Lacklustre Arsenal Lose To Olympiakos

Last night was a very disappointing night for Arsenal as they exited the Europa League in the round of 32 after losing 2-1 at home to Olympiakos after extra time. Defeats are never easy to take, but sometimes a decent performance offers some consolation. We most certainly didn’t get that consolation from last night’s game which was most definitely our worst performance in Mikel Arteta’s short time in charge of the club.

He went with almost the exact same team that was so leggy late on against Everton on Sunday and was more than a little fortunate to hold on for the 3-2 win. Right from the start it looked like they still hadn’t managed to reinvigorate themselves and their game lacked appetite. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea not to bring in some fresh legs to a team who obviously needed them.

I think the performance was also influenced by having a lead from the away leg though as the players weren’t exactly sure how to approach the game. They were playing with Arsene Wenger’s famous “handbrake” on and I have to wonder if the manager urged that caution in them. As long as Olympiakos didn’t score we were going through and I think that had far too much influence on how we played the game.

As it was we probably should have gone ahead in the first half, but Alexandre Lacazette missed a very good chance yet again and Granit Xhaka had a goal disallowed for offside. I hoped for better in the second half, but in truth it was worse as Olympiakos became more adventurous in their attempts to get a result. It was obvious the game was going away from us before they scored and the manager really should have done something to counter it.

When their goal came it was another lesson in how not to defend from Arsenal with the tallest player on the pitch given free reign from a corner and he really couldn’t miss. Everton exposed a weakness from set pieces on Sunday and Olympiakos did so again last night. We had a pretty good record defending them before Arteta arrived while City aren’t exactly the best at it so it looks like it’s something he has to put some serious work into very soon.

We still lacked focus after the Olympiakos goal and we were thankful to Bernd Leno for keeping us in the tie with a good save. Eventually we went to three at the back and began to exert some pressure in the last 15 minutes of normal time. We never really looked like getting the decisive goal though and it came as no surprise when the game went to extra time.

Extra time went much like the last 15 minutes with us huffing and puffing, but very little really happening with the exception of Olympiakos missing a reasonable chance on the break. With less than 10 minutes to go a piece of magic from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang gave us the goal we craved and that really should have been it. Olympiakos tried to push forward, but never really looked like creating anything until Leno was too casual with a back pass and was closed down which resulted in him conceding a corner.

We managed to clear the initial ball into our box, but when the second ball came in we were caught flat footed and their leading scorer stabbed home to surely send us out of the competition. All that was left was more or less the added time for their celebrations and somehow we managed to create a gilt edged chance in that time. If there’s any player you want the ball to fall to six yards out in the last minute to put you through it’s Aubameyang and when he hit it I was certain he would score, but somehow he missed and that was that.

The loss in revenue could be up to €40 million compared to last season when we reached the final when you consider the TV money, prize money and matchday money too. That’s the price of a fairly good addition to a squad that really needs to be strengthened in the summer and it pushes us even further down the list of the top earning clubs. As someone said on Twitter we have gone from a Champions League last 16 team to a Europa League last 32 team very quickly.

We have also lost one of our routes back into the Champions League for next season which only leaves us hoping to finish fourth or fifth if City lose their appeal. To be honest the thought of our current team playing in the Champions League is one that scares me, but going out in the last 32 of the Europa League is bloody embarrassing. On the plus side our players will be nice and fresh for the rest of the season with no nasty Thursday night football to worry about.

Our next game is against Portsmouth in the FA Cup on Monday night and we need to see a reaction from the players and the manager too. As much as things have got better under Arteta last night was horrendous and Unai Emery would have been lashed from pillar to post if he was the man in charge. Arteta has to show he knows what he’s doing and is capable of getting the best out of these players game in and game out.

I thought the lack of rotation last night was a factor in the result and I cannot understand what Gabriel Martinelli was doing on the bench for so long. We were so tired in the second half on Sunday that maybe the manager should have considered players like Lucas Torreira, Matteo Guendouzi, Reiss Nelson, Ainsley Maitland-Niles or Sokratis Papastathopoulos from the start to put some energy in the team.

