Arsenal got back on track in the Premier League last weekend, heightening expectations of not starting another Champions League campaign with an annual stutter. But going about things the hard way in Europe is just how Arsenal do and Wednesday's error-strewn debacle in Zagreb showed a continuation of lessons not being learnt.
We all know Arsenal are a quality team and they wipe the floor with Dinamo Zagreb on paper - even if the Croatians are on a 40-match unbeaten run against the teams who have been unable to topple them domestically for an entire decade.
But to disrupt the momentum in an arguably more important match than the heavyweight clashes with Bayern Munich is borderline suicidal from The Gunners' point-of-view and frankly, irresponsible from manager, Arsene Wenger.
The Champions League is the one trophy that has eluded Wenger (aside from the precious League Cup). One would assume his hunger to win that particular competition is at an optimum. While fans yearn for major domestic success, The Frenchman's CV still has a big-ear shaped hole in which the scars of that defeat in Paris still run deep, 10 years on.
So in a group with the German champions as an unusually fierce threat as far as group stage opposition is concerned, finishing first or second will likely be decided somewhere between The Emirates and The Allianz Arena - provided you win the rest of your games. This was the one year - given the changes to seedings - that every group stage point is vital.
And yet, the man considered as one of the most intelligent in the business got some decisions oh, so terribly wrong, as his Gunners side crumbled to an embarrassing defeat just days before the hardest game of their season.
All the momentum built from back-to-back Premier League wins and clean sheets has been obliterated by the shoddy display in Zagreb, and picking up the pieces at Stamford Bridge of all places - against a Chelsea side purring and ready to pounce - is the tricky unnecessary task that faces the team often criticised for a lack of character and leaders. If they do have character, and if they do have any true leaders, they have to show up on Saturday lunchtime.
Arsene Wenger had made clear before the game that the next few weeks - that see Arsenal face four away trips in 11 days - was a question of "balance". If last night's selection was anything to go by, in searching for the balance of an Olympic gymnast, The Gunners displayed the balance of a three-legged dog. It just made no sense whatsoever.
The first questionable decision was the choice of goalkeeper. You have to play your best players. This is the Champions League, for crying out loud. Does he want to win it or not? With one of the world's best at your disposal in Petr Cech, why play David Ospina?
You would think goalkeepers are in the one position immune to rotation. League Two goalkeepers playing four games in a fortnight is nothing peculiar. Yet Petr Cech seemingly needed a rest after doing next to nothing against Stoke.
Here's the thing: we know Cech will start against Bayern Munich. David Ospina is not the "Champions League" goalkeeper, just as Cech wasn't for Chelsea last year. In picking Ospina, it suggests that Wenger saw the game as already won, which is an unforgivable amount of complacency to show in a competition that Arsenal have a history of choking. Dinamo Zagreb were a team in form.
The decision to keep Aaron Ramsey on English soil was just as confusing. Ramsey is as fit as they come in the Premier League and is one of Arsenal's main goal threats, but he can't handle two games a week? With a League Cup tie at Spurs to come next week, surely there is a more appropriate opportunity to rest there? No-one will complain if Wenger names the same XI next Wednesday. He sent a League Cup team out in the Champions League and paid the price.
You can criticise the players all you want, but you can't perform if you're not picked, and you certainly can't perform when you don't even make it to the airport. In Wenger's defence, there were players who stepped in and failed to step up.
Mathieu Debuchy was reportedly close to leaving after Hector Bellerin's emergence last season - which doesn't bode well for his attitude - and last night was his big chance. Let's just say Hector won't be feeling too worried about his starting place.
As for countryman Olivier Giroud, who defied his critics with a goal last weekend, the Frenchman endured a torrid night where he failed to take his chances and got sent off - albeit harshly. His critical challenge that led to his second yellow seemed to epitomise what he has been going through recently. It looked like an honest but tired and futile attempt to gain possession from someone desperate to please his judges.
He looks low on confidence as a result of this pressure that should naturally come from being an Arsenal player, but not from disgruntled fans. And as for the decision itself, he can still feel a little hard done by.
As for another Arsenal striker, Joel Campbell produced yet another ineffective performance as he continues to look a shadow of the man who took apart Manchester United and lit up the World Cup. It makes the failure to secure a striker all the more frustrating, though Wenger will still feel his hands were tied.
It was an awful week for the English clubs in the competition but Arsenal may have a case to feel more aggrieved by having to play away on the Wednesday night and having the early Saturday kick-off. With concerns over the English clubs' coefficient, the FA surely have to look at optimising their clubs' chances in continental competitions.
Whether the weekend's early kick-off or the opposition was the reason for Wenger to feel the need to ring the changes, there should be something either against the away Wednesday night/Saturday lunchtime double-header or facing other teams in the Champions League after games in the competition.
Now for the positives. And there are some. Theo Walcott further staked his claim for another starting berth up front - and he will now surely get another chance against Olympiakos - after a composed finish threatened to put misfiring Arsenal back into the game. And while Arsenal are yet to hit the ground running in Europe, they are still in the driving seat for qualification.
The other way of looking at this result given the way Arsene Wenger seemed to approach it is that he is taking the league more seriously. After making numerous changes with Chelsea on the horizon, perhaps Wenger is after all, putting all his eggs into the Premier League basket.
