Hello.
So, we got knocked out of the Champions League on Tuesday in a rather tedious affair. It was obvious the players were instructed to play exactly the way they did, but, unfortunately, it was not enough to see us through.
Arsene managed to surprise us with his starting eleven, I have to say. Arteta was our only DM, while the Ox, Podolski, Cazorla, Ozil and Giroud were all named among the first XI. On the bench, the absences of Sanogo, Bendtner and Miyachi were noticeable. While the latter couldn't play because of some rule or the other and Sanogo seems to have sustained an injury, Bendtner's holiday in Sunderland raises questions. Why wasn't our only reliable back-up forward on the bench, especially since Sanogo was out?
Anyway, any hopes of an early goal were squashed by the Germans as they seized control of the ball and just wouldn't let go. The passed, passed, passed for the entire first half, but didn't really create anything of danger.
Meanwhile, our attacking display was non-existent. While we were obviously executing some plan, I still think we could have done better up front. The only player who tried to come up with something and create dangerous moments was Oxlade-Chamberlain. He was continually impressive and Bayern had to resort to fouling the Englishman in order to get him out of play.
There was a lot of talk about how Ozil should step up, but he never managed to do so. He was basically not there, surrendering possession and making other mistakes. It was later revealed the German had to play with a pulled hamstring (which he may have injured as early as the 2nd minute). I don't think even that excuses the way he played, but hey, he was hardly any worse during the first half than, for example, Arteta.
The second half started with a change, Rosicky replacing Ozil. This added some verve to our attack, that with the the Czech pressing everyone in his sight and making sure everyone else did the same. Then, suddenly, we conceded.
Arteta and Co failed to track back Schweinsteiger, he found space in the box, received a pass from Ribery and tucked the call away from about 10 yards. This was a blow, but not the knockout one, as it later turned out.
Three minutes later, the scores were level. Podolski found space on the left, got the ball, pushed Lahm out of the way and smashed his effort past a stunned Neuer. The Germans were looking for the ref to call a foul, but, to their immense surprise and dissatisfaction, none was given.
Was it a foul from Podolski? Looked that way. The ref made a couple of strange decisions on the night, this is probably one of them, but the first thing you learn as a footballer is to play to the whistle. Podolski did just that and I'm fine with his choice.
This was a turn of events the Bavarian giants weren't ready for, so we got them under pressure immediately. This resulted in a couple of dangerous moments, with their last-ditch defending being the only thing stopping us from getting in front. I still think that, had we scored the second goal in the five-seven minutes, that followed our first one, Bayern's house of cards would have crumbled and Arsenal would have been looking forward to playing in the last eight.
We failed to grab that vital goal, though. Flamini substituted an exhausted Oxlade-Chamberlain and Gnabry came on for Arteta as the manager threw caution to the winds, but nothing, bar a couple of tame shots, came off.
We could even have lost it in the final stages, through Robben's diving and ref's ignorance, but, amazingly, Fabianski saved Muller's effort from the penalty spot. 1-1 and we go out.
However, I do not think a draw it's a result we should be ashamed of. Quite the opposite, we can take a lot of positives from our clash at the Allianz Arena. This is how Arsene described our performance on the day:
"I have to congratulate the players for the heart and the effort they put in tonight. They have been absolutely outstanding on that front. We wanted to come out of that tie tonight qualified and with pride. We did the second part, not the first part".
And on Robben's antics:
"He's a fantastic player, I would not deny that, he's one of the best players in the world. But he gets in front of a player and then he slows down and goes down. He gets the free-kicks. That's where we spoke about yesterday that the referee, if he gives him a yellow card on the first one when he goes down, he will not do it again".
During the game Robben performed a couple of dives so blatant, you are unlikely to see them again. He went down even without contact and that tells a lot about his personality. It was surprising the ref bought his last dive, especially after he's waved play on earlier in the game, but justice was served and Fabianski parried Muller's shot to safety.
So, we got knocked out of the Champions League on Tuesday in a rather tedious affair. It was obvious the players were instructed to play exactly the way they did, but, unfortunately, it was not enough to see us through.
