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.
It would be a difficult task to beat Bayern at their home. We need one more.
I’m starting to understand why Partey might not be playing more often, he’s lost a step and a half
Trvl
He is rusty, needs more game time I guess.
Ambarish-that’s what I meant…unfortunately we don’t have enough matches left to likely get him up to speed
this ought to be an interesting VAR call
lots of contact but it looks to be instigated by Saka, at least at first blush
Just in case anyone hasn’t seen the goals in the Madrid – City match
Wow!
what an unusual affair…still think we could have left today with a decided victory if we had started a more offensive lineup with Rice sitting deeper, as he should against good sides
Difficult to make sense of that. I feel slightly more confident about out chances in Germany in the second leg than I did after we lost away to Porto. Well need some seriously big performances though from players who were a little off tonight.
TRVL
The first goal killed us and gave them a ton of confidence and it was all so unnecessary.
Kroenke
We had the bonus of no away fans tonight – its going to take a massive performance for us to go through.
Its a straight up old fashioned cup tie – winner takes all.
massibely difficult task to go to the Allianz and win it outright, but certainly not impossible…just wish we had taken advantage of our massive home side gig and went for the jugular…that said, we do have two things going for us, (1) they have bowed out at this stage 3 years running, and (2) they have a below average defensive group, which can be had by those who’re willing to show a modicum of courage…still believe if we had come out guns ablazing we could have punished them today and forced them into the kind of return fixture they would least like, tactically-speaking
massively
Morning all.
The game was too late for me live, but wouldn’t have been able to watch via satellite because of heavy thunderstorms we normally get in the rain season, not 40s+*C summer. Precipitation at it’s best.
No real comments from me. We got what I’d expect from the team selection and were too predictable against a Bayern team who can match us player for player but have a real striker in Kane. Why do most of our attacks go down via Saka? So easy to defend against when you know our play.
All to play for in Germany but unless El B makes the right selections, we will go out as Toucal has got El B’s number even if He’s not doing wonders with Bayern in their domestic league.
We simply need 3 goals in Germany, and I don’t see that happening because Bayern will score if we have Jorginho, Havertz, Jesus and Zinny lining up. We’ve also forgotten what a player Kane is as much as I’d hate to say it. If Kane was a Gooner, he’d be a legend behind Henry and Bergy.
A Kane type player is what we are missing!!!!!!!!!
TRVL
Totally agree, at home we should have gone for broke for the first 30 and kept Bayern on the beck foot especially with 60+K Gooners in the stadium our team selection didn’t allow for that.
KP
Away goals are the killer for us. I don’t think there is any way Bayern don’t score at home.
Marc
It would be some cup final to overcome last night’s shoreline.
Aitcho
Genuinely interested in your post match comments, especially if you were at the game. What was good and what wasn’t from what you witnessed live? What I saw was wash, rinse & repeat……..
LIR
I’m not really bothered about last night’s result. My full CL interest will be next season, as all I’m focussed on is winning the PL where we have the squad to do just that from out GD top position.
It’s in El B’s hands now, so, let’s get back to our PL winning ways by dismantling a very average Villa side, where dear old Unai Emery will be doing his monster mash touchline walk channeling his inner Dracula visuals looking lost again.
the more I reflect on our match, especially after watching that finishing masterclass put on by Real and City, the more frustrated I get…I can’t help but think that we missed a huge opportunity to punish a flat and defensively poor Bayern side
firstly, this match had a very unusual feel, not only did we gift them two schooling my little brother at Fifa type goals, but we likewise wasted a few grade A chances of our own, most specifically the White chance that saw him in all alone, some five feet from goal, with only the Keeper to beat…far too often we’ve found a way to hit the opposing Keeper square in the chest, so to speak, when given those yawning cage-like opportunties…it really speaks to our need to acquire a few quality finishers in the upcoming window, above all else
secondly, albeit still pertaining to the “feel”, our sideline failed to read the room in a timely manner…instead of blaming Kiwior for Raya’s cock-up, we should have brought in Jesus and Tross earlier, for Havertz and Jorginho, then had Rice sitting deep…with Marts and Saka out wide, this left their CBs largely isolated against our bizarro world front two of Rice and Havertz, which suited their defenders skillsets far more than a couple of smaller and shiftier players, like the aforementioned duo…neither of their backers could handle being left on an island too often with Saka and Marts, especially after Davies early yellow, which would mean that more of their offensive-minded players would have to come deeper to defend, which would stifle their ability to counter effectively with pace and numbers…not to mention, that starting group included several players who’re rather ineffectual when it comes to defending in their own end
of course, this matchup is far from decided, as we have the capacity to win on German soil, but we could have put purselves in a much more advantageous position if we had just showed some managerial onions in the friendly confines of the Emirates
Kane just loves scoring against us – it is payback for being released by us when he was a slightly chubby schoolboy. He must be praised for his determination to succeed it is just a pity that Emperor Wenger gave him the thumbs down.
Jorginho is a tidy player with an occasional killer pass – occasional is not good enough at this stage of the competition. Is ESR injured or somebody says he is injured like last time he went missing.
