Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Arsenal 1-2 Olympiacos – player ratings

After a dismal performance in general, a late Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang goal looked like it would be enough to qualify for us for the Round of 16.

However, an even later goal for Olympiacos was compounded by a late miss by the Arsenal captain – the kind of goal you’d back him to score 99 times out of 100. This was the 100 sadly.

A disappointing night, and the fallout from this will be significant, no doubt.

Read the Arsenal 1-2 Olympiacos report and see the goals here

Here’s how the players rated this evening.

Ratings

The ratings are now hidden by default until you vote, but if you just want to view the ratings and the comments, flick the switch at the top above Bernd Leno. Also, please give the ratings a few seconds to load.

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loose_cannon

At little harsh on Pepe and Ceballos, alongside Saka they were our most positive. Otherwise fair enough, shocked that Laca and Ozil stayed on for so long, Martinelli should have been on a lot earlier.

Pooner

Was Ceballos even on the pitch?

Snagger

Yes he was one of the only ones passing it forward.

loose_cannon

Exactly, not that there was much movement ahead of him but when there was he at least tried to find the pass. Covered well defensively as well.

T_T

I felt ceballos had a good game, I’m so worried about the urgency, energy and incisiveness. The olympiacos team did what any PL team could do and defend deep with energy.

What will we do when this is every week?

Hustle6

*the only, apart from xhaka and Luiz’ customary 2 punts forward per game

Dastardlydick

He’s a lightweight. Hope he doesn’t sign permanently.

Drewkernster

Every manager have that one game where they fk it up and it’s absolutely their fault. I’m an Arteta fan as a manager I think he’s heading in the right direction but today was 100% his fault. Let’s start with the fact that he doesn’t like Martinelli like he actually thinks players like Nketiah, and Joe willock, are better than Martinelli that’s his first mistake in general. He doesn’t rate martinelli because if he did there’s no way Lacazette should be starting tonight it should’ve been Auba down the middle Martinelli on the left Pepe on the right. But he… Read more »

ODB

Don’t get why you’re picking on Nketia, he has been fine since he returned and didn’t play today. In any case, I agree Martinelli should have been brought on way earlier, really suprised with that.

Drewkernster

Not picking on Nketiah just smkingg a point but frankly as much as I like Nketiah he is no Martinelli. His general play is none existent he doesn’t hold the ball or is he a target man his link up is not PL level and needs to improve in that aspect so really other than arriving at the box and the right time and poaching or taping in crosses he’s general play is Lacking A LOT most times when Nketiah plays I don’t even know he’s on the pitch until he scores or there’s a cross to the box. Martinelli… Read more »

Mpls

Pepe had the most opportunity for impact, but he applied it by overdribbling into nothing and making very poor passing decisions through most of the match. He was a hairs breadth from making a big difference but every time the opportunity arose he chose B.

That said, he should have had us playing against 10 men. We then should have had him run at the center backs repeatedly to close the deal.

loose_cannon

In fairness to Pepe his closest options were Ozil, Bellerin and Lacazette. All had very forgettable evenings. I had the “pleasure” of watching the game live tonight and it’s crazy noticing how few times Bellerin tried to overlap Pepe, or Ozil run off him. There was no movement so he had to go it alone more often than not, against 2 or 3 guys. That’s something Arteta has to work on.

Duncan

Ozil did make several, slightly awkward runs to the right channel and was ignored every time. Some of them looked like he would have been offside, and I thought Ozil should have timed his runs better. Back to Pepe, and I’m not a hater of his by any means, but his one footedness really slows us down at times (zero first time crosses or shots with right foot! Come on man!), and he rarely sees what’s outside him. He is also unpredictable to the point where his teammates are constantly at cross purposes with him. To say him and Ozil… Read more »

ricky rick

As someone mentioned somewhere, if the full back doesn’t overlap it’s probably instruction from the manager.

GraeB

He didn’t defend that well either though.

Nosferatu

This feels like a very fair review of Pepe’s performance today. I feel like he has some learning to do yet in terms of how to best attack a team that’s sitting so deep and defending like Olympiacos did today, but getting some help would also help his progress. Can’t help but wonder if the way Bellerin is being used is tactical or due to his current fitness level.

David C

You can’t have Pepe and Ozil in at the same time, too little effort without the ball

A Different George

I thought Pepe was both our best and our worst player. Tremendous talent, huge promise, maddening.

