Match Preview: Arsenal v Olympiakos; Champion’s League Match Day 6
Well this is nice isn’t it? If you had told me before the start of the season that Arsenal who had to go through Udinese just to get into the group stages would be the only English team through to the knockout stages at this point, I would’ve told you, you were off your rocker. But here it is Match Day 6 of the Champion’s League and for Arsenal it is a sojourn to Greece that amounts to nothing more than a friendly opportunity to blood some youngsters.
It is kind of nice I have to admit to watch the fans of Chelsea, United and City squirm it out as to their fates are yet to be decided. City for all intensive purposes for the billion pounds spent, need a big help. Chelsea and United should go through but their roads are hard either way. It is a very real possibility that only Arsenal could go through but unlikely.
For Arsenal our key players are likely still in their homes at London watching the match on the telly as the team that won against Olympiakos the last time and gave City a good run for their money in the Carling Cup heads south. For the likes of Coquelin, Frimpong, and Yennaris it is a chane to lay further claim to their Arsenal future. For other players like, Park, Chamakh, and Arshavin it is hopefully a chance for them to impress upon Wenger for more playing time. None of the players going to Greece should look upon this match as a cake walk and should use it for the opportunity it presents.
Of course they are professionals. But the reality is, the Champion’s League is secure and some players (cough cough Andrei) might think it would be easy and not care about the outcome of the match. But the players that are playing are as I said fighting for roster spots. Some I believe regardless of what Wenger says in the press are being looked for transfer fodder. If the rumors on transfers are true then two to three of the players on the pitch tonight could be sold to bring in funds for further signings. Certain players will need to show they shouldn’t be sold or should show they are worth the value and contracts they are playing for.
All in all there is plenty of opportunities for the Arsenal players who are travelling and playing in this match to showcase themselves. They should take it.
Team News:
Arsenal: Jack Wilshere and Bacary Sagna have long-term injuries, but Abou Diaby, Tomáš Rosický, Kieran Gibbs, and Carl Jenkinson are all unavailable.
Olympiakos: Ariel Ibagaza is out with a thigh strain picked up at the weekend, while Ljubomir Fejsa and Jean Makoun are unavailable with knee injuries and Olof Mellberg (groin) and Francisco Yeste (calf) are also out. Valverde is waiting until after the final training session to decide on the fitness of David Fuster and Pablo Orbaiz (both groin).
Players to Wastch:
Arsenal. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. There is nothing this lad hasn’t done to impress and show he is truly a star in the making. His performance against a more experienced Manchester City side should have gone a long way to keeping him with the team rather than sending him out for a loan.
Olympiakos. Marko Pantelić. Since joining Olympiakos Pantelić has scored in 13 games for the Greeks. They have won them all
Projected lineups:
Arsenal: Fabianski, Djourou, Squillaci, Koscielny, Miquel, Coquelin, Frimpong, Benayoun, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Park, Chamakh
Olympiakos: Megyeri, Torossidis, Marcano, Papadopoulos, Holebas, Potouridis, Maniatis, Ibagaza, Abdoun, Pantelić, Djebbour
Domestic Form:
Arsenal. 4-0 win vs Wigan
Olympiakos. 2-0 win vs Panaitolikos
Head to Head Tournament Stats:
|
Arsenal |
Olympiakos |
|
| Goals Scored |
6 |
5 |
| Attempts on Target |
23 |
21 |
| Attempts off Target |
8 |
26 |
| Corners |
24 |
19 |
| Offsides |
18 |
19 |
| Fouls Committed |
57 |
85 |
| Yellow Cards |
10 |
9 |
| Red Cards |
0 |
0 |
TV Viewing:
US: FoxSoccer.TV 1445 pm EST (replay on Fox Soccer Channel at 5PM EST)
UK: Sky Sports 4 1945 GMT
GAMEDAY CHAT IS OPEN!!!: https://youaremyarsenal.com/gamedaychat
YAMA Prediction:
Arsenal – 2
Olympiakos – 1
[donate]
6 comments
Leave a reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Agree with MacMac….and I appreciate the Italian supper club humor…..I will say, however, that I have seen AW be ruthless in the past, sitting then shipping out players like Senderos and Eboue who were (I think) supposed to be key parts of the squad going forward. He hasn’t been too kind to Almunia (lately at least) but, after yesterday, maybe it’s good that we’ve still got him…..
