Arsenal were denied top spot in Champions League Group B as Olympiacos came from behind to win 2-1 at the Stadio Karaiskaki. More
90+2' All over - Arsenal finish second in Group B. Olympiacos will play in the Europa League, but we already knew that.
83' Arsenal change: Martin Angha on for Meade.
82' Olympiacos change: Ariel Ibagaza, once of Atlético Madrid and Villarreal, on for Djebbour.
73' GOAL FOR OLYMPIACOS! 2-1 TO THEM! The electric Mitroglou turns away on the corner of the box and bends a lovely strike into the far bottom corner! Four goals from six matches in this season's competition for him.
72' Olympiacos change: Kostas Mitroglou on for Abdoun. Great beard.
70' Machado bends a cross to the far post where Djebbour has left Jenkinson for dead and must surely score - but directs his diving header wide! Arsenal living dangerously.
67' Machado bends a free-kick over the wall and towards the bottom corner, saved and held by Szczesny. Squillaci was booked for the foul on Djebbour that led to it.
64' GOAL FOR OLYMPIACOS! 1-1! Maniatis with a finish from close range after Ramsey chests the aerial ball down.
61' Good work by Chamakh and Arshavin will take aim from inside the box on the right as the ball bounces across him... he fires towards the top corner and only a great save from Carroll keeps him out.
60' Olympiacos change: David Fuster on for Fejsa.
53' Coquelin in too quickly as Greco turns and is booked. The Italian midfielder makes a meal of it though.
51' Fejsa booked for a foul on Gervinho. Ramsey's free-kick from 50 yards out is into the small wall. Poor.
46' Under way in the second period, with the red and white stripes of Olympiacos now attacking the goal to our left.
- Half-time change for Arsenal: Andrey Arshavin on for Rosicky.
45' Torossidis penalised for a high foot on Jenkinson - they were doing exactly the same thing - and soon after the whistle sounds to bring the half to a close with the score 1-0 to Arsenal.
38' GOAL ARSENAL! 1-0 TO THEM! Gervinho looks set to play a low cross in but checks back and the low ball towards the edge of the box is smashed into the far corner by the arriving Rosicky.
36' Arsenal quell the danger from a left-sided home attack and counter at pace. Gervinho has Chamakh racing through on the right but messes it up!
26' Abdoun, once of Manchester City, twists and turns his way past several away midfielders and defenders before bending a pass to the left side of the box and Torossidis with the outside of his right foot... the shot that follows is high and wide.
21' Torossidis rises at the back post to head down towards goal and the ball is beaten away at the foot of the post by Szczesny!
17' Olympiacos fail to deal with a corner and the ball drops kindly for Aaron Ramsey who will surely put this away... he falls over the ball! Poor from the Wales captain. He tries to keep it in play on the byline, but Arsenal's attack is over.
13' Chamakh offside as the Gunners show counter-attacking promise.
11' Djamel Abdoun played in behind on the left for Olympiacos and pulls back for Rafik Djebbour who looks to dart in front of Thomas Vermaelen at the near post - but the Arsenal captain makes a brilliant challenge to keep him out.
4' Drissa Diakite with a long ball forward for Leandro Greco, but he is offside.
1' Off we go, with Arsenal kicking from right to left in blue.
18:49 TEAMS: Olympiacos: Carroll, Maniatis, Machado, Conteras, Manolas, Torossidis, Fejsa, Diakité, Greco, Abdoun, Djebbour. Subs: Megyeri, Ibagaza, Fetfatzidis, Fuster, Siovas, Pantelić, Mitroglou. /// Arsenal: Szczęsny, Vermaelen, Squillaci, Jenkinson, Rosický, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ramsey, Coquelin, Meade, Gervinho, Chamakh. Subs: Shea, Angha, Hajrovic, Monteiro, Arshavin, Ansah, Akpom.
73' GOAL FOR OLYMPIACOS! 2-1 TO THEM! The electric Mitroglou turns away on the corner of the box and bends a lovely strike into the far bottom corner! Four goals from six matches in this season's competition for him.
