Arsenal: Leno, Bellerin, Mustafi, Luiz, Saka, Xhaka, Ceballos, Ozil, Pepe, Aubameyang, Lacazette
Subs: Martinez, Sokratis, Torreira, Maitland-Niles, Willock, Guendouzi, Martinelli
—
Arsenal crashed out of the Europa League after late heartbreak at both ends saw us lose 2-1 to Olympiacos at the Emirates this evening.
Mikel Arteta picked a strong side, particularly from an attacking point of view, starting Mesut Ozil, Nicolas Pepe, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette together.
The game began slowly enough, but in the 12th minute things began to happen. Bellerin fed Ozil who tried to find Lacazette, before Xhaka and Pepe both had shots blocked.
Then some more nothing happened before Pepe was sent through by Lacazette and fouled on the edge of their box. Ba picked up a booking that could have been more than that, but the record signing could only curl the free kick over the bar.
Another solid spell of nothing much followed with some stuff nearly happening but not quite. Mustafi did block a shot with his Germanic posterior, Camara shot wide after finding space behind, and on the sidelines Mikel Arteta looked less than pleased with what his team was producing.
Arsenal did have the ball in the back of the net, a repeat of the only goal of the first leg when Saka fed Lacazette to finish, but the left-back was offside in the build-up.
The final pass was poor throughout, leading to losses of possession in dangerous areas, and with no real chances to speak of, the teams went in level at the break.
There were no half-time changes from Arteta, and also not much change in the game where all the nothing that happened in the first half happened again. That was until the visitors got a corner, Valbuena whipped it in, and Cisse had a free run to head home from close range. 0-1.
Leno then had to make a great save to prevent Tsimikas scoring the Greeks’ second goal of the game, Camara was booked for a foul on Saka, while Arsenal couldn’t seem to build any attacking momentum.
Arteta made his first change in the 72nd minute, bringing on Lucas Torreira for Dani Ceballos, Pepe did lots of dribbling to win a corner, but nothing came of it. Xhaka then set up the Ivorian for a shot which the keeper did well to save, and when the ball came back in Lacazette stooped to somehow head wide from just a couple of yards out.
Xhaka had a go from distance but put his shot over the bar, Lacazette smashed a shot miles wide from inside the box, before Torreira had a pop from outside the box but the keeper was equal to it.
Joe Willock came on to replace Bellerin in the 84th minute, with Arsenal moving to a back three of Xhaka, Luiz and Mustafi. There were a couple of late Olympiacos corners to test our nerves, but no further goals meant extra-time.
Pepe was denied an obvious free kick on the edge of their box, the refereeing waving play on, and just before the end of the first period Mustafi picked up a hamstring strain and was replaced by Sokratis. Ther ewas still time for Gaspar to fire over from a very promising position.
We reached half-time, and new rules meant an extra sub at our disposal. Gabriel Martinelli came on for Lacazette to play the final 15 minutes of extra-time. Olympiacos were sitting very deep, making it tough for us to find space and looking to counter-attack.
Masouras almost won it for the visitors, curling a shot beyond Leno but thankfully off the top of the bar. Saka put in a couple of low crosses, and in the 113th minute the goal we needed finally came. Ozil put in a cross from the left, Martinelli challenged the defender which saw the ball pop up, and Aubameyang watched it all the way before hooking it acrobatically into the back of the net. 1-1.
It should have been the winner, but there was a twist to the game. Leno was careless to concede a corner. Corner came in, got cleared, we didn’t get it fully clear through, ball crossed in, Luiz caught again, bloke scored from close range. 1-2. Disaster.
And yet, there was a chance right at the death – the ball broke for Aubameyang just yards out, and having scored a chance of high difficulty, the leading scorer put it wide to the disbelief of everyone, not least himself.
Arsenal were beaten, away goals counted for the Greeks, and our European campaign is over for this season.
That’s Auba gone in the summer
First thing I thought..can we really blame him
No! We blame Leno instead for wanking around on the edge of the area in the 119th minute
Awful pass back from Xhaxa. I know which of the two I’m more inclined to eventually forgive.
