20-16/17. Away. We lost 5-1. Home. We lost 1-5 after Koscielny picked up a red. Prior to that, we had lost 5-1 away in group stage. Bayern had been haunting us from 8 years, and we have not forgotten.
The worst I am hoping for today, is a 5-0 win to the red and white.
Team News
We are starting our best playing XI. A back four of White, Saliba, Gabriel and Kiwior has worked well in last few games. Kiwior deserves his starting place ahead of Zinchenko and Tomiyasu.
We are playing with a midfield of Odegaard, Jorginho and Rice. Thomas Partey may have been a better player with more CL experience but he has been out injured for long. Jorginho, on the other hand, had some brilliant performances recently and deserved his place.
Our front 3 choses itself. No one can displace Saka. Havertz starts at the top because surprisingly, he has better goal/assists output than Jesus in that position. We saw Mikel protecting Martinelli in our last game, hinting that he will be playing this game. We need his pace today. I am going to bet my money that he is going to score one, and he will make sure he is a better winger than Gnabry (no offence to later, I still love him).
It’s going to be loud
We have been playing in quarters after we last lost to Bayern. It feels like yesterday, but it’s been long and I’m sure whoever make it to the stadium is returning back with a sore throat. One advantage Arsenal has, is that Bayern away fans are not allowed for the game today. Emirates will be packed with Arsenal players, and we will make sure our Champions League fate don’t depend on the second leg.
Strategies
I’ve always said playing against European opponents is always trickier for Premier League teams. Pep has struggled, Klopp has struggled and Mikel too in Europa earlier. Bayern is a strong team, and they are going to force us to play their game. I would expect we stick to our plan, and the recent fluidity in our build up and the urgency to move ball faster in the final third keeps going. Our backline is strong enough, White and Saliba are pacey guys who can track back, and Kiwior has proved to be challenging to everyone he has played against. Gabriel is a monster.
Our attack is going to be a result of Odegaard’s performance mixed with Havertz’s clinicality. We will get limited chances, those chances has to come from the midfield – Ode and Rice, and Havertz has to be at the right place at the right time. There is no margin of error today.
We have come a long way. We can look Bayern in the eye and play. We, as fans, can hope a win today. It doesn’t matter today if we have spend more on Ben White or if the progress has come a bit late today. We will talk about it tomorrow, lets enjoy some football and lets beat those bastards.
KP If the ref has issued a card and it wasn’t upgraded at the time I think another typical ex spud tactic. I believe in karma and maybe his lisp will get worse.
Aitcho
Thanks for that review; a good read; to be honest I watched a replay on an unofficial site where the goals weren’t shown. Only in Thailand. The play kept jumping forward.
Probably why I missed Marts finding it hard to express himself. I agree Martinelli is still a way off his full potential, but at times his play is sublime when he has an inventive 8 to play with like Jorginho with Rice giving him space to operate. Now, your viewpoint of Kiwior being off the pace makes sense why Rice was being pulled around ala Partey last season with Zinny on inverted walkabout. Partey was always covering left for the hapless Zinchenko who would lose the ball in midfield or their final 3rd.
We’ve all be saying it here since forever we needed a specialist 8 preferably and creator. ESR was that man. Willock could have done a job up until now. Maybe next season he would be relegated to long term bench.
Jesus is a nuisance player. He brings chaos around him, so when it’s effective he looks a good player. 4 goals and 3 assists shows his worth from 21 games for a striker. Maybe chaos out on our left would have worked, but I have my doubts and Jesus is too easily stopped or edged off the ball for my liking.
We come back to selections again.
Munich is a huge hill to climb learning from mistakes or not. We need 2 away goals without reply 3 and then, we’re pretty much safe. Unfortunately, this cynic’s bravado doesn’t stretch that far these days.
However, the PL is an entirely different kettle of fish. We have the measure of the teams we are going to play. I was worried a loss to BM would dampen our squib, but even if we lose in Munich, I don’t see that happening – in fact probably the reverse would be true as our PL resolve strengthens.
El B will die on the selection hill if he’s not careful and undo all the good he’s instilled into his pets mostly. Others have bought into El B’s identity, but sadly not enough to be noticed by El Myopico. It’s here that will make or break our season.
I’m still daring to dream for the PL trophy and, well wouldn’t it would be highly amusing if we clicked in Bavaria and won 0:3? So there’s always outside hope.
I’m in BKK tomorrow for 6 nights, so my sport will be hotel or pub bound with TV or MacBook.
It’s Songkran – Thai New Year – Friday for 4 days of water fighting and the biggest wet T-Shirt party known to man. To go to a sports bar you need to be lucky not to get wet. Even at 10pm there will be die hards still at it. About 400 Thais will die from drunk driving accidents. Their drunk test is if they don’t fall off the other side when getting on the bike, they are good to go.
For the uninitiated:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH8aTVp-46E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yq7Vy0_nfnI
I will be watching the events from around the 25th floor balcony of my suite where I’ll park up for the 6 nights with my paramour ordering in some really cool food from the locality that BKK offers. The 5/6 star BKK hotels are offering crazy deals even refundable until a day before. Covid’s hospitality scars are still very visibly raw to take advantage of. The hotel’s are taking a Las Vegas view of keeping their patrons as captive audience offering vastly reduced room rates with roof parties and in-house restaurants.
My beloved is a Liverpool supporter so is well versed with banter with her being a civil engineer in a man’s world, with no intention of taking prisoners.
