Gunners pleased after 'tough' win
Arsenal assistant coach Steve Bould admits the weekend defeat to Chelsea affected his side's confidence but was nevertheless happy with his side's 3-1 victory in Wednesday night's Champions League tie with Olympiacos.
The Gunners came into the Group B clash fresh from a disappointing 2-1 loss to their London rivals at Emirates Stadium on Saturday. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger spoke about making amends for that defeat in the build-up, but still saw his side stutter against the Greek champions.
The Frenchman was in the stands as he is in the midst of a three-game touchline ban and his man on the ground, Bould, knows the scoreline flattered the hosts. "We've won the game, it is a great result for us," the assistant coach said. "We made it tough."
He added: "They were actually, I thought, very good. Their organisation was excellent and they made it tough for us. I think we improved in the second half with the ball, but we looked a little bit nervy, I have to say, at times and overall we are delighted.
"I think it probably affected our confidence a little bit getting beat when we felt perhaps - even though we didn't play so great - we should have got something from the game. Maybe there was a little bit of a carry-over, but we're hoping now that we've won that has gone, done and dusted, and we get back on track."
Despite a shaky opening 45 minutes, Gervinho fired the Gunners ahead three minutes from the break with a lovely strike from the edge of the box.
Kostas Mitroglou levelled in first-half stoppage time, but Arsenal went on to collect the three points thanks to goals from Lukas Podolski and substitute Aaron Ramsey.
However, Bould also had to field questions about his side's defence, which, after collecting clean sheets in Arsenal's first three games, was on Wednesday night breached for the sixth successive game in all competitions.
"It was always going to be that way," Bould said. "There was only one way to go. We got three clean sheets and we've done OK. We haven't had an awful lot of goals against.
"The goals that have been against in the main have been set pieces, which we're all disappointed and think we can improve. Things are looking OK."