Last night the back 4 were slightly disjointed or perhaps the opposing manager knew how to disrupt.
2-2 is not the end of the world but the return leg will be hard. Aitcho – if you were at the game last night how did Odegaard perform. I could only snatch glimpses during the game last night.
Thanks TRVL, that all makes sense to me.
Doesn’t matter my feelings about Havertz or any player last night, we can only play the way we’ve been set up to play. We looked like we lacked belief when we needed to believe the most. Not an unfamiliar way under El B. We lose impetus and focus in our play is my reading of the matter. Slower to 2nd balls and into the big challenges. Not by much but enough to make the difference.
Bayern didn’t impress and yet they scored 2 away goals they’ll be coveting back at the Alliance Arena. If they keep a clean sheet, it is all they need to do to go through, so all guns blazing with attack being our best form of defense in Munich.
All we have to do is nick 3 goals without reply and it’s final time baby. To me that would equal or be close to Liverpool 89, especially if we went on to lift the cup.
I’ll just hope that El B doesn’t blow our league winning potential in Germany, such as losing Rice when we need him most.
We are not City with a perfect Rice replacement as a 2nd tier. Rice, Ode and Partey are crucial to our successful run in, as are Willie, Gabs and Saka.
Martinelli will be crucial, too if we use him right. Playing down the left would be a big help, too.
I’m still furious about that blatant elbow by Lisping Arry Cunt in Gabriel’s face last night.
All the signs point to it being deliberate. As the ball aporiaches, he looks to see where Gab is in order to connect. And then he tightens his arm and ccks his elbow back.
Fucking disgraceful and christ only knows why the referee gave him a yellow. A straight red every time in the PL (although maybe not when that cheating slag was at Spurs) . Is there any prospect of a latter review? Really grim.
Tony
I went, wasn’t going to miss it. Atmosphere was lively, even more so when we went ahead. I think at that stage we were feeling them out but the goal perhaps gave us a false sense of superiority too early.
Then we came back to the reality, it’s Champs league, 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.
Kiwor looked suspect, he’s couldn’t live with Sane, levels again, Rice had to do a lot of work covering the lanes to him, it left us a little short in the middle.
Bayern were constantly moving the ball to our left. They knew. Dier’s no baller but he just simply shifted it left, I was surprised to see him start but perhaps made sense him up against Havertz. They seemed happier with the ball away from our right, Marts saw a lot of it but to little effect. Saka didn’t get involved enough. Davies did a good job of keeping close to him and closing off. We didn’t work the ball to our right in Part due to how Bayern set up. Davies is quality but I’d like to have seen us go at him more and us focus on working the ball out right given the early yellow, force the issue.
Saliba’s runs, while eye-catching were indicative of our frustration and perhaps naivety. There’s no need. Be patient.
The crowd knew what was up early. The singing was a bit muted and less spontaneous, one of those games where we had to make a conscious effort to get behind the team.
My only quibble with the selection was Marts instead of Jesus. When he came on he showed a bit more craft and I think he would have provided more of a threat from the off with his experience and guile. Marts isn’t there yet.
And I think Tomi would have been a better choice than Zinny to come on. Even after he came on for JK,the balls still kept being chucked down the left. They just did the basic fling it into the corners and put the wingers, Sane Coman one on one. No end of stress. And not impressed that we didn’t seem to have it sussed.
As for the pen, it’s more or less in line with where I sit. We all thought it was nailed on and left fuming. I’ve seen it on repalys now. A lot less definite.
I’d have taken a 0-0 a I said at the start. This team does learn and errors aside I think we matched them. Hopefully like with Porto we learn and improve.
Tony-this Bayern team is the most vulnerable version I’ve seen in some time, not because they don’t have the weapons, as they’re flush with talent, but the managerial merry-go-round has clearly affected their play on the pitch…their two many cooks in the kitchen approach to organizational life, which was once considered a strength, has quickly become their achilles heel…as a result, they tend to cater to their senior players too much, even moreso than their managerial staff, which leads to a lot of unhealthy dissension within the ranks and the deployment of tactics that don’t feature the talents of their best and brightest…as such, they oft-times look and feel like a disjointed group of talented individuals, which is likely why they’ve cocked up matches in the second half far too often and failed to progress beyond this stage in the CL for several seasons…let’s face it, if they hadn’t found a way to secure Harry’s services, things could have gotten incredibly messy, especially considering the astronomical point differential between themselves and Lever
we, on the other hand, have pursued a somewhat contrasting course, as MA has opted for a team-first model, so much so that he will regularly choose lesser players over better options and even deploy tactics that cater more to the skillsets of said lesser players…now that might be a successful approach for our PL pursuits, especially in a rather peculiar season where there’s a lot of teams in transition, in that we’re the most settled squad, but against CL opposition tactical changes simply must be made
simply put we needed to show considerably more balls against a team that has struggled to defend as a unit…instead we kind of bailed them out by going with the least threatening middle of the pitch combo of Havertz and Rice…now some will wrongly suggest that we should have played Jesus over Marts, but that would have likely made things worse, as he can’t even provide the required amount of width…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
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.