Arsenal have qualified for the last-eight of the Europa League with a 3-2 aggregate win over Olympiacos.
The Gunners had clinched a 3-1 win in Greece last week to give themselves the ideal chance to reach the next round of the competition, but they made a meal of it tonight.
We were the better side in the opening half, but thanks to Nicolas Pepe and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang failing to convert their clear-cut chances, we went into the break at 0-0.
For some reason, our players’ heads were clearly not focussed after the restart, and the Greek giants came out to dominate.
It didn’t take long before a trademark mistake in possession allowed Olympiacos to run at our defence, and Al-Arabi grabbed himself a second goal of the 180-minute tie to give his side some hope.
It took a little while but our side eventually began to compose themselves better in possession, and the better chances went our way.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was put through in on goal, but he failed to beat the keeper one-on-one and eventually saw his effort go wide of the far post.
That man Aubameyang nearly scored shortly after when the ball was whipped in hard and low, and he tries to backheel his effort on goal, but the goalkeeper was equal to his effort once again.
Our task looked assured when Olympiacos were reduced to 10-men thanks to two yellow cards for Ousseynou Ba, who was initially booked for a foul before smashing the ball at the referee in frustration.
Arsenal will now look forward to the draw tomorrow when they will find out their fate for the next round, While Spurs have been taken to extra-time in Zagreb after losing 2-0…
Patrick
Everybody was so sluggish in the first twenty minutes of the second half and our finishing was shocking. I guess most of them thought about West Ham, but I liked Pepe’s work rate in the game
It’s a wonder how you always find positives and veiled excuses everytime we play stinker…The players have their mind on West ham he says..
We managed to proceed to the next phase because of the players’ extra efforts in the first leg, so condemning them for their lack of efforts in the second leg is a bit uncalled-for to me
This set of players need to be condemned…They play without respect for the badge and what ARSENAL represent…
At one point we played arguably the most attractive football on the planet..with men who fought tooth and nail for the badge..But now we have a bunch who couldn’t care less ..
They deserve praise for when the win and withering condemnation when they lose . Maybe they’ll learn to play better ..But for this lot I hardly doubt it!..
👍 Well said, Jimmy
I’ll keep saying it, renewing Auba’s contract and signing of Willian is the gravest mistake of Arteta’s management. He’s become the bad example for the young players by his non chalant attitude. He no more plays for the badge since the club is at his mercy. I foresee a,worse showing than Ozil saga from him.
Nobody expected Auba to be this average.
Let’s hope he can recover his form soon.
Like what I said B4 Captain should be replace soon enough. If he’s thinking for the team, if he can’t take up the responsibility he should talk to MA to replace him for the greatness of the team.
Being Captain or leader is a always kot easy.
Disgusting game to be honest. Auba showed nothing at all, just pack your bags and leave in the summer with that attitude.
So Martinelli got defender sent off and created our best chance in 15 minutes. Start him vs West Ham with Laca, Ödegaard and Saka!
Aubameyang just had an off-day. He pressed for the team, but he needs to work on his finishing
I’m amazed on how one incident can make some fans hate their best attacker so quickly
Pressed? Running is not pressing. He backed down from EVERY aerial and never challenged, he just kept jogging behind the ball or let the opposition get the ball.
Awful performance! Aubameyang couldn’t hit a barn door tonight and pepe equally as bad! Only Arsenal can make Sokratis look like Franz Beckenbauer! This team just repeatedly make things difficult for themselves! Play like that again in next round and we will be exiting the competition.
You didn’t bet on tonight did you, Kev??
No no Sue I had a feeling we would make it hard for ourselves. Totts 3-0 down come on Zagreb 🙏
I’ve just turned over.. was watching the Mancs. Ibra on the bench – het him on!!
What a night this could turn out to be!!
*get
Haha Totts out Sue 😂 the favourites 😂😂 yes that game is written for the big Swede surely Sue ?
Oh what a night 😝
Rangers, and Man utd to exit tonight and what a night this will be Sue 😆
😂 Rangers trailing….
