Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger did his best to remain upbeat despite a 2-1 defeat to Olympiacos wrecking their chances of finishing top of Champions League Group B. With qualification already secured ahead of the fixture, Wenger had elected to leave several first-team regulars behind as 20-year-old defender Jernade Meade made his European debut. Although Czech midfielder Tomas Rosicky fired the English side ahead after 38 minutes, the Greeks fought back through a somewhat controversial effort by Giannis Maniatis and a well-taken strike from substitute Kostas Mitroglou. The defeat, coupled with Schalke’s draw in Montpellier, saw the Gunners finish as runners-up behind the Bundesliga side. And although Wenger was unhappy with Olympiacos’ opening goal, he had few other complaints about his team’s performance.
“It was an interesting game,” he told ITV1. “We had a good first half and we had two or three chances to score a second goal, but we needed a second goal tonight. “The younger players did well for an hour, that is very positive. Now we have to wait for the draw, but ideally you want to finish first (in the group). “The first goal was a goal kick, though, simple as that. What the referee behind the goalline is doing nobody knows, but I don’t think it was the right decision.
“We had a positive game. It was not the result we wanted but overall it was a very encouraging game.” Defeat in the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium for a second successive season coupled with Schalke’s draw in Montpellier means Arsenal will head into the knockout stages without the security of a top seeding.
Wenger, though, is not overly concerned. He said: “We need a good Christmas present now (in the draw), but we will see. “We can get a bad draw or less strong team, but you normally get strong teams through anyway now.
“The disadvantage is we have is we play the second game away, but that is not statistically proven to be a such a disadvantage. “Let’s see, but for now it is important for us to focus on the [domestic] championship, forget about the Champions League a little bit and get ourselves back in decent form in the championship.” Wenger tried to remain upbeat despite the disappointing final outcome in Athens. “We left eight or nine players at home and we had a positive game,” he said. “We had a good first half, but we dropped physically in the second half because many players lack competition at that level and therefore we couldn’t take the chances for the second goal. “We also got a very bad decision against us on the goal. I am not against the fifth referee, but you would like at least for them to be concentrated on their job, but that was not the case tonight, Wojciech Szczesny was far away from the ball.