Thierry Bergkamp (non negotiable)

Martinelli or Eddie should have started. The enthusiasm and energy these young boys have is what the team needed.

xjert02

Pepe and Ceballow was jokes tonight

Phathisile

Pepe was bad. He held on the ball for too long and was very careless with possession. Ceballos spent most of the time telling the Luiz & Mustafi where to pass. I got frustrated by his pointing instead of asking for the pass and move it forward.

Toni

I think our rotation is a bit wanting, game on game. If we keep playing the same eleven for 4 games in 11 days, we are risking fatigue and injuries. We need to rotate more. The younger players mixed with a bit of experience but maintaining a healthy balance and a competitive side. That’s the only way. We can’t expect the same players to perform at the same energy and concentration levels in such tight schedules.

Captain Khan

We wont ever win anything with players like Luiz in our team. These guys melt when it matters
Theres a reason why Lampard got rid of him especially in a period they were on a transfer ban

Naked Cygan

We should sue Chelsea.

Atom

The only positive from today is it absolutely should have solidified for Arteta that we need 2 new central defenders, should seriously think about selling laca and need to bring in genuine competition for Ozil.

Chamakhyungpark

Competition for Ozil? Don’t get me wrong, at one point in his career, he was one of the best players in the world. But he spent. It’s going to be difficult to get rid of him but really should be forced out of the club. Really think there is little chance Auba will stay beyond the summer now. It’s difficult to know where we go from here. Hopefully we start losing enough money that the yankeedoddledickhead will sell to someone who cares if we win.

atom

I was trying to be nice in regards to Ozil as he’s made it pretty clear he’s not leaving until his contract is up. I agree- he’s finished as a top level player. He’s one of Arteta’s favorites – reminds me of how Wenger would play certain players no matter how bad their form was- but while everyone is excited his form has improved, the reality is Ozil has produced virtually no end product for a very long time.

lessthanthesumoftheirparts

We’ve been getting away with it but it’s games like this where playing your elite striker on the touchline comes back to haunt you. It’s no surprise our two best chances came with Auba in the centre. Partnered with the energy and skill of Martinelli, they make a dangerous duo. Lacazette’s shirt is weighing heavier than ever, why he went with his head for that chance I will never know.

Dastardlydick

Arteta said that players would only get to play judged on their form and merit. So can’t understand why he’d choose Laca over Martinelli. Tonight was a reality check. He’s put misplaced faith in certain players. Hope the scales have fallen from his eyes.

kabuba

Agreed. and also, i feel he needs to read the game better. Some of his substitutions were really bizarre. Laca should have been the first one to go off for Martinelli.

George

Hmmm. The same Luiz with Premier League, FA Cup, Champions League and Europa League medals at home?

Nah – could never win anything with him!

prvhc

Rating for Arteta – 3/10

Naked Cygan

I am not a fan of Arteta, but this is not his fault. These players are just not good enough. There us so much a manager can do. He can’t make Leno kick the ball to a safer zone, or gd can’t make Abu not miss from 6 yards. These players are just average, and we shall get what we deserve at the end of the season. We should just aim to finish above spurs, and that is good enough for me.

Dastardlydick

Leno sure screwed that kick but Xhaka really landed him in it with a stupid back pass. But then he favours passing in that direction sadly.

db10s

I thought it was the right option to pass to Leno. Xhaka got cornered in a played the safest pass. Leno took a bad touch.

Funny enough alot of our players were taking bad touches even Ozil.

A Different George

Nonsense. Completely safe back pass. We’ve done that to Leno in the past (Xhaka perhaps more than most), but this was on Leno.

Nketibag

Harsh on a man in his 2nd ever European game. But this was in the post. The amount of luck we had against Everton… even the first leg could have easily gone the other way. Arteta needs to take stock and not fall into this play all the experienced players trap. He needs to stand tall and make tough decisions, because a lot of those out there tonight didn’t look like they were in danger of losing their place. Right through the spine of the team, Leno, Luiz, Xhaka, Lacazette. Not good enough. Send them down to portsmouth as they’re… Read more »

myrtle

Agreed, Arteta’s clearly got his favourites already. It’s a real issue as we actually have a huge squad and without EL now, many players won’t even be getting on the bench.

Olivije Žirod

He will only get game management experiences with games. We need to respect that he is in the learning process too.

Jack4343

We need to see the ass end of some of these “players” come the summer.

goonerrah

Some or most?

Dave cee

Took the words outta my mouth goonerah.

