Arsenal 2, Olympiakos 1: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

In an end-to-end game, Arsenal bagged all three points against Greek side Olympiakos in their second Champions League group stage encounter of the season.  The win means they currently sit second in group F behind current leaders Marseille.

There were goals from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Andre Santos for the Gunners before Mark Fuster netted what turned out to be no more than a consolation goal for Olympiakos.

The Good

A bright opening spell for Arsenal saw Champions League debutant Oxlade-Chamberlain get his name on the score sheet after only eight minutes of play with a crisp finish into the bottom right corner.

There’s been a lot of hype about the teenager who signed for a reported seven-figure sum over the summer, and this was Arsenal fan’s first chance to see first hand what all the fuss is about. The odd, misplaced pass aside, he didn’t disappoint.

Perhaps getting a little lucky with ball ricocheting into his path, he showed real composure and desire to put Arsenal ahead, shooting with his weaker foot. After the game, assistant manager Pat Rice had the following to say:

"

From Arsenal supporters’ point of view, they are going to be seeing a lot of this boy. Whenever he breaks in permanently he has a big, big challenge to now get in front of Theo. I know that Theo is a very strong-willed guy as well and he won’t give in easy.

"

Arsenal’s second goal was scored in similar fashion: a slightly lucky bounce enabling Arsenal new boy Andre Santos to drill his shot confidently into the net.

Along with Oxlade-Chamberlain, Santos impressed for the Gunners, displaying both a keen attacking instinct and an increasingly competent defensive awareness as the game wore on.

Two goals to the good after only 20 minutes played and with Robin van Persie still available from the bench, things couldn’t have been looking better for the Gunners… 

The Bad

Unfortunately, the story doesn’t end there. Despite a few promising exchanges in that opening spell, the Arsenal midfield of Emmanuel Frimpong, Mikel Arteta and Tomas Rosicky were leaving worryingly large gaps behind them and continually failing to retain possession for any extended periods of play.

Frimpong, in particular, seemed to be at a complete loss with his positioning, meaning Arteta had to keep dropping back to pick up the slack.

Disappointingly, Rosicky, like Andrei Arshavin ahead of him, was offering very little in terms of movement or ball-retention, either.

In fairness, it is perhaps rather a lot to expect a midfield as transient as Arsenal’s to be brimming with on-field chemistry, yet with Jack Wilshere now ruled out until the New Year and the north London derby looming on Sunday, these players will need start stepping up their all-round team game rather quickly.

The Ugly

Yet again, Arsenal’s defensive frailties were laid bare last night.

After somehow scrambling away a goal-line clearance from Olympiakos’ simple short corner, Arsenal found themselves repeating the same naivety and ill-discipline minutes later as an unmarked Fuster headed home an easy goal for the Greeks.

Yes, four centre-backs were out injured, and Song was forced in as makeshift cover, but the problem wasn’t necessarily the personnel—it was the lack of coherence and togetherness that led to the same errors.  Is it time Arsene Wenger abandoned his zonal-marking experiment?

Another sobering aspect of last night’s performance was seeing Arsenal seemingly forget how to do what they used to do best.  The record-breaking sides of the likes of Patrick Vieira, Robert Pires and Theirry Henry owed much of their success to a characteristic and ruthlessly-executed technique: the counter-attack.

Last night, the Arsenal 11 that took to the pitch seemed to have completely forgotten the meaning of the term.

What happened to one-touch passing, weighted through balls and simple side-foot finishes?

Last night’s Arsenal conspired to make the simple look extraordinary, and directness and efficiency seem like taboos from a by-gone era.

Still, let’s focus on the positives: That’s three wins in a row now for Arsenal. Eight goals scored, two goals conceded across three different competitions, with 24 different players used in the starting lineups.   Not bad for a club in crisis.