Arsenal vs. Olympiacos: Rating the Arsenal Players

Good thing that didn't matter. That, dear friends, was ugly.

It's not all bad, though. Arsenal lost 3-1 at Olympiacos, but they still won Group F and they still advanced to the final 16 of the Champions League.

More importantly, most of the players on the pitch Tuesday night aren't regular first-teamers.

Thank goodness, too, because some of them played very, very badly.

How badly? Let's get to the player ratings, shall we?

Goalkeepers

Lukasz Fabianski: 5.0

It's hard to blame Fabianski for the first goal, but he didn't really do much to stop it, either. Otherwise, he looked shaky throughout his 25 minutes and had to leave the game after colliding with a teammate.

Vito Mannone: 3.0

Mannone came on for the injured Fabianski and somehow played even worse. His awful mistake led to the hosts' second goal, and he made numerous errors throughout the game. His distribution was poor and he seemed unable to hold any shot that came into his area. Why even keep him on the payroll?

Defenders

Thomas Vermaelen: 6.0

Thank goodness for Tommy V. The captain played pretty well, especially compared to his teammates, but his defensive unit was disorganized throughout the 90 minutes. That's on him.

Sebastien Squillaci: 4.0

Squillaci consistently refused to step to opponents. With all the time and space, they gleefully ran wild all over Arsenal's box. Maybe he thought the 18 was Olympiacos' 12th man.

Johan Djourou: 4.0

Djourou stepped to the opposition, and he usually came out on top in challenges. But he was irritatingly careless with his passes. He gave away possession so often, and so carelessly, that you had to wonder where his mind was.

Andre Santos: 5.0

Santos joined in the sloppiness with a poor headed clearance that ended up on the foot of the attacker right behind him. Unsurprisingly, he was subbed out soon afterwards.

Ignasi Miquel: 6.5

Miquel outplayed Santos at left full-back after replacing him in the second half. Miquel got forward well, defended well and tracked attackers well. And he was committed in his challenges, which was a welcomed sight.

Midfielders

Emmanuel Frimpong: 6.0

Frimpong displayed total commitment, launching himself into bruising, physical challenge after bruising, physical challenge. At times, though, he got a bit out of control, as his yellow card showed.

Francis Coquelin: 5.5

Coquelin didn't play as well as he did last week against Manchester City, but he still had a decent performance against a decent European side. I expect big things from Coquelin.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain: 5.5

See above. AOC's game was pretty similar to Coquelin's, and I expect the same great things out of both of them.

Andrei Arshavin: 3.5

Arshavin was pitiful, again. He doesn't even seem to care anymore. He was there because of his experience, but you never would have known it.

Yossi Benayoun: 7.0

Benayoun was also there for his experience, and you could tell. He wasn't spectacular, but his passing, spacing, runs and especially his finishing were solid.

Tomas Rosicky: 5.0

Rosicky replaced Coquelin in the 67th minute and mostly disappeared. At 31, he's probably past his sell-by date.

Forward

Maroune Chamakh: 3.5

As our own Khalid Khan put it, "Chamakh makes every normal man believe you dont [sic] need any skill to be at one of the best clubs in the world." Indeed, Khalid, indeed. Sigh…