Arsenal’s do or die game against Olympiacos in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday will be about “adapting to every situation”, according to Arsene Wenger.
The Gunners travel knowing that a two-goal margin win or a one-goal margin of 3-2 or higher will secure entry into the next round of the tournament.
Anything else will see them take the unfamiliar route into the Europa League and a new challenge of playing Thursday night European football.
The Arsenal manager told the assembled journalists in his pre-match press conference that reacting to the game situations will be an important ingredient in succeeding.
We have to put every scenario in our head. It is important we focus on the performance.
The results come if we play well so let’s focus on that. When the goal comes I don’t know, but if we play well we have a chance to score.
Mentally, you prepare yourself to adapt to every situation and give the right response to every situation you face.
The Gunners have experienced similar games with their hopes hanging by a thread in recent European ties, facing uphill battles against Monaco, Bayern Munich and AC Milan in return legs of the knockout phase. The result in each of those games ended in glorious failure/heroic defeat and ultimately elimination.
However, this particular crunch tie comes a round early, meaning Wenger risks losing his exemplary record of consistent qualification from the group stage.
We will have to adapt to what is happening on the pitch and to all of the scenarios, accept them and respond.
Ideally, you would like to not have to be patient but we might need to be. What is important is that basically the same for every game in Champions League you attack well and defend well, that is the best way, go into the game with a desire to win it and knowing you need to do both sides of the game well.
Of course, we have a history where we have positive results. We know we can do it so the best way to do it is with a top-quality performance and that is what we want to focus on.
Can Arsenal overcome Olympiacos and the history books to become just the 10th team out of 110 to qualify for the knockout rounds having lost their first two games? That’s the task at hand.