And although taking a risk with the line-up did not work out on Wednesday, it may at least appear to have some logic behind it if his team can respond on Saturday by sending Chelsea's trophy defence to an early grave.
Come On You Reds!
We all know Arsenal are a quality team and they wipe the floor with Dinamo Zagreb on paper - even if the Croatians are on a 40-match unbeaten run against the teams who have been unable to topple them domestically for an entire decade.
But to disrupt the momentum in an arguably more important match than the heavyweight clashes with Bayern Munich is borderline suicidal from The Gunners' point-of-view and frankly, irresponsible from manager, Arsene Wenger.
The Champions League is the one trophy that has eluded Wenger (aside from the precious League Cup). One would assume his hunger to win that particular competition is at an optimum. While fans yearn for major domestic success, The Frenchman's CV still has a big-ear shaped hole in which the scars of that defeat in Paris still run deep, 10 years on.
So in a group with the German champions as an unusually fierce threat as far as group stage opposition is concerned, finishing first or second will likely be decided somewhere between The Emirates and The Allianz Arena - provided you win the rest of your games. This was the one year - given the changes to seedings - that every group stage point is vital.
And yet, the man considered as one of the most intelligent in the business got some decisions oh, so terribly wrong, as his Gunners side crumbled to an embarrassing defeat just days before the hardest game of their season.
All the momentum built from back-to-back Premier League wins and clean sheets has been obliterated by the shoddy display in Zagreb, and picking up the pieces at Stamford Bridge of all places - against a Chelsea side purring and ready to pounce - is the tricky unnecessary task that faces the team often criticised for a lack of character and leaders. If they do have character, and if they do have any true leaders, they have to show up on Saturday lunchtime.
Arsene Wenger had made clear before the game that the next few weeks - that see Arsenal face four away trips in 11 days - was a question of "balance". If last night's selection was anything to go by, in searching for the balance of an Olympic gymnast, The Gunners displayed the balance of a three-legged dog. It just made no sense whatsoever.
The first questionable decision was the choice of goalkeeper. You have to play your best players. This is the Champions League, for crying out loud. Does he want to win it or not? With one of the world's best at your disposal in Petr Cech, why play David Ospina?
You would think goalkeepers are in the one position immune to rotation. League Two goalkeepers playing four games in a fortnight is nothing peculiar. Yet Petr Cech seemingly needed a rest after doing next to nothing against Stoke.
Here's the thing: we know Cech will start against Bayern Munich. David Ospina is not the "Champions League" goalkeeper, just as Cech wasn't for Chelsea last year. In picking Ospina, it suggests that Wenger saw the game as already won, which is an unforgivable amount of complacency to show in a competition that Arsenal have a history of choking. Dinamo Zagreb were a team in form.
The decision to keep Aaron Ramsey on English soil was just as confusing. Ramsey is as fit as they come in the Premier League and is one of Arsenal's main goal threats, but he can't handle two games a week? With a League Cup tie at Spurs to come next week, surely there is a more appropriate opportunity to rest there? No-one will complain if Wenger names the same XI next Wednesday. He sent a League Cup team out in the Champions League and paid the price.
You can criticise the players all you want, but you can't perform if you're not picked, and you certainly can't perform when you don't even make it to the airport. In Wenger's defence, there were players who stepped in and failed to step up.
Mathieu Debuchy was reportedly close to leaving after Hector Bellerin's emergence last season - which doesn't bode well for his attitude - and last night was his big chance. Let's just say Hector won't be feeling too worried about his starting place.
As for countryman Olivier Giroud, who defied his critics with a goal last weekend, the Frenchman endured a torrid night where he failed to take his chances and got sent off - albeit harshly. His critical challenge that led to his second yellow seemed to epitomise what he has been going through recently. It looked like an honest but tired and futile attempt to gain possession from someone desperate to please his judges.
He looks low on confidence as a result of this pressure that should naturally come from being an Arsenal player, but not from disgruntled fans. And as for the decision itself, he can still feel a little hard done by.
As for another Arsenal striker, Joel Campbell produced yet another ineffective performance as he continues to look a shadow of the man who took apart Manchester United and lit up the World Cup. It makes the failure to secure a striker all the more frustrating, though Wenger will still feel his hands were tied.
It was an awful week for the English clubs in the competition but Arsenal may have a case to feel more aggrieved by having to play away on the Wednesday night and having the early Saturday kick-off. With concerns over the English clubs' coefficient, the FA surely have to look at optimising their clubs' chances in continental competitions.
Whether the weekend's early kick-off or the opposition was the reason for Wenger to feel the need to ring the changes, there should be something either against the away Wednesday night/Saturday lunchtime double-header or facing other teams in the Champions League after games in the competition.
Now for the positives. And there are some. Theo Walcott further staked his claim for another starting berth up front - and he will now surely get another chance against Olympiakos - after a composed finish threatened to put misfiring Arsenal back into the game. And while Arsenal are yet to hit the ground running in Europe, they are still in the driving seat for qualification.
The other way of looking at this result given the way Arsene Wenger seemed to approach it is that he is taking the league more seriously. After making numerous changes with Chelsea on the horizon, perhaps Wenger is after all, putting all his eggs into the Premier League basket.
And although taking a risk with the line-up did not work out on Wednesday, it may at least appear to have some logic behind it if his team can respond on Saturday by sending Chelsea's trophy defence to an early grave.
Come On You Reds!
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