Arsenal Vs Olympiakos: 5 Things We Learned

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5. Aaron Ramsey And Mathieu Flamini Can Defend

Losing Francis Coquelin was a fear that Arsenal was harboring all year. We had no one to cover for him. It was a very conceivable notion that if Coquelin went down, Arsenal’s defense would be unable to cope. That had been mostly true. Arsenal was unable to hold onto leads against both West Brom and Norwich and they lost crucial points. It’s hard to say if one additional player would have made all the difference, but he probably would have.

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Against Olympiakos, Arsenal had to do a lot more defending than expected. The Greeks were firing on the counter attack and it took a masterful display from their midfield duo to provide a first layer of defense. They succeeded. The two combined for four tackles, six interceptions and five clearances (via WhoScored). One of those tackles by Aaron Ramsey early in the game may have prevented a through-on-goal situation.

We still need Coquelin back as soon as humanly possible. But during the course of the game, there was no point where I said “I wish we had Coquelin.” He would have made life easier, sure, but we were not grossly missing his presence like we had been in the past. Both Ramsey and Flamini did an excellent job together.

Next up, we talk about the driving force of this Arsenal attack.

Next: 4. The Arsenal Trifecta Is Working