Arsene managed to surprise us with his starting eleven, I have to say. Arteta was our only DM, while the Ox, Podolski, Cazorla, Ozil and Giroud were all named among the first XI. On the bench, the absences of Sanogo, Bendtner and Miyachi were noticeable. While the latter couldn't play because of some rule or the other and Sanogo seems to have sustained an injury, Bendtner's holiday in Sunderland raises questions. Why wasn't our only reliable back-up forward on the bench, especially since Sanogo was out?
Anyway, any hopes of an early goal were squashed by the Germans as they seized control of the ball and just wouldn't let go. The passed, passed, passed for the entire first half, but didn't really create anything of danger.
Meanwhile, our attacking display was non-existent. While we were obviously executing some plan, I still think we could have done better up front. The only player who tried to come up with something and create dangerous moments was Oxlade-Chamberlain. He was continually impressive and Bayern had to resort to fouling the Englishman in order to get him out of play.
There was a lot of talk about how Ozil should step up, but he never managed to do so. He was basically not there, surrendering possession and making other mistakes. It was later revealed the German had to play with a pulled hamstring (which he may have injured as early as the 2nd minute). I don't think even that excuses the way he played, but hey, he was hardly any worse during the first half than, for example, Arteta.
The second half started with a change, Rosicky replacing Ozil. This added some verve to our attack, that with the the Czech pressing everyone in his sight and making sure everyone else did the same. Then, suddenly, we conceded.
Arteta and Co failed to track back Schweinsteiger, he found space in the box, received a pass from Ribery and tucked the call away from about 10 yards. This was a blow, but not the knockout one, as it later turned out.
Three minutes later, the scores were level. Podolski found space on the left, got the ball, pushed Lahm out of the way and smashed his effort past a stunned Neuer. The Germans were looking for the ref to call a foul, but, to their immense surprise and dissatisfaction, none was given.
Was it a foul from Podolski? Looked that way. The ref made a couple of strange decisions on the night, this is probably one of them, but the first thing you learn as a footballer is to play to the whistle. Podolski did just that and I'm fine with his choice.
This was a turn of events the Bavarian giants weren't ready for, so we got them under pressure immediately. This resulted in a couple of dangerous moments, with their last-ditch defending being the only thing stopping us from getting in front. I still think that, had we scored the second goal in the five-seven minutes, that followed our first one, Bayern's house of cards would have crumbled and Arsenal would have been looking forward to playing in the last eight.
We failed to grab that vital goal, though. Flamini substituted an exhausted Oxlade-Chamberlain and Gnabry came on for Arteta as the manager threw caution to the winds, but nothing, bar a couple of tame shots, came off.
We could even have lost it in the final stages, through Robben's diving and ref's ignorance, but, amazingly, Fabianski saved Muller's effort from the penalty spot. 1-1 and we go out.
However, I do not think a draw it's a result we should be ashamed of. Quite the opposite, we can take a lot of positives from our clash at the Allianz Arena. This is how Arsene described our performance on the day:
"I have to congratulate the players for the heart and the effort they put in tonight. They have been absolutely outstanding on that front. We wanted to come out of that tie tonight qualified and with pride. We did the second part, not the first part".
And on Robben's antics:
"He's a fantastic player, I would not deny that, he's one of the best players in the world. But he gets in front of a player and then he slows down and goes down. He gets the free-kicks. That's where we spoke about yesterday that the referee, if he gives him a yellow card on the first one when he goes down, he will not do it again".
During the game Robben performed a couple of dives so blatant, you are unlikely to see them again. He went down even without contact and that tells a lot about his personality. It was surprising the ref bought his last dive, especially after he's waved play on earlier in the game, but justice was served and Fabianski parried Muller's shot to safety.
Talking about individual performances, I really liked the way Fabianski played. A couple of dodgy goalkicks aside, he was brilliant, claiming crosses and making a string of saves. It is obvious, why Arsene puts so much trust into the Pole and I would be happy if Fab stays beyond this season. It's hard to see this happening, but we'll be letting a quality goalkeeper go, so we have to be sure we do everything in our power to retain his services. If not, it's going to be tough finding a goalie of the Pole's level, who'll agree to be Szcsesny's back-up.
All in all, I don't think we should be discouraged by this result. A lot of things were done right, we've got a respectable draw against the current holders at their place and, now that we are out, we'll have more time to focus on the League. Who knows, it may just lead to something exciting.
Till tomorrow