Actually this defeat is 100% on ARTETA. Starting with the line up strong but needed a few refreshing. Let’s start Xhaka only played side ways passes the entire first half. He was lacking in confidence for some reason. Ozil was poor Pepe was poor Lacazette was poor Cebellos tried but tired out MUSTAFI was our best player Bellerin was sht forgot how to overlap or make a decent cross. He is seriously overrated. ARTETA took forever to bring on Martinelli. He also made the mistake of bringing Willock in over Guendouzi who can actually find a pass willock does not… Read more »
Agreed.
Yes we can. He missed a “sitter”. He is responsible for the miss, alone.
It was poor no doubt. But he’s the only one we can say has been pulling his weight this season.
He’s a professional, and he should score those. So he deserves
some criticism. But that needs to be balanced with
acknowledgement of his stunning goal.
Overall, I thought he was quite poor. Only that goal got him to a
rating of 5, for me.
I am not blaming him for a miss, but I am replying to the person who said we can not blame him if he wanted to leave. Apparently this whole debate is about him leaving because we crashed out to Fly, but if he didn’t miss that chance we will still be in it. He is a striker and missed a big chance, regardless of what else happened. Clear as day, that was on him.
Of course. That’s his job. I love and respect our captain but that is besides the point here: it was an absolute sitter… keeper is already falling to Aubas left, feet not planted so could not have reached anything a inside Auba’s right post or anything in the yawning left side of the goal!. he’s an extraordinary player and has saved us soooo many times but that has got to be one of his worst ever misses.
Possibly other key players. We won’t spend for Arteta so probably slippery slope.
Do we have key players?
Couldn’t care less about any of the other “key players”
We’ll have to smash the EPL. Liverpool style. 11, 11 wins, could all end well yet… Now we can focus. Clutching at silver linings… Maybe, but that’s what fans do, right?
Only thing that can rectify this. But we can’t even win at home against Olympiacos yet will somehow beat the spuds, wolves and Leicester away from home. No matter how well we play someone will produce a magic moment of astronomically bad defending.
Wouldn’t mind seeing the back of Lacazette.
Can’t blame just Laca. This team can’t defend. We are shit at defending. We have been shit at defending fir many years now. We need to get rid off every defender and start fresh. One bad apple from the past will infect and disrupt the new players.
I’m not. He was far from the only non starter today. I’d also ask why Arteta didn’t replace him sooner.
It’s nothing personal as such although his moodyness grates on me at times. We’ll get a decent amount of money for him that we can invest into the team. For me it’s time to move on to something else in the summer.
Would prefer Giroud over Laca.
Lol.
Auba didn’t deserve that. That’s going to hurt for a while. Gave them the game with shambolic defending for both goals.
How quickly things changed, Auba and Leno heroes against Everton, for a long time this game as well. However, right at the end.
Fans very fickle. Not happy with not killing the game but not happy with the ridiculous hyperbole on here either. Under Emery we would’ve lost in normal time.
Good. All the senior players can fuck off. I said last week that the senior players have disgraced us all season and got nothing but excuses for them. We have supposedly 3 of the best attackers in the land and nobody fucking moves. As for the rest, well they played like they gave half a shit tonight and got EXACTLY what they deserved. Nothing. Arteta was doing his best to cajol them on the sidelines and they continued to play like it was a training game. I got so irritated that I started clapping Olypiakios towards the end. At least… Read more »
Quit projecting your miserable cuntishness on the players
You are clearly not very intelligent. Quit making excuses for overpaid prima donnas and become stop being part of the problem.
Was Emery in charge tonight? Hope the mirrors were cleaned in the dressing room so the players can take a good long look at themselves.
I think Wenger tried to do that and it back fired, you just can’t do that these days.
Not only CL there will not be Europe at all.
Yeah maybe….what a chance he missed to keep the dream alive. The same players to get into this mess want to jump ship for bigger and better things, how ironic.
All the talk these last few days comparing him to Henry. I bet Henry would have finished that chance in 2020
I do remember Thierry missing chances to win it against Barca in Paris.
