, he fucks up really badly and no kind of performance can substitute that. His passing accuracy was probably less than 10% tonight. And he decides to be the poster fucking boy of the club by taking ridiculous shots with no ball under control from 50 fucking yards. Are you seriously earning over 100k a week for that? I’m really sick and tired of… Read more »
Did you notice the two amazing passes he made to set Bellerin free? Did you notice how much more threatening we were the moment he came on? I think there are criticisms to be made of him, as with most players, but this comment is nonsense tonight.
He was alright today bcoz and only bcoz he came as a sub.. BTW, they named him ‘Welsh Jesus’ coz he went on that streak right?
I dub him the ‘Move Killer’..
If you don’t believe me, watch a couple of matches in a row when he starts and see how he fucks up so many promising attacking moves with his indecision, lack of quality, glory-hunting and outright stupidity. I hope more sub appearances will temper some of those.
Thank you for your reply. I expected you to say that as a comeback. However let me remind you that none of those balls led to anything fruitful so it wasn’t really very productive was it? Secondly, you are overlooking the number of misplaced passes in the final third, especially during the last ten minutes of the game. I would give you a physical count of them if I had access to sports analytics data but I can clearly remember at least 4. So 4 terrible passes versus 2 good passes. And as I said in my comment, that for… Read more »
Yep, you’re right. We ARE really going to hate you for that. He had one bad shot but was a positive influence in every other respect as soon as he came on.
You do realise that he wasn’t on the pitch for the first 65 minutes….
people cry they want to see ox , you shave seen him now back on the bench chamberlain, we nee a RM if theo stay in fron next january
lmao cool story bro
Never change the back 5 unless you have too.
Im sure that was Wengers first bit of advice when taking charge
Same applies
Careful now…
Walcot’s goal was extremely fortunate. Should have been a routine save. Against poor quality opposition, in a game we needed to win, he and ox were especially disappointing IMO. Chance for them both to make a case which they pissed away. It took suicidal defending/keeping for Olympiacos to get a single goal win… that’s how rubbish they were, which speaks volumes about us tonight.
what an idiotic comment…..Walcott was useless ?……another one of the Walcott hating brigade….without him, none of the goals would have happened…a goal and an assist, and a brilliant assist at that…you could have chosen to criticise the clownish defence and the goalkeeper……but Walcott? ….again? do you rite for the Sun by any chance?
Mr Wenger – Time for a public Apology?
Was at the game, I think the only two players that looked impressive were Alexis and Ozil. The lack of movement for Ozil, and the midfield in general, was very worrying. Alexis looked like a superstar, and while at times he can do too much, if he was given the options that were needed, the game would have went alot differently. For all that, giving 3 goals away at home in the champions league is unforgivable. One goal was undefendable and one was indefensible.
Seriously, how do we defend ourselves against the narratives? It’s like they are becoming more and more true each day, whether it’s Özil not influencing the game enough, or the fact that we always bottle it, or Wenger never winning a major trophy. We better beat Utd this week-end or today’s rotation would’ve been for nothing.
Listen folks it’s not all that bad, you could be like me and have spent over £1,400 of an effing season ticket fffggggnnnuuu.
I did. and I’ve only missed one game this season due to a wedding.
The Stoke game.
Beginning to think I’m a jinx.
An unpopular comment but Ozil is simply an average player. I myself do fancy flicks every week on my Saturday league football. Surrounded by such a quality I question his input. To be placed so high up the pitch he should be a goal threat as well as a crearor of chances.
Regarding goal 2 and 3 I’m simply baffled and short for words.
A disappointed gooner.
Just wait to be thumbs down(ed) now for speaking the truth!
He’s not average. The argument, we Arsenal fans use to defend him, is that he contributes off the ball. Which is great, but as the proclaimed world-class playmaker of the team, it’s kind of problematic if he contributes more off the ball, than with it…
Agreed. Funny even Walcott brings more with the ball and at least as much without.
Ah, it is the ‘fear’.. always the ‘fear’ and ‘pressure’.. And this when playing at home. Can you imagine us then ‘not fucking up’ away when we desperately need to? Well, we may beat the Mancs when we are not expected to but can we avoid defeat away to Stoke when the pressure is on and we desperately need to? Hmmm…
It is what Bergkamp (or was it Pires?) said some years back: that it will take the team years to vanquish those fears and find inner strength.. or if you ask me, when Wenger goes.
Gibbs looked really out of position for their winning goal. Don’t get me wrong the whole defence was bad, but he left his guy completely unmarked and resembled a headless chicken. Don’t think Monreal will be losing much sleep tonight. Sanchez was very good as usual, ozil was decent. As blogs mentioned though, Coq wasn’t fully fit and kos coming off didn’t help .. But the main issue was Ospina dropping the ball in his own net at a crucial time in the game! You really can’t account for shit like that.. It’s all good and well saying cech should… Read more »
Fucking naivety again. Someone give these players some “street knowledge” please!
Still, I don’t fear Bayern M any more than normal because with this team you never know what you’re going to get.
F@#*&-% S&%@
Ospinaaaaaaooohh fuck
No cow. What about the archenemy?
I think Europa league will be a better option now than the last position because I can’t see us doing d double against Bayern Munich
Nothing will change under Arsene now.
I think he’s a legend but he’s simply not getting enough out of the players he has.
He’s too nice and not ruthless, that is a true reflection of his team.
To be truly great you need to have a combination of talent and complete will to win at all costs. We unfortunately (Sanchez and probably Czech aside) lack the 2nd of those 2 ingredients.
Sanchez – 1000000000000000
fuck the rest
The slowest rating of the night goes to Arsenal fans in Block H in the upper tier. They were absolutely awful. From the 1st minute, there was not one chant going. Folded arms and negative comments was all I say- why bother turning up?
A dozen or so fans left with 15 minutes to go?? Win, lose or draw – chant them on regardless!!
It’s the same in J upper too Shane, it only livened up when everyone realised that the club had let thirty to forty away fans sit in our block.
We will find a way to qualify. We always do. Because we are Arsenal and we do things the hard way.
Oh and Chelshite lost as well. Hehe what a bunch of idiots I’d be shocked if they win anything this season.
Things that became apparent today 1. Ramsey on the wing is better than Ox on the wing. Ramsey brings balance and efficiency to the team. Ox will forever have potential huge doubt if he will ever fulfill it (maybe under Wenger). He Is like a car built for speed and efficiency but never get out of 2nd gear. 3. Ozil is a luxury player his best perfomances are in easy games where everyone works for him whilst he just goes through the motions. 4. Alexis is being over used, over worked and he seems like the only one who really… Read more »
I was going to state the same about Ox and Ramsey…..and that’s saying something considering how irate I was to see Ramsey starting ahead of him in previous games. Ox is helplessly lazy and defensively naive.
What happened to no.2 ?
2. We will get one good result against Bayern and all our hopes will be up again but Its going to be a heroic exit from the champions league