Gunners Look To Settle Champions League Nerves
Sep 28th, 2015 by 'holic
We welcome our friends from Olympiacos for what has become a critical night for the Gunners. Defeat in Zagreb, and the fact that our next two Group F fixtures are against Bayern Munich, make the three points a must for the hosts, a point not lost on Arsene Wenger in his pre-match press conference.
“You have to win your home games if you want to qualify from the group stage, it is simple as that. We cannot afford to drop points now against anyone at home.”
Is it really three years since last we faced Olympiacos in the Champions League? I had to double check when I started this preview. Three times we drew them between 2009 and 2012. All six matches between us have been won by the home team. That in itself adds to the pressure on Tuesday night. Our final fixture in the group stage is in Greece in December. If our bid for the top two places goes down to the wire we will have to overturn that record.
There has been much discussion of the fact that both Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini have been ruled out with “slight muscular problems”, and Francis Coquelin required strapping on his recently injured knee when returning to training today. Should all fail to make it we may see a pairing of Aaron Ramsey and Santi Cazorla in front of the back four. I think both are sufficiently experienced to make that work, if necessary.
Further forward the options appear even more sparse. With Olivier Giroud suspended for his foolish red card in Zagreb we will start with Theo Walcott up front. Should Ramsey drop in alongside Cazorla then Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will presumably slot in on the right flank, although he may be considered for the deeper role too.
There could be one change to the back four also. Per Mertesacker played two tough away matches in less than three days after a five week absence and may make way for the return of Gabriel. Asked who would be in goal the boss answered a little curtly “I have not decided yet”. Respectfully I say to thee, as Diana Ross once sang, if Petr Cech doesn’t start it will be a major surprise. I feel sorry for David Ospina, who did little wrong last season, but Cech’s Champions League pedigree should guarantee him the job.
Alongside his manager at the press conference was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, an articulate young man indeed. Asked about what we could draw from our performance at the weekend he gave an honest and open opinion.
“Obviously the result at the weekend could do no harm to that. The confidence has always been there in the team and sometimes you can’t put your finger on why things don’t go well, but you have to stick together in those periods and results like the weekend always help. The whole team played well as well, from the back to the front. It does stand you in good stead, results like that where you score that many goals can only help the team. We need to build on that now and we look to do that tomorrow night.
As for Olympiacos, midfielder Luka Milivojevic is suspended and defender Manuel da Costa is also out with a knee injury. Otherwise the team that has lifted five consecutive Greek titles will be at full strength. They have a 100% record domestically this season but, as is so often said of them, they do not historically travel well in Europe, and particularly here. Olympiacos have played twelve, lost twelve, in England, scoring only three goals and shipping thirty seven.
The ‘holic pound
On paper everything points to a comfortable win for the Arsenal. There is a nagging doubt however that the bench will be thin, particularly in the attacking department. The options as legs tire, or (whisper it) if we pick up another injury or two during the contest, are making me err on the side of caution. 2-0 to the good guys is not overwhelming value at around 13/2, and what looks like a very attack-minded starting eleven could run riot in the opening hour. I hope they do, but suspect Olympiacos will look to keep things very tight throughout.
As usual I wish those who are going an enjoyable night. To the rest of you wherever you are, I hope you get the opportunity to watch and enjoy the match in comfort. It seems a little early to be playing a critical Champions League fixture, but that is what losing the first match does to you. Please let’s keep all those Greek tragedy puns under lock and key, at least until December.
Have a good one, ‘holics.
148 Responses to “Gunners Look To Settle Champions League Nerves”
Nice preview. I think we may win 3-0 with Theo and Alexis building on Saturday’s success
Friends from Olympiacos? That’s a bit Corbynite, H.
Solidarnosc, C 🙂
Although more of a reference to the fact we seem to play them every season.
CL spot!
Fine preview Guvna.
I’ll take 2-0 for the good guys and a win for the Holic pound but I’d prefer 3-0.
According to the Greek ‘European Football Correspondent’ of the Sun, the big question is ‘how are Olympiakos still in the CL?” as their Chairman has been charged with five counts of match fixing and has to pay €500k bail. A decision to grant them a place was made by the uncorrupt Platini’s committee the day before the arrest of their Chairman despite the existence of the charges and the investigation. Their continued presence is inconsistent with the earlier treatment of Fenerbahce some years earlier.
