Great result.

Very positive attacking performance albeit with a sprinkling of typically Arsenal unforced errors.

Some flowing football and progressive overlaps from the fullbacks.

Ødegaard becoming more influential, although I'd like to see him be slightly more adventurous at times instead of playing the safe pass (not on the edge of his own box obviously). His vision could be key against the better sides.

Partey had his worst game in an Arsenal shirt, not sure he's totally fit.

One thing is for sure, on another day our sloppiness would have been punished.

Pundit on Swedish tv said Arsenal were closer to beating Arsenal than Olympiakos were, that about sums it up.

I know we scored two goals from shots outside the box, but to me there's no question Gabriel scored the goal of the game. You can watch a lot of football matches without seeing a better header, seemed to hang in the air forever and it was just controlled and placed to perfection.

Bloody hell
We contrive to make things difficult for ourselves.
Was absolutely furious with yet another piss up of a goal. Leno has to be more *%^@*** clued up for goodness sake.
But what a header!!!!!
Love that aggression to thump that in the net.
*%^@*** defender trying to get it ruled out by playing hurt. d*******.
You saw Elneny moving forward with the ball and im thinking hang on is he going to try one and bang!!!! In it goes. Great shot.
Really needed that response.
Would have been aploplectic if we had shot ourselves in the foot again by not winning.
3 away goals. Fantastic

Free Martinelli.

Milan looked really good today.
Really hope they finish Utd off next week.
Looks like spurs are through though.

Playing out from the back is obviously a risky ploy and I am not sure that Leno is good enough or composed enough with the ball at his feet to play it to the degree we do. I think we maybe need to find a better balance in terms of the level of risk we take in some of these situations.

Ederson at City has the passing range and composure of a midfield player so even though he's maybe not the best in terms of actual goalkeeping skills his ability with the ball at his feet is second to none and vital to City's style of play.

Milan looked very good, david. Lacked the cutting edge to finish their excellent build-up play, though.

If we could eradicate the majority of these individual errors we would start to look a very different side. Our league form is poor but since the horror run ended against Chelsea, we create a lot more chances, defend well, but just cant finish teams off through a combination of defensive howlers and not being clinical in front of goal. If Arteta can somehow galvanise this team like he did for last years FA Cup run, we could still have a decent chance in the Europa league, but we need to cut out the mistakes because they are crippling any chance of significant improvement.

Even more impressive if you consider they were missing their three best attacking players in Ibrahimovic, Calhanoglu and Rebic. United looked very ordinary, without Rashford in the side there was nobody else really on Fernandes wavelength and he was left to try and do it all on his own offensively.

Yeah, as frustrating as these gifted goals are, at least we're generally playing well now. It seems like cutting these errors out of our game would be easier than improving our form if we were playing generally bad. Just looks to me like we can go up a level quite quickly if the team suddenly clicks, there's certainly potential there.

Hi ltg,

Was it Deportivo who gave us a footballing lesson in the CL once.

And eradicating the individual errors would have a massive beneficial effect on confidence

To take an alternative possibility on Martinelli. Maybe Arteta sees him as a centre forward. He’s getting on the bench ahead of Nketiah. But at the moment that is 3rd choice CF. If Lacazette leaves in the summer Martinelli may get more opportunities.
That said I would agree some more minutes out wide for him would be good. I wonder whether wide left with Aubameyang as CF is maybe not the best mix, both occupy the same channel. Martinelli wide left with Lacazette as CF feels a better balance

The post was tongue-in-cheek, but is is quite odd that he has gone from a kid who was seen as a generational talent with the ability to explode onto the world scene to one who cannot get even a minute of playing time anymore.

I was hoping he was our going to be our very own Ronaldo but clearly Arteta does not think so (even before his injury he was not really playing him that much) so perhaps he is being massively overrrated by us fans.

That said, if he genuinely is a generational talent, I would have thought his development could be better handled than it is at the moment.

I’m more optimistic as I think we can win this competition. Especially if Milan can knock Manchester United out. Make no mistake, if we play Milan they’d be a big threat (as would Roma and Rangers). But of the teams still in it, Manchester United and Tottenham are the only two sides I’d put as favourites if we play them.

My predictions for the teams to get through to the next round are, in alphabetical order:

Ajax
Arsenal
Granada
Milan
Rangers
Roma
Tottenham
Villarreal

Of that lot, as I say it’s only Tottenham I would make as favourites against us, although if Manchester United do get through against Milan, I’d add them. Milan and Roma would be big threats but I’d fancy us against either, and Rangers.

From the 8 europa ties there are only really 2 that are in the balance. The other 6 have commanding leads for each team:
Arsenal, Ajax, Spurs, Roma, Granada, Villarreal

You’d have long odds any any of those 6 not qualifying, all 6 would have been favourites before the tie as well.

Hoping Milan can knock out Man U. If you take Man U and Harry Kane out of this competition I think we can win it

We have won cups (FA Cups) before or gotten to finals of a cup (CL, Europa Cup) making incredible runs and defying the odds.

This is what has to happen for us to even get to the Europa Cup finals. It's very unlikely but we all hope. Both Milan and Roma are in top 4 in Serie A. Ajax are well managed and technical. We have a poor record against Mourinho managed sides and Tottenham are better than us and have been for a time, as painful as that is to say.

It's going to have be one of those 'once more into the breach, dear friends' type of cup run.

Hoping the Ødegaard goal takes his play up a level or two. I am willing him to do well every time I see him on the pitch. Sidenote: we are missing Ramsey's dynamism very much right now.

Anyway, if we get a good fee and he's open to it, I would be for Ødegaard included in the squad. We have a very decent young (if 25 and under is young) squad for the future: Saka, Gabriel, Smith-Rowe, Tierney, Martinelli, Pépé, Holding, Saliba possibly, Reiss Nelson, I'll add Nketiah.

