We have this habit of making our life difficult. We ended up with a score line of 2-2 when it was a home game for us, we had no injuries and everyone was fit to play, we had 60% possession, 13 shots compared to 8 from Bayern, 4 shots on target compared to Bayern’s 2 which they managed to score from.
Short analysis
In the 12th minute, Odegaard clipped the ball behind Bayern defence which Saka received, cut inside and scored from a magnificent strike. White missed a 1v1 with Manuel Neuer only after 4 minutes when Havertz noticed his run and sent a carefully balanced pass. That should have been a goal and we should have had 2-0 lead by now.
Sane created a lot of problems for us. Gabriel took a poor touch and Sane intercepted his pass allowing Gnabry to score one against his former club. It was a mistake from us and Bayern made sure to punish us. Their second goal came from a poor challenge from our best defender Saliba. It was again on Sane who drove forward between our defence and Saliba’s challenge ended up tripping him. Again, a mistake we made and they made sure we paid for it.
We gave away two goals.
Kiwior was having a poor game, so does Rice. Mikel made some changes, brought in Trossard for Martinelli, Jesus for Jorginho around 70 minute mark and it paid off. Trossard scored a brilliant goal after a Bayern throw in was lost to Saka, who feeded Jesus on the box. The game ended with 2-2.
Talking points
Thomas Tuchel. Harry Kane. And Bukayo Saka.
Tuchel in his post match press conference pointed out that were robbed of a penalty. Incident happened when Raya and Gabriel didn’t hear the referee whistle, Raya passed the ball to Gabriel who then picked it up with his hands and took the shot. We do it every game for almost every goal kick. Referee called it a kid’s mistake and he is not going to punish a team in Champions League quarter final for that.
Right Mr Tuchel, it should have been given but what about these 2?
Kane’s feet are on ground, and there is no way he should be sticking his elbow out. You do that when you jump and it make sense. Otherwise, it’s on purpose and should have been a red card.
Neuer took a stride on purpose and retracted back right on time to show the world he is innocent while disbalancing Bukayo in a 1v1 situation. To anyone saying Saka stuck his leg out, let me remind you that game do not happen in frame-by-frame and certainly not in a slow down motion where you have 8 sec for 1 sec to react. It was a penalty and should have been given. I think the referee let it go because of the Gabriel/Raya situation but he should have given it and he would have been right in both the instances.
Someone needs to show these 2 videos to Tuchel and ask his opinion and anger about it!
Take away from the game
We are still in the tie. We go to Allianz Arena and we can beat them. After a while, it’s good to have this feeling that we can manage to win against the likes of Bayern at their own ground. Irrespective of the result, I’m pretty sure boys are going to give their best and we are going to test them. I’m also sure we are playing one of the Madrid/ City in Semifinals.
One other thing to highlight is that, the likes of Kiwior and Rice had a bad game not because they are poor, but because they do not have the experience of playing against a big team, in the quarter finals of Champions League. They will learn and they will get better. We saw what an experienced but injured Partey can do in 10 minutes. Will Saliba has been our best defender and I have seen him make inch-perfect tackles so far, but he gave away a penalty which could have been avoided. There was a lot at stake and the best part of it all is that, we haven’t lost yet.
Right, that’s me done. We are playing Aston Villa on Sunday, and we need to win to keep our chances alive in Premier League. As I said, there is a lot at stake, both domestically and in Europe. You either win or you learn. I am hopeful for both.
Hi Ambarish
Good points and this time we are still level. Cast your mind back 10years and we won the away game but they had already scored 3 at the emirates. El B needs to be inventive.