Jack4343

I like your word better.

Evaristus

Well, that was a waste of my time. I now have to go to sleep late for little pay off.
Medicineand supporting Arsenal seem not to mix…

goonerrah

Taking meds is the only way to support Arsenal.
Ooohhh… you meant practicing medicine?

Evaristus

Lol…

SB Still

At the start of the 2nd half for the first time I thought what in case we don’t win this game, as we hadn’t tested their goalkeeper that much till then.

Sigh, unbeaten this year and suddenly it comes crashing down!

BergkampsFaceAfterALovelyDink

1 step forward, 35 back. Classic. Feel a bit sick.

goonerrah

I noticed that Arteta is trying to enforce keeping the ball EVEN if that means passing back and sideways for 10 mins at a time. I think he knows our defense is weak so it helps reduce pressure. Its really Pep’s strategy but Pep always has players like Messi or KDB to split the defense. Ozil is supposed to be that but he is just…. Ozil.

Drewkernster

Arteta rating.. 4/10 this one is his making.

gooner

Bravo Bloggs for the ratings. I just couldn’t find a rational way to do it. my judgement is very clouded for this game.

goonerrah

If you gave everyone a 3 except Auba, Saka, Martinelli…. one would argue. This was not a nothing EPL game. This mattered and it was terrible.

goonerrah

No one*

A Different George

I actually thought Mustafi was very good; deserved an 8.

q8arse

if anything mustafi was MotM tonight. but blimey that was a shit performance topped with a miss that makes the heart skip a beat

Jai

Arteta is worrying me. How the fuck can you not bring on Martinelli for Lacazette until it’s the middle of extra time?!

How the hell does Laca stay on that long.. Literally everything he does is awful, I’m so angry

Thierry Bergkamp (non negotiable)

Laca and Ozil should never have lasted so long

goonerrah

They should have not been playing to start. I don’t care about Ozil superfans. He offers nothing to this team and it could be down to the players around him not fitting. But I have been wanting Arsenal to move on from him for years and I hated his new contract. Laca has a good attitude and drive but he is a terrible CF.

Move on from them and about 7 others on this team. Its not working, its not all the players’ fault. But still.

Olivije Žirod

Ozil was the only one who stepped up after the 70 minute and was our most dangerous player since then. You can’t argue that. Though his delivery was bad today but you can’t say he didn’t try to be dangerous and make something from it.

goonerrah

Even IF what you say is correct, what about the first 70 mins? Everyone has their opinion on Ozil and I personally don’t like his influence on a team throughout a season. So maybe that shapes my opinion of how he plays.
But can you honestly say if Ozil left that Arsenal would be much worse?

Dastardlydick

Yes, but he only stepped up when things were getting desperate. The whole team seemed complacent.

A Different George

I thought Ozil had a poor first half, was much better after, and was central to the periods when we dominated (which, whatever anger you feel, was most of the time).

Fred Garvin

Ozil actually got better the longer the game went on

Arjun

Ozil made the cross which Auba scored from after martinelli headed it down. He also made the last chance which Auba missed.

David Hilliers Arm Cast

What’s worse is he has been horrible for weeks and weeks and was dropped the last few games. He then inexplicably was started tonight in a tournament I thought we had a genuine chance of winning. So odd.

hugh jarsphan

I didnt see the game but I must say when I saw tbe line up I thought it may result in a leggy performance. arteta in hindsight should have made a couple of changes to freshen up the team and legs. he will learn from this.

Elbon

This is in fact the only reason we lost. Rotating through about 3-4 players would have totally freshened up the team and given us more attacking impetus. We never got into gear all game, and that’ll happen when you play 4 high intensity games in 11 days.

Clockendrider

On the back of a fortnight off….come on…..

GraeB

The only rotation he did was to bring Laca in, leave Eddie on the stands, leave Gaby on the bench.

Olympiakos defended well with 10 men around the box and we resorted to high balls in to their 8ft giants. When they got a corner, we got Torreira to mark one of those giants!

YoungFabregas

Gutted for Auba, but he should of scored that. Ultimately that’s the marginal difference between him and someone like Aguero.

Anyone else getting sick of Lacazette?

GraeB

Pep left Aguero out totally for win in Madrid! But Mikel playing Laca out of his hole just isn’t working and the big mistake was not recognising that earlier.

