What a night for our young Englishman, at just 18 years old he scored his first ever Champions League goal and became the youngest player ever to do so!
That was possibly the brightest part of this game, other than Santos securing our victory with a second…..
None of us really wanted to Alex Song in defence but with so many injuries, it was inevitable and he started alongside Mertesacker.
Yet again we didn’t start too well, Olympiakos had their first chance within minutes but Fuster fired his shot wide from just ten yards out. We follow this with a break but the ball over the top for Chamberlain is too strong and he has no chance of catching it before the ball goes out for a goal kick.
Seven minutes into the game, Santos and Chamberlain combine well, only for Rosicky to lose the ball just outside the penalty area.
Then the moment of magic, Chamberlain collects the ball on the edge of the penalty area, jinks passed a defender and finds the bottom of the net. I thought it was a fantastic goal from the youngster, cool head, calm finish, 1-0! This seemed to pick us up a bit too after a nervy start.
Record Breaker......
Straight after, Sagna crosses from down the right but Olympiakos head clear for a corner which came to nothing.
Arshavin then tries to set Rosicky on his way, but the Czech is too slow these days and the away side defend with ease.
Chamberlain, possibly our best player of the night, shows his skills again before finding Arteta, whose cross is deflected out for a corner. The Spaniard fires in the corner, Chamakh meets the cross but wastefully heads wide.
Arteta was then the hero, clearing off the line a Rafik Djebbour chance which looked easier to score than miss. Great defensive work from our number 8, shame the same can’t be said of the defending which led to the chance!
Santos is the next player to fire a ball forward, but yet again it’s with too much pace and goes through to the goal keeper.
Then, on 20 minutes, Santos worked well, his cross failed to find Chamakh but as the ball rebounded back to him, he blasted it into the back of the net. 2-0! That was his first goal in the Champions League too.
Happy Chappie 🙂
2-0 but hardly cruising!
We go on the attack again, Frimpong plays a wonderful ball through to Arshavin but the little Russian was judged offside. Chamakh was then guilty of a shocking miss and the chance to go 3-0 up, having been put through by Arshavin; he dragged a simple chance wide.
Olympiakos then go on the attack but Fuster ruled offside, however, within minutes he finally get’s his chance and takes it well. Gifted of course by shocking defending, not one player picked up Fuster from a corner and he had a free header which he powered passed Szczesny!
That was only half an hour into the game….
Suddenly, from a comfortable lead, we look shaky – same old same old eh, Szczesny makes a good save from Djebbour, the resulting corner calls the Pole into action again. We looked all over the place.
Not a lot really happened up until half time, other than Rosicky picking up a yellow card… Couple of half chances for both sides – Arshavin and Rosicky can’t decide who is going to shoot during one of our chances and their dilly dallying allows the ball to be cleared.
Half time…
The away side get the second half started and it’s not long before they have another chance on goal from outside the box – Szczesny dives across goal but thankfully the shot goes wide.
Chamberlain has the chance to get his second of the night, having been played in by Chamakh; he’s one on one with their keeper but just fails to lift the ball over him and into the net. The Englishman is involved again when he sends in a cross but neither Arshavin nor Chamakh can get any good connection on it.
Just on the hour mark, a big moment for the ref, who totally bottled it in my opinion! Chamberlain out does Holebas with his pace down the right and the latter hauls him back. Holebas had earlier been booked and this should have seen him off to an early bath but the referee gave nothing, no free kick, no booking, nowt! Shocking decision!
After that, both sides have a few half-hearted attacks but little came of them.
Just after the hour, Torosidis saw a fantastic effort from the right edge of our box, beat Szczesny only to rattle the crossbar!.
Olympiakos thought they might have earned a penalty from a Chamberlain ‘handball’ in the box.
Shortly after, Chamberlain is replaced by Ramsey. Great display from the 18-year-old, he’s going to be very good…
Chamakh, who again looked lost last night was finally replaced by Robin van Persie on the 70 minute mark and it wasn’t long before the Dutchman had his first shot on goal but it’s blocked by a defender and cleared away from danger.
