Martin Keown and John Hartson question Arsenal commitment
Not a good day for Arsenal, they were lethargic throughout and this was highlighted by former Arsenal players Martin Keown and John Hartson speaking on BT Sports straight after the game.
It is hard to argue with their assessment, it was a bad performance and does raise a lot of questions going forward.
The big worry is that this setback affects the team going forward, it is definitely a hard loss to take and one that was self-inflicted.
Keown and Hartson do make some very good points and they are worth a lesson.
This video is from the BT Sports Football Twitter account.
"The rebuilding of this team has to start now! The commitment wasn't there from the off."
Scathing from Martin Keown and John Hartson as the Gunners crash out of Europe with defeat at home. pic.twitter.com/WyV993WbPB
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) February 27, 2020
As a dedicated Arsenal fan, I have to be honest. We are not good enough to win anything right now. With the crop of players we have (with the exception of the attackers), we are simply an average mid-table team in the Premiership. So no surprise we are out of Europa. The truth is bitter. Ateta is a decent Coach, but the bunch of players we have right now are useless.
Bereft of ideas. This one mainly falls on Arteta.
Unsurprisingly Olympiakos were parking the BUS. To counter the BUS, overload in wide areas is the standard strategy. What did Arsenal do, but jam the ball into the jammed centre Tony Pulis style.
Pepe had a shockingly poor first half. 2nd half Ozil drifted out right for overloads and chances were created. Ceballos should have been instructed to drift left to support overloads for a super isolated Saka. On the rare occasions where Saka was serviced creativity and danger occurred.
Xhaka was hellbent on starving Saka. Instead of the simple pass to an open Saka, fancy Dan Xhaka’s crabstyle side/back ways slowed down the game.
Had I been the manager, I would have grabbed a corner flag and broken Xhaka’s left leg in order to force him to use his standing leg to pass left to Saka!
Clueless pair Granit Arteta braintrust!