Haha yeah I hope it stays that way 😁 Villarreal next then Sue ? I’ll take Granada surely we can keep Soldado quiet 😂
Villarreal wouldn’t surprise me, Kev! Bloody hell, is Soldado still about??!! Looks like he’s on par with his spud days 😂
Yeah or man utd by the looks of it Sue but I know you want them next 😉 haha oh yes he’s leading the line for Granada these days showing spurs how to get to a quarter final 😉😂
😂😂😂 Some good teams left, Kev…
Like I mentioned in the previous post that Olympiakos have won their last two games at the Emirates. They won today making it three wins at our turf. Well, this time around they didn’t knock arsenal out but that was a poor performance… Well, we are into the quarter finals and we should up our game if we want to win this competition.
Spurs are in for extra time. So no team is a walk In the park at this stage…
Westham next….
Learnings:
– Cellabos is bang average
– Auba couldn’t be bothered
– Another loss for this team
– Tierney needs a rest
– Pepe should start majority of games at RW if starting
– Bellerin waste of talent
– Martinelli needs at least 20 mins to impact a game
Agree with all your points
If we play twice as well as we played today, we’d still likely lose the quarters
Ceballos isn’t bang average…. he was bloody awful.
I thought Bellerin was OK today?
– Ceballos made two defense-splitting passes in the first half and they’d become two assists if Pepe/ Aubameyang could take their chances
– Aubameyang pressed for the team, but his finishing was awful today. He’d likely be better next time
– The competition from Soares would likley force Bellerin to train harder
Who is this person defending auba as if he is paying him
I agree but would just add that xhaka and Luiz are two hopeless donkeys that need to go ASAP
err why?… xhaka and luiz weren’t bad today in my opinion.
Worst iv seen in 30 years a gunner
You missed the Watford game then last year…
Shocking finishing AGAIN but of course it’s arteta fault right
Who played Pepe RW instead of LW
Who played Auba when he just doesn’t care
Who gave Martinelli 10 mins only
Who played ESR outvof position again
It’s no wonder we play boring overly cautious football…Arteta was a boring overly cautious footballer…Do we then expect him to suddenly become bold and adventurous just cause he’s now a Manager…
For all the “Trust the process” chanters..I hope you enjoy more of this tasteless football..As for me and all who dare to dream of our beloved club playing sleek and fluid football ,I say ARTETA OUT!!!.
Liverpool are in their worst form in over 5years…But watch what they’ll do to us at the Emirates when we meet them next…
@Jimmy Bauer!! I Really feel your pain!! I wonder how Fans like Mr Gotanidea make cases for our Lazy, weak and talentless players, together with the Annoying Coach, Mikel Arteta!!
MA seem a good coach but this Boring n Static football is the worst I have seen which I became an Arsenal Fan in 2002!!
I Remember the days of Hleb, Fabregas and Flamini..D days of Alex Song, Arteta and Aaron Ramsey or Days of Ozil, Cazorla and Arteta himself in midfield!! Pure and Premium Entertaining and Exciting football@its best!!
But now, All our players seem slower than Snails!! Yet, some here praise Dem for one thing or the other!!
Auba, Lacazette, Pepe, Willian, Xhaka and David Luiz must be Sold and We should start from the Scratch!! Frank Rijkaard in 2004 did this n won the li liga the following season!!
Our first 3 games of the upcoming 2021/2022 season will tell me what kinda Coach Arteta is and also important, what kind of Club we are!!😏🙂
Thought i was the only one seeing this.. so so boring that i always want to sleep instead. Arteta is no brainer trust me
Arteta out ???? some fans are crazy and that softly said. So many incompetent persons on this planet….
This is very shameful
Can anyone really place. Bet on this team
Where is out pride
Playing like this???
Losing games at the Emirate is now part of the DNA no pride no passion a complete waste of time
👍 Professional pride, let alone pride in the bafge is lacking in this group of overpaid, pampered cream puffs.