In to the final fifteen minutes and Djamel Abdoun and Francois Modesto are brought on for the away side in place of Mirallas and Pablo Orbaiz and shortly after Gibbs replaces Arshavin.
In the final ten minutes, we hung on and it seemed that Song stopped everything. I didn’t want him to start in defence but I’m now sure glad he did. He worked hard, especially in the second half and in my opinion the MOTM award is a close run between him and Chamberlain.
Not a convincing win by any margin, not a convincing display but we can’t forget how many players were missing last night and we can’t forget that getting three points was vital and we did just that.
Sometimes we need to win ugly, that’s just what we did. We were the only English side to win on match day two of the Champions League and all with our manager sat in the stands.
That ban is now served and he’ll be back where he belongs when we face Marseille, the side that sit top of our group.
Have a good day all, next up is the NLD, bring em on…. 😉
Moaning All, not quite up to Olivers standards…
Somebody put this mcintock fella out…..he’s just spouting shit. He said this is the worst arsenal team he has seen? A team that was missing 9 players..a team that handed a CL debut to an 18 year old who a few months ago was playing in the lower leagues. We succeeded where all the other english teams failed…we won while both manc teams didn’t yet we get slated. The chavs threw away a lone goal victory towards the end yet no one mentions them. Had that happened to us they ll be up in arms….anyway fuck them all. We won! COYGs..and hey morning folks.
stanley – don’t read it and don’t listen to it 😉
We won, the only english side to do so this week – we asked for three points, we got them and with a very depleted side…
Great performance, no – at times we were all over the place but it that win gains another bit of confidence then that is what matters…..
Hi rico…feeling the ox love in ain’t ya…I knew he had it in him. Followed him at southampton after I heard we were in for him. Am not surprised though. This kid ll go places. My only fear is he’s a CHAV fan. If he stays with us…..I see a henry about to burst loose in a couple of years. Great game for me…the highlight was mikel’s goal bound block and santos’s goal. Sheer class. Hope we build on this. With the verm coming back soon things are beginning to look up. Come on you fucking gunners. Come on. If I sound a tad too iffy its cause I and a couple of gooners drank to AOC’s health!
Yeah but reading the tabloids this morning you ll think we lost….I hate it when ex players talk bad about us. You ll never see an ex manure player bring down their club. Mcintock is a disgrace…period!
McLintock obviously doesn’t remember Jimmy Carter, David Hillier, Ian Selley, Glen Helder, Chris Kiwomya, Steve Morrow et al.
I didn’t know he was a Chav fan stanley….
We have to be honest, it’s not the best AFC we have ever seen, but i wouldn’t say it’s the worst either –
aj – exactly, FM is jsut bitter and always has a negative comment to make – and usually to talksport too…. and we know they hate us….
Hi aj don’t know those people who are they? Just kidding my man. Tell me about it. The guy’s scum. On a record breaking night when we had the youngest ever brits to score a champions league goal? His legendary status should be revoked…….what a turd.
Morning all.good summary of the game.
Did you guys notice how calm on the ball santos is….never panics. So glad we sold that tramp clichy. In a million years he won’t score that goal even if my 90 year old grand ma was between the goal post.
The media are always going to be biased.if you watched the mancs on Tuesday they were shambles at the back.Phil jones and Fabio were like deers caught in the headlights but did the media tell you that…of course not.after all phil jones is very raw with spades of English grit.the mancs showed spirit of champions to get a point,right?…F**K ’em all!!!aught in the headlights but did the media tell you that…of course not.after all phil jones is very raw with spades of English grit.the mancs showed spirit of champions to get a point,right?…F**K ’em all!!!
Hi Kt
goonster – wenger bagged a pretty good one with santos – he certainly seems to like the european games…
Did we just not get 3 CL points??