Henry had no legs, he ran himself into the ground with virtually no support all game, at least the keeper had to save his chances. Auba bottled it. Everybody remembers Mustafi’s fuck ups and the poor team performances. Now think back to Auba’s bad misses from last season, where 1 goal would have given us the 1 point needed to be in the CL this season. I don’t want Auba to go, but my point is, if he thinks he deserves to be aiming higher and he’s better than this, he needs to remember that he’s also been part of… Read more »
Best goalscorer at the club since Henry yet we’ve still failed to build a team to get the best out of him. Defence has improved a lot under Arteta, but going forward we’ve been really poor. What was it today – 0 shots on target until the 76th minute? Against Olympiacos. At home. Nowhere near good enough.
This team is built exactly FOR that. Geared to open up space for him
I was counting all the back and sideways passes xhaka made and lost count. I don’t think he made any forward pass the entire 90min it was terrible. Guendouzi would’ve picked out somebody. He would’ve drove to their box and gotten free kicks and fouls say what you like guendouzi would’ve fought harder than xhaka did. Pathetic. Ozil was completely sht Pepe was also my goodness talk about overcomplicating plays Pepe terrible. Arteta should’ve started Martinelli he changed the complexion of the game immediately he got on. Arteta is naive and his inexperience showed. Terrible terrible subs.
Let him we’ve got a ready made replacement
Ozil out xhaka out Bellerin out Lacazette out Pepe needs to get slapped in the face for twisting and turning a million times like nobody gives a sht about your dribbling if it’s not to create chances and get out tight spaces. Like seriously what does he think he’s Neymar? Pass the FKIN ball and move! Luiz did well until he didn’t MUSTAFI brilliant. This squad needs a total rebuild. Bellerin forgot how to FKIN overlap how to FKIN cross hoe to FKIN defend 1 v1 actually he’s terrible 1 v 1 he’s so overrated it’s ridiculous. Ozil my word.… Read more »
I think I’m gon be sick ?
It might have looked like our first XI but there are too many 1-paced players in this team. Xhaka can pass well, it’s just that he needs 2 seconds and 3 bloody touches to do it. He’s so fucking slow.
I’m crying out for a Torreira Ceballos partnership. We need to bring 1, 2 touch tiki take back to the midfield: players comfortable on the turn who speed up the play. The horseshoe dawdling from Granit and co tonight was up there with the worst of the Emery era. Woeful, and not how you break down a low block.
And xhaka OMG only passed backwards and sideways the entire first half
I love Torreira but he’s no better. Passes backwards constantly and is also slow and physical ally weak. Although he offers a better press.
I agree Torreira is not the answer. No one on this team is the answer, there is only so much they can do. Maybe its talent or maybe its the combination of players but there needs a big change.
I’d rather have Torreira’s energy and reading of the game, breaking up plays than Xhaka’s occasional good diagonal pass or ball in behind to Saka. I can’t think of a player slower on the ball than Xhaka
Agreed. I prefer them both to ceballos who is a good footballers but the Anthesis of what we need.
Same. Gutted 🙁
Goodbye Auba. Thanks for the memories
?
There were so many things wrong with that game but Im sorry… Leno might as well have rolled the ball in his own goal. I know its not fair but MY GOODNESS WAS THAT STUPID. Especially since Arsenal are the worst team in the EPL defending set pieces and gave up 2 goals on set pieces just a few days ago. Fack! So annoying
Well that was fucking shit, wasn’t it?
What an absolute shitshow. I literally can’t believe what I’ve just watched. Completely lethargic performance up to the 70th minute – lack of movement, awful decision making. Managed to get going again in extra time and I think I’ve lost my voice screaming at that Aubameyang goal, but to then lose it to yet another ball into the box and atrocious defending is absolutely gutting. Then to see Aubameyang miss from 3 yards out for the best chance of the game and send us through totally killed me. On a day when we just needed that extra bit of luck,… Read more »
I missed Auba’s last attempt as wifey had had enough of watching shit football and asked to go home. 120 minutes of that and I felt she’d suffered enough.
We’ve got our Arsenal back..
That was sporting poetry that even Shakespeare would be proud of.
You couldn’t write a script like it. Auba scoring, then missing at the death to (in)directly end his Arenal career. God this club doesn’t half put you through it.
We’ve got our Thursdays back
Heartbroken. Why pass it back to Leno? Why is Leno kicking it for a corner when he could just launch it down the field? Why aren’t we clearing the corner better?
