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8 talking points from the Champions League

It was a miserable night for English clubs as both Chelsea and Arsenal suffered surprise losses in their Champions League matches. Meanwhile, Robert Lewandowski continued his amazing goal-scoring feats for Bayern Munich. Here are the talking points from Wednesday’s round of matches ...

Arsenal’s No 2 goalkeeper David Ospina (left) during Olympiacos’ second goal, which was official ruled as an own goal. Photo: Reuters

Arsenal’s No 2 goalkeeper David Ospina (left) during Olympiacos’ second goal, which was official ruled as an own goal. Photo: Reuters

It was a miserable night for English clubs as both Chelsea and Arsenal suffered surprise losses in their Champions League matches. Meanwhile, Robert Lewandowski continued his amazing goal-scoring feats for Bayern Munich. Here are the talking points from Wednesday’s round of matches ...

Arsenal still cannot defend corners

German defender Per Mertesacker was dropped to the bench on his 31st birthday, yet Arsenal showed they are still remarkably vulnerable at corners and set pieces.

An otherwise uneventful first half was punctuated by Olympiacos taking the lead in the 32nd minute when Arsenal, to a man, stood and watched as a corner was played to the edge of their area. Colombian winger Felipe Pardo used the time and space afforded him to control and drive in a low shot. Yes, he was helped by a huge deflection, but Arsenal’s zonal marking was always an accident waiting to happen.

And the Greek’s second goal is one Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger will also quickly want to forget.

Cech must not be rested

Another corner, another goal.

Wenger made a huge call to play his No  2 goalkeeper David Ospina ahead of summer signing Petr Cech. If Cech, as Chelsea captain John Terry said, is worth 12 to 15 points a season, then surely he has to play whenever he is fit?

Wenger wants to keep his back-up players match-tight too, but there is a time and a place, and this match was neither of those.

Ospina was clearly unaware of his positioning when he conceded a second five minutes before half-time. The Colombian tried to parry down a corner before gathering it, only to drag the ball over his line for a calamitous own goal.

It is an error that will be repeated ad infinitum on television.

Sanchez overload but Walcott’s a genuine goalscorer

There is a danger Arsenal are becoming over reliant on Alexis Sanchez.

The Chilean forward was once again at the heart of most things good in this fragile Arsenal display. He followed his weekend hat-trick at Leicester with another all-action display and a well-taken goal. How Arsenal will suffer if their record signing from Barcelona ever suffers a long-term injury.

Meanwhile, the much maligned Theo Walcott scored another well-taken goal and is now deservedly recognised as Arsenal’s No 1 striker.

His clinical first-half finish was the first time he has scored in back-to-back Champions League games following his effort during Arsenal’s opening 1-2 loss to Dinamo Zagreb.

Walcott might not have started had Olivier Giroud not been suspended, but his latest strike marked his 16th goal in his past 20 starts for the club. After Cech, he will be one of the first names on Wenger’s team sheet for Sunday’s match against Manchester United.

His assist for Sanchez’s equaliser showed his other attributes too.

Jose Mourinho is a man of his word

The Chelsea manager this week questioned his players’ attitudes and threatened to drop his big names if he felt the need to. He stuck to his word, cutting Eden Hazard and Nemanja Matic from the starting 11. This was not just Champions League rotation. This was a statement: Everyone is droppable.

It was a drastic and bold move, but Mourinho needs something dramatic to change if his team are to turn their season around. He showed that he will do anything to ensure that happens, and this move could give his star players the motivation they need to help their team out of their recent slump.

How did Ivanovic survive the cull?

And it is an even greater wonder what he has done to earn the captain’s armband.

From very early on, it looked like Porto’s half-fit Algerian World Cup star Yacine Brahimi would have some fun up against the Serb, and so it proved. He skipped past him time and again, crucially doing so for Porto’s opening goal.

By half-time, Brahimi had beaten a Chelsea man on seven separate occasions, and by the time he was taken off, he had done so 10 times. Ivanovic was his victim on four occasions. Ivanovic looks terribly troubled at present, and it seems that handing him further responsibility is not the cure. He might just be Mourinho’s next victim.

Clean sheets against Maccabi Tel-Aviv and Arsenal were false dawns

When Chelsea only recently shut out their opponents in consecutive games it was thought — or perhaps hoped — in their own ranks that they had turned a corner. They had conceded 13 goals in their first six games of the season before those two clean sheets and seemed to have rediscovered the kind of defensive resolution on which they built last season’s success.

Then they conceded while beating League Two side Walsall 1-4 in the League Cup before shipping two soft goals against Newcastle at St James’ Park and yet more here. Porto became the seventh team (from just 11 opponents) to score at least two goals against Chelsea this season, and it is not clear whether Mourinho has the remedy to this particular problem. Leakier than ever, they need to plug the holes soon.

Chelsea need more game-changers

At a thoroughly beleaguered and tiring Newcastle last weekend, Ramires was able to affect the game from the bench and, while Mourinho was able to call on Hazard as a substitute here, that will surely not be anything like a regular luxury.

He spent money this summer on reinforcing a league-winning squad, but few thought Chelsea were sufficiently strengthened and that continues to prove to be the case. Once again their squad looked thin and they succumbed meekly to another defeat.

Yet they were linked during the off season to a vast number of players, including Porto’s impressive central midfielder Giannelli Imbula, whom Porto signed only this summer. The 23-year-old Frenchman ran the show and gave Chelsea an idea of what they were missing.

How they could have done with him, or any other number of players, on Tuesday night.

Lewandowski’s goal-scoring spells danger for Robben and Ribery?

Bayern Munich wingers Arjen Robben (thigh) and Franck Ribery (ankle) are injured now, but Bayern signed Brazilian Douglas Costa from Shakhtar Donetsk and 19-year-old Frenchman Kingsley Coman, on loan from Juventus, as reinforcements during the summer.

And Lewandowski is crediting both for the change of style that is creating the time and space for him to score his goals.

With their injection of more pace and youth, alongside the likes of Thiago Alcantatara, Mario Gotze and Thomas Muller, Bayern are profiting from a more direct style of play that creates more chances for Lewandowski in the penalty area.

Lewandowski did suggest last week to reporters that he feels a change in tactics, enforced by the absence of Robben and Ribery, suits his game. He has now scored 14 goals in eight games for Bayern this season.

Given Costa and Coman’s fruitful partnership with Lewandowski, the question is whether Robben and Ribery will be forced to sit on the bench when they return. AGENCIES

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