Bang average tonight… I could’ve carried on decorating and wouldn’t have missed a thing!!!
We’d better up the tempo against the hammers, or we’ll be seeing Lingard’s milly rock every 10 minutes 😫
Sue, may as well be watching a paint brush. 🖌️
👍😄
They always say. If you start a match with such nonchalance and zero energy then it will be difficult to get yourself going.
What the fck was the team doing in the first half and second half before Odegaard came on?
Absolutely poor showing. The likes of Ceballos, Elneny, Bellerin, etc can’t complain if they are kept as bend players.
But all in all the whole team was very poor, couldn’t string 2 passes together without misplacing or losing the ball. They were second best with every 50/50 ball.
Even ESR and Tierney looked out of it. I was crying for ESR to be subbed by the 65th minute, the boy looked so shattered. Tierney looked shattered too. I knew it was not going to be a good day for us when ESR and Tierney were misplacing passes.
But Odegaard is pure class. The boy never loses the ball once in possession. He is so smooth, comfortable and damn intelligent in possession. He took us a notch up when he came on. Was the best player for us today..
The team is not poor and the squad is very good enough to beat Olympiacos but the approach to the game is where we got all wrong. Arteta is a nice and industrious coach but I don’t think is a good one at least not yet because he is learning in the job. He is the reason why we lost the match. His over cautious and timid game plan will ruin our club. He would definitely win one or two but on the long run it will be always almost with him.
But did he also force Auba to miss chances like that?
Pepe to miss chances on top of being a one trick pony?
Players just giving the ball away with zero pressure on them. Misplacing simple passes all game etc?
I agree witg Arteta being criticised. He deserves the criticism himself. But on the the other hand the players are also to be blamed for missing chances and passing like amateurs.
It was a very poor game. Arteta and his players deserve the criticism.
👍
Arsenal’s level of inconsistency is unrivalled.
Aubameyang has a very weak and poor mentality. He’s the most technically inept striker i can ever think of.
And i’m not just talking about this game. When he doesn’t manage to score a tap in, there absolutely nothing this shît player contributes to the team.
Pepe is so one sided and useless even with his strong foot when trying to take on his man, but at least he worked hard off the ball. Can’t say the same for Auba.
I hope he isn’t starting on Sunday.
Martinelli had more impact in 8mins than Auba in 94mins
@Khadii I second everything you wrote, Auba been so uninterested that’s what frustrated me the most, I was like “Mehn! Put a little effort”.
Well we’re through. So that’s something. Good use of subs by Arteta goes some way to making up for a rather insipid gameplan. Hopefully there is no hangover from this game on Sunday.
Too many players taking too many touches – Ceballos, Bellerin, Partey and even One-Touch-ESR was unusually slow on the ball.
Skip the usual article on player ratings and give them generous 5s across the board.
Tots are 3 nil down in second half of extra time.
Hat trick!!!! 😁
Mourinho has lost the dressing room it seems.
Go Zagreb!
What has the Spurs ever won? I can’t remember. They thought they made a good choice by hiring the MOANING SULKING ONE – a specialist in failure lol.
That result is the only thing keeping me happy at the moment away from that boring game by Arsenal. Let’s hope for the “icing on the cake” if DisUnited loses too.
By the way, I’ve been thinking, is there any clause in Auba’s new contract that says he can’t be subbed?
Pepe learning to use his right foot for a change is such a relief.
I am going to say it again. Partey continues to make me nervous. He is so careless on the ball. He dilly’s and dally’s on the ball in very dangerous areas and keeps getting away with it when he gives it away. He is easily disposed, does not seem to be very self aware. Does not seem to gauge what’s around him many times.
And also his passing can be so poor.
I just don’t know, he is making me very nervous. He is in the EPL and it goes at 100mph. He needs to learn that players in the EPL are grafters that don’t give you 2 much time on the ball.
