Match report – Player ratings – Arteta reaction – Video
Arsenal made it two 2-0 wins from two Champions League games with goals from Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka book-ending a performance which should have brought more goals, but in the absence of those one which required us to keep tricky opposition at arms length.
There was a big chance inside two minutes when Myles Lewis-Skelly found Martinelli in the box with an excellent cross, but he didn’t quite time his header right and put it wide of the post when he should have hit the back of the net. The Brazilian made up for it 10 minutes later when he was the beneficiary of excellent work from both Martin Odegaard and Viktor Gyokeres.
The former played a delicious pass for the striker to run onto, he held off two defenders really well and squeezed a shot through the goalkeeper, but the ball trickled onto the post rather than in. Martinelli, who was waiting to see if it was going to be a Gyokeres goal, applied the close range finish from the rebound to make it 1-1.
That should have been the platform to really kick on, because at that point Olympiacos were struggling, and we were well on top. Football is a strange beast though, and when their right-back Costinha put in the first of what seemed like a plethora of excellent balls from the right, Daniel Podence forced David Raya into what looked like a brilliant save to keep it 1-0. I say looked like, because the more you saw replays of it, the more you realised it was an outstanding piece of goalkeeping from one of the top players in the world in that position right now.
There was more quality from Odegaard to set Gyokeres free in his favourite inside-left channel, but he was blocked off with Martinelli waiting in the middle for a tap-in. The Swede had another sight of goal, but went for power rather than precision and put it high and wide, before Leandro Trossard volleyed over.
The Belgian just looked half a step off the pace last night in his general play, but I suspect he had a restless night’s sleep after this one. Early in the second half Mikel Merino presented him an excellent chance to score, but he put it wide as he tried to guide the ball into the far corner, before Odegaard again made a good opportunity for him which the keeper saved well. However, when you’re a forward and you have those kinds of chances, you’ll be annoyed you didn’t score.
It was far from one-way-traffic though. Olympiacos were better in the second half, and we found it tough to play through them the way we did in the first. They had the ball in the net but the offside flag went up. It looked miles off at first view, but the graphic showed it was pretty close. The consistent quality of delivery from their right back caused us problems, and at 1-0 a game like this is always tight.
There was a great chance for Odegaard but again their keeper made a fantastic save, and there was a brilliant block from the defender to deny the captain from the rebound. Afterwards, looking at the chance on TV he said he should score, but I don’t think he did a lot wrong and sometimes you have to give credit to the opposition. A goal would have been the least his performance deserved, but he had to settle for an assist, providing the pass from which Bukayo Saka scored his second goal of the season to ensure the win in the 92nd minute.
Afterwards, Mikel Arteta was asked about the depth available to him after making changes from the game against Newcastle, and said:
With all respect, last season we had five academy players there that probably never played professional football in the Champions League, so yeah, it makes a difference. Today we decided to change six players, I think it was, because I want everybody to really be involved and feel part of it, and it was great. We had the feeling as well that physically we were dropping because we played a really intense match in Newcastle a few days ago. The ones that came in, again, they lifted the level and they helped us to win the game, and that’s great.
I know some will have wanted last night to be more convincing as a real demonstration of that depth, but it could have been. It probably should have been with some of the chances we had, but let’s not take any game in the Champions League for granted, and to start our campaign with two wins and two clean sheets is good going.
For me the obvious talking point from last night is Odegaard, and how good his performance was. I’ve always been of the opinion that last season he went through a run of fallow form – by his own high standards – in a team that struggled with consistency of performance for all kinds of reasons. His start to this season has been hit with those shoulder problems, but you could see the ‘old’ Odegaard last night, and that’s really encouraging.
I also think that while Gyokeres will be part of the post-match discussion to a large extent, you can probably connect the dots a little bit between him and some of what we saw last night from the captain. They’ve barely played together, but that first half pass gives you an inkling of what’s to come and how having a striker that likes to run those channels gives a player with Odegaard’s vision and passing ability the options he needs to dictate play more. It’s a shame it didn’t end in a goal, but if I were a betting man, I’d put some money on that combination bearing fruit sooner rather than later.
Arteta said of him:
He’s got all the licence in the world to go forward, Martin, and to play with that freedom and to play with that level of threat especially, not only with the passes, but the way he was taking the ball, carrying the ball, making runs, and arriving in really dangerous areas. I think he put three people through today to score a goal, he should have scored a goal as well, so great to have him back, he played some very good minutes in Newcastle to help us to win the game, and I think today he was phenomenal.
Overall, there were things we could do better at both ends, but you can’t argue with the result, the fact we had 16 attempts on goal after some less than fluid attacking performances this season, and really should have scored more. Now, put this one to bed, prepare for Saturday, and hope that combination I mentioned above can do real damage to West Ham.
For more discussion on this game, we’ll have an Arsecast for you a bit later on, so stand by for that. Until then, have a good one.
