Olympiacos 2 -1 Arsenal: Nothing to see here
468 comments December 5th, 2012
Match Report | Highlights | Arsene’s reaction
I really don’t have anything very interesting to say about this game…
I watched it, and it was relatively entertaining. Â But I couldn’t take it seriously. Â Arsene patently wasn’t too bothered himself, and so it was very hard to get emotionally involved in it. Â I enjoyed elements of our performance and the goal we scored – this was certainly a better display, even with a weakened XI, than we saw against Swansea or Villa – but it never felt truly competitive. Â It’s a shame not to win the group, but there are dangers on either side of the draw.
Tomas Rosicky was probably our best player…
…so it speaks volumes about how much of a priority the match was for Arsene that he took Rosicky off at half-time. Â Perhaps he’s considering throwing the Czech in for the game at West Brom – he adds some much-needed tempo to our game. Â I’d consider including him as part of the trio behind Olivier Giroud.
Jernade Meade was impressive again…
I liked the little left-back’s cameo at Reading, and he did extremely well on Tuesday considering he was making his first start in senior football away from home in the Champions League.  I’m told he’s a full three inches shorter than Santi Cazorla, which is frankly ridiculous, but he stood tall on the night with an energetic and confident display.  He was helped by the performance of Thomas Vermaelen  alongside him, who has shown a significant improvement since returning to centre-back.
We’ll be seeing a lot of these players again within a week…
I’m sure many of these guys will be in action again in the League Cup tie with Bradford City. Â They can’t afford to lose then – that looks by far our most realistic hope of a trophy this season.