The game Sunday should be fun watching together probably in a pub in t-shirt and swimming shorts and Songkran wet dry phone kit where I hope to find some whinging scousers to lay siege to.
It’s a wonder there’s anyone left in Liverpool…….
“instead we simply needed to take off both Havertz and Jorginho at half, put Jesus and Tross on the pitch and get Rice back to his rightful position…I strongly believe that if we had did so we would have finished the first leg with at least a goal advantage”
Would you have started with Jesus and Trossard, TRVL?
Selections need to improve to be tailored for our opposition, not to be unbeatable first and win 2nd. This always leads to uninspiring football from us.
Time to post again as there were too many brain farts from Arteta and the players.
WTF was that starting line up. Martinelli his favorite but he has had a dip in form, Trossard should have started. Sane a world class forward should have had a better defender, Tomi should have started he is the better defender. If he wanted Rice and Jorginho playing then Jorginho should have not played 90 minutes against Brighton.
White had a brain fart in front of goal we could have been 2 up and the game would have been different.
For their 1st goal, as expected Raja did not disappoint with his expected fuck up, closely followed by a Rice fuck up. Look at the far distance between Saliba and Gabriel. Rice was in the middle and needed to cover that space. But what did he do, 3 steps forward towards the ball, Sane saw that and produced an excellent pass to Goretzka with Rice out of position now and again an excellent pass to Gnabry. If Rice would have stayed and not moved, nothing would have happened because Sane would have never made the pass to Goretzka.
Next brain fart by Saliba tripping Sane, White was there for cover, but the back line did not cover themselves in glory in that game at home with NO Bayern supporters allowed in the stadium.
Next biggest fuck up, by Saka in the dying minutes of the game. FFS he had rounded the keeper, tap it into the empty net, but NO he tried to con the Ref into awarding a penalty. I screamed at the TV and just reached a more calm level. So, we have a few divers now in the club with Jesus, Havertz and now add Saka to that.
Dortmund did beat Bayern at their home, but then they don’t have Arteta, for me 50:50 with advantage to Bayern next Wednesday. Both City and AFC need to advance for the sake of the coefficient and getting 5 CL places next season.
Tony-I would have started them, as part of my whole all guns ablazing approach, but I’m not surprised whatsoever that MA didn’t and likely wouldn’t have done so under any circumstances…that said, once it became increasingly clear, during the first half, that the plan in place wasn’t going to yield the necessary results, from a goalscoring perspective, I would have made those changes at the break…the plan in place was more about not embarassing ourselves, as we had in the past, which kind of happened anyways, considering the nature of their gifted goals…not to mention, playing the lineup I suggested would have likewise rested those players that he’s clearly planning to play in our remaining League fixtures
Watching Barca v PSG reminded me of our GK situation. IIRC Arteta is working on number 6 and if Rams leaves in the summer we need another GK. Put Raja as back up and get someone on the level of Allison, Ederson, Donnaruma, Ter Stegen or Maignan. PSR may have something to say about that.
Killroy
Getting the 5th place could give the Spuddies a CL spot – not sure we want a 5th one!
“Bayern aren’t mugs and even small errors get punished. A lesson we forgot after the first Porto game. The goal, I’d put mostly on Gabs, Raya created the uncertainty but at that stage as a defender from day one you’re taught if in doubt to kick it out.”
Got to say I can’t disagree with that enough.
1) it wasn’t a small mistake by Raya it was a fuck up of epic proportions.
2) If Raya is in the right position Gab’s has the pass the team would have been drilled to play.
3) Raya is another expensive piss poor decision by Arteta.
Kroenke
Kane had a look over his shoulder before the elbow. You’d have thought the Spuddies would be a bit sensitive to that type of thing after the horror elbow on Mabbutt.
Marc
Villa has lost the form they had earlier and they most likely will finish 5th in my opinion. Spuds will play all the top 3 teams and we wish that they beat City and Pool which means they are more likely to finish top 4.
If it goes to penalties in the Allianz Arena then we are truly fucked, because Bayern with Neuer is a different animal then Porto.
Marc, it still comes down to Gabs making the wrong decision. You could see the uncertainty between them, I don’t recall hearing a shout from either. That’s on both.
Once Gabs takes responsibility the onus is on him to make the correct decision, not Raya. He then gives JK a hospital ball. Not Raya’s fuck up. He came then retreated. Hardly epic but I’ve recognised his role in Gabs poor decision making. I think at that stage BM were starting to work their way back in and Gabs panicked a little. It was a rushed.
Raya’s on loan, not that expensive. Or piss poor. We’ve conceded the least goals and in line for most clean sheets. Tets has generally made expensive to reasonably good priced decisions and as a result we’re a better team. Not kool aid, the numbers don’t lie. We can put that narrative to bed.
I think we can scrutinise lots of things but essentially it’s naivety on the parts of Raya, Gabs and JK, Gabs. It doesn’t make any of them piss poor.
Great posts one and all and welcome back Kilroy to the sense making Arsenal blog.
Killroy-I would see it as a great accomplishment if we could finagle our way into a penalty shootout, considering the 2-2 scoreline in the first leg…that said, I would favour Neuer over Raya, but he’s certainly not the same Keeper as in years past…good to hear from you after a rather lengthy absence…Cheers
New post.
we need the BM team to order Pizza the night before the game. ‘Arry loves pizza.