Marc—you’re spot on regarding your assessment of Bayern’s first gifted goal…the fact that Raya needlessly ventured that far out speaks volumes about his privileged status under Tets…no matter what occurs he seems to be impervious to criticism from within…it might be different if he were in competition with Ramsdale and he felt it necessary to constantly prove his sweeper Keeper value to the club, but anyone who thinks that this could be a motivating force behind his oftentimes nonsensical attempts to impose himself on a match clearly haven’t read the managerial room…so far he’s provided more cock-ups than clutch moments, minus a crucial save on a fairly pooly taken penalty by Porto…as such, he has been a flawed pickup at best, who’s had very little to do with our rather stellar goals against record…sometimes numbers lie and/or create a false narrative, which those within the Kool-Aid crew tend to lean into for obvious reasons…anyone with eyes who’s actually watched his performances would be hard-pressed not to agree with your earlier assessment…Cheers
Ambarish—some interesting points…in regards to your critiques of both Kiwior and Rice I would simply add the following commentary…Kiwior is being shoehorned into a position that he has no business playing when we’re facing a team who possess world-class pace on the edge, especially if he’s being required to also play as an inverted back at times, as this isn’t really in his wheelhouse…as for Rice, it’s clear we’ve given him some assurances about seeking more advanced spaces on the pitch, which I guess is fine against some lesser light or offensively-stunted sides, but when it requires players like Jorginho, who’s a defensive liability more often than not, to assume Rice’s normally duties, you shouldn’t be surprised when the shit hits the fan…for me personally this was an ill-conceived plan that flattered to deceive…maybe if we were a more cross-dependent side or had a more link-up play savvy Striker on the pitch, this might make a little more sense, but even then only against sides who’s tape suggests they’re particularly vulnerable to those kinds of tactics…Cheers
poorly taken
TRVL
Yes, Kiwior is not playing in his natural position but I guess we would have to live with that till Timber is back. Zinchenko is a liability and Tomiyasu is injury prone and again LB is not his position. Kiwior has been solid in last few games, I personally think it’s the stage that took a toll on him. Quarter finals against Bayern, in Champions League – is going to affect the players. Trying too hard to play well can turn out good as well as bad, and both Kiwior and Rice were having a bad day because of it.
The best part of this, is that, they can fix it and they can fix it in the very next game. I would love that.
TRVL
There’s no doubt Gab’s clearance could’ve been better but our style is to play out from the back and the goalkeeper’s a big part of that. I really think part of the poor pass out was a bit of “what the fucks Raya doing there?” and Gab’s was thrown.
As I said on a previous post Raya is only a fractional improvement on Ramsdale – so we have £23 odd million spent on Ramsdale, Brentford wouldn’t have let us have Raya on loan as a favour so there’s got to be a fee somewhere around £10 million and then they’ll be the fee lets say £35 million. In a couple of seasons will be paying big money for another keeper so we would have spent almost £70 million plus the fee for a marquee keeper signing. Martinez might be a twat but Arteta should have been able to manage him for a couple of seasons and then gone player he really wants.
I have a feeling our next 3 matches will make or break our season. The ManU and Spud fixtures are the ones that catch the eye on paper but how we respond to Tuesday night on Sunday followed by the return leg with Bayern followed by being away at Wolves are all huge.
Points dropped in either league match will effectively end our title challenge – we need to be completely focused.
Ambarish—btw Timber’s real position, at least in his professional career, is at right back not left, which speaks to the shoehorning predilictions of our manager…as for Tomi, he’s a natural backer, who’s seen ample time on the left, whereas Kiwior is a CB by trade, so it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison…we’re all well-aware that Kiwior has seen his share of matches, in more recent times, at LB, but that was only because Zinchenko and Tomi were both injured…he did perform somewhat admirably, but showed his limitations whenever the level of competition was raised…neither Kiwior nor Tomi really provide much, from an offensive capacity, so I would have leaned more towards starting the latter, as he’s been the more consistent defender…why not get our money’s worth while he’s actually healthy for once
Bin dippers rapidly going off the rails?
maybe I shouldn’t have been so harsh on Raya after watching an absolutely atrocious performance by Pool’s Keeper against Atalanta…could they be running out of steam? they did just get Jota back, which should inject some life into the room, but they definitely appear vulnerable as of late…it makes some sense, in that they’re clearly ahead of schedule…I always felt that their offseason moves would see them measurably improve, but not enough to compete for things in the first season with a competely rebuilt midfield…if it weren’t for the fact that they’ve amassed a historically significant amount of late-match tallies and found a way to use Klopp’s pending departure as a motivating force, they might be battling it out for the last CL spot…so maybe just maybe, their living on borrowed time magical season will come to an unceremonious end
.
Hi Vieira
Reports from Anfield suggest that they were arse-wipingly bad. 🍑💩
My cornflakes have gone all soggy because of the torrent of tears I’ve been shedding, so much so that the bowl overflowed and caused my micro stradivarius to float off down the driveway into the raging canyons caused by the wettest spring I can remember in the moist wastelands of West Wales.
Are you getting 24 hour rain in the SE NORG and Marc? I think we’re almost in monsoon season these days.
Anyway, it’s hard to feel sympathy for Liverpool. I know little about Atalanta but Gasperini sounds like one to watch.