Second that
A very disappointing performance reminiscent of our displays during January when we lost to Southampton, Villa and Wolves.I think that’s now 11 matches without a clean sheet which is evidence of our lack of defensive resolve but to me the lack of drive in midfield was even more concerning, although the introduction of Odegaard improved matters.Add to that a shocking performance from our Captain and it makes for a very bad day at the office.Arteta will have his job cut out to rejuvenate his team for the Sunday match against a well rested and physically imposing West Ham.
We were told the likes of the Turkish and Greek leagues were below us, but here we once again losing at home to one of their teams – humiliation at the highest level!!!
We started the second half as if we were going to stroll through – what on earth is going on, when we cannot start a game (or second half) without some intensity?
Odegaard is a must to buy, his class is there for all to see.
We’re through to the last eight, so let’s be thankful for that…. forget the rest and look forward to WHU.
It is Aubameyang. What angers me is that Arteta doesn’t seem to have the courage to sub him off.
I’m pretty sure if played for us against Spurs, we would have either lost or at best drawn.
I don’t blame the players though, not even Elneny,Xhaka or Luiz. They are just a reflection of their manager’s negativity. Martens was working with scraps and made a decent game of it, and certainly got the better of our manager. I really don’t know what that “strategies” on the sidelines is there for. So far this season I haven’t seen any alternative game plan which has changed the course of a match.
Sometimes I question Arteta’s choice. When you see ESR is doing nothing, why don’t you I’ve Martinelli a chance to prove himself
Spuds are out!!!!! 🥳
Spurs did a spurs🤣🤣🤣🤣
😂 Brilliant, Ackshay!! Maureen has a face like a smacked arse – wonderful!
That face was priceless, he looked so ashamed to be there.
Hahaha couldn’t happen to a nicer bloke!! Or team!! 😝
Or fans😜
👍😄
This is why we should appreciate the boys’ efforts, because going to the next EL phase isn’t easy. They switched off today, but maybe because they were thinking about West Ham
Makes me feel much better, gai!!
Spuds – the gift that keeps on giving!
Forgetful performance. Good thing we took care of business in the first game. And i’d like to say bad day at the office, but we’ve shown up like that way too often for us me to say one bad day. Need improvement.
Spurs being spurs tho, ha!
Rubbish tonight but it has been an immense emotionally charged week beating spurs!
At least we are through…….on spurs bye bye dont want to draw dynamo Zagreb next!
Yessssss Spurs out I don’t about Arsenal’s performance im now happy….now we watch them sack Jose and finish the season without a trophy again 😂😂😂😂👊
Someones gone all Spursy and it isn’t us! Whoever could it be, he laughed! TAXI FOR MOANINHO!
Spurs out, Man Utd to follow suit! Hopefully, the habitual negativity here doesn’t take some gloss off the many positives from the game.
The palpable negativity that pervades this website after a loss is sickening. I wonder how those ‘fans’ would adjust to a winning culture once Arteta has succeeded in completing the good job he is doing. Probably such ‘fans’ have become so accustomed to nagging and whining under in the last decade that they fail to take every loss into perspective.
At least we are through to the next round with no need for extra time, no injuries and the key players who came from the bench well-rested for our next EPL game.
Good game management and substitution from the manager. Onto the next game!
@Dendrite- please inform us all of the positives that should be taken from the game.
Have the first one on me Pal
1) We are through to the Quarter Finals
I am so looking forward to knowing exactly what the very vast majority have missed this evening.
Probably taking vast quantities of LSD but other than that I’m struggling to be honest
Well said Dendrite. The match was over two legs and we won comfortably. Fans here moan when we lose playing well and moan when we win as here playing poorly. Aim achieved we qualified easily, unlike Spuds and probably Man U.
Unlucky goal against, and crap performances from our two strikers. Otherwise we were poor but still should have had 4. Tough to motivate when the jobs almost done already. We are at our best when we play our A team, playing a must win game at tempo – none of these were the case tonight. Boring in a good way as it meant we had control.
Cm’on moaners get some perspective.
guy, Please don’t overlook the fact that these moaners don’t even recognise the word “perspective”, let alone know its meaning. THEY ARE A LOST CAUSE!
