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.
incredibly pleased that Marts is back in the starting lineup and playing in what I believe is his best position, especially after a couple late game appearances where he was shoehorned on the right…still would have opted for Partey over Jorginho, but I’m not surprised that the reverse happened…good to see Kiwior over Zinchenko, so long as he’s not expected to play too much in that inverted role…hopefully this group can help to erase some of the ghosts of our CL past against this side
looks like they’re going with a very aggressive and pacey side, which does surprise me a bit…we had better be ready to defend on the counter…this Bayern side will give up plenty of chances to those willing to counter with pace and numbers, so let’s hope we have our finishing boots on
huge yellow against Davies…now he’s not available for the second leg and he’s on notice for the remainder of this affair, which should help Saka a bit
massive early goal by Saka…no extra touches and perfectly placed
The away end erupts. Because it’s full of Gooners.
this Bayern backline is their weak link, so it’s time to press the shit out of them
WTF Ben White!!! anywhere but there…we do that way too often…that said, could have been offside
And City now losing
That’s 1st of the 5. #COYG
Raya is such a tool sometimes…wtf was he doing in no man’s land 40 yards up the pitch
you can’t gift top sides goals in the CL
thank god they’ve done away with the old away goal rules…even fucking Neuer wouldn’t have been so reckless with his positioning, which says a lot
Fucking hell…
Rice has been very poor in our end tonight…maybe he should be less worried about the offensive side of things
we’re very fortunate it’s not 3-1
White just saved Artete’s arse.
Arteta’s being schooled by a guy who’s just been told clear your desk and fuck off you’re not good enough.
We need at least 2 more goals and over the course of the tie that might not even be enough.
“Raya is such a tool sometimes…wtf was he doing in no man’s land 40 yards up the pitch”
Why the fuck did we loan him? How much did we pay for the loan and how much will we pay as a permanent fee?
We’ll end up having paid £23 million for Ramsdale, something like £40 million for Raya only to then go and spend £70 million for the keeper we should have gone for in the first place.
Someone remind me how much did we sell Martinez for?
Marc—you don’t want to know, as it was an embarassing sum considering what we wasted on that position since his departure and what he’s done in the meantime
Raya’s and Gabriel’s turns to press that massive self-destruct button. Fucking lunacy.
that was amateur hour personified…all manner of shit that didn’t make a fuck of sense in that first half
I don’t think you can blame Gabriel for the first goal – Raya completely threw him with what will go down as the biggest headless chicken run of the season.
TRVL
The difference between Raya and Ramsdale is marginal – so we’ve tanked Ramsdale’s value (watch us sell him for the same or less than we paid for him) and not made a significant improvement.
A fractional improvement is what you take when you’ve got the 2nd best player in the world to get the first. Moving from a young improving keeper to one who’s slightly better and costs a lot of money doesn’t make sense.
Second goal started from a mistake from Kiwior… and Saliba was just unfortunate, who otherwise have great tackles.
We can still turn this around. #COYG
I totally blame Raya and the fact that we’re basically running with a front two of Rice and Havertz, which means our DM is fucking Jorginho…this might work in those father/son silver platter PL gigs against the bottom-feeders, but not against Bayern…we fucking gifted them a two goal half and they haven’t had to earn a single thing
TRVL
Bang on – and all because we have a manager out of his depth.
Marc-you know we’re on the same page with the Keeper gig, as I’ve been hammering home that point for several years now…could have been somewhat rectified in the end if MA hadn’t unnecessarily re-upped Ramsdale last summer and likewise given him a raise…did we learn nothing from the Leno shit show that MA ghost him for a season then sell him for a pittance of what we paid
the saving grace of today’s match is that this Bayern team can leak goals, the only problem is we don’t have a clinical Striker so we might need to commit more men in and around the box, which could be problematic if they capitialize on the counter
TRVL
You can add LB (Timber might be the solution but I thought he was more of a right sided player and do we want another player playing on the opposite side to his preferred foot?), CM (will Partey stay or if he does can he be relied on?) and of course a real striker.
So with a billion £ squad Arteta’s looking at having 4 positions that still need sorting.
Try and inagine a world where Zichenko was the answer to your problems
I like a good dummy. but there has to be someone in a better shooting position for it to make sense
TRVL
I’m getting a vibe of Baldrick saying “I having a cunning plan”
Kane half a shade from a red card there.
Marc-Tuchel’s eyes must of lit up we he saw MA’s plans unfold…what a shoehorning clusterfuck…that said, we still have time to put a couple past them…personally I would bring on Jesus and Tross for Havertz and Jorginho, then get Rice back in his rightful position…it’s a risky play but we aren’t going to the Allianz without a goal advantage and winning this matchup
we need to make one these set pieces count
TRVL
Its also about getting some confidence into the players for the league matches coming up – drop points against Villa or Wolves and its season over.
Havertz is such a flopping clown
have we even had a shot on goal since Saka scored?
but why Marts and not Havertz????
in order to make those subs most effective we needed to retain our width, which can’t logical be achieved with Marts going off…the problem is MA brought on Zinchenko so in order to retain his preferred defensive balance he needed to keep Havertz on, as he will likely have some box-to-box responsibilities
good work by my subs lol…this backline is bang average as a unit, so we just might find a very crucial third
we need to get someone with some more energy and pace on for Havertz…maybe ESR would do the trick