Why can’t we defend sensibly for 7 minutes to see a game out?
So needless
We are the masters of not only being shit but heartbreakingly so. Its been going on for over a decade. Think of that Carling cup final defeat to Birmingham. How many of those types of games have they puts us through.not just to lose but it’s always in spectacular and hilarious for other fans fashion.
Why why why why why
Why does Luiz consciously pull AWAY from that last intercept header??? You are in a team trying to raise itself from the dead… you have clawed your way to 1 minute from the last 16 in Europe…
You FUCKING BREAK YOUR NECK to head that ball, you apathetic muppet!!! he even shrugged his shoulders afterwards ffs!!!!
Well at least we’ve got our banter back! First game of the season I was able to see live, brilliant!
Honestly feel for the fans who went to see that game… My first game this season was Crystal Palace at home, you know how that went.
A shocking display and I’m frozen solid to boot, great stuff!
Shattered
That was another level of Embarrassing!!!
This is on Arteta. Slow to react in the first 90. We needed a gol and he sat Martinelli on the bench all game.
Wow. The poor guy had only 3 subs to make! What else can you do if they dont pass dont score dpnt jump dont defend dont attack?
I think you are allowed 4 subs no? Willock, papa, torriera Martinelli.
Dead right! Martinelli was a bright spark when he came on. Laca was awful again. And why was all-left-foot Pepe playing out on the right? He was dreadful out there!
It is only experimental. Next game he will play again at his favourite position left back
Arteta made mistakes today. But he strikes me as someone who does not have alot of patience. Alot of players just ended their careers today. Especially if Arteta is backed In the market.
Sad to see Arteta doesn’t rate Martinelli. Only started him when Auba was suspended. Then waits fucking 105 minutes to play our second top goalscorer when we desperately needed a goal.
He worked hard for his chances. He’s bern treated differently from senior players. Not fair on the lad. He’s looked better and more productive than practically everyone and if he’d played the same amount of game auba has then there’s a de entry chance he would’ve scored another 10 goals to match him
No more than we deserved!
And take Ozil and Xhaka with you.
Ozil was fine just want more from a player in that position. Xhaka’s value is solely in allowing the left back to get forward. If he was that good as a center midfielder in arteta’s mind, then he’d be playing him in center midfield but he’s not. Totally replaceable
Back down to earth.
Think we are progressing?
Side to side passing, no urgency, lack of forward movement…sounds familiar?
Lack of focus.
We are where we are, not even competitive in Europe’s second tier competition.
Struggling to close the gap to a europa spot let alone CL.
This is the same set of players available to Unai Emery just saying.
Auba likely gone in the summer. Rebuild will be complicated.
Time to wake up to the fact we are no longer a top side.
U just can’t help yourself, can you?
STFU please!
Next level Banter FC, Kroenke has turned this club into a piss-take meme.
Kroenke wasn’t marking that Cisse Chap on their corner kicks. #KroenkeOut
He may as well have been, with the current crop of overpaid rejects and has-beens that he has presided over. Him and his dickhead mouthpiece son. The trajectory is clear since he’s been “involved” – a steady downwards spiral into mediocrity, the likes of Luiz commanding the penalty area are simply the cherry on top of the softscoop pile of dogshit that is his ownership.
But he may as well have been…
Yo I was looking at the players we have tonight and thinking wow what an amazing team, unpopular opinion, but I don’t get what the kronkies have done wrong, they got us players. I quite liked the fight back, and Yes Martinelli should have been brought on much earlier, but at least there was fight m, we just got fucked by luck at the end of extra time after a fuck ton of games.. calm down ffs
Gutted
Now we can concentrate on the league.
We concentrated well in 3 matches and then played shit, that’s not good
enough for reaching Europa through the league next year.
😉
We played how the manager asked. We defended set pieces ‘shit’ and gave them away ‘shittily’ but the players generally moved that ball around and Co trolley the game how they were instructed. Problem was it was the wrong directive for that game
That is not the end of life…
We move on….
Arteta has done his best…
The brain is available but the machineries are in short supply….
Unto FA and PL for the remainder of the season….
