Morning all.
Europa League football returns tonight with Arsenal in Greece. Mesut Ozil misses out because of personal reasons. Lucas Torreira is unwell but should he have made a rapid recovery overnight, he’ll fly out to meet up with the squad sometime today. Pablo Mari is fit and ready for selection.
Olympiacos. A team which came back from being 2-0 down against that lot down the road in the Champions League, to draw 2-2. They only managed one victory in their group which was against Red Star or being pedantic, Crvena Zvezda. Mind you, pipping either Toots or Bayern Munich in order to progress was always going to be a tough ask.
There’s no point in me trying to make out I know anything about the current Greek Super League leaders because I don’t, other than they have a tricky and paced winger in Daniel Podence. Yep, I watched his goal against the Toots. Olympiacos might have been beaten at home by the mighty Bayern Munich but they scored two goals along the way.
The Europa League Cup is our most realist chance of returning to Champions League football next season but even that’s a very tough ask.
I’m not getting carried away.after the win over Newcastle. We won fair enough and at times in the second half we looked like a ‘proper’ team again but it’s hard to forget the first thirty odd minutes. Better teams will punish us if we keep on repeating that side of our game. Especially during the early part of a game against teams who start strongly. Already, managers who do their homework will see that the opening twenty minutes of a game seems to be when we’re vulnerable, or at least can be.
Olympiacos aren’t one of the clubs which spring to mind when thinking about the big names in the game, nor is the Greek Super League when it comes to wondering where some of the best football is played, certainly not for me anyway but in their country, they are one of the best, if not the best. As said, they sit top of their league having gone twenty four matches without suffering a defeat. They’ve conceded just nine goals during that period too so either the rest of the clubs in the league are truly shocking, or they have a very disciplined defence. Having a Portuguese manager would suggest the latter. Pedro Martins being an ex defensive midfielder might explain why his team concedes so few.
Arsenal and Olympiacos have met before of course, in 2015 but in the Champions League group stages and it didn’t go well at The Emirates. However, we made up for it the return match with a 3-0 victory. Two very different groups of players will line up against each other tonight though, two different managers too.
Mikel Arteta has plenty of experience when in comes to European football both as a player and coach but regardless of good Man City were during his time there alongside Pep, he never experienced a final, let alone winning one as a coach. Nor as a player at Arsenal. How ironic it would be if it was he rather than Pep who changed that statistic.
How Mikel Arteta will approach this game or with what group of players is unknown as it’s his first flying solo but he has confirmed one big change to our usual European routine. Usually the squad/staff fly home straight after the game but tonight they are not.
We have two games in four days. It’s a long flight, with two hours difference as well. We’re going to play at 10pm local time and after that, if we had to take a flight, we would arrive to London really, really late. Apart from that, I believe that the first window – the first hour to hour and a half – is really important for the players to eat with the quality of nutrients that we need. I think it’s better to do it in a hotel. I think it’s better to rest in a bed, rather than stay in a flight when you are travelling and the next day, everybody does some recovery together and we fly back in the afternoon.
Maybe this is something City have done is the past, perhaps it’s his idea but either way, it makes absolute sense to me. Mikel Arteta also spoke about Papa Sokratis, his knowledge of Greek football in general as well the club we’re up against tonight and how tough it’s going to be. The game itself and the atmosphere within the stadium.
Mikel Arteta should be well aware of how difficult tonight’s opponents will be, he was our club captain after all when the two sides last met. Injured I know, but he’d have been watching…
An away victory would be a nice way to kick off the knockout stages, or a score draw.
See you in the comments guys..
Podence is now at Wolves so that helps us a little bit but will still be a tough game. If we can come away with a score draw I’d be happy. Away goal will be crucial.
Morning all.
I can’t imagine why teams would get off the pitch and jump on a plane to head home.
I never realised we’ve done that.
Strange.
Our dog just won her 3rd start in 4 races so I’m on a high atm 🙂
Nice read, Rico! Nice kick off time too – so I can catch Eastenders 😀
Looking forward to it.. may get a glimpse of Mari… and I’m hoping Kola too!!
They’ll be no pushover, especially at home, but as long as we don’t do owt stupid (😳) we should hopefully come away with an away goal or 2! COYG
Nice one, Scott… 👍
Thanks Sue.
These are the type of games that used to be fraught with danger.
If Arteta can have our side primed and ready to play, it’ll be another step forward for him as a manager imo.
Sue, I haven’t watched Eastenders since the last century, I don’t recall characters Mari and Kola, do they run Ali’s cabs?
Congrats Scott, hopefully the start of a winning run.
It’s going to be a tough game tonight in a stadium infamous for it hostile atmosphere. The noise will be unrelenting, we need a quick start and an early goal to stun the Olympiakos fans and players.