As for the match, the less said the better. Our midfield was overrun, though I’ll give Le Coq credit for doing the best imitation of a speared fish that I’ve seen for quite a while. I actually thought Frimpong looked better on the ball but nobody was making the passes into space that might’ve inspired our front men to do something magical. Substitute Nacho Mike (Ignasi Miquel) looked eager enough in a reprise of his left back role from the CC. Playing Santos and Vermaelen seemed a risk, and proved to be.
And weak as we were in defense and midfield the real questions loom further forward. But for the single quality ball from Yossi, watching him and Makh run pointless circles around standing Arsh doesn’t indicate a lot of strength in depth. Is Park ready for his military service already? And not a lot of action from the OX either, although with targets like Arsh (standing) or Makh (diving) it wasn’t too hard for the Greeks to mark him out of the match. Overall we couldn’t handle the spirited pressing of the opponent and played almost the entire match in our own half. Fairly sad, I thought.
Hopefully we can put it behind us quick enough. I expect a miracle recovery from Gibbs for the weekend. Not quite sure what the DAG will do with his planned article….
Speaking of miracles, Man City will be hoping for one today. If Napoli fail to get a result in Spain I’ll be asking why the Sheik didn’t just pay them off when they played head to head. Maybe he thought his team was good enough to just win those matches…..Or maybe, as some suggest, they want out of Europe so they can concentrate on the domestic triple….
For those same keen observers, who seem to be doing some math (finally), adding in possible loan deals going permanent to our transfer kitty, I’ll repeat a question: Do salaries and contracts not matter at all? We didn’t lose Nasri because we were drooling over the transfer fee, or at least not completely. It was a combo of a silly fee AND (more importantly, I think) not wanting to make an uninspired player the highest paid one (by about double) at the club. (4 years @ 200K/week = $40 million pounds, more or less….) Transfers ARE exciting, but keeping our best players seems essential. ManU did it with Rooney when he threatened to move across town, is it not possible that we should use some of our “profits” to revamp the contracts of our best players? Just asking, and if it makes things too complicated, feel free to ignore (again)….
@HighburyTerraceSteve, at what point… is it OK to spend some of the money we have made from selling star players over and over and over again?
yes. contracts. wonderful. I get that.
But I was under the impression that was “allegedly” part of the reason we moved to a big shiny new stadium with 60000 seats, and the ticket prices are the highest in the world?!
I am pretty sure we can pay top dollar to RVP and a few other stars…
Ah, the comedy stylings of Squillaci and Mannone. Here all week. Try the veal.
We have a solid first 11. But after that we go into free fall.
I agree, George. Arshavin should really be sent packing at this point. As should Chamakh – and don’t even ask why Squillaci is still at the club. Wenger has to be more ruthless about weeding out the popcorn kernels that haven’t popped, or past their peak.
@Macmac007, I’d say that in Wenger’s mind, we paid “X” amount, so he won’t let them go on the cheap, so we are stuck with them.
We always low-ball the players we are trying to buy, and the good one’s we say “aren’t worth that price”… yet when we sell players, we hold out for the highest price until the end of a window, and then accept less at the last second, and have no chance of replacing them!
:)
Its all by design.
If we can sell Chamakh, Arshavin and Squillaci, and permanently transfer Bendtner … in January, maybe we can scrape together a few bucks there… along with the 60 MILLION we got for Cesc Nasri and Clichy… and we might be able to buy Wenger’s “SPECIAL PLAYER”… whether its Goetze or Neymar…
But we’ll probably just sell them all… and put the money under the Arsenal mattress.
meaningless game, that know becomes meaningful in a negative way the Santos injury…
but we have Gibbs, right?
Or we can play one of CB’s at LB, like we do at RB!
always a danger when you are playing for nothing.
Chelsea came up big in their match…
Have to believe United will as well…
But City need a miracle.
I actually hope they make the knockout stages, or else they’ll be free and clear to go after all the domestic trophies. It will help them stay unbeaten in the league as well, with less games and not having to play anyone of note in the Europa Crap, er Cup.
Arshavin needs to go, definitely. He was mediocre on the ball and as soon as we lost it, he just walked round and didnt try and get it back. Strange second goal, mix-up on the first goal and a possible offside on the 3rd. But I dont blame Olympiakos, they wanted to go through and against our second string team they were always gonna have the edge. Especially since the fringe players (With the exception of Benayoun and Rosicky) showed little to no energy or desire.
Why Wenger didnt pick the same side that started vs City I have no idea, and now the fact is because he played Santos over Miquel from the start and with Santos now injured, we could well be out of full backs.