No player deserved any blame rather the fans that are present in the stadium…
How on earth is Olympiakos fan’s voice overshadowed our own…
We are playing at home but the team can not feel effect…
Common we can do better.
It’s Europa League. Kind of hard to be as fired up as a premier League or champions League match.
Kind of hard to get fired up by slow passing play for 2 hours as well
“No player deserved any blame rather the fans that are present in the stadium”
Weak, like many of the players currently absorbing vast quantities of cash to put on the Arsenal shirt.
The passiveness of our fanbase is sometimes quite grating. It’s almost like they pretend to care, or lack the charisma to be passionate about anything.
Blaming the fans for results on the pitch…only at Arsenal.
It’s bad enough when incompetent players and managers use it as an excuse,but I never understand how fans can resort to this.
So the people who pay some of the highest ticket prices in Europe and fund the salaries and lifestyle of the players and managers,are also responsible for ‘encouraging’ the players to perform on the pitch and the coax the manager to make the right decisions ? GTFOH
I really like Arteta and what he’s brought, but we should be under no illusions that a lot of these players simply aren’t champions league quality.
Alot of them don’t even seem to be EL quality, as they are not in one of the last 16 teams in the EL.
They aren’t even Europa League quality
This was a Europa league match…
My heart is broken for everyone.
Gutted to lose that in the manner we did, but the way we played tonight I couldn’t see us winning the thing anyway.
Look on the bright side. Atleast Thursday night’s won’t be stressful and disappointing anymore.
Why are we even thinking of going or wanting to go to the champions league with this team? We would finish 4th in any group with this wishywashy weak mentality. Fk the Chapions league, lets just finish in top half. The Honeymoon is over!!!
Dunno, maybe it feels better when it’s the best teams in Europe that beat us
We got trashed by Bayern and Barca on a regular basis, by an Arsenal team that always finished in the top 4. This team we have, would dream of finishing maybe 5th. You really want to play Bayern and Barca with this defence and be animated like spurs? Lol
Humiliated* fk you autocorrect
Disaster of a performance. Front 3 were terrible, no movement or slowing it down. Lacazette has turned into a dreadful player, he needs to be sold and find another solution. If this is the end of Auba, we should good money to address their departure. We were sloppy in possession and I now think we really need to see what Mari and Soares can do, David Luiz was crap tonight so Arteta needs to see whether Mari is better. Bellerin looks a shadow of a player so we need to have a look at Soares.
Spot on chuffy. Dreadful performance.Even when Auba scores sensed there would be a twist at the end.As for Bellerin unfortunately we have seen better days and the bad injuries he has had have basically made him lame. If he was a horse you would put him out of his misery.
that auba miss.. feels like the rvp one against milan..
gutted for him, the man was in tears..
i very much doubt it would have made a difference we needed to score 2 because they would have won on the away goals rule.
we would have been 3-2 on aggregate. please think before you post.
Sorry guys of course you are right….Apologies
No – because 2-2 on the night would have made it 3-2 on aggregate.
Have another thimk about that one..
That was Mikel’s worst performance. How did he not bring Martinelli on for Laca after an hour latest. Willock did not add anything. We needed Auba central and people making runs (much like mine to catch train to get me home by 2am).
Xhaka and Pepe both slowed the game down. If Xhaka had taken that early chance or Pepe could shoot right footed we could have won it.
Gutted that I made more effort tonight than some of our players.
Granit’s passing poor today. Pepe over complicated and when he loses the ball prefers to complain. Expensive for what we are getting from him. Too many players standing around waiting for the ball, not attacking the half spaces. Not enough urgency when on the ball. Torreira also poor, lost the ball several times, particularly one instance Leno had to be very alert. Even Leno could have done better but our defense again asleep (without Mustafi) and no sense of danger considering just 2 or 3 minutes left on the clock. Complacency. And just saying again, gaffer has the same players… Read more »
He’s clearly leaning on seniority, when in reality Torreira and Martinelli are two of our most consistent performers. Both would have made a world of difference from the start. Instead of the statues that were out there today. Pepe and ozil tried hard but all huff no puff.
Pépé.. . Senior Player? Really?