Why worry about the media guys, let’s just quietly go about our own business, worry about ourselves and stuff the rest…
I’m more disapointed in last nights ref for not sending their left back off – not the only poor decision of his on the night – hope we don’t see him again, unless of course he is the ref in germany for the final 😉
I know you didn’t say it , but don’t accuse FM of hating us.
What all the pundit’s see, ex-players or not, is a club going in the wrong direction, and I can’t argue with that.
I was annoyed even before the game started listening to AW whinging about not being able to compete. Just what sort of message does that send to the dressing room ? Sounds to me like we getting our excuses out before we fail.
The match perfectly illustrated why Wenger is a failure and why his team will not win any more trophies, and it’s nothing to do with the size of Man City’s wage bill. Every game we play in the Premiership or Champions League we have to face a team that can defend better than us.
Hear hear rico…what’s the news on theo and gervinho? Will they be available for selection come sunday? What about kozzer? Don’t want frumpong in the middle against the swampies. Song should get back to what he does best….break up attacks and re-launch them
Steve – i sometimes feel that FM gets too involved with Talksport, they are one of the worst stations for negative tripe against us.
And, it’s becuase he was hoofed off of sky sports…
But, yes, a lot of what he and other ex players say is right, all is far from perfect at our club, and changes are needed from the top down, but that isn’t going to happen right now….
I can’t see anything changing unless AU or someone else buys out Stan ….
At the end of the post i wrote:
‘That ban is now served and he’ll be back where he belongs’
I was so tempted to add, ‘ but i don’t know where that is anymore’
goonster – i wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Theo, Gervinho, Kos, JD all back for the totts…
Last night imho they were rested, nearly backfired again too….
Went to the Emirates for the first time in a year last night and spent the last hour nervously watching the clock count down.Could not quite believe what I was seeing.I excuse the back four{particularly Song and Mersacker}and I would have to say that Chamakh worked his socks off and got a good ovation from the crowd when he was subbed.Cannot believe that Wenger played him as a lone striker in a home game against the weakest team in our group.My main concern is how pathetic our midfield{especially Frimpong and Arteta)were.Constantly giving the ball away in dangerous situations and generally being far too slow on the ball.I dont think i’ll be able to suffer watching on Sunday.
Rico you cheeky little devil…why didn’t ya? Am done talking about our club and precarious state we find ourselves. I don’t wanna talk about or even think about it. I just support my beloved…who by the way won yesterday while all other english teams failed. Hahahahahaa. Don’t mind me rico…am just robbing it in. Most of me pals are chav fans so let me enjoy my day in the sun. Who knows how long it ll last. COYFGs.
I wasn’t there brian, but the clock was being watched in the same fashion – if i am honest i didn’t think we would hold on. Song wasn’t that bad imho – especially in the last 5-10 mins when we were under the cosh a bit…
I thought Chamakh was poor, maybe it was a case of seeing less on television??
I thought the same thing brian but most gooners at the pub disagreed. Chamakh did exceptionally well to me. Why he’s left up on his own is what baffles me. Arteta and rosciky left him Isolated up top. There were acres of space behind him and the mid field. I saw the same space against blackburn while RVP was playing. We need to close down that space and put someone close to the striker. This is where we miss wilshere. Bummer.
I’m on and off for a bit guys, busy day….
Hello all,
Like you say not a very good show but we got the points and are 2nd in the group with Marsielle to come, beat them and we’re top.
Unfortunately I think we are gonna have to watch a lot of games like that this season.
The goal we let in summed us up, it has to be the worst we’ve conceded this season, it was school boys stuff, everyone went to sleep, we can’t go on repeating the same mistakes over and over again, someone should point this out to our manager.
Talking of pundits, did you catch Charlie Nic’s wonderful summary on SSN- ” The only time Arshavin moved in the first half was when the referee blew his whistle for half time”.
Steve, very good, I’m with you on FM unless we’re saying everyone has a right to their own opinions providing they keep it to themselves.
In the space of 8 years we’ve probably gone from being the best team on the planet to what we are today.
Hi Rico, thankful if the win but that defence scares ne fir the spuds game. Do we have a chance?
