[PLAYER RATINGS] Olympiacos 3-1 Arsenal: Some Dreadful Performances From The Gunners

Arsenal’s second string went down 3-1 to Olympiacos tonight in what was largely a disappointing night for Arsene Wenger and his men. It was a game filled with individual errors, injuries and ultimately defeat.

The home side made life difficult for the Gunners all night with their pressing game not allowing our players a second on the ball, but the Arsenal team didn’t help themselves with bad habits creeping back into our game. Sloppy passing was rife from start to finish and several players failed to step up their game in the hostile atmosphere of the Karaiskakis Stadium.

There were a few positives, namely Chamberlain, Miquel and Vermaelen (oh, and Benayoun’s goal). But the rest were poor, and a few were down-right dreadful (no prizes for guessing who they were!). Here are my player ratings:

Player Ratings:

Fabianski – 4 – Back to his useless self. He will have do play a lot better than this is he’s to take the No.1 spot from Szczesny. Awful kicking, left in no mans land for the opening goal and nearly conceded a second before going off injured.

Djourou – 4.5 – Very poor from Johan. He’s not a right back and shouldn’t be played there. But he should still get the basics right. Sloppy passing and caught on of position on several occasions.

Vermaelen – 7 – Tried his best to marshall the back line but can only do so much playing next to Squillaci. Drove forward on several occasions looking to make things happen, but was made to look bad by those around him.

Squillaci – 4 – Dreadful. Constantly out of position, left balls he should have dealt with, didn’t close down, poor passing, i could go on. Back to the bench asap please.

Santos – 5.5 – Struggled in the first half to deal with the Olympiacos attack but wasn’t the worst performer out there. Went off injured early in the second half. We now have no fit recognised left back available. Can someone please explain why our only fit left back played tonight?

Coquelin – 5.5 – Ran his heart out but struggled to get a foothold in midfield as the Olympiacos players adopted their high intensity pressing game.

Frimpong – 6 – Gave away some silly late fouls, one which lead to the third goal, and was lucky not to be sent off for two bookings. But he was on the ball more than Arshavin or Coquelin and was at least trying to make things happen in the middle of the park.

Chamberlain – 7 – Made some excellent runs down the right with some dangerous crosses in to the box, just didn’t get on the ball enough. Handled himself well on a difficult night.

Benayoun – 7 – Excellent finish for his goal and was tidy when in possession, but like Chamberlain just didn’t get on the ball enough.

Arshavin – 4.5 – Dreadful. Missed an early one-on-one chance to open the scoring and hardly touched the ball after that. When he did, he gave it away. Was played in his ‘preferred’ position behind the striker (if Chamakh can be called that?) and still failed to impress. Didn’t look interested in the slightest.

Chamakh – 5 – Some fans will say ‘at least he tries’, which is true to a certain extent. But Arsenal need more from a main striker, and unfortunately Chamakh doesn’t have the required quality. Doesn’t hold the ball up, isn’t a goal threat and all round play is poor. Striker in January please Arsene. Although the Moroccan did reasonably well to knock down for Benayouns goal.

SUBS:

Mannone – 3 – Dreadful. I have no idea what he was up to for the second goal. He must have thought he was still outside the box, so couldn’t handle it. But it doesn’t matter, it was a school boy error made at the highest level. After that he was all over the place for the rest of the game.

Miguel – 6.5 – I was surprisingly impressed with the youngster. He settled in well at left back in difficult circumstances and put a good shift in.

Rosicky – 6 – Missed a great chance to make it 2-2 after some good work with Benayoun but Rosicky left his man free in the box for the third.

You can watch the goals from the game here.

So those are my ratings. Remember, its just my opinion. You are free to have opposing views but please leave your opinions sensibly in the comments section.