Senior price tag and our most senior RW, so, yes, I suppose he is
Our players looked exhausted throughout.Was really surprised with the team selection. Lacazette not good enough.
4 games in 11 days is no joke at all.. Tired legs and drained energy. Let’s just try to get into the top half of the table this season. The fight continues next year (season)
With the benefit of hindsight, we could’ve done with Martinelli on the pitch a bit earlier but not much could’ve been done about the goal. Gutted but now let’s focus on the league and aim for 4th or 5th to get us back in the CL
Also, how good was that Cisse fella. He’s only 24. If it wasn’t for Saliba coming in, I’d say he’d be worth a look to replace Luiz long term
4th or 5th? As miracles go that would be on par with loaves and fishes!
we are just not good enough and those that think we are are clearly delusional.
No, we haven’t been good enough. 4th is a stretch but we’re only 4 points off Man U
It’s not hindsight – everyone could see Laca just wasn’t performing and he should have brought Martinelli on as first sub and won it in normal time.
Forget it. We will not play in Europe next year.
Its hard not to think what was going on in Leno’s head when he conceded that corner.
Nothing was going on his head. Nor Xhaka’s when he deliberated and took an age to pass it back to him, thus inviting pressure. Nor in Luiz’s empty skull. Etc.
Xhaka wasn’t at fault here, Leno could’ve cleared that ball long before he was closed down. But then, he has saved us several times this season so…. It happens.
Granit won’t know to push up if those behind don’t give him the shout.
Lack of awareness by senior defenders.
And Mustafi wasn’t even on the pitch.
Leno was the main culprit but Stokiakos were already rapidly closing Xhaka down, he was sure to know that, and instead of making a simple pass much earlier to Leno he dithered and invited pressure. As for the subsequent “defending” it doesn’t require commentary.
I agree the corner should’ve been properly dealt with, but seeing we conceded from a corner earlier and how terrible we are at defending set pieces or defending generally, Leno should’ve avoided that corner.
Xhaka didn’t invite the pressure but Leno made a bad first touch.
Eh? There’s nothing to interpret here: yes, Xhaka did invite pressure. He took an age to pass it back and telegraphed it for the player that was pressing. I’m not excusing Leno, because what he did was a disaster, but Xhaka contributed. He had a few options: pass quicker to goalkeeper, and there was plenty of time to do that – so the goalkeeper has more time / less pressure to clear. Dither, like Xhaka did, and the goalkeeper has less time and so is under more pressure, and so is more prone to making a mistake, which he duly… Read more »
Play our best keeper, everybody said………….
Both he and xhaka were terrible with the ball in that situation. But quite how he managed to make it a corner is baffling. Horrendous
Exactly my thoughts, how did that become a corner?
Can the season end already so we can see the backs of Xhaka, Ozil (not based on this match alone) and Co.
Gutted!
Oh and, Lacazette deserves a special mention! Guess he can move on from here. Wouldn’t like to see him again.
If we don’t want to pay to get rid of him, I’m afraid ozil is here next year too.
It was nice having you Auba….have a nice time at Barcelona next season
That was dire.
£220million front 4, earning £840k a week between them, and they couldn’t even hit a straight pass.
Arteta is up against it with this lot, the theory that he’s a genius coach, will certainly be put to the test
He’ll have plenty of preparation time between games between now and end of the season.
If Emery had produced 2 European performances like that? There’d be uproar.
Thankfully Arteta’s still in his honeymoon period, but for how long?
Absolutely
Make no mistake, Arteta was as much at fault for this as anyone on the pitch.
Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Oh arsenal the saga continues. As usual it’s the hope that knives through the heart like an icy blade. Not been this angry all season but thought a corner had been turned at least in competency if not quality. I play conference level football and some of the things these ‘world class’ premier League level players do is fucking mind boggling.
Absolutely gutted. Personally I think today was the match where our fatigue levels really showed. Don’t understand why martinelli was on so late – laca was clearly having a bad day.
That loss in that way hurts and it’s going to take some time to get over and bring back the confidence. I worry about our next couple of games in the league…
Bye Auba, bye Laca, was nice while it lasted. That was awful but sadly wasnt surprising.
Said it before and I’ll say it again. Away goals is history’s greatest monster.