Hi Micko, Sam…
Steve – that Charlie Nic comment is classic 🙂
Arry is resting all his ‘stars’ tonight ready for the big one, shame, i hoped the Shamrockers would put the hoof in …..
Good match summary, rico. Been smiling all day despite what the press has been writing about us. 😉 Mediocre game in quite a number of aspects, but a fantastic three points, nonetheless. 🙂
Hi agag, thanks – i hate match reports, by the time i have slept, i forget all that happened 😉
Heelo,
We are lucky yesterday..
Olympiakosthey might have earned a penalty…
Chamberlain played with his arm on the penalty area.
Chamack hasn’t instict for the net. He doesn’t shot either. Park is worse than him?
AW not defend. He is always in badly phiysical conditions.
Our defence is no not srong enought. Our attack too. But like I said since the beginning of the season our problem is in the midfield. We must have 2/3 more quality players for renovate the players in those cruacil positions.
Hi JM, i think we got lucky but so did they with the sending off that didn’t happen …
Right now i’d like to see Park get a run, rather than Chamakh, who is all out of confidence….
I seriously worry about our defence ahead of Sunday….
Shame about the chances spurned by Chamakaka. I wish he would recover his form from the first half of our last season.
I am optimistic that our players will be up for Sunday! If an NLD does not get them going, what on earth will??
JM, it’s time luck turned our way. 😉
Jm the attack is up to scratch I ll say better than last season’s. We are more direct now. No nasri to slow the counter or clichy to arrive at the opposition box then hoof it to the opposite row z. Yes the middle is the problem..but I hope you ll remember we lost the best mid fielder on earth in his position. Give the team some time to gel then you can start criticizing. As for the defense….well till the verm returns I ll not pass judgment yet. I know a lot of people have already written us off but we ve got an ace off our sleeve and that’s RVP….we ve never lost with him against the spuds and the trend ll continue. Mark my words the spuddies are in for a rude awakening….come on!
We can’t afford to miss any chances we get on sunday agag, and i’m not this squad really understand what a NLD means – apart from maybe Frimpong, Gibbs and possibly Ramsey who played in enough hard fought derby’s against Swansea….
Hopefully it ll be drummed into their ears rico….we can’t afford to lose and definitely not against the scummers. They need to understand that.
That is why we need a few Arsenal men in around the squad goonster – a Keown or Adams would make it very clear what this sunday is all about, who is there to pass that on now?
Well, I hope someone sorts our players out good and proper! And our defenders have to be on top of their game. We can’t implode again as we did in the first of last season’s NLD.
We ve got RVP sagna song gibbs and ramsey add arteta to the equation and we ve got a bunch of players who knows what a local derby is. Like I said before as long as we have robin I don’t see us losing to the scummers. They don’t even have gallas for the weekend. We ll turn over that shit house rico….believe that!
Agag the first NLD of last season was won and lost by one man…chamakh. Had he buried all those chances that were begging to be converted the game would have been over by the first half. He didn’t and we paid for it. I still don’t know what cesc was thinking raising his hands in the 18 yard box. We lost that game due to our erratic finishing. Notice one player missing….robin, you ll bet robin won’t miss any of those chances. I saw the look on his face after the match. He just can’t wait to tear the spuds apart. That’s a man on a mission. Watch out.
And the rest of the side agag, they need to defend as a team, the midfiled need to do more but yesterday AA and Rosicky were hopeless imho
Guys, got to pop off again… back later
anyway, spurs plays today… we have one more day “free”, hope more players fit and who knows what will be happen to spurs today ?