So reassuring that Mr Platini isn’t withdrawing his bid to succeed his ‘mentor’.
Evening Bath
That would be the self same Platini that took NINE years to invoice FIFA for 1.3 million quid for his services. !!
Said invoice just happening to land in Blatter’s inbox prior to his bid for re election.
All entirely above board apparently. !!
We have more than one Cynic in this evening, it would appear 😉
Evening bath and Clive, true gentlemen both.
Nice preview, Holic. How are you keeping up ? Excellent stuff.
Bath has said was I was wondering whether to say.
I would only add that Olympiakos’ continued presence in the CL has nothing at all to do with their chairman’s son being a supporter of Platini within UEFA.
As long as we’ve cleared that up then ……..
Cheers H. Well done on the away team news- I’ve never heard of any of them.
You’re wrong about one thing- many cynics, one Cynic.
TTG/cba/trev from last drinks. Anagram of ‘mildly irked’ = ‘Anthony Taylor is a crap ref’…
I think that covers it. It’ll stand the test of time too.
And the cheque arrived a matter of weeks after the said Frenchman voted for Qatar.
Nothing to do with either the cheque, a job for his son in Qatar, the purchase of PSG by Qatar or a gift of a Picasso, allegedly.
😮
GSD covers both the cynical question and the refereeing question.
Like TTG, I still have nightmares about his decision making in that opener vs Villa a couple of seasons ago.
If Villa can buy his objectivity, I presume Manure already have his soul.
Bath.
I believe they loan it on a yearly basis from Sluralex who still owns all the referees and these days loves nothing more than making large and undeserved piles of money from his career as a bully. I mean football manager. No. I mean bully.
Evening H
Fine preview.
I have refrained from commenting on the Greeks visit,as my contention is,if we cannot beat that lot at home then we shouldn’t be in the CL.
Evening all.
We go into the game on the back of two decent results although we will have to defend better than we did on Saturday tomorrow night I feel.
Game 2 and already a must win. I do hope that we do not make too many unnecessary changes. The game in Zagreb should remind everyone about the importance of continuity.
To those going I will see you there. To the rest of you loyal Gooners, I hope you also enjoy your evening.
Still fuming about Everton winning. I had multiple bets on that game all around Berahino scoring first and the useless twats in the stripes winning by various scores.
Arse and tits.
Nice preview Holic. As Clive has said, if we can’t beat them at home we don’t deserve to be aspirants and there’ll be Hellas to pay if we fail. A minimally changed team please boss.
I just took a look at the Greek Super League table and there is bad and good news to report.
Bad news: Olympiakos are league leaders.
Good news: I never heard of 12 of the 16 clubs in the table.
A nice, polished win tonight will be nice. 2-0 or 3-0 then close shop will do us a lot of good. Gotta make winning at home a constant mentality again, as Le Boss puts forward.
Will be glad to see Ramsey get a goal to get him going again.
Hopefully the team starts to peak as we reach the turn of the year and we can do our usual “strong finish” to the season.
Up the Arse.
Good preview, ‘Holic. As all note, we need all three points. Nothing less. A solid and unspectacular 3-0 would do nicely especially as Olympiakos has been free scoring in the Greek Superleague this term — 16 goals in five games — and miserly at the back — just three conceded.
Back at the Ems tonight after my hols and thanks to my hosts in Trogir was able to see the Chavs and Spuds games on the box.
Whether we can produce another pacey show as at Leicester is probably too much to expect but that’s the way we need to play to be truly effective. Just hope if the Ox plays in front of the lovely Hector he gives him some protection, he has been found wanting in that department this season and needs to tighten up his defensive duties.
Let’s hope we get a decent ref and get off to a good start. As has been said if we can’t beat this lot at home we don’t deserve to be in the CL.
Feeling pretty optimistic, if we can tighten up at the back, tonight should be an easy 3 points. See you all later at the Ems.
COYRs
Apparently there is no taramasalata or humous left in Greece.
They’re in a double dip recession. 😉
Taramasalata = Greek for ‘Goodbye my salad’. 😉
Just gor the greek version of Monopoly, called Monopoulopolos.
Seems you just take all the money out of the bank and everyone loses.
*takes coat and leaves*
*probably stuffed vine leaves*
Είναι όλα ελληνικά για μένα, φίλε!
