Arsenal in trouble after shock Champions League loss to Olympiakos
What is worse, after losing to Dinamo Zagreb on matchday one, Arsenal are in serious danger of failing to qualify for the last 16; their next two games are against Bayern Munich, who racked up 8 goals in dismissing Olympiakos and Dinamo in their first two games.
Yet it had all started so well -- although perhaps that was the problem. Saturday’s hat-trick at Leicester had suggested a return to form for Alexis Sanchez after a quiet start to the season, and he maintained that impression here, his pace causing persistent problems to the Olympiakos rearguard. Twice in three minutes early on, he cut through the defence to create chances: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, forced wide, sliced his in to the side-netting, while Theo Walcott twisted past Dimitris Siovas only to slightly scuff his shot straight at the goalkeeper Roberto.
At that stage it seemed simply a matter of how many Arsenal would score. They have, after all, beaten Olympiakos three times at home in the past six years. But this is a pattern that keeps repeating -- most recently in the home game against Monaco last season: Arsenal are never in as much trouble as when they believes they have a game under control. Sloppiness and complacency quickly set in.
Olympiakos’s thrusts had been largely unthreatening until, after 33 minutes, Kostas Fortounis saw his shot form the edge of the box deflect off Gabriel and just over. The corner was pulled back to the edge of the box, where Felipe Pardo struck a low shot into a mass of players. It flicked off the heel of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and was diverted into the bottom corner -- a fortunate goal and yet one that Arsenal had brought upon themselves with their lack of intensity.
It was behind for just two minutes, Sanchez darting in from the left and laying in Walcott, who opened his body and looked to shape the ball into the bar corner. His shot seemed far too close to Roberto, but the ball bounced off his body and into the net.
But Arsenal was soon behind again, thanks to a far worse goalkeeping error. Fortounis’s corner from the left was high and swinging and as a backpedalling Ospina patted the ball down the official behind the goal ruled it had crossed the line -- although television replays were inconclusive. Still, even if it didn't, Ospina’s error in judging the flight of the ball was clear, again raising questions as to why Wenger selected him ahead of Petr Cech. It’s not that Ospina is a bad keeper, far from it, but Cech is better and consistency of selection helps develop the understanding that goalkeepers and central defenders need.
Aresene Wenger defended his goalkeeper selection with out explaining his reasoning after the game.
"That is always the simple thing. Ospina played 19 games last year, kept 14 clean sheets, last week at Tottenham he had a fantastic game. No keeper is mistake free. Could have happened to Petr Cech as well, that's part of it," said Wenger.
He did add that there were lingering fitness concerns over Cech: "He had a slight alert before the game at Leicester (at the weekend), I didn't want to take a gamble, but it's not because of that that we lost the game. It's a farce."
The second half fell into a predictable pattern of Arsenal pressure and Olympiakos resistance. Briefly, it seemed the Greek champions may hold out. Roberto saved from Per Mertesacker and Cazorla’s follow-up hit Esteban Cambiasso on the line, then the Spanish goalkeeper beat away a Cazorla drive. On 65 minutes, though, Arsenal leveled again, Cazorla sliding in Walcott, whose chipped cross was headed in unopposed by Sanchez.
And yet within a minute Arsenal were behind again, thanks to some staggeringly awful defending. As Olympiakos attacked down the left, the ball was cut back to Fortounis on the edge of the box. There wasn’t an Arsenal player within 10 yards of him, six outfielders having dropped back to the edge of the box. His touch was poor and the ball was half-cleared to Cambiasso, who chipped it right for Pardo, and his cross was touched in by the substitute Alfred Finnbogason.
Arsenal had chances -- Mesut Ozil had a free-kick clawed out of the air by Roberto, Sanchez headed just wide, a toe-ended Walcott effort just wide -- and on another day they probably would have won. But this sort of performance and result is too common in Europe for Arsenal to blame luck. There is a had-to-define quality that elevates teams to win games -- a hardness, an edge, a streetwiseness -- and Arsenal simply do not have it, and haven’t had it for a while.