Soren V. Nielsen

Bereft of ideas. This one mainly falls on Arteta.  Unsurprisingly Olympiakos were parking the BUS. To counter the BUS, overload in wide areas is the standard strategy. What did Arsenal do, but jam the ball into the jampacked centre AKA Tony Pulis style.  Pepe had a shockingly poor first half. 2nd half Ozil drifted out right for overloads and chances were created. Ceballos should have been instructed to drift left to support overloads for a super isolated Saka. On the rare occasions where Saka was serviced creativity and danger occurred. Xhaka was hellbent on starving Saka. Instead of the simple pass… Read more »

Pooner

Complete shower of shit. Auba, Saka and Martinelli are basically the only players I would care about losing, and Auba would be literally insane to stay here if Barca want him. What a mess we’re in.

Khar

I’m in pain.

Hustle6

How has this not got 1000 likes

Soren V. Nielsen

Olympiakos’s 1st goal was mainly due to scorers goal not being tracked. Main culprit a certain #10 in a red shirt. 2nd banana in the tragic Greek comedy defending a certain Luiz.

Biff

Wasnt Sokratis very slow to react for their second goal. Seemed unaware of the two players behind him and let the Olympiakos player slip easily in front of him when the ball was crossed into the box.

Michael Bolton Wanderers

And yet again xhaka is the one making sure it won’t be offside. This wasn’t the worst one from him, since he’s the CB closest to the ball. but he very often seems to be the one ruining what could have been an offside. Everything is slow with him

Olivije Žirod

It was a misscommunication from the whole team. Ozil was marking zonal. You could see that clearly when we defended other corners. Also why would he man marked the biggest threat in their team?

The Voice of the Noise

Torreira was marking that bloke for a later corner. Even the commentator on my stream was completely baffled at what he was seeing.
We need to be way better at defending corners and crosses.

Kinghenrythe14th

How did Pepe get such a high rating? The guy was trash all through the game.

Nketibag

Huh. What game were you watching? He was the only person on the pitch taking risks and attacking with the ball. Everyone else was passing sideways and hiding. Stop scapegoating our most dangerous player

Alabi kehinde

Wat did he use it for,how many f***ing chances did he create with his dribbles?
Was he advertising himself ahead of winning the game? he was dribbling like as if we were the one leading,dribbling without precision.

Hopeful Gooner

Pepe is our most dangerous player ahead of Auba. He was the one taking on 2 3 4 pkayers at a time and succeeding time and again.

A Different George

I wanna repeat my earlier comment: I thought Pepe was both our best and worst player.

myrtle

10/10 for the new arseblog.news server

DaDude

0.5 for everyone involved. Complete shit show, embarrasing evening.

Jeremy

We’ve set the bar pretty low of late, but I am struggling to think of more embarrassing circumstances involving Arsenal in the last 20 years. Maybe the 8-2 to united, or the 10-1 defeat by Bayern? That’s about it.

God is a Gooner

Let me help you there Jeremy
off the top of my head
Birmingham carling cup final
Man u 6-1
6-0 chelsea in arsene’s 1000th game after 6-3 and 5-1 losses that same season
Thrashed by southampton on boxing day 4-0
Two 3-0 losses in a week vs man city in 2018
I’m sure there’s more, but man it’s the hope that kills you

DaDude

Agree mate, crashing out of the CL to PSV comes to mind, as others have mentioned here. I must admit that I lost my motivation to watch further games of this season right now. We won’t win the FA Cup and we won’t finish in a CL or EL qualifying places in the league. I will surely watch again on Monday though, because I am a stupid and hopeless fan, but the team doesn’t really deserve that to be honest.To crash out against such a weak team is a scandal. Even wose is that as a biased fan, I normally… Read more »

Amusa

Was at a pub for the game.
Jumped on to the table when Auba scored.
Feel like a cunt now.

Bartender was a United fan and gave us stick all night to top it off.

Havent felt this down after a late goal since PSV ages ago.

Cmdn

Leno 5, just a mistake! Nothing more! Ozil 4? Ozil was quite good this match, his fitness level was impressive. Ozil and Pepe should get more.. but they fucked things, dUh. Holded on the ball too long where Laca stood in the box lazily. He was just there with his dumb head to hit perfectly with a cross! When team is dead, it was all individual effort, they more than tried.

lessthanthesumoftheirparts

Ozil and Pepe were both actively trying to make things happen. Ozil’s fitness surprised me as well. He usually does 60 minutes, so he basically played two games here. Put in a few tackles and his cross led to Auba’s goal.