Easy goonster, already you sound beyond excited, and it’s days to Sunday yet. AK may need to send you more sedatives. 😀
rico, you are right. We need to defend as a team, chase after balls, go into challenges; and AA really needs a rocket up his… 😉
Am rearing to go agag those scummers are due a whipping…I really wanna see how they deal with our new found pace…in the attack that is. Over the years we ve had a very slow attack which is predictable. Now the swampies ll have to deal with theo on the right and gervinho on the right. They ve got their hands full. And with robin in the kinda form he is in….wow are they gonna get it. Come on arsenal come on!
speaking of aK where the heck is he? Hey yo kev…we won for fuck sake. Crawl out of your cave you ninny!
http://www.eurosport.com -Early Doors
Arsenal still suffering identity issues
As befitting a side apparently struggling with their sense of identity, Arsenal’s performance was a touch schizophrenic when defeating Olympiacos 2-1 on Wednesday night. As hope sprouted forth in the performance of 18-year-old Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, simple defensive errors once again underlined that this incarnation of Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal are very much a work in progress.
The French boss celebrates his 15th anniversary in charge of the club on Friday – Early Doors imagines by cracking out a bottle of coke, opening some plain Pringles and sticking on Uruguayan second division highlights for the night – and rarely across that huge span of time can it be said that his sides lacked a clear identity: from the dashing counter-attackers of the 1998 Double winners, to the sublime technicians of the Invincibles of 2003-04.
Even his sides of recent seasons had a distinct persona by which they were known, though the tag of over-indulgent tippy-tappy lightweights was hardly a welcome one in Islington. By contrast, after a summer in which the creative heart was ripped from the club in the shape of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri, this current Arsenal team is still seeking focus and direction in terms of their approach to the game, and understandably so.
ED thought the struggle to produce a coherent approach continued in the Champions League, even if the Olympiacos result ensured a third win in the space of nine days to go some way to addressing their terrible start to the season.
Though Mikel Arteta has immediately injected an element of poise in midfield and Robin van Persie’s continual excellence has masked some shortcomings, there is still a very real sense that this Arsenal side are still trying to work out exactly who they are, and how they will play; which avenues they will exploit and at what tempo they will do so.
A switch to a 4-3-3 formation from 4-2-3-1, with the Fabregas position being withdrawn, has necessitated a recalibration of Arsenal’s attacking strategy and with Andrei Arshavin continuing to frustrate, and Aaron Ramsey and Gervinho only impressing in patches, the growing pains have been somewhat acute.
Not as acute as they have been at the back though, of course. Wednesday’s match witnessed yet more evidence that rudimentary defending is beyond Arsenal at present. Though they showed resilience in the second half, and were reduced to a very unfamiliar back four due to injuries, the abiding image was woefully slack marking from a corner that allowed Olympiacos to pull a goal back. ED wondered for a second if some of Wenger’s players had adopted the Carlos Tevez approach and withdrawn their labour temporarily.
Strangely enough, if Arsenal could be said to have a coherent identity at present then it comes in the form of their masochistically disastrous defence. That is not the kind of reputation that Wenger and the club are seeking and it has hardly endeared this new-look side to supporters.
But on a day when the September sun did not as much kiss as dry hump the pavement in an unexpected heatwave in London, there was perhaps a slight thawing in relations between supporters and players, though tension and frustration remain prevalent in the stands at Emirates Stadium, and derisory howls are still heard when a pass is misplaced or a chance to shoot spurned.
One reason for renewed optimism amongst the supporter base is undoubtedly Oxlade-Chamberlain, who at 18 years and 44 days became the youngest English goalscorer in the history of Champions League.
When arriving at the club this summer – as a multi-million pound teenager from Southampton – it appeared Oxlade-Chamberlain would initially be denied an identity of his own, such was the frequency with which he was compared with Theo Walcott, who had made the same trip in January 2006. But the 18-year-old has taken little time to make a name for himself. He is no Walcott; indeed he promises to be much more.
Oxlade-Chamberlain now has two goals in two-and-a-bit matches for Arsenal. It took Walcott 40 games to reach the same tally, and the differences do not end there. The young man is blessed with technical ability that dwarfs his counterpart’s. More ominously for Walcott, perhaps, Oxlade-Chamberlain is also blessed with pace and his dribbling and crossing are already superior to the full England international, who continues to struggle with his evolution as a player.
