It was a disappointing night in Greece for Arsenal who fielded a reserve team of fringe players and youngsters with one or two senior players. We could have had top spot in the group with a win but like Wenger I too think a rest is needed for a lot of the first team.
The first half wasn't too bad. We started the brighter of the two teams but lacked that bit of cutting edge. Gervinho was his usual frustrating self and Aaron Ramsey looked like a player very short of confidence. This was underlined when the ball fell to him in the box and he looked certain to score but he couldn't even make any decent contact with the ball and really messed the chance up. We did find a breakthrough though and Gervinho's only good bit of play on the night saw him take the ball to the byline and drag a few defenders with him before cutting it back to the 'Little Mozart' himself, Tomas Rosicky to curl the ball into the net.
The second half was just poor from our point of view. Rosicky went off at half time to be replaced by Arshavin who moved into the front three with Oxlade-Chamberlain dropping back. We just didn't have that creative flair in the middle nor anyone at top who could make something out of nothing. I still don't see the point of Chamakh. He did nothing on the night but will be disappointed that on a couple of occasions Gervinho could have played him in and didn't. Whether that is a lack of vision or just selfishness I don't know. Maybe a bit of both.
Olympiakos turned the game around. They were fortunate however. Their first goal resulted from a corner which should have been a goal kick but nevertheless we should have done better defensively. Moments after the corner was cleared the Greeks played in into the box which saw the ball hit Aaron Ramsey and fell kindly to Maniatis who stabbed home from close range. The second goal we couldn't do anything about. It was a superb curling shot from range by substitute Mitroglou.
So we finish second in our group which is still better than half the English teams in the champions league but I do fear we wont get beyond the last 16 whoever we are drawn against. I'm far more interested in three points at the weekend to get our league campaign back on track and then the league cup tie against Bradford. Come on you Gooners!
Wednesday 5 December 2012
Sunday 2 December 2012
Arsenal 0-2 Swansea - Why Do I Do This Blog?
Sometimes I wonder why I put myself through it. In writing this blog I now have to relive that complete shower of shite that I saw from my club yesterday.
We should be winning games like this. That's the bottom line. Take nothing away from Swansea, they were fantastic and deserved to win. The margin could have been more had it now been for Szczesny in our goal making a couple of good saves.
It looks liked the game was heading for a 0-0 draw. I always maintained we had some hope of a late winner but it didn't come from us. In the 88th minute Michu was put threw and finished well and a couple of minutes later he doubled Swansea's lead after a slip from Jenkinson allowed him to get through on goal and he once again took it well.
We had a couple of penalty appeals during the game waived away. Not really surprised as we never seem to get given any. Gervinho spurned a good chance in the first half after a good ball from Jenkinson but Gervinho couldn't make proper contact with it. In the second half our best chance fell to Vermaelen who headed straight at their goal keeper.
So once again we have witnessed a gutless, half arsed Arsenal performance. Wenger put it down to the players being 'jaded'. It's embarrassing really. These are professional athletes who earn thousands a week and apparently they are tired. Swansea played midweek too so it's no excuse. It's like we played an away game in Eastern Europe a few days before. It's obvious what our problem is. Lack of goals. Last season a certain Dutch player papered over the cracks with his goals and now he's doing exactly the same thing in Manchester. We now have no paper for the cracks and we find ourselves in 10th place, just 2 points ahead of Liverpool who are terrible.
January is going to be huge for this club and Arsene Wenger. A lot of fans want him out and he's going to have to work his magic and show us what we know he can do and get this team back to winning ways. If not it's going to be a long old season.
We should be winning games like this. That's the bottom line. Take nothing away from Swansea, they were fantastic and deserved to win. The margin could have been more had it now been for Szczesny in our goal making a couple of good saves.
It looks liked the game was heading for a 0-0 draw. I always maintained we had some hope of a late winner but it didn't come from us. In the 88th minute Michu was put threw and finished well and a couple of minutes later he doubled Swansea's lead after a slip from Jenkinson allowed him to get through on goal and he once again took it well.
We had a couple of penalty appeals during the game waived away. Not really surprised as we never seem to get given any. Gervinho spurned a good chance in the first half after a good ball from Jenkinson but Gervinho couldn't make proper contact with it. In the second half our best chance fell to Vermaelen who headed straight at their goal keeper.
So once again we have witnessed a gutless, half arsed Arsenal performance. Wenger put it down to the players being 'jaded'. It's embarrassing really. These are professional athletes who earn thousands a week and apparently they are tired. Swansea played midweek too so it's no excuse. It's like we played an away game in Eastern Europe a few days before. It's obvious what our problem is. Lack of goals. Last season a certain Dutch player papered over the cracks with his goals and now he's doing exactly the same thing in Manchester. We now have no paper for the cracks and we find ourselves in 10th place, just 2 points ahead of Liverpool who are terrible.
January is going to be huge for this club and Arsene Wenger. A lot of fans want him out and he's going to have to work his magic and show us what we know he can do and get this team back to winning ways. If not it's going to be a long old season.
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