Match Reaction v Olympiacos

[Cripps_orig]

Welcome Back Arsenal

Seriously, that was awful. We need to buy in January

[Syn]

Right, job done.

Unless Santos is injured.

In which case, Wenger just made a really, really stupid error.

We had one aim...not to get injuries to our first-team players.

[hymppi]

miquel looked good.
oxo got important experience.
the rest...meh.
i hope santos is ok.
and that sxssxzssxxccssgxsny will not get injured :lol:

[Guns of Gibraltar]

we just have 1 striker, God help us till May.

[milla]

LOL we need cover on the left wing, we'll be fecked so hard if Wenger thinks fat fuk and lesbo jew could replace Gervinho in Jan. :coffee:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

We earnt the right to play a second string side in a dead rubber (for us) but even so, that was pretty poor.

[milla]

and that sxssxzssxxccssgxsny will not get injured :lol:

Almunia on the bench this weekend? :faint:

[fakeyank]

Who really had a good game? I saw the last 25 mins and no one looked good!

[Letters]

My reaction: :haha:

Dear God that was poor.

[Cripps_orig]

Who really had a good game? I saw the last 25 mins and no one looked good!

Miquel looked decent and ummmm Oxface?

Fuck knows who else

Comedic value, Mannone wins hand down

[Ollie the Optimist]

we went through as group winners so who gives a shit? first team didnt play tbh. nothing game. move on to everton

[Globalgunner]

Sczecney........., then Fabianski, Manonne, Almunia......what the heck, someone should get fired for putting together this motley crew

[Master Splinter]

The most important thing, aside from Santos possibly being injured and Oxlade-Chamberlain looking good, is whether this farce of a dead rubber will ignite GW?

:popcorn:

[Cripps_orig]

Sczecney........., then Fabianski, Manonne, Almunia......what the heck, someone should get fired for putting together this motley crew

We're fucked if Sir Chesney is injured

And people thought we didnt need a keeper :lol:

[Syn]

Could get Milan, Zenit or Leverkusen (of the ones definitely through...obviously 4 more tomorrow) in the next round.

Merson would take Milan. I'd love a tie against Zenit. It'd be a footballing classic.

[Cripps_orig]

When is the draw for the last 16?

Friday?

[McNamara That Ghost...]

When is the draw for the last 16?

Friday?

Nah, the 16th. They finish off the Europa League that week.

[Guns of Gibraltar]

Looks like Arsenal and Arsene didn´t want to do any favours to the cheats of Marselle. In vain though, I wonder what happened in Dortmund in the last minutes, very dodgy, knowing Marselle.

[Kano]

would love milan in the next round

[Cripps_orig]

Looks like Arsenal and Arsene didn´t want to do any favours to the cheats of Marselle. In vain though, I wonder what happened in Dortmund in the last minutes, very dodgy, knowing Marselle.Tbf, Marseilles winner was an excellent goal

[Syn]

Looks like Arsenal and Arsene didn´t want to do any favours to the cheats of Marselle. In vain though, I wonder what happened in Dortmund in the last minutes, very dodgy, knowing Marselle.

Of the 2 late goals, both seemed legit...although maybe a hint of some dodgy keeping for the winner. It was a decent shot but I think you'd expect the 'keeper to save it. I'd need to take another look though.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Looks like Arsenal and Arsene didn´t want to do any favours to the cheats of Marselle. In vain though, I wonder what happened in Dortmund in the last minutes, very dodgy, knowing Marselle.

It was Agent Goetze tbf.

[Xhaka Can’t]

we went through as group winners so who gives a shit? first team didnt play tbh. nothing game. move on to everton

We really are in no position to dismiss what seems to be an awful performance so lightly. The game does not matter at all, but these players have a opportunity to demonstrate what they can do, which seems to be not much really.

Then again, if you are going to make so many changes you can't be surprised when they don't gel into something approaching a professional football team.

[Cripps_orig]

The result didnt matter but the performance does and it was worrying.

Our 2nd team isnt up to it and we need players

[Cripps_orig]

Our highlights on SS2 atm

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Our highlights on SS2 atm

Well 'our highlight'.