Stationed on the right of a three-man attack, Oxlade-Chamberlain was deeply impressive, both in his use of the ball and his match intelligence. Though still raw in some respects, this was a performance full of intent and ambition, and highly impressive for a teenager making his Champions League debut. ED was particularly impressed by his goal, as he sprayed the ball out to Alex Song, received it back, took a few touches and buried his shot into the bottom corner.
As ED noted at the time, some Arsenal fans were bizarrely disappointed to hear of his arrival in a £12 million deal on August 8. ED suspects they are slightly more enthused now after he built on his fine display against Shrewsbury in the Carling Cup with another star turn. Certainly Pat Rice, conducting the post-match press conference in place of the suspended Wenger, was quick to talk up Oxlade-Chamberlain’s potential.
“He can go inside, he can go outside, he’s got that injection of pace and I think what he needs now is to be consistent in his play,” Rice said. “I am sure that is something he will be working on because he’s certainly not a stupid boy. He has good people around him and they are telling him all the right things.
“From Arsenal supporters’ point of view, they are going to be seeing a lot of this boy. Whenever he breaks in permanently he has a big, big challenge to now get in front of Theo. I know that Theo is a very strong-willed guy as well and he won’t give in easy. It all bodes well for England anyway.”
Clearly a conclusion, rightly or wrongly, is beginning to be formed about Oxlade Chamberlain: he is England’s next big thing. But for so many of the other Arsenal players the jury remains out.
Is Emmanuel Frimpong the DEEENCH cult hero, or a boy who should be left on the bench? Is Andre Santos a goalscoring full-back or a potential liability? Is Ramsey the player who took Bolton apart in the second half last week, or the player who struggled in the first? Is Arshavin a mercurial talent, prone to flashes of genius, or just plain lazy?
These questions, and many others, must be resolved before this new Arsenal side assumes a coherent form in their own minds, and those of the public. Crisis is a term all too loosely applied in the modern game, but it might be fair to say that the Gunners are dealing with something of a mini identity crisis at present.
Evening ….
What a quiet day on here…..nobody for hours on end. And the annoying thing is we won. Had we lost a whole lot of people ll be up in arms screaming like banshees.
Hi rico….don’t mind me…just having a rant. Bad day at work that’s why.
Hi goonster – it’s strange the way the blog world has gone, maybe it’s down to all not being so well…..
sorry for the delay, was having dinner…..
I’m here… but I’m still working
Hi all , got to be quick , just got home and going out again. Seems it’s all on to Tick Tock now is it . I heard his interview and frankly what he said about our defending was 100% right. For the many that never saw him play , I will tell you that with Peter Simpson he formed one of the best centre half pairings I have ever seen and knows more about that art than all of the posters on this site put together. He started as a midfield player that converted to centre back as he got older. If he says that we can’t defend properly accept it , If he says that midfield players are not covering accept that too but don’t decry him because you don’t like what your hearing.
🙁 JM…. Not too hard I hope…
Hi Potter – i don’t disagree with what he says – just wish he would call wenger and tell him how to rectify it, one day our stubborn manager has to listen to someone….
All quiet here so I’m heading off for the day…
Catch you all tomorrow guys and gals….
NLD around the corner 😛
Nighty
Spurs is playing today with the subs…
‘Crawl out of my cave’… Stanley anymore of that nonsense and you’ll be on detention… 🙂
Good post Rico.
Frank McLintock was a great player and a great captain.
As a manager he wasn’t so hot..!
I can understand his frustration. He sees the same stupid mistakes game after game. He loves Arsenal. It hurts him as much as us believe me, to see us underperforming.
I see that Scum rested all their big players.
We are in for one almighty battle on Sunday.
The Scummers smell a ‘Change in the balance of power in North London’…
It’s gonna be like a bear-pit.
I just hope our lot have the backbone for the fight & fcuking turn up!
Morning all
Sorry to have missed you AK, SS’s already write us off for the NLD, they are in for a shock 🙂
New one up…..