70' Machado bends a cross to the far post where Djebbour has left Jenkinson for dead and must surely score - but directs his diving header wide! Arsenal living dangerously.
64' GOAL FOR OLYMPIACOS! 1-1! Maniatis with a finish from close range after Ramsey chests the aerial ball down.
61' Good work by Chamakh and Arshavin will take aim from inside the box on the right as the ball bounces across him... he fires towards the top corner and only a great save from Carroll keeps him out.
38' GOAL ARSENAL! 1-0 TO THEM! Gervinho looks set to play a low cross in but checks back and the low ball towards the edge of the box is smashed into the far corner by the arriving Rosicky.
36' Arsenal quell the danger from a left-sided home attack and counter at pace. Gervinho has Chamakh racing through on the right but messes it up!
26' Abdoun, once of Manchester City, twists and turns his way past several away midfielders and defenders before bending a pass to the left side of the box and Torossidis with the outside of his right foot... the shot that follows is high and wide.
21' Torossidis rises at the back post to head down towards goal and the ball is beaten away at the foot of the post by Szczesny!
17' Olympiacos fail to deal with a corner and the ball drops kindly for Aaron Ramsey who will surely put this away... he falls over the ball! Poor from the Wales captain. He tries to keep it in play on the byline, but Arsenal's attack is over.
11' Djamel Abdoun played in behind on the left for Olympiacos and pulls back for Rafik Djebbour who looks to dart in front of Thomas Vermaelen at the near post - but the Arsenal captain makes a brilliant challenge to keep him out.
18:49 TEAMS: Olympiacos: Carroll, Maniatis, Machado, Conteras, Manolas, Torossidis, Fejsa, Diakité, Greco, Abdoun, Djebbour. Subs: Megyeri, Ibagaza, Fetfatzidis, Fuster, Siovas, Pantelić, Mitroglou. /// Arsenal: Szczęsny, Vermaelen, Squillaci, Jenkinson, Rosický, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ramsey, Coquelin, Meade, Gervinho, Chamakh. Subs: Shea, Angha, Hajrovic, Monteiro, Arshavin, Ansah, Akpom.Manager: Leonardo Jardim
ArsenalManager: Arsène Wenger
Good first half performace from several players with Rosicky outstanding. Shame he had to be protected following injury because the game turned with his departure with a loss of experience in midfield. He was instrumental in Arsenals surge to qualify last year so am surpised he is often on the fans list of mediocre players to be got rid of. I too feel sorry for Ramsey the but of much understandable frustration. An honest, young, hard working player who is rebuiding his career-and nothing is going right at the moment but he will come good if taken out of the firing line for a while. His play is slow because he lacks confidence. Gervinho worked very hard and protected Meade first half but got lost in the reshuffle he remains an inigma. As for Chamakh the gel he plaster to no effect on his hair reminds me of his control of the ball. He is too slow and if this was a shop window-it must have been a pound shop! Meade looked good for 60 minutes until Gervinho wandered off leaving him 2 players. Sqillaci lived up to his reputation. Djourou has faults but unless injured would have given more pace. At least we wont face Real in the next round! Llorente or Ba would be my choice for Jan! Not sure that Steve Bould or any of the famous 5 is right to be this teams defensive coach- drilled off side and crunching tackles from behind were fine in the 90's but would be red cards today. Needs a more modern, pressing team approach to defending. How about Vermaelan or koscielny as DMF until we can sign a specialist for that job?
I have sent four comments with constructive crtisism.Does anyone vet these ?? None have appeared. Get rid of Steve Bould.....he's supposed to coach defenders....look at his face in the dugout....he's mesmarised. Appoint D Matteo, NOW. He can coach and be groomed as a future manager. Get ris of the 6' 7' German...slow as a cart horse and he only ' plays for himself' not the team. He slows the game down to his walking pase and then only delivers 50/50 balls. He really is a liability. January...hopefully another strong central defender/ a similar player to win the ball in mid/field and a striker.
