Tag Archives: Champions League

Arsenal 0 – 2 Bayern Munich

0 – 1 Kroos (54)
0 – 2 Muller (88)

Wojciech Szczesny sent off, Özil wasted a penalty. Alaba missed as well.

On a night which promised much and answered a few questions, Arsenal ended the ninety minutes in the same position as last season. They have to win by a three goal margin in Munich although a ray of hope comes with the knowledge that repeat the victory of twelve months ago and this time they have thirty more minutes to find the winner. I hope we don’t believe that winning on penalties is a feasible option.

And how different it might all have been.

Recent games had seen Arsenal cede territory and opportunities straight from kick-off; Wojciech Szczesny’s save from Tony Kroos early strike signalled the problem still exists. What is different was the reaction; Arsenal fought back immediately, not for them the prospect of finding their feet. Taking the game to the visitors proved relatively successful and opportunity knocked when Özil was felled after an exquisite backheel; it was a clear-cut penalty. An opportunity to take an early advantage, and as Arsène put it post-match, to create doubt in Bayern minds. It took courage to take the kick when others did not want to but as Özil stuttered forward, the outcome seemed inevitable. Unsurprisingly, his effort was saved with the style of penalty relying on the goalkeeper moving; when he doesn’t, sending the ball down the middle of the goal is only going to end one way. Credit to Neuer for having the strength to wait for the kick to come before committing to the dive.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but the wisdom of Özil taking the kick in the first place is questionable, given he was facing a goalkeeper who he has presumably taken many penalties against during international training camps. Neuer knew what to expect and it showed. The second aspect is the mental impact on Özil himself; to take a penalty, you have to be prepared to miss and feel nothing, to not let it affect your game. Arsène summed it up afterwards,

Yes, he was affected by it. I think he wanted to do so well tonight that it affected him. You could see even five or 10 minutes later on the pitch he still was shaking his head. It had a huge impact on his performance

And it was a match which needed everyone firing on all cylinders and it seemed a little of the belief from the whole side died in that moment.

There was an air of inevitability in the outcome when Arjen Robben shook loose the defence and reached Kroos lofted ball first; Szczesny arrived a second later and in that moment, the game changed. As with Arsenal’s penalty, there is no question of the decision to award the spot kick. Likewise, the decision to dismiss the Pole was no surprise and in my view, the right decision. There is no point in bleating about double punishments, the Laws of the Game are quite clear on denying a goalscoring opportunity; it is a red card if the last man makes the foul. Certainly no player was going to get back to cover the goal had Robben got to the ball. Whether he would have got to the ball is debatable as the collision makes it a subjective decision. The referee believed he would therefore was right in sending off the goalkeeper. Arsène was not happy afterwards but acknowledged the foul and that Italian referees will dismiss goalkeepers in those circumstances.

It brought back painful memories of Paris and the impact of playing against the best team in Europe with ten men. Szczesny misjudged the situation; was he trying to get the ball or to make sure that Robben couldn’t score? The latter opens the debate; is it better to use foul means to prevent a goal but risk a red card? Or is it better to be a goal down with eleven men to chase the deficit? In this case, eleven men at parity with Bayern for Alaba sent Fabianski the wrong way but the post was not fooled and like Neuer, remained upright and deflected the ball to safety.

The sacrificial lamb was a surprising choice; Santi Cazorla making way to accommodate Fabianski’s arrival. Özil’s mind whilst not in pieces, was not on the game and to me, there was more sense in removing him. Perhaps Wenger sensed that would do more damage than good to the player? Maybe he genuinely thought the German would respond and be more penetrative on the rare counter Arsenal were to enjoy with numerical disadvantage?

With ten men, a goal seemed inevitable. The pity is that it came so early in the second half, frustration had not yet had time to take hold in Bavarian minds. It was a cracking goal, Kroos had time on the edge of the area and conjured a superb curling shot into the top corner which left Fabianski helplessly caught in the side netting. There was nothing the Pole could do to stop the ball entering the net such was the precision in effort. I feel I have missed an opportunity here; a pun about missiles is swirling in my mind. Never mind, the moment has passed.

As with the first, a shame Muller didn’t wait another ten minutes – until after the final whistle had blown – before finding space in the penalty area; unmarked, a player of his calibre was never going to miss from Lahm’s inviting cross. It might have been worse but the woodwork saved a more decisive scoreline when Kroos struck the post in final minute.

Arsène was defensive about resting Olivier Giroud and it was certainly a brave team selection. You sense he had little choice for he was less than convincing when putting the case that the striker was unaffected by personal problems. Despite a good performance on Sunday, it makes little sense to willingly leave out your first-choice centre forward for an untried youngster. Sanogo did well, don’t get me wrong; he might have scored early in the match and worked hard through the ninety minutes. Equally, Wenger would have felt pleased with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s work until injury forced his withdrawal.