Hindsight is a great thing though and he paid a price for putting too much faith in some players who have let other managers down in the past and seem willing to let him down too. His inability or unwillingness to change things when we clearly weren’t at the races didn’t help and his tactics or the team’s inability to implement them on the night didn’t help either. I think a lot of it came down to not knowing how to play with a one goal lead from the first leg and then being unable to up the tempo enough after Olympiakos scored.

Having said all of that we’d be talking about who we got in the next round at this stage if Aubameyang had put that late chance away like we all expected him to do. Olympiakos will play Wolves in the next round and I’m not sure if we could have played another English team so we probably would have drawn someone else. It will be interesting to see how they can do against a Wolves team who still look head and shoulders above us in terms of knowing how they want to play and doing so and who have some good players too.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal's Europa League Trip To Qarabag Previewed

Tonight is Thursday night and we all know what that means. Unfortunately it means Europa League football for Arsenal for the second season in a row as we look to progress from our group and maybe do better than last season when we lost the semi final to Atletico Madrid. It’s a poor imitation of the Champions League, but with the winners qualifying for next season’s Champions League it’s a competition we have to take a real interest in.

It doesn’t help when you have to make the long journey to Azerbaijan and then try to get back in plenty of time to prepare for a Premier League game away to Fulham on Sunday. At least there will be no real travel involved in the game at Fulham, but such a long midweek journey can be energy sapping. I have no doubt Unai Emery will rotate his players as much as he can to try to insure victory in both games.

The injury to Petr Cech last weekend means we should get to see a fair bit of Bernd Leno and get to judge how well we spent all that money on him in the summer. He fits the bill in terms of how the manager wants to play the ball out from the back and it’s a matter of how his other attributes fit. Cech has looked very good in all aspects of his game this season except with the ball at his feet and Leno needs to improve from what we have seen so far if he’s going to keep his place in the team.

In defence we should see Stephan Lichsteiner play again and there’s a possibility of the fit again Sead Kolasinac playing at left back. Rob Holding has impressed in the last two games, but I think he will play as it gives him another opportunity to show the manager what he can do. With Sokratis Papastathopoulos recovered from his injury I think it’s 50/50 between him and Shkodran Mustafi as to who plays with Holding.

In midfield there should be outings for Mohamed Elneny and Matteo Guendouzi while I would expect Danny Welbeck to lead the line. I would be very surprised if Alex Iwobi didn’t play and we should see Emile Smith Rowe in the team too with the final spot probably going to Joe Willock. Neither Aaron Ramsey or Henrikh Mkhitaryan have travelled for the game for very different reasons.

Ramsey is staying behind as his wife is due to give birth and I imagine he didn’t want to be thousands of kilometers away if the event was to occur. The chances are he wouldn’t have played although the absence of Mkhitaryan might have meant he had a role to play. The less said about the Mkhitaryan situation the better, but the club have said he has stayed behind with a “cold”.

The comments of the Qarabag manager have hardly helped the situation, but how UEFA can allow teams to play in their competitions when opposition players can’t get a visa to play in their country is beyond me. It’s not as if Mkhitaryan is a Serge Aurier with a criminal record who can’t get his visa. The official line is he’s not well though and we have little choice other than to believe it despite doubting it to the extreme.

The 4-2 win in our first group game has put us in a healthy position in our group and three points against Qarabag would put us in a great position. For me the group stages are all about qualifying for the knockout stages while getting a chance to rest most of the players who will be playing in the league. The teams playing in the Champions League can’t afford to do that and it possibly gives Arsenal a chance to make up some ground in the league.

Qarabag have done reasonably well in European competitions in recent seasons and they certainly won’t be a pushover. The manager will have a strong bench to draw on if needs be and that’s something his predecessor didn’t do in the Europa League group stages. Emery has won this competition three times before and I have no doubt he will have at least one eye on the possibility of winning it again.

I’ve never been the biggest fan of Danny Welbeck, but he has done very well with the limited chances he has got so far this season. It would be interesting to see how Welbeck might progress if he could manage a prolonged period without an injury, but he has spent most of his time at the club on the treatment table. A goal from him would make him our leading scorer so far this season and that’s not too shabby for a player who is clearly seen as back up.

As always in Europa League games the priority is getting all the players home fit and safe and raring to go on Sunday. Three points would be an added bonus and it’s something we can certainly do despite resting up to 10 of the players who beat Watford last Saturday.

