Greek tragedy for Gunners

Arsenal shipped in three goals as their Champions League nightmare continued with a shock 3-2 home defeat by Olympiacos.

After losing away at Dinamo Zagreb in their opening Group F fixture and, with European giants Bayern Munich also among their opponents, it meant that there was no margin for error against Olympiacos.

That no margin for error turned into one big error and, although it is still early days in this season's Champions League, the Gunners already face a mammoth task to resurrect their European journey. If Arsene Wenger's men are to qualify for the knock-out stages they will need to get something out of the double header against Bayern Munich, who beat Dinamo Zagreb 5-0, which will be easier said than done.

Arsenal can take slight hope from the fact they have got positive results against the German giants before but, equally, they have also had some poor games. The Gunners will have to make sure they hit top form in both games against Bayern to stand any chance of qualifying for the knock-out stages.

Some fans will undoubtedly have had genuine hope that this week could have been a turning point. We had the chance to get our Champions League campaign back on track and, if we beat Manchester United in our next league match, we could move level with the leaders in the Premier League. Well, we have already mucked up half of that so we must pray that the players put in a drastically different and improved performance against United to ensure this doesn't turn into a horror week.

The defeat to Olympiacos really did leave me not knowing what to think. At parts in the game, despite the fact we were poor for large spells, I had the belief that we could turn it around especially after equalising twice. But by the end I was left with an all-too familiar feeling of 'oh no not again'.

The Greek side took a surprise lead after 32 minutes when Felipe Pardo made the most of a loose ball before shooting past David Ospina, via a deflection off Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Arsenal responded swiftly as Theo Walcott levelled the scores just three minutes later, giving the fans hope that maybe Olympiacos' opener had been merely a blip. The England forward made a great run to connect with Alexis Sanchez's through ball before beating Roberto with a low shot. It was the first time in his career that Walcott had scored in back-to-back Champions League game.

An Ospina howler put Olympiacos back in the driving seat five minutes before the break. The Colombian shot-stopper, who was given some much-needed game time in place of the rested Petr Cech, collected a corner before somehow letting it through his hands to bounce just over the line. Ospina then tried to gather the ball but the official behind the goal deemed it had crossed the line and the goal was given.

Arsenal should've equalised just after the hour mark but substitute Per Mertesacker's effort was saved by Roberto, before Santi Cazorla's follow-up shot was headed clear off the line. Cazorla tried his luck again soon after but Roberto denied the Spanish midfielder with a great save.

The Gunners finally made their pressure count as Alexis Sanchez headed in from Walcott's cross after 67 minutes. But less than a minute later Olympiacos responded with the winning goal to leave the hosts without a point so far in their Champions League campaign. Substitute Alfred Finnbogason got on the end of Pardo's cross to poke home from close range and send the visiting fans into raptures.

Arsenal's performance was very below par by their standards but they still could've stolen something from the game had Roberto not made further key saves. With 14 minutes remaining Mesut Ozil bent a free-kick over the wall but Roberto superbly parried the German's effort before Oxlade-Chamberlain made a mess of the rebound.

Sanchez saw his header deflected wide before Roberto was again called into action to tip Cazorla's curling free-kick over the bar. The chances continued to come and go for Arsenal in the closing stages with Mertesacker's header being comfortably saved by Roberto before Oxlade-Chamberlain shot wide deep into stoppage time.

The Gunners were unable to find that all-important equaliser to leave their Champions League dream hanging by a thread.

THE OPPONENTS
No disrespect to Olympiacos but that is not a game we should be losing, especially with having home advantage, so the result is unacceptable and one that will undoubtedly come in for a lot of criticism.

I thought that the surprise defeat away at Dinamo Zagreb would've acted like a wake up call. We all know that getting points from the double-header against Bayern Munich will be incredibly difficult, so there was no way we could drop more points....yet we did! Why didn't we learn any lessons from the Zagreb defeat? Credit where credits due, I don't want to sound like I'm taking the victory away from the Greek side, they still had to do their bit to get the three points so well done to them. But we are a much better side than them and nine times out of 10 would beat them, so why on earth did we lose?

GROUP F
Bayern Munich beating Zagreb means they are more than likely, which is kind of what we expected anyway, going to top the group. The fight for second is a tough one with Olympiacos and Zagreb both on three points, with us at the bottom without any. It makes the next game against Bayern Munich even more crucial than it already was! As unlikely as it may seem to achieve it, I think we need at least four points from the double header against Bayern to give ourselves realistic hope of qualifying out of Group F.

MY FINAL THOUGHTS
Ospina is already being heavily blamed by many for the defeat, along with Wenger's decision to pick him over Cech. Whilst I believe Cech should have played, I don't think that decision alone cost us the game. In fact, almost all of the players under-performed and they are all equally to blame, along with Wenger, and they all need to take a long hard look at themselves. Wenger will once again come into question and, although I don't believe it is yet time for a change in manager, it is hard to defend him or most of the players after this defeat. There is nothing to hide behind this time, we were simply not good enough!

One thing is for sure - we will have to be a million times better than that if we are to have any hope of beating Manchester United in our next match. A win would certainly improve our Premier League credentials but, whatever happens, it won't mask how poor we have been so far in the Champions League this season.

We must now focus on that Premier League encounter with United and the players need to make sure they give me and the rest of the Gunners' faithful a performance to be truly proud of and not another horror show.

COME ON YOU GUNNERS