[Syn]

Nothing said about Santos' injury in the Sky interview - so hopefully that's a good sign. Instead Sky decided to ask a few questions on what Wenger thought of Chelsea going through :rolleyes:

[Marc Overmars]

Expected a defeat but it was a very poor performance. The City game last week seems to be the rare exception over the past 12 months where the 2nd string have managed to perform to an admirable standard, otherwise they've been very disappointing on the whole and you have to ask questions about the quality of our squad beyond the first 11.

Anyway, the job was done so there's no point picking the bones out of this one.

[Letters]

We really are in no position to dismiss what seems to be an awful performance so lightly. The game does not matter at all, but these players have a opportunity to demonstrate what they can do, which seems to be not much really.

Then again, if you are going to make so many changes you can't be surprised when they don't gel into something approaching a professional football team.

I don't think we should completely dismiss this evening's debacle but I don't think we should massively over-react to it either.

[Boss]

Chamakh :rose:

Mannone :rose:

Fabianski :rose:

End of their careers hopefully. Impressed with AOC tbf.

[Boss]

Also thought Benayoun did relatively well, always tried to make himself available, scored a decent goal and set up a chance that Rosicky really should have done better with.

Had to carry Arshavin and Chamakh (with help from the rest of the midfield, ofc) most of the game.

[Syn]

John Cross


Andre Santos ankle injury looks bad. Hobbled through mixed zone in obvious pain. And proceeded to trip on barrier with bad foot. #afc

Looks like the comedy show continued off the pitch. Lets hope he is as wrong about this as he has been about most things related to Arsenal. But..Wenger, ffs, where was the need?

[Xhaka Can’t]

I don't think we should completely dismiss this evening's debacle but I don't think we should massively over-react to it either.

Agreed it isn't meaningless nor is it the end of the world. But it is an indicator of who has a future with us and for whom the bell should soon toll.

[fakeyank]

John Cross



Looks like the comedy show continued off the pitch. Lets hope he is as wrong about this as he has been about most things related to Arsenal. But..Wenger, ffs, where was the need?

Dont worry, we have Gibbs..

[Syn]

on injuries to Lukasz Fabianski and Andre Santos...
Fabianski felt a deep cut on the knee and Santos suffered a bad ankle injury. He looks like he will be out for a while. We have Gibbs coming back in two to three weeks. Hopefully Santos will not be too long but, for Saturday against Everton, he looks to be short. We have as well Vermaelen who can play in his position.

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/-olympiacos-played-a-very-committed-game-

At least it'll allow Vermaelen to get forward. He should form a good partnership with Van Persie.

[milla]

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/-olympiacos-played-a-very-committed-game-

Why Vermaelan? Miguel will fine against Everton. :coffee:

[Syn]

Why Vermaelan? Miguel will fine against Everton. :coffee:

Maybe. We knew we had a tough 3 league fixtures coming up: Everton, Man City, Villa. We also knew this was a nothing game. If we were going to play as shit as we did today and if we were going to play a very weakened side, we might as well have not let Vermaelen and Santos travel either. Very annoying. Right...I'm done moaning.

Arsene, you penis.

Now I'm done.

[milla]

Maybe. We knew we had a tough 3 league fixtures coming up: Everton, Man City, Villa. We also knew this was a nothing game. If we were going to play as shit as we did today and if we were going to play a very weakened side, we might as well have not let Vermaelen and Santos travel either. Very annoying. Right...I'm done moaning.

Arsene, you penis.

Now I'm done.

:gp:

[Joker]

Pathetic performance tbh, and showed how weak our squad really is. A couple of injuries to key players like Chesney and Vermaelen and we're looking at the prospect of seeing Mannone and Djourou/Squillaci starting for us in crucial Premier League games. I know this game was a dead rubber, but it has shown up how many of our players are really not Champions League standard at all, which is deeply worrying. If we had put up a decent fight and still lost, it wouldn't have been such a big deal, but to perform like clowns is not acceptable.

Again, it all comes back to Wenger and/or the board. Why are we in this situation where our squad is so weak? We had the whole summer to put together a strong set of 22 players, with enough quality in reserve so that when these players are called upon, they'll put up at least a competent performance. Don't forget, the only reason we ended up signing a fair few players on the last day of the Transfer Window was because of the 8-2 result. If we had gotten a better result in that game, Wenger would most likely have not bothered with any last ditch deals, and our squad would have been EVEN WORSE than it is now!

[Letters]

Waaaaaaaaaah! :crying:

Oh dear.

[Joker]

Oh dear.