Didn’t catch a word of that Baff.
It’s all Scottish to me… wink!
So far this season we have not been excellent. Yet we are reasonably well-placed in the league. This means that when our form improves we should be able to go on a run that sees us really challenging. We don’t want to peak too soon (Oilers) or keep dropping points due to our low-level (Chavs/ us last season).
It is about getting the best results that we can without playing our best, knowing that when we hit top form we can be devastating. Tonight’s game is really important in that regard. If we win (especially convincingly) then we put Champs League qualification back on track and the last result may not be too damaging. We can’t afford a loss though unless we fancy a double over Munich. Best not to make that a necessity, especially at this stage of the season. We could always perform that trick in the semis in April, right?
I fancy Theo to score and us to win. A clean sheet would be nice too please.
Deary deary me. Double dip! 🙁
Ramsey and Cech to be rested, Giroud suspended, Coquelin to early to return!!!! hmmm a must win game and a united match to follow. Nice build up.
Arsenal should still have enough to knock the Greek champions off. Ox gets one more chance to prove his credentials or should i say his maturity.
If coquelin will not be risked, will we play debuchy or chambers in the middle? Or is Francis fine to start knowing that there is a small matter of that fuckall club coming to the Emirates this sunday. Time shall tell.
Theo and Alexis hopefully continue their goal scoring form and 2-0 looks ideal to ease the nerves. Now Mesut can you score too please.
If you like mashups, this is brilliant. Spot the film…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QajyNRnyPMs
As for tonight, if we can’t beat a team like this at home we don’t deserve to go through
I went to a Greek wedding at the weekend.
The food was rubbish but the plates were smashing. 🙂
Hi all,
It goes without question that nothing less than a win will do.
I would discuss the united game, but we have to take one game at a time.
Tonight we have to show our superiority as a club and deal with this game accordingly.
There is no other method tonight!
We have to show our quality, superiority and dominance.
No other result will do!
UTA!
The Greeks have got Kalamari out ill tonight.
He’s good, and only cost them sick squid !
😉
Trev…multiple hehs 🙂
‘Holic @ 28. Lacking a sense of humous there 😉
Good grief! I pitta you lot, I really do. 😉
Olive another please bartender. 🙂
Let’s hope the team are ouzo confidence tonight 🙂
Right….I’m outa here now ( before I get a life ban ).
@25 clearly a sexist remark.
Shoulda been
Είναι όλα ελληνικά για μένα αγόρια και κορίτσια
(It’s all Greek to me, boys and girls.) 🙂
Extra credit to Trev @21 and @23 for going above and beyond the timeless Greek puns. 😀
The annagrams say we’ll win tonight. You can’t argue with feta.
Chat bubbling along nicely.
bt8@38: it’s not sexist as φίλε refers to Trev in the singular and Trev is male. The plural version is φίλες.
Nice preview Holic,
Solidarność indeed ?
That first game against Olympiakos in 2009 seems like only yesterday, though when you see the team we put out, it was a different age: Don Vito between the jumpers; a back four of Eboue, Vermaelen, Gallas and Clichy; Song and Diaby the twin pivot; and Rosicky, Fabregas and Arshavin in midfield behind some Dutch bloke. Woj, Sagna, Senderos, Gibbs, Ramsey, Vela and Eduardo were on the bench.
homemade booze
homemade pizza
games on normal telly
don’t have to leave the house
the signs are good
i feel it in me water
.
now
COME ON YOU GUNNERS.!
slainte all 🙂
Bt8 @ 38, I refer you to my attorney, Lars @ 42. 😀
Trev was indeed dressed in male attire when last seen.
Which is more than can be said for Wolfie. 🙂
My plan as well cba, tho my beer and pizza are bought in.
Slainte chiel.
COYG
Cheers for the preview ‘h.
I hope we don’t risk Coq unless he’s fully recovered. Other then that, strongest available line up please, no faffing around, get in, secure the points, get out.
COYG’s
We are of one mind, H2H, you poor soul 😉
Good to see you Arthur.
And he’s only gone and done it.
Ospina, Bellerin, Koscielny, Gabriel, Gibbs, Coquelin, Cazorla, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ozil, Sanchez, Walcott.
Gambler.
Only one sub, H? Who’s this Gambler feller?
Le Coq healthy on the weekend essential in my view.