Fred Garvin

His cross also would have led to Auba’s second goal … if only …

Akari

Ozil and Pepe were marking each other. Ozil was coming right, next to Pepe and Pepe is looking for him to run off the ball but he would remain stagnant. Pepe would then try dribble his way through and OZil would end up in line with him but now nearer the side line. Like seriously! First goal defender ghosts past Ozil, not the first time seeing this. At one point Ozil ghosted by 3 players and got a foul and i was happy. continue doing that since you saved your energy for 70mins you are fresher than the lot. Auba… Read more »

Alabi kehinde

It is Pepe that should be making a run not Ozil,Pepe does not know his position that he his winger that needs to collect ball from the attacking midfielder nd find his way to deliver it to the striker or score,he never made any runs but was only waiting to collect the ball nd dribble without any end product,ask De bruyne to Mahrez or Sterling to Aguero or Henderson,Fabinho,Milner,Chamberlain to Salah or Mane to Firmino or they score on their own

tanned arse

Bellerin ‘still not fully fit’ is missing the point with him. He’s lost so much pace and I doubt it’ll come back. What you’re left with is a player with too many technical deficiencies and understanding how to play his position. It’s a bad injury to come back from but its always going to be more than that.

lessthanthesumoftheirparts

Completely disagree. I thought bellerin had his best game for a while. Didn’t give the ball away and combined well with Pepe at times.

goonerrah

What? Bellerin is nowhere near where he should be and other than the Chelsea goal has looked very average at best. Hopefully he returns to top form soon.

Glen Helders left foot

Blogs has a bit of a blind spot for Bellerin, constantly makes excuses for his poor performances. He’s lost 2 yards of pace since the injuries,pace was his main asset and without it he’s a bang average player.

GraeB

I tried to vote you up but, as with various others, I keep being told “you’ve already voted for this comment” – why does this keep happening blogs?

Sad Man

I need a drink.

Actually, I need 100 drinks.

GraeB

Nightmare journey to ground, nightmare journey home, got home at 1.15am – still need a drink!

SantaClausola

How Leno is not getting any blame from people I will never know. Literally screamed “get rid” when he had the ball….for him to only get rid for a corner where it all went wrong.

this and the Chelsea mistake has been very costly.
whole squad was poor today and we deserved to be knocked out on this performance. Great game plan by Olympiakos

FMT

Finally! Somebody mentioned Leno

GraeB

Shouldn’t have been given the ball but why not clear straight off instead of trying out his footwork? He did make great save though.

Marco

Completely agree my fellow bloggers.Always feel slightly guilty having a winge at Leno.The reality is he is a great shot stopper but a really suspect decision maker and moving forward is he any better than Fabianski or sczcesney.

Almunia4Pires

What exactly does Pepe do?

lessthanthesumoftheirparts

He did more than the other attacking players combined. Take your head out of the sand or rewatch the game

Almunia4Pires

Sorry mate you are the one with their head in the sand. Endless aimless dribbling falling over himself zero end product one trick pony. £72m? You’re having a laugh.

GraeB

I can’t understand how any professional player can be so one-footed (not just Pepe) – surely any coach should spend time making them work on their “wrong” foot until they become prepared to use it?

Did anyone ever work out if Santi was left or right footed?

Arsemusic

So much wrong right from the start. So slow all over the pitch, felt like the worse performance under Arteta. He must start playing the inform players and be brave.

Petit's Handbag

I wonder at this stage of the coach is being made to play Ozil. To the naked eye, he adds absolutely nothing from such a forward position which is why I don’t buy the talk of him keeping the play ticking over.

NMArsenal

Did you see the Arsenal matches this season? No one else in Arsenal can play no 10 anywhere good as Ozil does. Granted today he was poor. But even then he curved out a few things. It doesn’t help the front three very passers of the ball. Auba can get away with coz he is such a great scorer but Laca and Pepe are so bad playing with teammates.