The impact of two penalties resonated through the match. Özil’s miss rocked the boat, Szczesny’s dismissal capsized it. Mind out of the way please, the Fat Lady has finished her warm up.

’til Tomorrow.

The Champions League returns tonight with Bayern Munich in town. As Arsène rightly put it yesterday, it is impossible to argue against them being considered the best team in the world at the moment even though the 2010 Barcelona remain the best he has faced. You sense a lingering “so far” was needed to qualify his statement. Steamrollering their domestic league whilst being reigning World and European champions indicates their form. They aren’t unbeatable as Manchester City proved in the group stage but that was a difficult match to assess; Bayern had qualified already with the result only mattering to their visitors. But it punctures the air of invincibility, even if it is but minor pin prick providing a very slow release.

Arsenal have to buck recent history to progress to the quarter-finals. Poor performances in the first legs over the past two years have undermined exceptional wins in the returns. To this day it is still unfathomable how Milan did not concede the fourth and fifth goals whilst pondering how the outcome would have changed twelve months ago had the second been scored twenty minutes earlier, has whiled away more than a few minutes. The damage was already done by humiliations weeks earlier and a repeat of these scenarios must be avoided if the tie is to be won.

The win in Munich is widely credited with being the inspiration for the run of results at the end of last season and the form of this campaign. Sunday’s victory over Liverpool suggests that the recent wobble in belief is being cured, albeit slowly. In truth the squad has been out of sorts since the trip to Southampton. Crucially, they had until Anfield, been able to grind out results, to win ugly or draw in situations where previous seasons would have tasted defeat. The only lingering concern is that these performances have seen the side make slow starts, cede early possession which as we found a year ago will prove costly against Bayern. Arsène is acutely aware of this problem,

It is important [to make a fast start] because every minute counts in a game of this stature and we are conscious of that and we’ll try to start very strongly. We have big home strengths recently because we don’t give goals away and that will certainly be vitally important in this tie.

Whilst he is right to focus on not conceding, it is disingenuous to claim this a strength. Szczesny outwitted van Persie but Sturridge should have scored at least once on Sunday; it was no more than poor finishing. The sense is that Arsenal escaped rather than solid defensive work being at play. Once the team shakes the cobwebs, there is little complaint; the whole team defends and that is a genuine strength. Diligence, work-rate, these are commendable attributes for the squad but they should not mask deficiencies.

Tonight will see a few changes from the weekend, I would expect Kieran Gibbs and Bacary Sagna to return to compliment the central pairing of Mertesacker and Koscielny in front of Wojciech Szczesny. Midfield once more causes the manager to think about his team selection. Mikel Arteta is suspended so Mathieu Flamini will remain in the centre. With the attacking outlets further ahead, Wenger will be looking for some snap and hard work from others. For that reason, Jack Wilshere is likely to return to the starting line-up, injury permitting. The England international has been criticised for his recent form, particularly for the United match with disgruntlement at his own performance manifesting in petulance. As Vincent Kompany observed last night, refereeing standards in the Champions League are more pernickerty than domestically and Wilshere will need to contain his opinions and frustrations.

It is attack where the telling decision will be made. Assuming that Olivier Giroud’s dalliances have not sapped his strength, the question is whether Lukas Podolski or Tomas Rosicky joins the dynamic duo of Santi Cazorla and Mesut Özil. Logic dictates that the Czech will be preferred, Wenger has made no secret of his belief in the midfielder and quite rightly so. However, is it a case of too much familiarity in that trio, smaller, creative midfielders with similar styles that Bayern may find more straightforward to neutralise in an attacking sense? I also believe that including Podolski from the outset offers more defensive cover for Kieran Gibbs. It might be Cazorla is the one to make way but given recent form, it seems unlikely. Of course, if Wilshere is injured the situation changes but somehow it strikes me that Wenger will retain confidence and faith in the quintet that steadied a rocking ship against United.

That is harsh on Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain whose recent contributions should not be dismissed but as a learning curve, he is still on a sharp upward trajectory following the injury suffered on the opening day of the season. The only concern I have about the side is that natural width is missing and on Sunday, that provided a useful outlet when the defence was under pressure. And of course the route for the winning goal.

It means the line-up will probably be:

Szczesny; Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs; Wilshere, Flamini, Rosicky; Cazorla, Özil; Giroud

Jack Wilshere was quick to point out that tonight is as much about not conceding a goal as winning. The combination of the two puts the victors in a strong position, inducing some caution for the second leg but that is too far in the future with the standard of the opposition dictating that this tie be taken ninety minutes at a time.