Very risky by AW.
Word is Cech has a calf problem. Why was he in training then?
FFS!
53 .. The Gambler Ceched out early! It’s something to beef about I guess but the steaks are high. Per seen humming “veal meat again” in the background.
On paper a team quite capable to get a result – just do a job on them boys – no ifs, ands or buts. ( and certainly no ‘ands & butts ).
Cech out, damn.
But probably the best team possible in front of him Only Ramsey (who hasn’t been great) missing.
Help with streams please
kenyan, firstrowsports.eu has some, second link working for me.
firstrowsportes.eu, anyway.
Many thanks scruz,here’s to 3 happy point…cheers
COME ON!!!!
Oh……. and Nacho.
no worries, kenyan. damn, but ox should have passed to theo there. what a break.
ach, theo, cut back and put it in the far corner with your left!
two really excellent breaks. bodes well, if we can put one in the net.
Abuse of an embarrassment of riches: I am searching for a stream because my cable package, Comcast, amazingly has four different channels showing today’s Chelsea match and zero showing Arsenal. Comcast on corporate auto-pilot?? Or are they in with the filthy money of the filthy Abramovich and his evil minions?? Or both??
don’t worry, bt, it’ll be on some obscure spanish-language channel later. 🙂
the game has reached the horse latitudes, i should think.
le coq strutting around like he owns the place. goooooo, le coq!
scruz i am pissed, and in not in the good sense of the word. strutting coq you say? this is one i’d really like to see … 🙂
all puffed up and waddling around… 🙂
fucking hell. their goal from a corner poorly cleared.
christ on a bike.
nice defending.
actually, it was a straight pass to the top, shot deflected off…theo, i think.
also pissed olympiakos scored …
now listening to the game on the dot con
1-1 Walcott!!
Champions league. Looks like our first year in it.
Great work all around guys.
goalllllll theooooooo!
Come on the comeback kidzz
great pass from alexis, theo put it in off the keeper.
Theo. Thank the maker.
another corner, another goal for oly. fuuuuck.
dropped in by ospina. really?
Ridiculous. Down 2-1 at home to Olympiacos.
Commentators on the dot con, having seen the replays multiple times, don’t think the ball crossed the line for Olympiakos’s second goal.
sure wish they used goalline tech. the ref was right there, credit to him.
Thank god they gave the goal, Gibbs pushed the ball away with his hands!
What is going on in the Champions League? Are we not a cut above clubs like Monaco, Dynamo Zagreb and Olympiakos?
gabriel unlucky yellow.
what an ugly first half. that’s my thought far, far too often with this team.
bt8. Apparently.
More scatter brained, keystone cops play. Mental midgets, the lot.
Boo those clowns off the pitch.
Talking ’bout the nerves…
WTF was that?
If Cech is carrying a niggle, then why is he on the bench?
Nothing good ever comes from rotating keepers.
Must do better next half.
Busy afternoon here, leaving the bar early.
Keep it real arsenal. Try to loose by no more than 2 goals please.
Idiots.
I’m at the game. And people wonder why we signed Cech!
Olympiacos playing a smarter game than us so far. Poor defending by us….not just for the 2 goals. Need to get a grip in the second half – midfield not co-ordinated enough.
COYR
it’s like giving orders for a british sailor named lyme to go from his submarine to have his eyes checked at walter reed…
How many deflection and own goal do we have so far this season? Far too many…please please just win today…
FYI, Chezzer is having a mare (3-0 for Bate). Way out of position on their first goal.
If second goal not given, then Gibbs double handed pushing the ball out would be a penalty & red card!
Anither fyi, Bayern already 4-0 up against Zagreb…still can’t believe we lost to them…
well, since everyone’s asking the order was “get thee from the sub, lyme, to the reed oculist.” kind of like this game has gone.
sigh.
We have 43 minutes to keep alive our season in Europe, now is the time to step it up.
keeerist. now kozzer out for mancs. hammy.
now kos injured ..just fucking great
now coq has to come off to stay fit. aaron on.
jesus, how’d we not score there?
COme Onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!
just ..how?
beautiful move, alexis, 2-2.
Get Innnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
Alexisssssssssssssssssssssssssssss!!!!
YES!
COME ON!!!!!!!!!!!!
delightful chip from theo for alexis’ header.