Petit's Handbag

“Granted today he was poor”, I don’t have time to go back over the ratings he’s received this season but I’m guessing an average rating of 5.7? He’s just been so anoymous in most games and it’s infuriating. With those kind of wages you always wonder then is he the managers pick or the boards? Surely a system with Xhaka, Ceballos and Torreira in the centre of the park with two good wide men and a centre forward is the way to go. If it means dropping Lacazette, Pepe for Nelson and Martinelli so be it. Do what’s best for… Read more »

KongoKim

Disgusting attitude, perfomance, whatsoever from almost everyone.
0/10 for Willock who jogs back while 2-3 greece attackers run past him 10 minutes after he came on. 0/10 for Luiz, focus once tha fuck u fucking moron. Ceballos & Özil absolutley useless. And what was that weird swingin crosses from halffield all about?
I can’t remember missing a game but i might need a break. fucking heartbroken. i had so much fun during the everton game and obv newcastle aaaaaand everytime when i think we turn the corner we pull out a perfomance like this. penises.

miike

Not sure i agree with Torreira coming on, it seemed like Mustafi was showing more for the ball than Torreira, also why was he marking their tallest player on corners after coming on? Maybe I’m harsh on him, but he doesn’t do much in possession. He reminds me a lot of El Neny on the ball. Martinelli should’ve come on earlier. Ozil and Pepe on the right did nothing. Ozil kept simply passing to Pepe, and Pepe tried to do too much himself. Slight pleasant surprise at Ozil conceding a foul up the pitch during a press, can’t say he… Read more »

NMArsenal

Well Torreira made some important tackles and recovered the ball. The problem was the Arsenal front was very imbalanced

miike

Our midfield was bypassed pretty easily on some breaks they had so i understand the torreira sub, but I think Ceballos did do some okay ball recovery and Torreira doesn’t offer much in breaking down a deep lying side. What exactly do you mean by unbalanced? To me it seemed like no one was really moving much so nothing happened up front for us. Pepe tried to force things with dribbling, but Ozil and Bellerin didn’t provide him many outlets throughout the game. Pepe was just by himself and passing to him was just a dead end because he rarely… Read more »

Alabi kehinde

What do you mean Pepe was not provided outlets? the biggest fuck up of that match,wayward dribbling without incision,extremely weak with right foot,Ozil tredded so many passes to him only to cross into the box,he takes it back nd dribbles nd loses the ball without any end/final products.the one who was given the most ball on the night was pepe who did nothing with it,also some times that he needs to make a run into position to take the ball but stands beside Ozil to collect the so dat he can make his stupid dribbles.

Hustle6

I miss alexis

Marco

HaHa.Have to laugh at the thumbs down to your comment.Best player we have had for years.He should have been given the 350 a week wage not that I never break into a sweat prick Ozil.

Lula

Wow. If there was ever a game that would completely destroy collective morale and self-belief it was this one. It was bad.

On the other hand, Ba looks decent. Wouldn’t mind having him in our squad over a lot of our defenders.

The Voice of the Noise

Their defenders looked good, because everything we did was float soft balls into the box for them to easily head away. We played right into their hands (or heads) with every attack we made.

Tired Gunner

Very generous on the ratings. The whole team looked gutless and without a game plan, which is simply unacceptable. Imagine if this wasn’t the only competition left worth fighting for. Mikel might be a new manager and all, but his team selection was questionable and some of the players that he left on for 120 minutes, instead of bringing some obvious improvements from the bench is even more frustrating to me. The worst part however, is the fact that I am not surprised that we are out of the competition, because that’s just typical Arsenal basically. We have been an… Read more »

Sadgooner

Laca is due for a spell on the bench, let martinelli and Nketiah get a run of games in the middle and let Saka get back on the wing when tierney returns

Edzo

First loss of 2020 and suddenly all our players suck. To be fair, it was easy to see they all lacked sharpness. Tired legs led to sideways passing.

However, time to play auba up top so he doesn’t run himself into the ground.

But, seriously, a goal ahead with 2 minutes to go and you pass back to the keeper???

If you need a laugh, watch ozils defense on olympiakos first goal.

Feel bad for auba. It obviously meant so much to him.

He’s a man playing with boys.

Mpls

Watch it again. It’s called Zonal Marking. There were 3 defenders in the area where the ball was played waiting to *in theory* win the ball or pick up the runners. He was holding his position marking for runs into his area, just like he was trained to do.

