Arsenal recorded their second successive victory in the Champions League group stages with a 2-0 victory at a pleasantly autumnal Emirates tonight. My night began most pleasantly as I met up with the sage of Hertfordshire, one Btm, who was having none of the 3-0 predictions suggested in Ned’s superb preview. His pessimism was unfortunately borne out by an increasingly edgy Arsenal performance.
It was a deceptive game, the early stages suggesting the Greeks would be comfortably beaten as Arsenal swept forward with a combination of pace, aggression and not a little elegance. Martinelli missed a free header in the second minute but Odegaard who looked back to his creative best was ripping the Greek rearguard to shreds. We took the lead with a twelfth minute tap-in by Martinelli after good work by Gyokeres. This presaged a potential thrashing for Olympiacos but a combination of careless finishing and dogged Greek resistance saw us reach the interval only one ahead. Gyokeres who worked hard and showed a mixture of subtlety and brawn up front was unfortunately the main culprit. He had done most of the spadework for the goal latching onto an Odegaard through ball which he squeezed under the keeper and onto the post whence Martinelli touched the ball over the line.
Arsenal 1 Olympiacos 0 – Martinelli 12 mins
Odegaard’s inventiveness set up two very good chances for our Swedish striker, but he snatched at both, and Raya had to produce a quite brilliant save to tip over a close-range effort from Podence after White was slow to anticipate the danger as the Athenians built up down the right.
In all honesty White struggled all through against the pace of Podence and looked in need of the game time. Whether we could afford to give him that opportunity became one of the questions Olympiacos posed as the half wore on. It was a curate’s egg of a half where beautiful midfield combinations mainly involving Zubimendi and Odegaard were slightly offset by a feeling that the Arsenal defence was not at its most impenetrable. But half time arrived with a general feeling of optimism.
Half- time – Arsenal 1 Olympiacos 0
Arteta who always cuts an agitated figure on the touch line chose not to make any changes at the interval and one sensed that part of his rationale was that players like White, MLS and Trossard needed game time in a competitive environment. Worryingly what began almost as an exhibition developed into a more even contest with Arsenal failing to find either the midfield rhythm or penetration of the first half. White looked increasingly shaky and it was no surprise when Rice and Timber replaced White and Merino.
Arsenal survived a scare when Olympiacos forced the ball home after a long ball through the centre but an immediate offside flag removed our immediate concern. Eze and Saka then replaced Trossard and Martinelli but not before Trossard had spurned a very good chance in the Olympiacos box. We suffered a review for a potential penalty which thankfully came to naught and Ødegaard saw a double wonder save thwart him when he met a Saka cross with a thumping volley and could not turn home the rebound.
The margin of superiority was worryingly thin, when thankfully Saka who had switched wings with the effortlessly elegant Eze drove the ball in from close range after another perceptive Odegaard pass, just as we entered stoppage time, the goalkeeper allowing the ball to slip under his body.
Arsenal 2 Olympiacos 0 – Saka 90+2 minutes
Cue massive relief around the ground and the final minutes were played out fairly serenely.
Final score – Arsenal 2 Olympiacos 0
In one sense, this was a solid continuation of our form in Europe this season. We have yet to concede a goal, and Arteta has flexed the squad effectively.
Less satisfactorily, we picked up three yellow cards: Gabriel for time wasting and Rice and Zubimendi for professional fouls which stopped dangerous Olympiacos attacks. Gabriel was taken off as a precaution in the second half to be replaced by Mosquera but Arteta has subsequently suggested that he sustained a kick and his removal was precautionary.
Rather like a cricket match where you can’t assess the pitch until both sides have batted, we can’t assess our progress in Europe without a better idea of how good our early opposition is. Nevertheless a repeat of the sloppiness that developed after such a good opening would be likely to be severely punished by Atletico our next opponents in the Champions League. In fairness we started with a heavily rotated side and there were fine performances by our midfield three and Gyokeres deserves, and seemed to get, credit for a wholehearted performance. There is however a justifiable concern about whether the injuries that have plagued Ben White over the last few months have taken away some of his sharpness and his ability to overlap effectively. It was noticeable that we looked much more secure when Timber replaced him.
We move on to confront our bogey side Wet Spam on Saturday. Nuno would have watched this game with a mixture of trepidation and relish. Not unlike most of the crowd tonight.
Thanks TTG. I will admit to finding your report a little grudging. I don’t think we laboured at any stage. We made constant creative chances but our finishing was poor, starting in the first minute. Olympiacos are not a bad team and, after all, have won their last three visits to the Emirates and have been in Europe since before us.
As you mentioned, Odegaard was superb throughout, right back to his best, with his progressive passing a joy. Myles had a brilliant game. Gyokeres I thought was excellent bar his finishing. Raya again came up with key saves.
I agree on Ben White. He looks to have lost a yard of pace. After a couple of good games, Tross was under par.
So I was satisfied. On to West Ham. (I always find the term Wet Spam disrespectful. After all, as their fans always tell me, they did win the World Cup in 1966 🤔).
One more thought. I love it when Saka and Martinelli/Eze switch wings. It confuses the defence. We should do it more often.
A fair summary of the game, TTG, although my two cents would be that there was more relish than trepidation. If any or all of Martinelli’s marginally misguided header early doors, Trossard’s untypically wayward attempt at a far-post curler in the second half or Gyokeres’s blast over the bar had gone in, your overall impression might have been more positive. No argument, though, that we should have killed off the game with a second goal well before the second minute of stoppage time.