The kick off is ten o’clock local time, so the players won’t get out of the stadium before midnight, a night in a hotel, before flying home makes a lot of sense.
😂😂 very good, Cicero!! 👍
Thanks Cicero.
Afternoon Rico/everyone
a tough game in a hostile environment (Arsenal got the hardest draw of the British teams) I reckon we will be satisfied with a draw, although we won there in the Champions League last time we played there.
Team selection will be fascinating,Ozil is on Babywatch, I’d expect Saka, maybe Bellerin to be rested for Everton, other than that hard to call.Mari on the bench ?
Looking forward to the game.COYG
Thanks Rico, Afternoon All.
Off subject a bit…….. I really hope what I’m hearing about Saka isn’t true. He wont sign until he knows he has European football !
30 grand a week at !8 ! And he’s still making demands. Jumped up little shit !!!
I take it all back if it’s not true, but ??
Afternoon Limey, all.
Sue, 10pm local time, 8pm here. 😂
Mike, if true, I think he’s got a bloody nerve…
A nice imformative post Rico about a team and league you know nothing about !………………………..lucky I`m on the ball though as I can give you some facts!………………………It`s a League, it`s Super and it`s in Greece! 😆
I expect a tough end to end game where no quarter is given and we will after being 1-0 down in the 89th minute edge it 7-1 in injury time!.
Just another rambling really Lc… lol
Thank you for the report, Rico.
And thank you Le Coq a Doodle — thank goodness you told me where the stadium is — I was off to South London where the Olympics was held. Can you put me up???? 👀
What Olympics was that in South London Redders?……………..not the one in East London then?
It was better than the Wichita Olympics in Los Anglesey ! 😆
Ten degrees c in Athens with 60% chance of rain. Weather to make our boys feel right at home. 😉
ARSENAL TEAM NEWS
Arsenal XI to face Olympiakos: Leno, Mustafi, Sokratis, Luiz, Saka, Xhaka, Guendouzi, Willock, Martinelli, Aubameyang, Lacazette.
Subs: Martinez, Holding, Kolasinac, Maitland-Niles, Ceballos, Pepe, Nketiah.
No Mari… Kola on the bench!!
I’m surprised no Kolasinac for this one too.
I thought it was Sarf London, Coquii. 🙄
Of course the best Olympics were indeed in Wichita in Sarf Anglsey!! 😎
Not long to go now, tik tok tik tok
Guendouzi back in favour.
Their stadium atmosphere is incredible
I can see why we’d be interested in their left back.
Good first half in as far as keeping a clean sheet but frustrating. Keeping hold of the ball too long I think, especially Willock and Saka.
Guendouzi does like a drama… 😂
I hope he takes Willock off. Aww Rico, poor Guendouzi being stamped on.. ouch!!
Surely we’ll be better in the 2nd half!
Yep Sue, Willock is struggling out there tonight..
Another Saka assist 👌 Laca and an away goal 😱 haha!!
Strange old performance but very good result. Lacazette should have had two..
Night guys.
Arsenal played little. The tie is far from decided.
Is Bellerin injured again?
Not a game that will live long in the memory. Laca was abject yet managed to score. Still, a win is always good.
It’s all about the result……thank goodness, as it seems there was little entertainment value 🙂
Another clean sheet, amazing what some defensive coaching can do.
A very good result at a difficult venue.
Yes there was some sloppy passing and a bit too much lateral play but we created enough chances to make the second leg irrelevant…..if only we could have put them away.
Give Guendouzi a break Rico, he took some stick but he had a good game and made it through the ninety minutes despite a good few knocks. He doesn’t hide when the going gets a bit tough and doesn’t duck out of challenges.
Saka seems to improve with every game, I just wish he would take the ball beyond his fullback more often.
Over all a good night for The Gunners, so good night to you all too.
Is Mikel Arteta the new George Graham?
That’s 3 clean sheets on the spin and unbeaten in this decade…
I quite enjoy watching Arsenal play in europe, you can appreciate the nuances more when you see it, listening to a european tie on the radio is another matter, tedious being the word, rather than grease being the word…
Anyway I saw about 6 minutes of highlights on You Tube and what I saw was Alex Lacazette missing the best opportunity he’s probably ever had since he’s been at Arsenal of scoring a hat trick, in fact he should have scored four…
Great work by Saka for his goal, some good defending as well, from the little I saw.
We probably, no we definitely missed a great chance to kill this tie.
We’ll do it at the Emirates, I’m sure of that…
Kev, Arteta is much, much better than George Graham imo.
There is no comparison.
It may take a few years to prove that, but it will be proven.
Hi Scott watched video of your dog racing things look good fingers crossed you have more fun watching the wins come
Just watch replay nice win considering both sides had far to many loose passes but best of all the ref letting the game play and not keep stopping every time some one fell over it seemed to me that they were targeting guendouzi early on
Morning all.
New post up now