Can Arsenal win tonight? Of course, a bloodied nose was issued to Barcelona in the home legs at the turn of the decade. Arsenal were well-beaten in the returns but that is the past, the squad is in a ‘better place’ this season than then. It comes down to whether they really believe that victory is possible, how they react to any adversity. We won’t know until – if – it happens. I prefer the ‘if’ option. Equally, chances tonight will be at a premium and Olivier Giroud will need to be ready to seize on those moments. It’s another reason to include Podolski, offering another goalscoring option, certainly a more obvious outlet than Cazorla, Rosicky or Özil in that respect. We shall see.

Enjoy the match wherever you are watching it.

’til Tomorrow.

Attention turns to the Champions League and the visit of Bayern Munich to The Emirates tomorrow night for The Next Big Test ^©. It could be worse, we might be in the same boat as Liverpool with nothing to do this week but bemoan the last refereeing performance whilst lacking the self-awareness to realise that having an outstanding attack is pointless with a porous defence. Arsenal tried it for years; entertaining but fundamentally flawed.

The latter certainly applied to the visit of the German champions last season; Arsenal were outmanoeuvred and well-beaten on the night. Victory in the second leg, whilst ultimately futile in terms of the Champions League, provided impetus domestically and from there, the squad has improved. Whether that is sustained until the end of the season remains to be seen. Arsène will demand an improved performance from his charges in the same way achieved when Barcelona visited north London in consecutive seasons at the turn of the decade.

That will only happen if Arsenal are alert and switched on from the start, a vulnerability exploited at Anfield and evident in the two subsequent games against United and Liverpool. It is a fundamental flaw that seems as hard to explain as it is for the players, coaches and manager to solve. Bayern will have noted this and seek to exploit it as ruthlessly as they did last season when the tie was all but gone inside the first twenty minutes. Arsenal cannot afford to allow a repeat of that performance if they have any genuine hopes of progressing to the quarter-finals. That is hard enough as it is without rolling over and offering Bayern the chance to tickle tummies in the process. Look at the trouble that has got Olivier Giroud in.

Despite the rocking of the boat by the drubbing at Anfield, Arsenal are stronger than last year as Arsène pointed out and acknowledged by Rummenigge and Lahm. Whilst the improved league and cup fortunes are undoubtedly pivotal in that, key players are in better form individually and as pairings. The triangle at the heart of the defence – Szczesny, Mertesacker and Koscielny – are considerably better than last season, particularly the Pole whose vulnerability twelve months ago is the polar opposite to the confidence now. Mentally, the players have to believe and victory in the FA Cup was a prime example of that; when the waves of Liverpool attacks crashed in, there was a willingness on all parts to throw themselves into defensive duties with nary a complaint seen.

Flamini believes it is a sign that the squad shares the same ethos as their predecessors when he first joined the club in 2004. It is noticeable that whilst there are key players on the pitch, their egos have been subsumed into the collective and not as before when a star striker, for example, made it clear he believed his own press and was central to everything good. The bad, there’s always someone else to blame, isn’t there. Shearing the squad of that imbalance may yet prove to be Arsène’s best move, even if he wasn’t always in control of that destiny. It isn’t about being nasty on the pitch or too nice; this is the balance of the squad and how they work together.

His midfield has to this layman a good balance of artist and artisan. Some are still finding their way in that respect, unsure as to which category they fall into. Arguably, there are few whose roles are so clearly defined. Beyond Flamini, Cazorla and Özil, the rest have feet in both camps which leaves Wenger with a difficult decision for tomorrow’s team. Bayern will undoubtedly work the midfield hard which begs the question whether he can afford Cazorla and Özil alongside Rosicky? The former seems likeliest to make way if he believes that including Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is the right course of action. As with Aaron Ramsey this season, a certain mythology is building around the England youngster building his current run of form into something more with stats about contribution to goals thrown around like confetti. Those, as with the dependency on Ramsey’s contribution, seem like a comfort blanket for supporters which unravels as quickly as it has been wrapped when the goals dry up.

Injuries may take that decision out of the manager’s hands; we’ll have more of an idea when he speaks to the press today. Jack Wilshere and Kieran Gibbs were reportedly injured at the weekend but apparently trained with the squad yesterday so who knows whether they are fit or not. If they are, I would expect both to start tomorrow night.

Away from the match, the noise from Germany has not always been polite with Schalke continuing to talk up Arsenal’s interest in Draxler. According to the latest communiqué, Arsenal bid more than once for the player but not enough to entice the German club into selling. It begs the question as to why there is constant talk, why the topic never drops. It’s simple, Schalke are worried Arsenal might not come back and reading between the lines, talk of values being more than release clauses, smacks of a salesman worried that his best hope of custom might have been frightened off. Whether they have or not remains to be seen but what better way than press or broadcast media to remind them that you exist. It’s rather like a forlorn “Hellloooooo” every time they pass by the door and two meetings with the Inter-Galactic champions is too good a sales opportunity to miss.

’til Tomorrow.