It was also a more open game than we have been used to seeing of late. We had the momentum for most of the game, but not the suffocating control to which we have become accustomed, a consequence of playing more directly. But it caused some moments of peril for us defensively: Raya’s tip over the bar from Podence’s volley was a pivotal moment.
I agree with your player assessments, particularly of Benny Blanco. He was not at his best. One has to hope he is still working his way back to full fitness, and has not permanently lost the yard of pace you identify.
In the l’esprit d’escallier of C100@2, my additional thought is that Arteta’s rotations between and within games no longer leave us looking disjointed, which suggests real progress in making the most of our squad depth.
C100
You mentioned last night you thought MLD was brilliant. It was nice to see him back but too many crosses came in from the right flank for my liking and I thought he held onto the ball too long when going forward . I would have given him 6.5 / 10 but am interested to see if I am considered a curmudgeon . He floated some fine balls forward including that very early cross to Martinelli and as it was his first ninety minutes against opposition of this calibre I’d certainly cut him some slack
MLS not MLD
TTG @5. Definitely curmudgeon! MLS carries better than all of our other full backs. He is also very difficult to knock off the ball. His passing is superb. An eight for me!
These are Arteta’s post-match remarks about MLS’s performance:
Very good. I think he played a really, really good game. Every level, defensively and attacking, and he looked really focused, he understood really well when to take chances, when to keep the game flowing and very simple, and I’m very pleased with what I’ve seen today.
That is measured for Arteta post-game, and points to where MLS is being coached to iron out weaknesses in his game.
Very much the game I saw, TTG – not at all surprising giving that we were sitting only a couple of feet apart. We played very well in the first half but really couldn’t claim to be the better team in the second half. Overall though, there was much to like about our performance other than the missed opportunities. I particularly enjoyed, Martin, Victor and Zubi’s contributions to the evening.
I thought MLS looked good going forward, however every time their right winger/full back attacked down that flank the ball came into our penalty box (in one case resulting in the Raya super save. I think his future doesn’t lie at left back.
Good report, TTG. We started with the attacking energy for which I had hoped and MØ gave a masterclass on midfield command but our incipient profligacy was presaged by Martinelli’s miss in the first minute. Thank Dennis he had the nimble feet to net the rebound off the post from Gyokeres’ shot after his surging run onto MØ’s sumptuous through ball. We missed a barrow-load of good chances. Here I have to disagree with you as I thought the prime culprit was Trossard for whom nothing came off all night. Also the double save by their excellent keeper was from shots by MØ not Gyokeres whom I thought had an excellent game providing everything but the goal! After the early dissection of the Greek defence,I too expected that we would at least achieve Ned’s predicted 3-0 shoreline but the Greeks stiffened their defensive resolve and in fact were the better offensive team in the SH. They are clearly no mugs and thanks to Raya did not get the equaliser they might have deserved. The right wing backs persistent crosses are I’m afraid a black mark on MLS’s scorecard and nearly brought them joy. The wisdom of investing in depth rather than glitter was proved once again by the impact of our late subs, albeit the man who allowed us to stop biting our nails is an ‘old boy’ whom our newfound depth allowed to put his feet up until the final stages and join the somewhat fraught fray as fresh as a mountain daisy. Another good win but as TTG observes, such a SH against the big boys might do us serious harm.
Thanks for your corrections Bath. I wrote the report on the train home without seeing any TV coverage or reading any reports. I was unimpressed with Trossard who had a poor night . I’m sure Dowman coukd have shaken the game up but we need to handle his early moments carefully.
Thanks TTG as always you have provided a few things to think about.
Personally, I am not too worried about games like this when we churn
out a result with a much changed XI. It’s about what I’d expect, it’s also
not the XI that will start away at Madrid and finally there were several positives
from the game. I was also happy to end Olympiacos’s little run of success at
our place after sticking it to the Riyadh Rovers.
On to Wham then, and a chance to flick another recent bogey side into touch.
A very advanced welcome to the Irish teenager, Victor Ozhianvuna, who will be joining from Shamrock Rovers in January 2027 after he turns 18. According to the Irish press, we are paying 2 million euros plus add-ons for the high-rated lad.
https://www.arsenal.com/news/agreement-reached-victor-ozhianvuna
Thanks TTG – finally managing to catch up here just before your report vanished into the ether as the next match races round.
I know exactly where you’re coming from with your mixed feelings about the match. We started in sublime form and a cricket score looked likely. As the half wore on Olympiacos worked there way into the game by concentrating their efforts out wide where MLS was often caught in his inverted role too far from his winger, and Ben White, unsurprisingly after so many months of injuries, looked way off the pace on the right hand side.
Our profligacy in front of goal was, I thought, due to poor technique – a strange thing for me to say of such quality players – where our strikers were leaning back rather than getting their heads over the ball to shoot. At least such a basic fault should be easy enough to put right ! The Greek side were pacy and awkward to play against too and made life difficult for us – rather I thought than our players just getting sloppy.
We do still have new and returning players getting used to each other – again – and at least there is now a clear intention to get the ball moving faster and forwards more quickly. In the end a 2-0 win in the Champions League is never to be sneezed at and, as you say, we won’t know how good that result is until Olympiacos play a couple more matches.
Thankyou Trev it’s always a disappointment when we don’t get a better response to reports on here , especially when you labour late in the evening after the match to provide them. We have another interlull coming up which will enable us to provide some slightly different fare
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