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Match Day Thread Arsenal vs Olympiacos - Matchday Thread

Discussion in 'Arsenal' started by BrunelGunner, Mar 16, 2021.

  1. BrunelGunner

    BrunelGunner Well-Known Member
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    Venue: Emirates Stadium
    KO time: 17:55
    TV channel: BT Sport

    Overall record:
    Played: 11
    Won: 6
    Drawn: 0
    Lost: 5

    Last six meetings:
    Olympiacos 1-3 Arsenal
    Arsenal 1-2 Olympiacos
    Olympiacos 0-1 Arsenal
    Olympiacos 0-3 Arsenal
    Arsenal 2-3 Olympiacos
    Olympiacos 2-1 Arsenal

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    Team News:
    Arsenal could be without talented youngster Bukayo Saka, with the England international nursing an injury. Other than that there are no known issues and manager Mikel Arteta is expected to have a fully fit squad at his disposal.

    Meanwhile, Olympiacos manager Pedro Martins will be unable to call upon the services of veteran Greek centre-back Avraam Papadopoulos, Portuguese centre-back Ruben Semedo and Greek winger Mario Vrousai. There are doubts over the availability of Senegalese centre-back Ousseynou Ba.​
     
    #1
  2. gooner4ever

    gooner4ever once a Gooner always a Gooner
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    Saka could do with a rest so play Pepe from the start.

    will auba be back ?
     
    #2
  3. BrunelGunner

    BrunelGunner Well-Known Member
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    By the sound of things, Saka may be out for a week or two, as he has a hamstring issue. I don’t mind him having a break, as he’s been overplayed and you can tell he’s not having as much impact on games as usual. But we’ve got excellent depth on the flanks, so I’m not overly worried. Hope he recovers soon though.

    It’s the international break soon, too, so I’m hoping he’ll have extra time to rest.

    RE Auba: Judging by his and Arsenal’s social media posts, I think he’s fine. Smiling like usual and posting regularly like usual. I expect him to start.
     
    #3
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  4. PINKIE

    PINKIE Wurzel Gummidge

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    I'd rest Saka for this one. He's played loads of football, and we're going to need him for the (hopefully) later rounds of this comp and a push for a european spot in the league. Auba will be fine, I'm pretty certain that disciplinary issue is behind both him and Arteta and I would expect him to start. He's starting to find his old form again too, 6 in his last 7 games, so he's also going to be crucial for the remainder of the season.

    On another note, would you offer Elneny a new contract ? He's been really valuable since he came back from Besiktas and is a really good option to bring off the bench.
     
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  5. BrunelGunner

    BrunelGunner Well-Known Member
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    It depends. If he's happy to be a 4th choice squad option, and maintain the low wages he's on, then I don't mind keeping him. However, he shouldn't be starting. He generally does well when he comes off the bench, but when he starts, he's not as impactful.

    Midfield is an area we need to upgrade in the Summer. Yet I don't know if we will. Arteta seems to like the Partey-Xhaka midfield axis. I'm still yet to be convinced it's a long-term solution. I know Xhaka's (overall) played quite well of late, but I still think we need someone more dynamic and athletic next to Partey in midfield.

    Elneny as a rotation option or to bring on for ball retention when seeing a game out is fine I suppose.
     
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  6. PINKIE

    PINKIE Wurzel Gummidge

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    That midfield issue is a conundrum. We have odergaard on loan who we should be trying to snap Real’s arm off to buy on a permanent deal. Ceballos, I would send back. He’s decent enough, but he doesn’t offer enough for the money he would cost.

    The Partey/Xhaka pairing looks good to me, but it’s still early days. I would keep Elneny as back up. But I think we still need to buy a deep lying creative mid in the summer.
     
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  7. BrunelGunner

    BrunelGunner Well-Known Member
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    This was the issue we were always going to face with Odegaard sadly - if he did well, Real would be more determined to keep him at the club or other suitors, in better financial positions than us, would be made alert to his talent and could swoop under our noses. His value at the moment will be very high and Madrid are conscious of that.

    If we can get him on loan for one more season, I think that'd be a big positive. It'd buy us a bit more time to explore our options too, if in the event Madrid do want him back.
     
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  8. omogooner

    omogooner Well-Known Member

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    Another turgid performance! Don't know what is wrong with our star players and signing new impressive deals. Auba seems to be a shadow of his former self. Signed a new deal and he appears to have lost his hunger!
     
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  9. TheBear

    TheBear Well-Known Member

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    Well I knew it wouldnt be a high scoring game today.

    Thought we looked very lethargic.The substitutions improved things (Martinelli looked dangerous)

    Auba was very unlucky to not have scored a couple of goals - finishing was just slighly off.
     
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  10. TheBear

    TheBear Well-Known Member

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    I thought Auba was just unlucky. Technique and decision making was good for both those chances in the second half just didnt quite come off.
     
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  11. BrunelGunner

    BrunelGunner Well-Known Member
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    Really abject performance tonight. Players looked knackered. Either that or their mindset going into this was completely wrong.

    Thankfully, we'd done enough in the first leg to see us through, but we can't perform like this in these latter rounds against better calibre opposition.

    Saying that, we did miss a lot of chances ourselves. Auba in particular was shocking tonight.

    Odegaard coming on helped us greatly, and Martinelli showed tremendous tenacity in his short cameo.

    The only positive about tonight is at least we're through to the quarter-finals.
     
    #11
  12. BrunelGunner

    BrunelGunner Well-Known Member
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    He was unlucky with the back heel, but the other chances he really should have scored. It wasn't just his profligacy, though.

    He didn't lead the line well at all tonight. It was one of his poorest performances.
     
    #12
  13. straycat_67

    straycat_67 Well-Known Member

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    Well that was a crock of crod!! Come on Zagreb!!!
     
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  14. white_gunner

    white_gunner Well-Known Member

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    Poor performance really.

    BUT at least we didn’t lose 3-0 like certain other north London sides...
     
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  15. BrunelGunner

    BrunelGunner Well-Known Member
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    At least we can take some solace in the fact we’re through and our lovely neighbours got dumped out <laugh> so Spursy.
     
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  16. PINKIE

    PINKIE Wurzel Gummidge

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    I don't even care about our result tonight now. We're through and Spurs ****ed it up in only the way that Spurs can <laugh>

    #spursy
     
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  17. PINKIE

    PINKIE Wurzel Gummidge

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  18. BrunelGunner

    BrunelGunner Well-Known Member
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    Arsenal vs Slavia Prague in the next round. Not easy, as they dispatched Rangers and Leicester. Could have been much worse, though.
    Glad to have avoided Man Utd, Roma and Ajax.
     
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  19. PINKIE

    PINKIE Wurzel Gummidge

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    Will be a tough tie. But it’s an easier route than Utd, Roma and Ajax
     
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  20. cini65

    cini65 Well-Known Member

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    Slavia Prague are ****e. Give over. I'm sure Henry scored about 27 goals against them in one game in the CL back in the day. Ipso facto they're crap.
     
    #20

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