This was a night to remember for Arsene Wenger days before the club’s 125th anniversary game as the Frenchman took charge of his 200th match in European competition – however, due to the fact that we’d already won our group, the manager was sensible to play a second string team of Fabianski; Djourou, Vermaelen (C), Squillaci, Santos; Frimpong, Coquelin; Benayoun, Arshavin, Oxlade-Chamberlain; Chamakh which enabled the youngsters in midfield to build experience as well as providing valuable playing time to the out of form veterans. Piraeus’ well-supported home team was struck by an injury crisis and so played Megyeri; Torossidis (C), Avraam, Mellberg, Marcano; Maniatis, Fuster, Modesto; Mirallas, Djebbour, Holebas – two out of their three midfielders on the night being defenders by trade.

Olympiakos had a glorious opening chance after Lukasz Fabianski’s lazy clearance allowed the Greek’s to cross into the box, but Frimpong was diligent in his tracking and stopped Fuster’s forward run; Santos conceded a corner soon after and Arsenal looked shaky at the start in the hostile atmosphere, conceding three fouls within three minutes. Avraam Papadopoulous received the first booking of the night for a stupid flick out at Frimpong while the Ghanaian ran away from the grounded Greek but it was clear that tonight’s referee was taking no prisoners. Arsenal slowly grew in to the game and were greeted by hostile jeers, the visitors first chance coming when Arshavin and Chamakh traded through balls before the Russian fired straight at Megyeri when one-on-one. Pressing high up the pitch and playing decent football, the Greeks looked as impressive as when they were unlucky to lose 2-1 at the Emirates after shaking our second string team.

Marouane Chamakh again turned creator when he overpowered Marcano and pulled back to Frimpong, only for the young midfielder to belt it in to the side netting – immediately after this the home side ran it up the other end and only Vermaelen’s excellent defending stopped a cross along the corridor of uncertainty from being converted. This proved to be a sign of things to come as a through ball to Djebbour squeezed through Squillaci and Djourou, with Fabianski coming out and being rounded easily by the Algerian to finish into an open net: 1-0 in the 16th minute, with three of our most disappointing players being to blame once again. In fact, being Fabianski messed up an attempt to clear soon after, Modesto was greedy to hit a speculative shot where it could have been an easy 2-0; the Pole went off injured soon after in the 25th minute after Vermaelen, he and Djebbour all slid in for the same ball, with Vito Mannone replacing him and shanking his first goal kick out of play.

Jose Holebas injured the second of our players as he and Coquelin banged legs in the tackle – the Olympiakos man was booked for his part and fortunately Coquelin was able to continue, the Spainaird also taking a blow. A distinct lack of communication was shown when Chamberlain, frequently the Arsenal second string’s dangerman, fizzed in a cross to Arshavin and the Russian looked set to volley into the onion sack before Benayoun nicked the chance instead, diverting his shot wide. Absolutely calamitous goalkeeping from Arsenal reared it’s ugly head again when Frimpong lost possession cheaply, Mannone elected to head it out and the young keeper missed his volleyed save for the follow up shot from Fuster in the 36th minute when he could easily have caught it: 2-0 but two truly shocking goals to concede.

credit to AP/Daily Mail

Holebas was replaced by Orbaiz soon after as he hadn’t shaken off the impact of his collision with Coquelin earlier. The defending was truly beyond a joke – with half time beckoning, Djourou genuinely thought the best option from being closed down in his own area was to play a lose pass away – the team really needed to turn up to the game, and badly. A strange performance was accompanied by out of character first half showings from nearly every player: while Chamberlain was decent, Frimpong and Coquelin lacked the composure they had shown at home, Benayoun was bereft of a decent touch, Arshavin played too far forward to be effective and Chamakh, although not terrible, lacked a real presence. The five minutes of injury time exemeplified Arsenal’s poor start when Vermaelen ran the length of the pitch to fire a header well over when the ball was clearly meant for and reaching Chamakh – Mr. Wenger had a big task at half time on his own milestone to recoup some glory after goalkeeping howlers.

Vito Mannone was fortunate to have his first save of the half gifted to him as Santos’ header from the first corner of the second period was straight to the opposition and drilled at the Italian in the goal, by now the laughing stock of the internet and pundits alike. The half couldn’t have actually started off more badly as Olof Mellberg’s header from a cross skimmed the bar and Andre Santos was stretchered off with a calf injury – begging the question why our only fit full-back played at all in this totally pointless game. Ignasi Miquel replaced him in the 50th minute and by now Olympiakos could have doubled their already comfortable lead as Arsenal conceded chance after chance after chance. Finally, Arsenal saw a breakthrough with a fantastic piece of play when the ball spilt to Miquel, the Spanaird dinked in a cross, Chamakh dived after chesting it down and Benayoun arrowed a super volley into the back of the net: 2-1 in the 57th minute and maybe, just maybe, Arsenal could save face. Then again, the way they nearly gifted the Greeks a goal a minute later suggested otherwise.

credit to AFP/Getty/Daily Mail

Manny Frimpong picked up Arsenal’s first yellow card of the match when he ran through Maniatis and went back on what he had said in the pre-match press conference about retaining composure. The Greeks, who had visibly tired after their excellent first half show, made their second change when Abdoun replaced Fuster for the hosts to freshen up the injury hit and leggy midfield and Arsenal replaced the quiet Coquelin with Rosicky in the 67th minute to add experience to the possible comeback. Having given everything early on, our opposition faded slightly but despite Arsenal’s superior conditioning and technical skill we were unable to run the game. However, it would be lying to say we didn’t have flashes of brilliance – Benayoun’s dink over the back four was so nearly converted by Rosicky if not for the awareness of the Greek goalkeeper to rush out. Gooners nearly abandoned all hope when Mannone when down injured and with no substitutions, or goalkeepers on the bench for that matter, it was pure good fortune he was able to soldier on, despite his poor performance.

Olympiakos had abudant chances to finish the game and when in the 84th minute Mannone spilled a weak chip into the area and every Greek player appealed, Arsenal looked certain to return to a two goal deficit but once again we escaped unscathed and everyone watching had the sense that there was one more goal in the game. When Frimpong conceded a soft freekick right in the corner, you felt it exemplified his showing and Arsenal’s generally – however, when Mellberg’s header was converted by Modeste after hitting the post, sending Arsenal 3-1 down, that really did put the icing on the proverbial cake of disappointment Arsenal had delivered after a hapless showing. Papazglou replaced the tired Djebbour in the 92nd minute but actually, word was just coming in that Marseille were winning 3-2 away at Dortmund: meaning Olympiakos had no way of qualfying whatever the result against us in Piraeus.

Considering this had been a fairly shambolic performance and that we had lost two players, including one first teamer, to injury in a totally pointless game, it did leave a sour taste in Arsenal mouths. Only Chamberlain, Miquel and perhaps Benayoun had actually accredited themselves well tonight and what could be taken as a positive it that our goalkeeping problems had been clearly exposed after Szczesny’s blistering form of late had glossed over them – while Arsenal fans went into game thinking we only needed to sign a back-up striker, a goalkeeper and full back look to be just as important. Conversely, it must be stressed that this game was as important to Arsenal as a pre-season friendly and our squad selection mirrored this: who’d have thought Squillaci would play in the Champions League ever again. At the end of the day we’re through and top and that’s all that really matters – our next European match will be a totally different story.