For those of you looking to have a flutter on the game you can get a boosted price of 10/1 for Arsenal to win when you sign up to Bookee and place a bet. It sounds like a very good price to me and well worth considering.

Arsenal v Brentford: Carabao Cup Preview

The 2-0 win against Everton on Sunday made it five wins in a row in all competitions for Arsenal and four of those were in the league. I’ve always thought you need to average two points per game to have any chance of making an impact in the league and we’re on that average with a good run of games coming up. We had a great home record last season, but we struggled away from home against almost every single team in the league. Two away wins from three games so far is very encouraging with the only defeat coming away to unbeaten Chelsea.

It’s the Carabao Cup for us tonight when Brentford come calling and it’s a competition we reached the final in last season. The less said about that final the better though and it will be interesting to see Unai Emery's take on the lesser of the three domestic trophies we play for. Arsene Wenger used the competition to blood young players for many seasons and gradually strengthened the team as we progressed through the rounds. He never managed to win it though with defeats to Chelsea, Birmingham and City in the final during his reign.

The new man might just be tempted to give it a shot and he certainly played a stronger team than his predecessor would have done in our first Europa League group game last week. He has a great track record in winning trophies and I have no doubt he would love to get first trophy at Arsenal as quickly as possible regardless of the perceived value of the competition. The Premier League has to be our first priority, but trips to Wembley for cup finals are usually a pleasant sideshow.

I would expect a fairly similar team to the one which played last Thursday night, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Alexander Lacazette was the man leading the line this time with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on the bench. Maybe Matteo Guendouzi might start in midfield with Lucas Torreira now looking like the man to anchor the midfield of our first choice 11 and we should see Stephan Lichsteiner, Bernd Leno, Mohamed Elneny and Danny Welbeck play from the start too. With doubts over the fitness of Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Sokratis Papastathopoulos I would expect both of them to sit the game out which would see Rob Holding, Shkodran Mustafi and Nacho Monreal in defence and probably Emile Smith-Rowe play in an attacking role. The manager might opt for a slightly less experienced line up and I for one wouldn’t be averse to see Eddie Nketiah and one or two others get a run out from the start or at some stage during the game.

It’s certainly a fairly strong team and which would probably be expected to progress, but you can never take these games for granted as Derby showed us against United last night. Brentford have started the season very well and from the little I have seen of them they play some good football. They will ask plenty of questions of us and the players will have to be on the ball from the start.

We have looked far from at the races in the first half of games in particular this season, but the manager is adept at finding ways to adjust our style and performance. Progression to the next round would be nice and so would making it six wins in a row in all competitions, but ultimately the Carabao Cup is of little importance until we reach a stage where we can smell the chance of a trophy. If we’re going to play a strongish team in the Europa League then it could be at the cost of progress in the Carabao Cup and that would be understandable. 

Of course I want us to win tonight, but the result is not going to make a whole lot of difference to a season which is starting to show a little promise at this stage. Hopefully we’ll win well with the youngsters and fringe players making an impression and none of the players we depend on in our strongest team picking up any knocks. We have some momentum in the Premier League and that’s what has to be of upmost importance to us right now.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v FC Vorskla: Europa League Preview

With three Premier League wins in a row behind them Arsenal make the jaunt into Europa League football again tonight when FC Vorskla come to the Emirates Stadium. I can’t profess to knowing too much about tonight’s opponents and no team can be taken too lightly in European football as City learned to their expense last night. Whatever our opponents might be like we are again one of the favourites to win the trophy and we have a manager who knows what it takes to do it.

Arsene Wenger used the group stages to blood young players and give game time to those more senior players who weren’t getting it last season. I expect Unai Emery to do exactly the same this season with the team gradually improving as we go further into the competition. He has plenty of good players on the bench at the moment and he should add them to a few youngsters who could do with a game too.

We can expect to see Bernd Leno make his debut in goal after we spent so much money on him in the summer and I'm looking forward to seeing how he copes with how the manager wants the team to play. Petr Cech is struggling with the ball at his feet at times, but it seems we bought Leno because of his ability to use his feet among other things. If it goes well for him tonight I still don't expect him to dislodge Cech for a while yet, but the day must surely be coming.

