Olympiacos 0-1 Arsenal – Alexandre Lacazette goal the difference

Arsenal leave Greece with a clean sheet and an all-important away goal.

Looking at the team line up before kick-off there was a feeling that the team was unbalanced and that proved to be the case in a frustrating first half.

There were rather a few negatives on display, Lacazette missing some great opportunities, Willock looked lost, Aubameyang and Martinelli wasted on the flanks, again, no creativity from the midfield, zero transition play and the defence looking shaky.

Olympiacos should have been at least one up within two minutes, if not two, but in all fairness, Arsenal did have their fair share of chances as well. But the whole lack of creativity was overwhelming in the first 45 minutes.

For some weird reason the Greek side had it in for Matteo Guendouzi, they targeted him throughout, maybe they had the mistaken belief that he was the creative spark within the team.

Sokratis, I think, was playing at right-back and he is simply not suited there and Olympiacos looked to take advantage time and again.

Overall, the first half was a bit flat but Arsenal are a team of two halves and so hopefully, Arteta will send them out in much better shape than they started the game.

The second half, for the most part, was as bad as the first. Arsenal was lacklustre and as in the first 45 minutes offered very little in terms of creativity.

Lacazette was, well.. Lacazette, and there were continued shaky moments in defence. At times Arsenal struggled to do anything with the ball and they were lucky that Olympiacos has zero intelligence when they were in the ascendency.

Leno kept the score at 0-0 and without him, it would have been a very different story.

The game swung in Arsenal’s favour in the 81st minute when Lacazette tapped the ball into an open net.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang fed Bukayo Saka who put a pinpoint pass into Lacazette who simply could not miss. It was a decent team goal.

At the end of the day, it was a win, an away goal and a clean sheet and that is all that matters. It may not have been the best performance but the result is what counts.

49 Comments

  1. Arteta seemed to play safe by benching Ceballos, because Arsenal played in Greece and they will face Everton after two days. Overall it was a boring game, because the players seemed to safe their energy for the Toffees:

    – Lacazette: Missed two sitters in the first half and he was disappointing in the first 75 minutes, before scoring and missed another golden chance afterwards

    – Willock: Did nothing special as no 10. I don’t think he would ever be consistent there and he will be better in deeper midfield area, where the pressure is lesser

    – Aubameyang: Did okay as an RW, unfortunately his great cross couldn’t be finished by Lacazette. But the first goal was initiated by his good effort in receiving a long pass

    – Martinelli: Disappeared in the game. Maybe he was thinking about the Everton game as well?

    – Xhaka and Guendouzi: Nothing special, just having another day on a field

    – Saka: Nothing much offensively. But managed to create an assist, thanks to Aubameyang’s effort

    – Sokratis, Mustafi, Luiz and Leno: Did well in the back. The defenders were comfortable with the ball

    1. Here is the guy who slams the team selection,MA decisions, spreading negativity before each game,I read what you wrote before we played Newcastle,do us a favour and stop giving advice you haven’t a clue,by the way I know you’re desperate to publish an article but this is the f**k**g comments section!

      1. Whoa, calm down. He is entitled to his opinion as you are. Damn it would be boring if everyone said the same thing.

        1. Sure… It is for comment sake, everyone will have their own say, but please let’s be more positive than negative..

          Please arsenal fans should try and support more

  2. A win in Greece is an incredible result, great job from the boys.
    Our defence of Luiz and Mustafi is bonding strongly.
    We are also having a little luck on our side which is a character of a winning team.
    Arteta is bringing a winning mentality into the team, whether beautiful or ugly a win is a win.

    Now unto the next Everton hopefully our unbeaten run continues

      1. This is a very negative site – the comments and the articles. Not staying it’s wrong, but the perspective on justarsenal always takes a whining negative angle, more so than other arsenal related sites I’ve noticed.

        1. I agree with you,a lot of negativity in this site these days especially the comments but it wasn’t always like that,I used to love coming to this site everyday, nowadays it is depressing!

        2. Arsenal is tenth and so it has hardly been a stellar season now has it? We report it as it is and invite articles from all our readers. If we receive 20 positive articles and no negatives, guess what, we would publish 20 positive articles. If you want fake reports on the teams performances this is not the site for that. Tonight we won, lets celebrate that and leave the moaning about the site until another day hey.

        3. My Broda you said the truth. We are our own problem. They need to take a chill pill on being so negative before a game is even played.

          Na their wahala be that. Me I love Arsenal through thick n thin and not their negative views can change anything…

  3. We got the result which is all that matters but I am unable to understand how Xhaka is in the team let alone the epl. He was a passenger again today. A cowardly player who will even lose a 60-40 in his favour ball. No positional sense, unable to head, no creative or defensive capabilities and regulatly lets his team down by giving away unnecessary fouls, misplaces passes that lead to opps goalor gets himself sent off.
    You complain about ozil yet give thus burden a free pass?