Olympiacos are a very good team,Arsenal had an extremely tough match in the 3-1 home win,when Gervinho played very well.Olympiacos are 20 points clear at the top of the Greek Super League and have a very talented team and must feel unfortunate not to have progressed in the competition.
This is the worst Arsenal squad I have seen for 20 years. Wenger stumbles along blindly ignoring the problems staring him in the face. He has his way of playing football,but he doesn't have the players to implement it now he has sold his best players. Arsenal need a new leader.
I would say he was trying to rest Rosicky ahead of a must win game on Saturday don't forget its only his 2nd game back
Need to offload Arshavin and Chamakh also jenkinson looks lost a full back, on the positive side Rosicky and Vermaelen played well. I feel sorry for Ramsey nothing is goin for him at the moment he needs to relax and try to play his natural game
Its pitty we cant have more Cazorlas or Rosickys. :)
Wenger must accept that he no longer have those tactics he used to have when he coached the players like Patrick Veira, Edu, Thiery Henry, and the game was orgainsed and fans like Arsenal so much. Believe me or not Presidents like Paul Kagame of Rwanda are supporters of Arsenal and the current formation of Arsenal has demoralised every supporter of Arsenal in every part of the world. Wenger must be changed totally from coarching the club. Gama SOUTH SUDAN
Arsenal = Podolski + Mertesacker !!!
The only reason why Arsenal wont win the champions league is because they are pants lol knocked out next match then domestic cups available lol - so funny and what a loss....
Cmon Asene get in the real world, telling supporters who spend money they can ill afford to squander, that the Players who earn thousands of pounds a month are TIRED i personally think that is an INSULT to all Supporters of football not just arsenal, the sooner players are on performance related wages the better, a true supporter hurts after a defeat you see these players out on the raz 2 hours after playing , if there so tired they would surely be better off going home to bed, FROM A VERY CONCERNED TRUE GUNNER //////////////
So what! They are still in the Champions League and into the last 16. Anything can happen from here! Football is unpredictable,Celtic defeat Barcelona but draw with Arbroath in the Scottish cup! Anything can happen so there is no reason why Arsenal cannot still win the Champions League.
What a very poor Arsenal team.
Wenger + Squillacci + Gervinho = a sure losing formula. I don't remember seeing Arsenal not losing when those three are combined, rather they look like a third division side. I'm disgusted with Wenger arrogance and i think he's now the main reason why the team is having a bad run and it won't change as long as he is around. He is the one responsible of bringing tose kind of players and letting go the best of Arsenal players. I' m an Arsenal fan, i don't live in England and i think that the fans should boycott the team to force them to a real change. W.E.N.G.E.R. O.U.T.!!!!! If the owners and the Board are happy mith his managerial policies then they should leave too. The team should be owned by the fans like Barcelona and believe me, YOU CAN DO IT...
at least better than city :)
every time when arsenal and CHEAPSKATE IDIOT wenger lose - IT IS WONDERFUL DAY !
Imagine Rosicky was playing well and he removed him. What does he want to loose. Instead of to remove Ramsey that cannot shoot at the edge of the box. I guess he is now use to failure or he wants to meet Barca again. Excuse will be Man city is out and maybe Cheasea is out. Just spoiled my night. Before we loose after playing a beautiful game but now we don,t need even play good game and we loose. So unhappy. Next year we will not get top 4
Well done Olympiacos, from a Spurs fan.
Might have been a weakened side but what did Chamakh, The Ox, Arshavin, Gervinho . Vermaelin did not lead the back four who were very badly organised. Ramsey again a waste of space, could not find his man, Presented the first goal on a plate with his chest down of the ball. All the times I have watched Arsenal Ramsey has never impressed. The only decent contribution came from Rosicky. Steve Bould was a great defender but he is not a defensive coach.
Please can we sell ramsey. He is not a top 4 player. he should be playing at reading. Song was his biggest mistake. No player can take that position . experiences matter. You did not win a cup and you sold your Song to a team that has more midfielder and won a cup. You are really not ambitious. pls lets get an ambitious manager even if he don't win be you will see the zeal to win cups. Wenger does not want to win a cup anymore.