In defence injuries mean we might have to play Nacho Monreal and one of either Shokdran Mustafi or Sokratis Papastathopoulos alongside Rob Holding and Stephan Lichsteiner who will be making his full debut tonight. Lichsteiner is a very strong defender who would get in a lot of Premier League teams, but Hector Bellerin will probably keep his place due to his youth and his attacking ability. It's good to know we have a player of Lichsteiner's quality available if Bellerin is injured or has problems with his form.

In midfield we should get to see the full debut of Lucas Torreira and he's a player who must be chomping at the bit for his first start. He has been very impressive in his substitute appearances so far and he has to make a first team place his own very soon for the good of the team. As much as I like Matteo Guendouzi I think Torreria has the ability to drive the team forward from midfield and he is exactly what we need in the team at the moment.

We should also see Mohamed Elneny get his first chance to show what he can do this season while Alex Iwobi and Henrikh Mkhitaryan will probably play too as they didn't start at Newcastle last Saturday. It looks like a pretty strong midfield to me and certainly one which should be able to dominate the game. I wouldn't be surprised if Torreira doesn't last the 90 minutes with Sunday's game against Everton on the manager's mind.

That should leave Danny Welbeck to lead the line with Emile Smith-Rowe playing somewhere between the midfield and attack unless the manager decides to pick Eddie Nketiah instead. I'm a big fan of Nketiah and I think he has a very exciting future in the game, but it's very hard for a young player to break into a team with strikers like Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette ahead of him. I'm a big fan of Smith-Rowe too and from what we have seen before I don't think either player would be overawed tonight.

Hopefully we can get the campaign off to a good start in front of a fairly good crowd, but the Europa League group stages are hardly the things dreams are made of. We need to get back to the main table of the Champions League as soon as possible for the good of the club and for the money it brings in which cannot be overstated. It's much easier to attract top class players to the club with the promise of Champions League football and the longer we're out of it the harder it will become to get back in. One way to do it is to win the Europa League of course and we most certainly have a manager who knows how to do just that.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal Complete Their Transfers With Five Signings

With the World Cup over and football most certainly not coming home it’s time to look at Arsenal’s transfer dealings so far. Unai Emery has been quick to assess his squad and he has already brought in five players who he hopes will strengthen the team defensively. Given our defensive problems for a number of seasons now it’s an issue which had to be addressed and we can only hope he has brought in the personnel we so badly need.

Of course it’s going to take more than a few new players to change a team that conceded more goals from errors than any other Premier League team last season. We need a new mindset and determination from the players and that’s something the new manager has to get through to them from day one. We need the players to defend better as individuals and as a team too and that’s something that has to come from tactical nous and hard work on the training ground.

So far we have seen the arrivals of a goalkeeper, a right back, a central defender and two defensive midfielders. All of those arrivals are very promising, but I’m still not sure we have the actual quality needed in defence. It’s going to take an awful lot of work on the training ground to turn those players into a well marshalled unit, but it can be done.

The arrival of Bernd Leno must mean either Petr Cech or David Ospina will be on their way and there are rumours of Cech even heading back to Chelsea. Personally I think we can do better than both of them and I wasn’t impressed with either of them last season although it can’t be easy to play behind that Arsenal defence. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Leno claim the goalkeeper’s shirt for himself and maybe we might even sign another keeper if both Cech and Ospina decide to go elsewhere.

With Laurent Koscielny more than likely going to miss most of the season and Shkodran Mustafi possibly on his way out after some dreadful performances last season it’s the centre of our defence which needs the most work done on it. Neither Calum Chambers or Rob Holding are proven at the top level yet while both Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Konstantinos Mavropanos have little more than one Premier League game between them, but Sokratis is an experienced player at least.

Stephan Lichsteiner has been signed as cover for Hector Bellerin and he’s a defender with a great pedigree and he’s most definitely a winner. He’s exactly the sort of player we could do with in the squad and I’m looking forward to seeing him join up with the rest of the squad once he gets his much needed rest after his World Cup exploits with Switzerland. I can’t admit to having followed his career too closely, but I wonder if there’s any chance he might just be able to play as a central defender.