KP – just to dampen your spirits further it is mild and a hazy sunshine in Mid Norfolk. We are expecting 20 C today about half of what Tony is likely to experience.
Klopp will have no fairy tale departure apart from the League Cup and Champions League qualification. At least he will have some silverware unless we can overcome the Tiny Tots and the team from Old Toilet. First it is Villa on Sunday who can, on their day beat anybody. Will Emilio play out of his skin and laugh in El B’s face?
KP – look on the bright side – it is doubtful you will have a hosepipe ban this year.
KP–I’ve been closely following Gasperini since his early days at Atalanta in the 2016-17 season…he was at the top of my list when it came time to finally send Arsene out to pasture…unlike our present manager, his tactics focus heavily on off-the-ball movement, quick short forward moving passes and overlapping wingbacks instead of wide midfielders…although he’s hurt himself on the European stage at times with his best defence is a good offence philosophy, he has made some more recent adjustments so that he can present a more balanced approach when it’s required…another big selling point with this particular individual is that he’s a bang for your buck wet dream, as he gets the most out of his players while maintaining a substantially lower budget than those with similar records…this of course isn’t by choice, so just imagine what he could do with the resources available at our l’il club…what’s even more astounding is ability to identify talent both young and old from across the globe, like fucking Brighton on speed…he’s just as likely to revitalize the careers of undervalued talents, as he is to turn relatively unknown prospects into household names…I so wish we had roled the proverbial dice with this transformative manager, but I think his age profile and inability to speak fluent English would have complicated matters, as we witnessed following Emery’s hiring…Cheers
TVRL
Gasperini – the darling of Bergamo – as smooth as pungent Lombardy cheese. A business contact , Chiara loves him. 13years ago she never mentioned football now I get the result and match summary every Monday morning. I expect there may have been a language issue if he came to the UK but I think he is happy in Bergamo.
Emery was hung out to dry by Raul because Unai would not tow the line. In the early days of Arteta – El B had his tongue so far up Raul’s arse that he tickled his tonsils.
Norg-totally agree with the whole Unai as a sacrificial lamb narrative…after all, how can one truly commit to a “systems” manager then not allow him in the room when recruitment decisions were being made…Gasperini likely wanted to stay put, but he might have been pried away considering the autonomy that comes with an absentee landlord and our love of the beautiful game…have a good one
The nonsense has already started:
“No new Striker needed at Arsenal? Kai Havertz’s recent purple patch in front of goal for Arsenal has inspired the Gunners to rethink their transfer plans for the coming summer”
MA’s media minions laying the groundwork for a potentially horrifying organizational decision…this motherfucker is going to cost us dearly both on and off the field, if there’s any truth behind this notion
sidenote—looks like both Gabs and Luiz are a question mark for our Sunday fixture
TRVL
Did you not see BT’s (or whatever they’re called now) build up to Bayern? A constant mix of how amazing Havertz is and even a push on how Arsenal fans owe him an apology.
Strange how this wasn’t converted to “if he’s so good why did Chelsea sell him?”
Marc—Bizarro World banter…looks like we’ve simply diverted our former scouting budget into the media payola account…do none of these hacks even watch the matches!!
If ESR was used as much or instead of Havertz would he be the player we would expect – I think so. At some point ESR has upset El B as now he struggles to buy playing minutes. The reports are he is injured – ask his friends. He said that he admired Ozil and received extra training from him – that is probably why he gets to sit on the naughty step.
Been out and about for a few hours got home 10 minutes ago and the Spuddies have lost 4 nil.
Its terrible – between that and the sun shining I don’t know how I’m going to knock back a couple of the cold beers I’ve got in the fridge.
… And I’m happy because the sun has finally reappeared here, Spurs lost and I’ve just got home from stewarding and seeing County beat Colwyn Bay 3-1 in an early kick off. All to play for next week against Penybont (Bridgend).
Great posts making good reads. Not far out Norg temperature wise but fortunately there are strong gusting breezes making our alfresco but covered pool area just right temp wise.
Days like these Spud supporters must be questioning their belief but then again with their moth laden empty trophy cabinets maybe not.
Anyway, hats off to the Bar codes.
Great news for you KP. Sounds like a good day out.
See you guys at the match tomorrow and March the Spuds loss could be worth a few extra beers if you stop laughing that is.
KP was about to post this and looks I tempted fate. Great track so worth posting🙏👀
https://youtu.be/YuKfiH0Scaosi=9EBQUgXb7IYuJSSB
TRVL probably all change again with Havertz around ST renewal.
