Martin Keown slams Dani Ceballos and Bernd Leno despite Arsenal victory at Olympiakos in Europa League

Dani Ceballos had another tricky moment for Arsenal (Picture: Getty Images)

Arsenal scured a 3-1 win at Olympiakos on Thursday night in the Europa League, but Martin Keown was disappointed with both Dani Ceballos and Bernd Leno for the goal the Gunners conceded.

The visitors took the lead in Piraeus but were pegged back as Youssef El Arabi pounced on an error brought about by both Ceballos and Leno.

It was a goal that has become synonymous with Arsenal under Arteta as they tried to play out from the back, gave the ball away and were punished.

Leno’s pass to an under-pressure Ceballos was not a smart one, but the Spaniard also gave the ball away fairly tamely.

Keown admitted that he didn’t like to see Ceballos come onto the field when he replaced Thomas Partey in the second half, as he has made mistakes before, but mainly blames the goalkeeper for the error.

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The former Arsenal defender feels Leno is not learning from his mistakes as these sloppy goals continue to happen.

‘We said the only way they could slip up was a mistake that would made and yep, that happened again,’ Keown told BT Sport.

‘I’m really disappointed with Leno for passing it to Ceballos. Ceballos actually coming on was a bit of a shock to me, I did say “let’s put our crash helmets on” because last time he played against Benfica he pretty well gave two goals away.

‘But I understand the manager wants him back in the team, he believes in him, but the ball that Leno gives him puts him in all sorts of trouble.

‘This is where Leno isn’t learning from mistakes, he did something very similar against Burnley, there’s nowhere to go.

‘Then Leno can’t get back into his own goal, so I’m blaming Leno for that.

‘Ceballos, yes I was worried to see him coming on, because he made mistakes against Benfica, maybe Elneny would have been a better choice to come on and sew things up, but nonetheless, yes he’s made a mistake but the goalkeeper put him in real trouble.’

Arteta didn’t shy away from the problem that was on show in his team, admitting his players need to make better decisions on the pitch.

‘We have to stop making the errors that cost goals because you cannot sustain that at this level,’ he said.

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‘It’s not concentration, it’s about when you play the ball, it’s not about the structure, it’s not about stopping trying to play the way we play, because this is us.

‘It’s about identifying when we have to do it and how we have to do it.’

Keown was pleased, in the end, with the night as Gabriel and then Mohamed Elneny scored to hand Arsenal the 3-1 win, and despite his criticisms, said it was nearly a perfect night.

‘The way they got back into it, the character they showed…’ Keown said.

‘Gabriel is a proper central defender…powerful, then a great finish. Then he [Arteta] was able to rest players with a view to the weekend so it was almost the perfect evening for Arteta and his players.’

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