The right hand side of the defence looks strong with Lichsteiner and Bellerin to call on while the left hand side doesn’t look too weak either with both Nacho Monreal and Sead Kolasinac vying for a place. There has been some talk of Monreal going back to play in Spain, but Emery appears unwilling to let our best defender from last season go.

The most impressive work in the transfer window so far seems to have been in the defensive role in midfield with both Lucas Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi added to the squad. Torreira looks like he’ll step straight into the team and he looks like a very good addition while Guendouzi looks like he’s one for the future, but he will get to show us what he can do on occasions this season. 

We might not have added any attacking players to the squad yet and we might not add any at all, but the work we did in January will be very hard to beat. I can’t wait to see Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang playing from day one and I think he’s going to score an awful lot of goals for us. Henrikh Mkhitaryan is another player who really excites me and I think he gives us options in midfield and attack which we didn’t have before his arrival. 

The most important business for us this summer could be tying Aaron Ramsey down to a new contract and Emery seems confident he can do so. A fully fit Ramsey is a very important player for Arsenal and I hope he can be persuaded to extend his contract as soon as possible. If not I can only imagine he will have to be sold this summer and we will have to look to spend big to replace him. 

I still think we will add another attacking player and I hope it’s a wide player because we are lacking some genuine width in the squad. Reiss Nelson might get the chance on occasions to show what he can do, but he still has a lot to learn and we need someone who can give us that something we are currently missing on a regular basis. 

Pre season started off encouragingly with an 8-0 win against Boreham Wood last Saturday and it will continue over the next week or so in Singapore with games against Atletico Madrid and PSG before we play Chelsea in Dublin on the first of August. It’s a game I’m lucky enough to be going to as it’s only about 12 stops away from me on the train. I haven’t seen Arsenal play in Ireland since the early days of George Graham’s reign in the 80s and I’m really looking forward to seeing them play and I’m hoping for a very strong team with the season starting only nine days later.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal Say Hello To Bernd Leno And Wave Goodbye To Jack Wilshere

It’s been an eventful few days for Arsenal with comings and goings at the club as we signed a goalkeeper and lost a midfielder. Bernd Leno joined from Bayer Leverkusen just a few hours before we heard the news from Jack Wilshere that he will be playing his football elsewhere next season.

Leno looks like a pretty decent keeper to me and his arrival will surely see the exit of either Petr Cech or David Ospina or maybe even both of them. I think we needed a new keeper as neither Cech nor Ospina have been impressive and we need a keeper who the defenders can depend upon. I’m looking forward to seeing him at least compete for thr first choice keeper’s role with either Cech or Ospina and I hope he is good enough to make it his own.  

Wilshere has been in negotiations with the club about a new contract for quite a while now, but it appears those discussions have come to an end. He said he was prepared to take a pay cut, but following discussions with Unai Emery he made the decision the best thing for him was to move when his contract ends at the end of this month. I can understand why Emery might want to bring in his own players, but I will also be sad to see Wilshere leave.

For me he was a player with huge potential who never really got to live up to that potential mainly due to injuries. He has missed an awful lot of time due to a series of injuries which all seemed to stem from an ankle injury a good few years ago. That’s not to say he hasn’t had his good moments at the club, but it has been a few years since we have seen the best of him.

He played plenty of games last season, but his return in terms of goals and assists was minimal to say the least. He was loaned out to Bournemouth the previous season after appearing unwilling to fight for a place at Arsenal having missed all of the previous season through injury. There’s no doubting his love for the club and I’m sure leaving us will hurt him, but there’s little room for sentiment in football.

I wish him well wherever he goes except when he plays against us of course and I hope he can overcome his injury problems and do really well for the rest of his career. His exit opens up a place in the squad you would imagine and we look like we could be lining his replacement up already. If the rumours are to be believed Lucas Torreira will join us from Sampdoria quite soon. I won’t be counting any chickens until he signs on the dotted line though.

With Wilshere on the way out it was interesting to see Granit Xhaka extend his contract and you can only assume he has done so as Unai Emery wants him at the club. He’s a player that divides opinion, but I think the right manager and the right coaching could make him a very important player for us. I’m looking forward to seeing how Emery can influence him next season and I’m hoping we’ll see a lot more consistency and defensive stability from him.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.