A welcome return

We suppose some kind of apology is in order to Olympiacos. They proved a point last night. Never take an opponent lightly, especially in the Champions League.

 

To be fair, it was a bit of a weird night/game. We guessed the number of changes in the lineup correctly at five; we just got the personnel wrong. With the likes of Rice and Saka not starting, it had the feel of a Carabao Cup tie, but with better away fans. Not as weird as the last time we played them at home, mind you, when Arteta caught COVID and the world went nuts for a couple of years. But we digress ....

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We missed a bucket load of chances, and if it wasn't for a world-class save from Raya and their centre forward having feet the size of small canoes, we might not have secured the deserved victory. Olympiacos pressed us high and worked their tails off. Their attacking game plan was to throw as many crosses into the box in 90 minutes as was humanly possible and see if something landed. It almost paid off. They will surprise a few teams this year.

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After watching them in their derby match a couple of weeks ago, we never would have thought they could reach the levels they did last night. To counter that, we did swap out both full-backs (more on that later), Rice and Saka, as previously mentioned, were rested along with Eze.

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So what of the performance? It felt like a game we never had full control of, which would piss a control freak like Arteta off no end. Could it be due to the lineup changes? Possible. We never looked secure at the back all game. Ben White, in particular, had a very uncomfortable evening against Podence. Arteta was seen in lengthy discussions with him on numerous occasions before he got hooked just before the hour mark, having looked way off the pace. The 60 minutes under his belt will have done him the world of good, fitness-wise.

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Even without the aforementioned rested players, we looked a threat going forward all night long. 16 attempts on goal with 5 on target (plus one hitting the post) speaks to that. We gave key players a rest, other key players some much-needed minutes, and we won the game with a clean sheet. Job done. The only negative was Gabi at the back coming off injured. Arteta said it was precautionary, so fingers crossed he's good to go this weekend.

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So what about individual performances? Who got MOTM? We reckon that one's pretty obvious, but, as usual, we want to shout out a couple of honorable mentions before we get to that.

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First off, David Raya. Without his absolutely top-drawer save in the first half, our lead is wiped out. He is doing this consistently and must be considered alongside Donnarumma as the best the Premier League has to offer.

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Next up is MLS. Came back into the side and played like the Timber regen he is. Do we want him to stop hitting the deck looking for cheap free kicks as much? Yes, but that's nothing more than a minor irritation. You look at poor Benny White across the other side of the pitch with his struggles, and you see how hard it is to come back into a side after an absence, but MLS made it look effortless and should have had a very early assist to his name if it wasn't for Martinelli's shoulder instead of his head.

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Then we have Gyokeres. It's like the rest of the team got the memo that he makes constant runs on the shoulder of the last defender; he just needs the right service. Feed the Gyok, and he will score as the old Shaun Goater chant used to go. He still looks a little off the pace, but his fitness is growing as his connection with his teammates. He will hit the goalscoring trail soon, and once one goes in, we expect lots more to follow. He is no finesse, all power. A blunt force instrument that is extremely hard to handle.

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As for MOTM. It was an easy one, and we're sure there won't be too many disagreements.