Arsenal v Olympiakos October 1st 8 PM KO: Page 16 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One More in the Tolly

Arsenal v Olympiakos October 1st 8 PM KO

USArsenal

Sicario2 Olympiakos deserve respect, they played well and unlucky not to score.

They looked completely different than they did at home against a 10 man Pafos in the last CL game.

est

Olympiakos played really well. Surprisingly so.

Our finishing was really off, on days like this it helps so much to have a defence as strong as ours.

Overall a good, quite enjoyable but also slightly frustrating game.

I really hope the players find their finishing boots before the West Ham game.

awooga83

est I must admit I have a different perspective I thought Olympiakos were pretty poor we were playing quite a few balls in behind them and we should have been able to get 2-3 goals early in the first half to kill the match. But we got complacent felt it would just come and as time went on Olympiakos realised there were still in it so why not go for more.

We got away with it in the end but I don't think this is a template for how to play these matches. They weren't really good at the back but we still struggled getting the goals which is a little worrying.

daredevil

Qwiss

Odegaard having the freedom to move laterally is unlocking him. Gives him far more opportunities to play through passes and it’s much easier for him to play a LW in behind. Saka being out has helped him as he has a tendency to stick to Saka on the right which limits his influence on the rest of the pitch.

Pepe LeFrits

MistaT So the Trossard vs Martinelli debate continues.

One with all the craft, the other the industry.

Neither really with the goods.

Need to merge them with the transporter like Tuvix

Klaus

To be fair to Trossard though he's about the 7th or 8th choice forward. He needs to do better with the final ball but he was largely good today, and with Madueke out for some time I'm glad he got a game in his legs.

USArsenal

Klaus He needs to do better with the final ball but he was largely good today,

Sorry, but i disagree. I thought he was not great today. Finishing is the one thing he has a knack for, and he missed every single golden chance today, on another day he would have scored 2.

Qwiss

Sicario2 don't think he was ever quick tbh.

daredevil

Gazza M

I think wastefulness is a byproduct of this type of football. It was for all intents and purposes Wengerball post-Henry which too was plagued by wastefulness.

I’m not completely against it - it’s just not good for one’s heart.

JazzG

daredevil

JazzG

I’m liking what I’ve seen of Madueke, Eze and Gyokeres but this guy still stands a level above, albeit Eze being not far off. Hope to see more from him as I think he can be on his wavelength.

Klaus

USArsenal It's fine to disagree. I think we made it more difficult than it had to be by not starting Saka and Eze too, but I feel that's a different subject: those guys are starters for a reason. It's not easy to come in as a bit-part player. You're rusty, the timing's off, there's no match sharpness. Trossard and White both did fine, or as well as you could have asked for, under those circumstances I thought.

I just wish Arteta would start Ethan in games like these. Maybe we'll lose something in the other end, but I think we would have been more likely to find a way to exploit the early advantage with him on the pitch.

Qwiss

USArsenal yeah I agree. By his own standards not one of Trossards best games.

Klaus White still looks very rusty to me, which is to be expected. Hopefully he can keep fit now and get a good run together and find his top level so we can rotate him with Timber a lot more as the schedule gets busier.

I think in normal circumstances Ethan probably does start this or at least plays a large chunk of it but right now Arteta is still trying to get Ode back to fitness and Eze in sync with the team.

awooga83 I sort of agree. We were in second gear the whole match. However that was still enough to dominate with 61% possession and 16 shots. I think if they had nicked one we'd probably have upped the level and found a winner handily enough.

Sicario2

Only English side with a 100 percent record in CL.

est

awooga83 Yeah, I disagree with this. I've seen plenty of matches like you described, but for me, this wasn't one of them.

Apart from one 10 minute spell in the second half, where the heads went and the entire play was all over the place,I thought we kept it nice and professional. Kudos to Arteta to stepping in and making smart subs and we regained some composure after that.

We played it smart and were always looking to attack. In recent times we've been too eager to just hold onto our lead and retreat back into our defensive shape and give away the initiative. We kept it smart and attacked with intent and at the same time didn't get complacent defensively or when playing it out from the back. Olympiakos worked super hard, were disciplined, goalie made some excellent stops, defenders were there and they even pressed us better than most teams in the League do.

The chances we created were mostly down to good play by us instead of them being poor defensively. It was just our finish was either rushed or just lacking in quality.

Mirth

awooga83 We got away with it in the end but I don't think this is a template for how to play these matches. They weren't really good at the back but we still struggled getting the goals which is a little worrying.

I'm not too worried.

A month ago we struggled to create chances and therefore could not score. Today we created plenty of chances (our xG was 2.73) but we were too casual with the finishing. This is more easily fixed.

awooga83

est I just didn't think much of them the chances we got today we don't tend to get in the league because the quality of the opposition is just better. I don't think Olympiakos were really up to much myself.

awooga83

Mirth I don't mean that it's definitive but for me this was a poor side and we should be able to overpower these types of teams better. Maybe today we were just exceptionally wasteful.

Gazza M

awooga83

some of the football was the best we've produced this season. i think we were just wasteful

banduan

Gazza M i think we were just wasteful

really really wasteful. There were some terrible shots in there.

TambourineMan

We barely got out of 2nd gear today and won comfortably. I have no issue at all with today's performance.

That said, I do hope we play at a higher tempo on Saturday and really take the game to West Ham. Would really like a statement win - by a +3 margin and a goal or two for Gyokores to shut people up.

Gurgen

Do people still want to replace Odegaard with whatever fucking journeyman half his level?

Bring Back Kerrea Gilbert

Gurgen not when he's playing like this.

Gazza M

Gurgen odes ceiling is levels above everyone in that position, and we're a different proposition altogether when he clicks into gear.

est

Gurgen I was critical of Odegaard last season. Really happy for him to prove me wrong so far. Lets hope he can keep it up for the entire season. If he can, we have a really good chance of winning something. At his best, there are not many players around that can offer what he can. Love that he finally has a proper outlet to work with in Gyökeres.

This shows why you need capable backups for even your best players. Can't overplay them and think they'll keep on producing the goods forever. Arteta has learned it the hard way with Saka and Odegaard.

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