This is a not a bad core of players. Partey and Mari are in their prime ages.

Interesting quotes from Arteta, doesn’t seem to think we are taking enough risks

“They are there to make things happen and win games. Winning games is decided near the boxes and they have to be more encouraged to attack those situations, to take risks, to take shots and to create opportunities to dribble because that’s their quality”

Watched Gabriel’s header a few times. That’s his 3rd for us from corners. It’s such a fantastic header, he’s running away from the direction he puts the header. So much power and desire and technique in the placement of the header.

When he says ‘boxes’ I hope he just means the attacking box. We’re taking more than enough risks in our own box. 3 times yesterday we messed up

It was a superb header. Top top quality. Makes you wonder what we were at in the first half with those hopelessly ineffective short corners.

Our two chief protagonists for that are Saka and Pépé, but for whatever reason Pépé is behind Willian in the pecking order. I also think that Smith Rowe is much more dynamic than Ødegaard.

Yes I don’t think there is much between Emile Smith Rowe and Ødegaard apart from the Norwegian is slightly more polished in his play and speaks better English.

It’s a tricky one because I think Pépé is more incisive but Willian despite all the grief is actually our biggest creator this season. I think Pépé needs a run

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It charted a 41% decline in exports to the EU during the month - at a value of £5.6bn - alongside a £6.6bn fall in imports from the bloc.

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-eco ... n-12243370

Have Gabriel and Mari played as a CB pairing yet?
Everyone's immediate thought would be 'but they're both left footed' - which we never really say about 2 right-footed CB

It will be interesting what the team for Spurs is. With a 3-1 lead in Europe Arteta might be tempted to use that game to rest a few players - keeping the big guns on the bench just in case but we should be able to shut that game down at home without the likes of Gabriel, Saka, Partey, Aubameyang.

I would like to see Pépé come in on the left wing. Spurs are weak at right-back. Aurier is athletic but clumsy and not great positionally. Doherty is not having a great season. Regullion on the left flank is far more secure and dangerous going forward.

Hi Rich,

I was quite surprised that Mari didn't keep his place considering his excellent recent performances but then Gabriel produced a towering performance topped off with a magnificent header so you can't really argue with the decision.

Arteta seems determined to keep Luiz as one of his CBs but I'm not sure his ball playing abilities compensate entirely for those brain fart moments.

This is where football is headed if we aren't too careful.
The Arsenal Gunners presented by......

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/michigan-s ... 57968.html

The centre backs are pretty good

Mari, Luiz, Holding, Gabriel ? I wouldn’t swap them for many and I’m surprised in the papers we are still getting Linked with more,

Add a decent right back and that’s a very strong back 4 and keeper.

If they could just sort out the midfield players

Surely we're being linked to more because Luiz (currently) is gone at the end of the season?

This brings back the approach we need to have to squad building. If, for example, we say we need 6 players in the summer but only have £60m to spend (all hypothetical) should we sign 6 x £10m players. or sign 2 x£30m players, a couple of free transfers and retain the likes of Luiz and Elneny?

If Luiz leaves we need to replace him. To get someone who does what Luiz does would cost maybe £20m - or you take a risk and get another veteran or very young player for cheaper money.
Similar to Elneny, I think he should be sold in the summer as he only has 1 year left on his deal, but we'd maybe only get £5m for him. Do we need someone better than Elneny? Yes, can we get someone better for £5m? highly unlikely.

So, ideal scenario is we replace Luiz with another Gabriel and replce Ceballos and Elneny with top quality CM. That would cost £90m at least, and we'd still need a right-back and a striker and a back up GK and an attacking central mid. So, I would rather use what money we will have to buy quality in positions that really require it and if needs be retain some of our 'cheaper' value players as back ups.

With the last two errors playing out from the back, who is to blame for this?
1) Arteta for insisting on playing this way despite having players who mess it up too often
2) Leno for making these passes in to players in precarious situations
3) Xhaka/Ceballos for not having the awareness of the situation or the technique to play the first time pass backwards or sideways

Or option 4) is all 3!

Saliba to take Luiz's place and AMN to replace Elneny. Zero cost. Also, we only need a new right back if we sell Bellerin and if that happens he will generate a good fee. I thought last night was Bellerin's best game in ages. That block at 1-1 was crucial.

Surely selling AMN and keeping Elneny is the most beneficial to us financially? Not that much in between them as players as well. Would rate AMN a little higher, but not enough to make up for the 20-25m difference in transfer fee.

As you say, Bellerin would probably pay for his own replacement so to speak and if Luiz leaves Saliba and Mavropanos should be able to fill that gap seeing as Mari, Gabriel and Holding have all played very well this season. My focus would be on getting another midfielder in.

Thought Luiz was signing a new contract so with saliba it means we are well stocked.

I'm not sure how much stock I can put into this.

https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2021/03/12/d ... -teammate/

"One supporter tweeted that they felt Bukayo Saka and Martin Ødegaard were deliberately trying not to pass the ball to Hector Bellerin.

The fan said it seems like the young duo have lost faith in the Spaniard."

Playing out from the back you avoid errors and mistakes with center mids who have very good pitch vision and awareness. And yes, I'm going to use Fabregas as an example. If he had him for example, or someone like him (Özil, Bergkamp), we'd be able to play the ball from the back better. Lots of opponents press and commit players that leave one on one situations up top.

I could see a player like Fabregas receiving the ball and getting a pass 30 yards up the pitch to Aubameyang making a run. We don't have those types of players now.

Barcelona, City, and very few others have highly skilled players at each position, they are well drilled and they all have football brains. It's very tough to get the ball off them pressing them. If Arteta is going to employ that he needs to either get the players or a Plan B for the ones we presently have.