I'm not saying this result is a disaster (it obviously means nothing) but the serious lack of squad depth has to be a cause for concern. Moreover, some of the players who performed like clowns aren't showing any signs of improvement whatsoever. Chamakh, Squillaci, Djourou, Fabianski, Arshavin have been given chances to prove that they should be starting on a fair few occasions this season, but they've failed to take almost all of them.

[Letters]

It was the worst performance for a long time, since OT I reckon. Quite a lot of those players played last week vs City though and while we lost that one too that was a very good performance. Off night tonight definitely but it's not a huge disaster IMO.

We need to strengthen in January, I don't think we need to buy loads of players but a couple in the right positions would help. Top priority for me would be some more firepower to take the pressure of RvP.

[Power n Glory]

Glad I didn't rush home to see that.

[Cripps_orig]

It wasn't pretty. It was a bad a performance as I've seen and if Olympiakos weren't so shit, they'd have easily Manc'd us. Major problems in this squad and need to be solved asap.

[fari]

lord what filth. i cannot believe chamakh got paid for that 'performance'...arshavin also...funny thing is i wonder if vela and some of the other loanees would have done a better job.

[Flavs]

utter shite, if Frimpong thinks he can get away with playing like that he needs a rocket up his arse. It was like watching the first team at the end of last season, no movement, no desire, no team work. Utter shite.

Next

[Flavs]

Also why not play Miyachi and Ju? Don't see the point in either really

[Master Splinter]

Ryo is injured.

And Ju should be getting games over Chamakh and Arshavin.

Considering Arshavin, Chamakh and Squillaci were playing again, it was probably a 'shop window' game.

Only Rotherham are interested though.

[IBK]

My tuppenceworth...

Even with a second string team the players should have done a lot better than that. I'm afraid that what we saw was a CC final style performance where before a ball was kicked the players approached it like a training game. That was the real disappointment for me - as it shakes my belief that this team had shaken off the complacency that has affected us in recent seasons. By contrast, I've rarely seen a team as up for it as Olympiacos - and with good reason of course. Unbelievably our team looked like one expecting a no-pressure outing, and looked shaken to the core by the intensity of the Olympiacos players and fans.

Where were the players trying to stake a claim to first team football - apart from Oxo you would have thought that there was nothing at stake for them.

So much for the collective aspect. Individually - what can you say about our keepers - who looked amateurish and frankly out of their depth? Its a worry when our second choice keeper clearly needs a long run of games to stop looking like Mr Nervous. Squillaci proved again thathe is simply not up to it. AW's decision to play Santos backfired spectacularly. Coq and Dench looked shadows of the players who bested the Citeh midfield last week - they looked completely over-awed by the Olympiacos onslaught.

...and I'm generally optimistic that players can come back but I don't think I want to see either Arshavin or Chamakh in an Arsenal shirt again.

Yes, the result doesn't matter, but yesterday nigtht was a blow to the pride, and has dented the feel good factor in a way that last weeks' midweek game didn't.

[Grebbo]

A good experience for the youngens and a good run out for the chump players.

Our back up keepers, striker and Arshavin are woeful and need to be replaced, but we already knew that.

Ox is first team squad member now IMO. One of Cock and Dench needs to go out on loan. If Wilshere is fit by Jan then they should both go out on loan.

[Olivier's xmas twist]

we went through as group winners so who gives a shit? first team didnt play tbh. nothing game. move on to everton

absoulte rubbish, it was about the perfromance, and we never gave one. so what we won the group, it me nice to go out there and make a statement. Barca never fielded a strong team but came off looking good.

ok the result did not matter but this was the chance for players to impress, all it showed is our sencond string is woeful and if we don't buy were in trouble big time.

[LDG]

Nothing like a bit of kneejerk.

Santos injury is a worry though.

As long as we do the stuff at the weekend, that's all I'm concerned about.

We all know we need to strengthen in January. Last nights game tells us no more in that respect. We already knew that. All it tells me, is that that team didn't have enough experience at that level, which was to be expected.

As for the "first teamers". Again, we all know that Chamahk needs to go, and Arshavin needs the boot.

[Olivier's xmas twist]

Yeah i suppose, I just don't feel we could rely on the "2nd string" if needed, thought the kids were ok, like you say lacked exprience but they will learn from it.

[LDG]

If Wenger was any good, he knows that was the last chance for the second string to stake a place in the first team, and give him a problem.

