Arsenal v Olympiakos 10/3/11

After the defeat to Chelsea, I couldn't help but be cautious about the fixture at home against the Greeks. Thomas Vermaelen and Laurent Koscielny looked shaky versus Chelsea's attack and I wondered if they were gonna put up another dubious performance here. The first half definitely solidified my view here, as right after Gervinho's goal (which was taken brilliantly I might add), the center halves could not close down Mitroglou on a header as he put it past Vito Mannone to make the score 1-1. Entering halftime, Steve Bould must have been furious as Arsenal were scored on again in the air. The duo were not inspiring the confidence they needed to, and Arsenal's offense was middling at best. Bould's talk seemed just what Arsenal needed as in the second half, they came out flying. The Olympiakos defense were pressed well, and Lukas Podolski scored that all important second goal off of Gervinho's slick moves. After that though, it was a game of tug-of-war between the Olympiakos' attack and Arsenal's counterattacks. Both had little success trying to control the game, and Arsenal looked as even though they weren't going to concede an equalizer, they weren't going to score the insurance goal either. At the end however, Olivier Giroud's deft flick towards Aaron Ramsey provided the space Ramsey needed to score a clinical third. Giroud hasn't been banging them in, but he has been making fine contributions to the team in his substitute appearances. Overall, a decent performance from the Gunners, after a miserly first half. The Greeks did everything the could, but didn't have the quality Arsenal had, even though it wasn't a vintage Arsenal. And 3-1 isn't so bad in a mid-week game.