No chance of offloading him so spin city it is.
Norg I feel sorry for ESR but he’ll have to move on to fulfill his potential long term.
It’s likely why many of the Strikers we’ve been “linked” to have similar attributes to Havertz, at least from a height perspective, like Isak, Sesko and Gyokeres…that way they can always say, why would we pay through the nose for one of these supposed “unproven” players when we have Havertz already on the roster…sadly, Kai is the worst of the lot, when it comes to being a bona fide Striker, and that’s who we will likely settle for…personally I would take Isak playing in a fucking motorized scooter over our gangly German tweener, as for the other two, it would depend more on their respective fees/wage demands and what we were planning to do with both Jesus and Eddie
TRVL
It depends on what we win or don’t. Win with Havertz adding to his stats and it’s a done deal to keep and revert to Jesus as back up and sell Nkethia where few would complain.
City starting to pad their GD now and 3 points. I don’t see Pool dropping points tomorrow.
As Marc says we have no margin for errors in dropping points.
TRVL
Its just another case of Arteta making it up as he goes along and believing his own bullshit.
Bournemouth just gone 1 up – ManU really are a piss poor team. I think Ten Hag’s had it but who do they bring in? It really does look an impossible job.
Hi Vieira
Your latest post has given me an idea… If we’re all patching in tomorrow, let’s all pay particular attention to Havertz’s performance, while watching the game generally of course. No pressure on him (!) but we can all try and critique the pluses and minuses and maybe see what emerges. Havertz as viewed through the periscope of the LiR U-boat.
KP-I’ve had the misfortune of spending a considerable amount of time specifically watching this lightweght, as I certainly wouldn’t “campaign” against someone without doing my due diligence…even though I had cause for pause when we first took a very expensive flyer on him, but ultimately if he came, settled in nicely and displayed anything that reminded me of his former self, I would be fucking elated
to be fair, it’s not as if Havertz is a bumbling fool who serves no purpose whatsoever, it’s obviously a bit more nuanced than that…one can only assume that the main impetus behind this acquisition was MA’s belief that he, and maybe only he, could resurrect the flailing career of this once highly sought-after, supposedly technically gifted player, who had drawn comparisons to the likes of Ozil, Kroos, Ballack and Muller…to justify this line of logic, MA simply laid much of the blame for his declining play on the shit show that was Chelsea, who had faced considerable internal turmoil and a drastic decline in the standings following their CL title run…as such, he managed to convince ownership that Chelsea had misused this former blue chipper and we were going to reap the benefits of their ill-conceived plans…unfortunately, the tape on him suggested otherwise
furthermore, it’s my contention that once rumours emerged about a potential move to Real, MA became fixated on the prospect of “stealing” away a player supposedly on Madrid’s wishlist…so much so that not only did we pay way above the number, with seemingly none of our usual nickel and dime nonsense, we likewise appeared to largely ignore the very analytics that had won the day and shuttered our scouting division…it was all so surreal…one minute we claimed that his problem at Chelsea stemmed from their inability to uncover his best position, then the next minute we were hailing his positional versatility…you can’t make this shit up…it was a veritable cake and eat it too fuckfest
surely the masterplan all along wasn’t to expend considerable energies convincing anyone who’d listen that he was a significant Xhaka upgrade, which clearly never materialized, only to do exactly what his former employers had tried and failed by deploying this tweener of little consequence up top…fact remains, fulfilling the original Xhaka replacement mandate shouldn’t have been a difficult ask, as that wasn’t a very high bar…instead MA pursued a very familiar course by simply shoehorning the fuck out of his favourites…in doing so, he functionally benched our second highest earner, Jesus, who’s considerably better in more advanced spaces, when available, then ghosted Eddie altogether, a player whom MA had just inked to a multi-year deal 6 figure deal, and once again stymied ESR’s development…imagine doing all of this simply to placate a vastly overpaid player with the finishing qualities of a low grade poacher and a flopper to boot…to put it bluntly, it belies logic
Would be funny if we all were ready to do Havertz eval and he didn’t play. Little chance he doesn’t start, so a continued look at our misfit would be interesting to get all views.
I’m still going with a win by 3+ goals margin at home. Are you going Marc? If so, your pitch side views would be very valuable input, too.
Can Palace grab a point at Liverpool? Outside chance maybe, so we need to wrap up our business with 3 points and then 6 games to go.