Former Arsenal striker Charlie Nicholas has slammed the way Arsenal lost to Olympiacos on Tuesday night.
The Gunner, who had already lost their first Champions League group game against Dinamo Zagreb, fell to a shock 3-2 defeat at the Emirates Stadium.
The defeat in Zagreb was followed by another at Chelsea, but the last week had improved with wins against north London rivals Tottenham and previously unbeaten Leicester City raising the spirits at London Colney. Now, though, we are back to square one.
“The manager has to carry the can. He made five changes from the Leicester game and we always talk about momentum,” Nicholas said on Sky Sports after the game.
“They had some momentum after the weekend but the way that they lost was criminal. Wenger has to take full responsibility for playing Ospina ahead of Cech.”
The first choice goalkeeper was on the bench on Tuesday night, and the manager said he had a slight calf issue.
Nonetheless, the performance of Ospina was indefensible.
“The first goal is a deflection but the second one is a basic corner. He’s not under any pressure and all he’s got to do is catch and hold it.”
“Even though Sanchez gets them back into it, the third goal is shambolic. Gabriel is slack and slow and Mertesacker is not quick enough to cover.”
After levelling the scores at 2-2 with 25 minutes to go, Arsenal fell asleep and found themselves behind again just a minute later.
With no points, we are bottom of the group. Both Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiacos are on three points, having lost their games against Bayern Munich 5-0 and 3-0 respectively.
The Gunners now face a daunting double header against the German champions but Nicholas believes we are as good as out anyway.
“I don’t think they will get out of this group and the reason I think that is because Bayern will keep the ball at the Emirates, Arsenal will get frustrated and they’ll end up getting broken down,” the Scot explained.
“If Arsenal were to get a draw they’d have a chance but only two players acquitted themselves in this game – Theo Walcott and Alexis Sanchez.”
The two goalscorers did their job at one end of the pitch, but we weren’t good enough at the other.