Akari

hmmmm

Jatin Gangani

What has happened to Lacazette? He is too slow, can’t dribble not can do link up play likebefore. His hold up game is not helping as well. Pepe has good dribbling skills but without awareness of when to pass the ball, when to cross it or when to take a shot, its useless. He is handicapped with this right foot as well. Why would he go all the way to the goal line if he cant cross with his right foot. Its frustrating. Martinelli deserves starting place over Laca given Laca’s current form David Luiz, just head the ball if… Read more »

Mike hunt

Bye Auba <3

Santori

No sense of urgency. Over elaborate and under focused when need be. 1) Leno – OK most match. One minor mistake at the end which unfortunately led to their winner. 2) Bellerin – Poor. Worrying he has yet to discover form. Consistently over run, did not offer much going forward either. Still working his way back to full match sharpness. 3) Mustafi – Again a decent match for him. Plenty of blocks and headers out. Ball got caught between him and Luiz for their first goal which may suggest better spacing between the two still to be worked out but… Read more »

A Different George

It’s interesting that you stick with your view about Ozil’s fitness. Has been true, but not this time–was poor in first half, much better later, and still better in extra time. You’re being too soft on Luiz and Leno, and (amazingly) not crediting Mustafi enough. He was very good.

Santori

Forgot Martinelli.

He was a bright spark coming on but not enough.

Frankly would have liked to have seen him slightly earlier.

We were too complacent those final minutes thinking it was done and dusted. Some (as per usual) prefer to lay blame on Xhaka playing them on- I mean how would he know if there wasn’t a call from teammates as it was an evolving situation and he had his back turn as he faced the danger….)

The two Cbacks Sokratis-Luiz should have paid more attention and kept communication but neither picked up the danger.

kabuba

it makes sense why we bought Cedric now. Bellerin still has a long way to regain his fitness.

GraeB

Yes, but so does Cedric!

Hamtabfawaz

Why Mustafi deseve the MOTM award Quite remarkably, Shkodran Mustafi is not only a key player under Mikel Arteta; he might be one of the very best players. He has now started the last five games, has excelled in every single one, and is taking on the mantle as a leading figure in the dressing room superbly. Here, he was excellent. Made several crucial interventions and blocks in the first half, pressed high with David Luiz in the second half, just needed to be a little more productive with his passing. I am putting no fault on Mustafi for the… Read more »

Nameless_Gooner

Why was Ozil in the box to defend their first goal? My blood boils everytime I see that goal.. Half assed, no intention, let Auba mark two 7 footers and then looked at the goalscorer run past him like a stupid twat.

Kabir

It’s okay now. Move on. It was never are season really.

Dimma

Most players 4/10 for me. The whole team looked knackered after 20 mins. It might be a blessing in disguise so we just focus on climbing the league.

Quick word on pepe, i wish he would stop pissing around with the ball so much and pass/cross the ball quicker, he overplays the ball soooo much. Poor team display and i think the subs should of come on earlier.

Dimma

Saying that i would give mustafi a 6 as he bblocked about a 1000 shot and passes, thought he was really good tonight

Jummis

I don’t think Sokratis was “fine”. Every time Luiz or Xhaka tried to switch the play, he returned the ball to the side it came from. Arteta, Luiz and Xhaka yelled and yelled at him until finally Arteta switched his position with Luiz, moving Luiz from his preferred position.

Also very switched of at the goal, despite having played ~100 minutes less than the other players.

therealafb

Unusual game really. We were bad on the night but credit has to go to Olympiacos, they were incredibly hard to break down at times – although our lack of forward movement didn’t help this. Few points – Mustafi was actually very good, for a man of his height the guy’s heading ability is great, but there was so much passing between him and Luiz as there was no movement ahead. Pepe has every trick in the book – but so many times he held on way too long. At one point he was pretty much walking through their box… Read more »

Jim wall

I know it’s easy to say arteta picked the wrong team but
I thought he should have freshened things up last night.
This team going Forward..
Leno
Bell. Mustafi mari. Tierney

Torrer. Cabbello
Peppe. Saka

Auba. Martinelle

Max

Pepe was a big problem last night. He make stupid dribbling and his distribution was a disaster. In my opinion the problem up front was all in his shoulder. He had 4 times Ozil in perfect position and he ignored him. And 3 times he make awful passes from a good position .
Sometimes just one player could destroy the rest of the team work.
To me , last night, Pepe was that man.

Alabi kehinde

Support you bro! Weak right foot,sometimes in that match the only thing left was to cross the ball into the box but the next thing he does is dribble they(their defense) regroup. Pepe not d right player yesterday night

TH14

Its literally Mustafis man for the first goal. Ceballos is near, Luiz is far, he is supposed to be covering the centre but runs towards the ball like a confused labrador. But redemption narrative yay!

Charlie George

Mustafi was our best player on the night, you prannet. He’s been in great form.

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