This result aside, I couldn’t agree more. It was a retarded, illogical idea from the beginning.
A lot of our players let the gaffer down. Mikel will come good, however, today he showed his inexperience. Martinelli should have come on early for Laca, with Auba moving to the middle. I like his tactics, organization and ideas, but he will need to read games better
Olympiacos didn’t win it: we lost it. Somehow, we couldn’t beat an average Greek team that would probably struggle in the Championship. We should have put the game to bed last week but squandered at least two great chances in Greece. At 1-0 we were always in danger of going out tonight. Recently, we’ve improved defensivly but were awful when it mattered tonight: both goals were nightmares. What was Leno doing at the end? Everything that could go wrong did go wrong; even Auba missed that golden chance at the end. We need to pick ourselves up quickly for the… Read more »
Disagree – I think Olympiakos won it. They attacked and scored when they needed to and also missed chances in the first game.
We should have killed the game by halftime. To lose like this is unacceptable. Not to take anything away from Greeks but this is a definition of shooting ourselves in the foot. IMO
Haven’t felt this gutted after a loss for a while. Never seen Auba so crestfallen, he was on the brink of tears…But if I have to stretch out to find a silver lining, it’s that very fucking clearly we don’t have the ability to play 3 times in a week and perform consistently, we got progressively worse from game to game to the point where we couldn’t even compete with Olympiacos for 90mins, terrible performance. Not sure if it goes back to our poor fitness levels or lack of quality rotation options, but going for both the EL and PL… Read more »
Everytime we look like we turned a corner…a greater disaster pops up.
We are used to it by now.
This is the first crash test of MA. I wanna see his reaction and the teams reaction.
Afterall this season was trial and error…
It’s difficult to combine EL and PL when we start (almost) the same players every game. Surprised that Torreira and Martinelli didn’t start tonight.
That’s one of our problems. Fitness. If we wanna play UCL or even EL we should be able to play two games a week with almost the same team
Leno can’t turn this into a habit. I was in support of him starting but hindsight…
I would blame Xhaka and Arteta
1. Xhaka gave a poor and unecessary back pass to Leno that led to that Goal
2.Am much doubting Arteta.. how could he hold on Laca for 100 plus mins and everybody could he was very poorl?
Gutted!
Are we better to miss out on Europe all together and focus on the league next year?
We are where we are in no small part due to losing Champions League money. If we lose Europa money it only gets worse. Not better.
We will
Mediocrity..
I hope this doesnt affect the team so much coz this can possibly mean the end of whatever season we had.
I really hope Saliba is good
Saliva is reading frantically through his contract right now.
He must be… salivating.
Sorry lads let’s get the best out of the league, top four is a possibility COYG
We got our Arsenal back, Emery style..
This was a horror show from the dark ages,no movement ,slow passing and cowardly defending. A centre-back afraid of air duels (Luiz), another who can’t defend against long passes (Mustafi) and the world slowest passer im midfield ( Xhaka). Auba is out in summer, he wants to win something before retirement.
Arteta has done very well so far, but we’re light years behind Liverpool and City. This need time and a shitload of money.
That’s all you are worried about?
Torreira lost the ball so many times today. Master class?
Pepe is rubbish for 72m spent. Over complicated, loses his take ons prefers to have a tantrum.
Sokratis and Luiz between them no communication or awareness where the danger was for their final goal.
With that first half performance we would get beaten by teams like Wolves later in the competition anyway. Yet I´m still gutted after crashing out like this. Could this fucking nightmarish season end already.
Well, Wolves didn’t qualify either.
But yeah, with performances like that, we’d somehow get beaten by them anyway..
Woops! My bad, read the scores wrong.
Wolves are through.
Lacazette seems too comfortable, he needs to move on. Plus retire the number 9 jersey(it seems to be a curse)
We are finished as a top club for a long time. Ask yourself how much of this squad is either not good enough or needs to be purged. Infact it’s easier to name who is good enough to stay and who you and the team would miss if they were gone. That list is extremely small.
Who could perform regularly in a top 4 team?.Aubameyang, Leno (despite today). Jury out on Martinelli and Saka. Rest we can safely move on.
There they go again, doing what
they are known for……. breaking hearts.