YES!!
and they come back and score immediately. what. the. fuck.
Shocking
Speechless!
youve got to be fucking kidding me
This is ridiculous.
we cant defend for shit ..oh my god
at this rate, bayern will rip us to shreds.
I would not be surprised if we actually beaten bayern scruz ..we just cant handle the clear favourites role
eandy, i am not sure we can handle any role in europe this year.
good point
i don’t want this team to lose, but if it means we have a better chance of success in the league this year i might lay a quiet punt on us not getting out of the group stage…
Still don’t know why Wenger benched His first choice keeper. Who does that in an European competition?
Eandy- believe me you don’t want to end up playing Europa league
Lose this game and we are done. Unfreaking believable !!
A draw doesn’t really do much good either SAG.
Bayern will absolutely maul this shambles. These lightweights will lose in Greece as well.
Fucking disgrace.
Shit game to watch
Can’t believe we are about to lose a home game against fucking Oly…
Bayern 6 pts,oly 3pts,Zagreb 3 pts,ars 0…..something is wrong…going into two games against Bayern with no pts registered.
Shit beats shit
We might as well just get last place. I don’t want Europa league. Thursday fucking game in some crazy part if Europe. Then play Sunday games, whoa this is bad.
Argghhhhhhhh!!
:O 🙁
Giving up 3 goals at home to Oly.
Boo those losers off the field. Facking nauseating.
CL campaign over.
This is getting really funny, another freak deflection, rare howler from a goalkeeper to be seen even in sunday league and absolutely shit defending for their third. You could almost see our players bricking it when Oly moved it forward in that move.
Shows why Cech is no.1 and why Gibbs is miles away from taking LB spot from Monreal anytime soon. Arsene will give them hell of a rollicking for this, CL is his holy grail and he knows there are not many chances for him to win it left. This will take some massive turnaround to get at least second place.
Sanchez must be thinking, “what am I doing here”. I know I would after that crazy defending fo the third goal.
Even when we lost to chelsea I didn’t feel this bad. This manner Of defeat that really hurt you as an Arsenal fans.
That’s pretty much as bad as it gets.
Eandy,
If he couldn’t win it with the Invincibles he sure as hell ain’t winning it anytime soon with this squad 😉
Fucking speechless.
I found the last ten minutes of the match particularly numbing, realising that we could realistically only salvage a point from it. In the end we didn’t even manage that.
How to go on from here? Well, theoretically there are still 12 point to play for, and that’s what we should be aiming for.
Accidentally, me Sopcast stream for tonight had no commentary on it – was treated to 90 min of crowd noise.
By noise I mean Olympiakos noise – you’d have thought we were playing in Greece for the entire first half.
We will need the fans entirely behind the team when we welcome Bayern in the next fixture.
Sigh.
We love you Arsenal. We do.
BMBD
That is what we deserve for being arrogant. For treating Zagreb lightly. For being foolish to leave your best left back and best goalkeeper on bench. Bayern will murder us. I am not part of Wenger out brigade but I don’t see him taking us forward.
At Arsenal we have a great tradition of conceding deflected goals and goalkeeping howlers… Just when you think you have seen the worst, we outdo ourselves!!
The terrible part is that we schedule our fuck ups just ahead of big games in the league. Ideal preparation for sure.
For ages Wenger has refrained from rotation and played his best players to a grinding halt (although partly it was due to the fact that we never had good enough players to rotate). Now when he feels we have a squad capable of rotation, the bench players are clearly letting him down big time. The worst thing this season so far has been the inability to go on a decent run of wins.
GKS- 12pts really? or 6 pts. We might be lucky and get 3pts from both Bayern games. realistically we are looking a pts. Goal difference might see us thru as far as we don’t get destroyed by Bayern. still don’t know why Cech was on the damn bench. He is your first choice keeper for Christ’s sake.
9pts. Cant even type the damn number am so pissed
Well well well… Horrible performance at the back, miscommunication galore and terrible goalkeeping. Shame considering we played well on the other end. I’m really curious about the rationale for selecting Ospina ahead of Cech but after tonight’s nightmare it won’t happen again I guess.
Gutted with that result, we were on the up and it’ll pile up the pressure for Sunday’s game.
@GKS: same stream 😉 I love it when I find one without commentary but agreed it’s pretty damning for the home crowd.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>