In Gilbert and Sullivans comic opera called Princess Ida there is a dreadful king called GAMA who sings a song with the line “isn’t your life extremely flat, with nothing whatever to grumble at!” Honestly!! It is all about how he is so unhappy because his every whim is carried out and so he has nothing to moan about.
I regard many on here as being King Gama. I have played this awful character a number of times, but in MY case it is always ACTING, not my natural state.
Well Jon- your life is obviously more an opera than mine when it comes to football. Are you seriously content with that performance tonight? It was abysmal, and impossible to sugar coat in any way. As for anyone else who thinks differently, all I can say is some have a lot more expectations of what an acceptable performance is. If you can’t tell what that is PAL then you are quite right to stick with the opera, as you obviously no very little about football.
Typical of arsenal
Bad performance, still through and best of all Spurs threw away a 2goal 1st leg lead to Zagreb to lose 3-0 & OUT!
Now Zlatan & Co do your magic, Milan have the away goal too…
Martinelli is going to be a star, Mikel knows it & this summer both Laca & Auba could be up for sale.
@Sean, mean no offence!! To you and others up there,, these Tottenham hotspurs Trolling is so unnecessary and somewhat demeaning!!
If We and Spurs get to Finish trophyless@the end of the season, what have we achieved??
Is Spurs now our Benchmark?? We re Arsenal and should be thinking of getting back to Top 4,, Winning the title and Getting to Uefa CL Finals. not the travails of Spurs..C’mon Guys..😕🙂🙂
👍 Yes Vinnie, we now get pleasure from the misery of others; how uplifting and classy!
Absolutely correct Vinnie and OG. We are a far bigger Football Club than the Spud, so why act like a club that has to celebrate their failures.
We should concentrate more on what Arteta achieves with Arsenal.
I beg to differ OG. Football is all about taking pleasure from the misery of others.
HH, only if you don’t know or achieve success in football or in life.
I predicted dinamo zagreb to knock out spurs when the draw was made&it has come to pass.my new prediction is that arsenal will win the europa league
This is the poorest I’ve seen Arsenal play all season
As much as the Spuds going out is reason to dance in the streets, and it’s pouring down here in Sydney,we shouldn’t let our jubilation forget that our guys were woeful tonight. Our manager gets a four the players except for Odergaard should all get between five and six for their efforts. Let’s not forget that it’s a loser mentality when your have nothing to celebrate except your rivals’ defeats.
Well said
Who wanted Mourinho to replace Emery? The guy is notorious for his implosion after one season
To everyone overjoyed that Spurs is out I’ll join you celebrating but let’s remember as bad as they are they are above us on the log still…
Need to improve consistency desperately
The roughest game of football I’ve seen us
play this season .
Tierney awful
Auba awful
ESR awful
Not one player showed up tonight ,why we persist with Real Madrid rejects is beyond me ,Ceballos could be the worst midfielder I’ve seen at this club since Denilson .
Odagaard is all pretty but absolutely not set for this league ,a one paced boring player .
Shining light was seeing Martinelli actually getting game time ,not nearly enough to actually show what he could do .
Leno once again showing why he is the best shop stopper in the league .
Overall a pathetic game of football form us once again .
Gabriel was the only half decent one imo….won pretty much everything in the air and was solid. Nothing spectacular though
Overall one of the worst games of football I’ve seen in a long time.