    1. I think I must have cancelled my reply to you so I’m trying again but why hit on Xhaka tonight? There was nothing worse about his performance than anyone else except from a good goalkeeping display and a great assist and finish for the goal
      Give credit when it’s due

      1. I thought xhaka was typical xhaka but like you say, no good slagging him off when we win in a difficult place.

        1. Reggie, you are not wrong, but gryphone was slating him in the most annoying fashion hence my standing up for Xhaka. I don’t do that very often. A good result as you say in the end even though the game was rather flat

  4. Wrong team selection and rotation of players. Should have picked this team (with the subs in brackets):

    Martinelli (Saka if Nketia stays on) —- Aubameyang (Lacazette to rest Auba at 60 mins) — Nketia (Pepe if Martinelli stays on)
    Ceballos (Guedounzi- after leading or at 75 mins)
    Xhaka —– Willock
    Kolasinac —- Luiz —- Mustaphi —- AMN
    Martinez

    That team would still have won at least 1-0 IMO.

    That way we’d still have Martinelli, Saka, Lacazette, Pepe, Ceballos, Torreira, Leno, Bellerin, Ozil, Sokatris all kind of fresh for Everton.

      1. If we play like that against Inter, Roma, Man Utd, Wolves or Lisbon in the next rounds we might not be so lucky. That 1-0 doesn’t tell the whole story, we played shit against Olympiacios, fact. Those teams I mentioned above are rated above Olympiakos so we might not be so lucky. We shouldn’t go on and celebrate like Atheltico Madrid did with that Liverpool win.

        But like I said, congrats to Arteta and the boys, the gamble paid off.

        1. Greek and Turkish teams are notoriously difficult to play against at their home grounds
          Having looked at ManU tonight they are erratic too. Yes others in the EL are dangerous opponents but that is the nature of reaching the latter stages of the competition

          1. SueP totally agree with your positive comment. This year we actually have beatable opponents (yes, even Inter) in EL unlike the two previous years though they can be tricky. There’s no real heavyweight that dropped down from UCL like ATM, Dortmund or even Chelsea. We were unlucky to meet up with ATM and Chelsea in the past 2 years otherwise we would have won that thing.

        2. But we have beaten utd 8 games ago and we weren’t playing any of the others, we were playing Olypiacos!
          Every game is different and unless you haven’t noticed utd only drew away tonight, so they must have been awful!

          1. We also played decently against Chelsea in the league last year but got circumcised in the EL final last year…. you say every game is different, I say every competition is different, like how ATM can never knock Real Madrid out the UCL

      1. Arteta had to be mindful of the next critical match against Everton in his team selection.
        Unfortunately the midfield didn’t fire and Lacazette missed opportunities, but an away win and a clean sheet against Olympiakos who had a draw 2-2 with Spurs and have only lost to Bayern Munchen is highly commendable.

  5. In the end a very good result indeed in a difficult place to go. The away goal and clean sheet were vital. Well done all especially Leno who is turning into a top class keeper. Special mention to Luiz, Gouendouzi, SAKA and Lacca for different reasons. Tough place to go and was a typical European performance.

      1. Wow, you calling me positive! Lol
        Last week i was accused of being negative. I try to be realistic and say it as i see it. I actually thought the game was like pulling teeth with ten mins to go and thought 0-0 would be terrible but in the end it was a brilliant result.

  6. The standout players for me were leno and mustafi(except for some silly errors he made).They did their jobs very well.It was not a bad performance but it was not good either.

    Laca should have had a hatrick if not for the big chances he missed but hopefully his goalscoring run continues…

    Lacked creativity…

    And poor decision making and sloppy passes could have been our downfall.

    But very happy with the result.A cleansheet and a win in that atmosphere is quite amazing.It was a 50/50 game till the end.No body dominated it.
    Happy for MA 1st european game won,Now focus on EVERTON

    COYG

  7. By the way, people saying Martinelli is ahead of Saka in terms of talent kind of reminds me of the Mane vs Salah debate. Saka is like Mane, so underrated but puts in that work that gels the team together while Martinelli is Salah, excellent but not as all rounded as Saka. Take away the goalie Leno, Saka was the best out field player for Arsenal for me. Martinelli had a Lacazette phase today.

    1. I am very impressed with Saka’s passes and his timing. Very excellent passes. I missed a typical winger like him

    2. We should try Saka on left, Martenlli through middle and Pepe on right. Would be really interesting and exciting. Saka and Martinelli are two different players, both talented and future of Arsenal.

  8. Not the greatest game, but at least we won…. at one point I didn’t think we were going to!
    Another assist for Saka – I was hoping to see Kolasinac on Sunday, but I think that young man will keep him out of the team – at this rate he won’t be far behind KDB 😀
    And an away goal for Laca, it’s unheard of haha!! Nice one boys!! 👍

  9. I must say this, Olympiacos team did very well, but arsenal fought it out and got hard earn result. Every game can’t be free flowing but what matters is the result, a win away from home is commendable. Up gunners

  10. Kudos to the boys- Away win is jx perfect. I will always support whoever wears the arsenal shirt. We expect the team to win but we as well support with negativity.
    Play ugly and win every match. COYG.

  11. So happy for Laca. Just what he needed. What happened to Xhaka in the second half…..couldn’t pass the ball? Great win and they worked their socks off.

  12. This team was picked for the occasion and the venue. Players who could take knocks. Guaranteed, those of you who would have picked Ceballos for this game, would not have seen him against Everton because he would most lilely be on crutches. Give the Gaffer some credit for what he is doing. Only Bayern have won at that ground this season, and you could see why. Only surprise is the few yellow cards.

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