After a poor home loss to Olympiacos, Arsenal defender and vice-captain Per Mertesacker has admitted that his side’s start against the Greek side was unacceptable, lacking of discipline and concentration.
The Gunners were red-hot favourites at home to their opponents, who were defeated 3-0 by Bayern Munich in their opening tie, meaning both sides were looking to gain their first three points of the group stage, but Arsenal will have to wait that little bit longer after Tuesday night’s disappointment.
The home side began brightly, with Theo Walcott making runs in behind the defence of Olympiacos, but it was time and time again to no avail and the deadlock was broken on the half-hour mark, with the impressive Esteban Cambiasso finding Pardo with a corner on the edge of the box, before his effort deflected in to the back of the net through an Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain deflection.
Theo Walcott levelled things up shortly after that, with his side footed finish looking delightful after Alexis Sanchez’s assist.
Things quickly turned sour for the Gunners once again, with David Ospina dropping what should have been a simple catch and the ball bounced across the line to give the away side a 2-1 lead going into the break.
It took Arsenal until the 67th minute to equalise, with Theo Walcott turning provider for Alexis who met the England international’s lofted ball in with his head, but super-sub Finnbogason provided a sucker punch less than a minute later to gift Olympiacos the win.
Mertesacker understands that Arsenal were disappointing, but claims to Arsenal Player that it was a lack of concentration rather than the away side being the better team.
First of all, we are disappointed because we started quite well, especially on the break after they had set-pieces.
We lacked that concentration and it is not understandable why we drifted and did not do the job we are used to doing. That is not acceptable and we will be punished [for that] in the Champions League.
We need to get behind the ball and play better defensively. We lacked discipline, even when you get a goal back don’t rush yourself. Get your discipline back and with possession you get your chances. If we are not disciplined and do not chase the ball we have got no chance.
The German then turned his attention to the task of Manchester United this weekend, who currently lead the league table going in to October.
We have got a couple of days to look back on that performance.
I think everyone will have regrets and it is good to take that away.
It will take a couple of days to recover and to think about Manchester United and play in a different competition, which will be a good opportunity to come back to the Emirates and play our football with possession and dynamism.
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