Dan don’t agree totally with you
Aubes which we discussed and agreed a few days back was awful but we agreed Martinelli was the ready made replacement for him
We weren’t good but had the clearer of chances to put the game to bed
Aubes should have had a hatrick
MO should have scored and.pepe had a chance or two
Don’t like losing but it was all about getting to the quarters
Plus the spuds folding and going out makes it an even better night amd if you would have asked any arsenal fan would you take a 1 nil lose and have the spuds go every one of us would have bitten your hands off
So let’s celebrate we are in the draw tomorrow and rejoice for the spud fans who are bleating on about how bad there manager is…fickle lot down the road aren’t they 😄
A winning mentality is a missing commodity in this Arsenal team.It showed when Spurs went down to ten men last Sunday and carried on to the match this evening.There is not enough intensity to win the ball, and too many players are incapable of retaining possession when they get it, Pepe and Auba being the main culprits.In defence the centre backs are vulnerable in one for one situatiions, which is not helped by the fact that they defend with arms behind their bodies to avoid the possibility of a penalty being given against them for deliberate hand ball.Well I can tell you , when you do this you lose your balance and the ability to maintain your centre of gravity to move quickly from side to side.Try it for yourself and you will see how difficult it becomes.Someone needs to sort this out with Luis and Gabriel who are both slow enough as it is.
Gabriel slow ?
Not sure what warrants fast then .
Keep the faith Grandad – you forget already how we scored 2 at the death to beat Benfica? Its 2 legs and we won easily overall, so a loss on the night but we held onto the overall win, as we did vs Spuds. Maybe not pretty but surely that doesnt imply we have a losing mentality?
The vital ingredients for our best performances seem to be 1) A must win game 2) playing a high tempo instinctive game – difficult for us atm without the motivation of 1 3) Our first choice 11. Very little room for manouevre on that one.
The guys were tired after a great week. We were almost there so tough to motivate. Some players were rested, others (Tierney, Xhaka, ESR) should have been but we couldnt risk it.
I thought good selections and subs, good game management – we were NEVER going to lose the tie. Qualified. Happy to be bored as it meant we were comfortable even though poor.
I’ve just visited 2 other fansites – almost every fan commented as I am here. Come on this site and its all doom and gloom. We have some REALLY negative subscribers!
Negative? Try Realistic PAL. I obviously expect far more from my team in regards performance levels than you do. How much further do you believe we will go in this competition playing like that?
True Grandad, Arsenal kicked on from where they left off in the final ten minutes against Spurs.
This game really pissed me off. Poorest game of this tournament. And d truth and annoying thing is this game was in the Emirates. I like arteta oh but I think he needs to bukle up and do that fast
I’m done with Ceballos. I think neither he nor us will get over the psychological effects of his mistakes, though they probably can’t get worse. I really liked him though.
The team did not set out to win. they set out to draw and end with a loss. credit to olympiacos for giving it a real go. up two goals is never a surety and olympiacos tried bravely but failed. our finishing was so poor,auba does nothing, not even score goals. smh
When he signed his new contract, Aubameyang stated he wanted to become a “Club legend”. On his performances this season and particularly this night, it is his pipe dream. After turning up late on derby day and sitting on the bench, one would have expected him to really turn up to prove a point. Fat chance.
As far as captaincy goes, he has the hide to call out Tearney for an errant pass, when he is not leading by example himself.
ozziegunner – what are the odds that we draw UE’s lot in the quarter finals?
Now that would be some two legged match wouldn’t you agree?
I’m sure Unai will be out to prove his doubters wrong.
I’m sure Emery will and going on the performances Villarreal have put in, he will have the support of his players.
The question is will the Arsenal players turn up for the Club and Mikel Arteta?
As far has his doubters, I don’t think they will ever give him any credit for his achievements. The performances home and away against Napoli and Valencia to get to the final of the Europa League were excellent.
😂 Ozzie
I bet your hoping Emery beats us in the semis if we get there .
As for his achievements here ,no I won’t give him any credit ,unless you think getting us to a EL final and getting us 1 point form 5th😂as an achievement.
Honestly buddy I would move on ,he’s been gone 16 months now .
My instinct was right about not giving Auba a new contract. If we had sold him and AMN, we could have earned close to 7OM, enough to buy a new striker and a creative midfielder. Hope we don’t make same mistake with Lacazete’s come this summer.
At the time I wasn’t against him signing. I was against the huge pay rise and length of contract.
Losing was a joke, manager should have introduced some players who are enthusiastic to play.
The guys were either tired, acting primandonas or thinking about Westham.
Another game, Gabi got 10 minutes on pitch.