There are no easy ones (if there were) from now on, which will allow him to put out a side like that.

Therefore, one would assume (if he has any logic) that certain players need to fuck off, and he needs to add a couple in January. The odd Coq, AOC or Frimpong inclusion when we have injuries is no problem for me. They'll rise to the occasion.

But as a seconds string "team", we lack experience, and consistency. I still think a few of them are knocking quite loudly at the door. But two, in particular, are on the verge of being booted out as the others come in.

[Letters]

Yeah i suppose, I just don't feel we could rely on the "2nd string" if needed, thought the kids were ok, like you say lacked exprience but they will learn from it.

Clearly that team last night was nowhere near good enough and while Olympiarcos had everything to play for and we had nothing it's a bit worrying that the players out there didn't use the opportunity better to push for more first team action. That said, some of those players have played this season in the league and looked pretty good, surrounded by better players and in a more settled team they slot in OK. All together and it was a car crash but I'd suggest it's unlikely that last night's team will ever have to start in a PL game. Even our injury record isn't that bad!

[Kano]

Clearly that team last night was nowhere near good enough and while Olympiarcos had everything to play for and we had nothing it's a bit worrying that the players out there didn't use the opportunity better to push for more first team action. That said, some of those players have played this season in the league and looked pretty good, surrounded by better players and in a more settled team they slot in OK. All together and it was a car crash but I'd suggest it's unlikely that last night's team will ever have to start in a PL game. Even our injury record isn't that bad!

it's easy to overlook the fact that this same team played very well against city, so clearly they are not poor players. when you field a team that had only played together three times previously, then it turns into a lottery as to how they'll play.

[Coney]

If you replace the first team defence with all second line with second line keeper, it is going to be very likely to leak goals. If you replace a single first teamer with a second line player so the rest of the team is experienced and match fit, then that is something else.

The others got a run out yesterday in a match who's result was irrelevant to us. No problem with that.

However...

Manone. :pal: :dunce:

[Cripps_orig]

Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere could face a Uefa investigation over tweets made relating to betting on the Gunners' Champions League match against Olympiakos, according to reports.

The Sun claims that Uefa are looking into the tweets. Players are prohibited from participating in any sort of betting activity related to Uefa competitions.

Wilshere tweeted suggesting he would bet on team-mate Emmanuel Frimpong to score first, but claims the messages were a joke.

"[Frimpong] first goal is 150-1... worth a cheeky £10 right?" Wilshere said in a tweet that has since been deleted.

"Frimmy nearly won me some money there!" he added when Frimpong hit the side netting during the match.

After the match Wilshere looked to clarify his comments, insisting they were made only in jest.

"I didn't actually bet on the game. I know we're not allowed to! I was only messing #justtobeclear," he said.

That will not stop Uefa from probing the matter more closely, according to the report.

"All persons bound by Uefa's rules must refrain from any behaviour that could damage the integrity of matches and competitions," a Uefa spokesman was quoted as saying.

"A breach of these principles is committed by anyone who participates directly or indirectly in betting or who has a financial interest in such activities."


http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2914/champions-league/2011/12/08/2793530/arsenal-midfielder-jack-wilshere-to-face-uefa-betting-probe-over-

You'd think they'd have more important things to do

[LDG]

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2914/champions-league/2011/12/08/2793530/arsenal-midfielder-jack-wilshere-to-face-uefa-betting-probe-over-

You'd think they'd have more important things to do


All persons bound by Uefa's rules must refrain from any behaviour that could damage the integrity of matches and competitions

Be a start if they looked within, first. Bunch of corrupt cunnies.

[bignev]

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2914/champions-league/2011/12/08/2793530/arsenal-midfielder-jack-wilshere-to-face-uefa-betting-probe-over-

You'd think they'd have more important things to do

So that's a payout of £1500?

Not sure that will make a massive difference to Jack's life anyway so why would he bother?

[Fist of Lehmann]

So just to be clear then, racism = fine, easily solved with a handshake.

Betting on your own teammate to score = reprehensible and corrupt.

[Syn]

That is ridiculously stupid of Wilshere. He just keeps saying stupid things. He's going to land himself in proper trouble one of these days. And he hasn't even earned his English privileges yet.

Stop tweeting you fucking idiot.

And get back on the pitch.

[Letters]

GHELs gotta GHEL :shrug: