The Arsenal lost a tight European tie by a single goal to the mighty Bayern Munich. The opposition played well and used all the experience that they had in such abundance compared to our young team to get the result they needed with a well-judged performance.
We lost fair and square, and have little time to lick our wounds before we are thrown to the Wolves, so to speak.
I watched the game in the pub with my old man and I should say at the outset of this report that my experience of the match was coloured by the three young lads sitting behind me, who notionally supported Arsenal but spent the entire game abusing our players, the manager and swearing vociferously at pretty much every on-field action.
Against such a backdrop I found myself even calmer and more measured than usual, if only as a reaction against the petulance, entitlement and, frankly, idiocy going on behind me. No-one has a God-given right to win football matches, and if you hate watching the team and lose your shit when we lose, then you might wanna do something else with your time.
Personally, I reckon there is a clue in the word ‘supporter’, but I’m younger than many in the bar and I was still twice the age of these lads, so perhaps the younger generations show their allegiances in ways I just don’t recognise.
So, to the match itself. The first half was excellent, at least from my perspective. We had a little more of the ball, stroked it around well and applied some pressure, without committing enough men to attacks that we created many clear chances. This also meant that we were rarely caught out at the back. We went in 0-0 and George Graham would have been chuffed.
One long ball went over Tomi’s head to Sane, but Gabriel blocked his cross from the byline. Apart from that, we kept him fairly quiet all game. I assume most of those in the bar, who had been advocating the Japan international’s selection at left-back in the first game as well as this one, were fairly happy with what they saw. Arteta knows his players’ fitness better than we do, but it was a shame he wasn’t deemed ready to start at the Emirates too.
Rice began at left 8, but gradually drifted more centrally. With Tomi inverting too, they did a decent job swapping about to fill the midfield and cover the left flank between them. Jorginho was a calm and classy presence on the ball, but Bayern pressured him enough that he couldn’t find a telling moment. Rice is quality and we all love him, but tonight we needed the vertical passing of a Partey. Our number 41 does not find spaces between the lines at this level, and he can’t always drive past men either. Going forwards, we need him to find Odegaard quicker and let the captain do his stuff.
We pressed sensibly and in waves, sometimes dropping back and sometimes going for them. We won a couple of possessions this way, but a few times our final ball was a bit off. Neuer is also very good with his feet, which helped Bayern out of a couple of tight spots.
Bayern forced some corners and we had to be switched on to defend them, which our centre backs did well, although Raya was not commanding his box the way Neuer was. He did make a couple of good saves though, even if they were ones he would expect to make. We had some half chances, Odegaard having a couple of shots blocked or skied over the bar – he was little hesitant to shoot from the edge of the box with the half yard of space which was all a switched on Bayern would allow him. Our best chance fell to Martinelli who hit it with his left insole straight at Neuer. Would he have been better served to sweep it with his right? We will never know.
The ref was good. He made a couple of marginal calls I disagreed with and seemed to give Kane more than his share of decisions against our CBs. Late in the second half he failed to give us a corner we really needed despite Odegaard’s shot both deflecting of a defender and then being palmed behind by Neuer. But he was generally excellent, using his cards sensibly and avoiding any major talking points. I’d be very happy if we were reffed this well every week.
We got a warning right after half-time as the Germans immediately upped their tempo and the dangerous Goretzka headed the ball against the bar. The follow up also drilled into the outside of the post. We would have to watch their aerial threat, as Gabriel and Saliba could not mark all of the men who began making runs into the space.
The game began to open up and Bayern were slightly on top, Musiala getting more involved, but Kane was quiet and I was perfectly happy when the clock passed the hour mark and there was still no score. As I said to my dad, just don’t concede and take the game as deep as possible.
Except three minutes later we conceded. They got to the byline and crossed high. Raya got a hand to it but it stayed in and they picked it up on our left. The ball came in (from memory, between our CBs) and Martinelli had let Kimmich go at the last moment to power in an excellent header. I thought Raya showed again tonight that he is not a keeper anyone will win the Champions League with, even if he is a good keeper. However, there was nothing he could do about the header once we’d let Kimmich free to connect to the cross. It was a moment of quality that went on to decide the tie.
Arteta immediately brought on Trossard and Jesus for Martinelli and Jorginho. Good subs, but they didn’t make enough difference. A fit Partey would have been huge for us tonight, we needed his skillset badly.
We had a few freekicks and a couple of corners. Nicholas Jover gets a lot of plaudits for his routines in the league, but in the CL we rarely get near the ball before the ref blows his whistle for a foul. I do think a lot of these are soft, but they keep getting given and we don’t change our tactics and that is on us. A series of genuinely threatening set-pieces would have put Bayern under pressure, but as it was, they got off with a free kick of their own every time. Towards the end, Rice sprayed a free kick out to Trossard who controlled it poorly and gave away a foul without getting a cross in, even though everyone was up for it. Again, it is the sort of fine margin that a more experienced side (like Bayern) would be on the right side of.
We brought on Eddie for Tomi, and I doubt any of us felt it was likely to lead to a goal. Still, hope springs eternal, and the swapping of Sane for Upamecano showed that Tuchel was willing to sit deep and see it out.
I had felt, with fifteen minutes to go, that there would be one more chance in the game for us, but we didn’t manage to fashion it. In the dying seconds we had a freekick in a great position that we chose to take quickly. It could have been a masterstroke. As it was, we were lucky to get a corner, which we were given time to take. But, personally, I’d have preferred to take our time with the freekick. It is all moot now as Saka, who was well marshalled all game, failed to beat the first man with a disappointing last Arsenal kick of the tie.
The ref blew up. We were out.
As the dust settles, I am sure we will all have our own opinions on how bad a loss this was, or how good a chance we missed.
For me, I think we have progressed so rapidly in the league that our European expectations are far higher than they really should be. We have so little experience in the Champions League, and that was the one quality where Bayern really had us beat tonight. We still came mighty close and gave a good account of ourselves in a tie we will learn a lot from. I think the quarterfinals were about par for us this year, so I’m not too disappointed to go out at this stage, especially as I trust us to be wilier and tougher next year.
Not everyone agreed, but I thought we were denied a nailed-on penalty in the first leg, and that might have changed the dynamics of the tie significantly. It is tight when you get to this stage, and everyone needs a little luck, no matter how good they are. We didn’t seem to get much this year.
We will be back next year and in a far better position to put in a challenge. For now, we focus on the league, and we make sure our boys know how much we support them. They are having a magnificent season, the league is still to play for, and the club needs all cannons pointing outwards for six more huge matches.
Victoria Concordia Crescit.
Until next time ‘holics.
Fine report GSD – measured and sensible
I shall return with more comments a little later but I share your frustration at some of the younger generation of Goonerd ( if that is what they are in truth ) . They are spoiling my match day experience and they are a lot of entitled fans around
We shall return but at the moment it hurts
Thanks for that excellent report GSD. There’s not a word I would disagree with, but we came very close to Bayern and with a bit more nous could have taken the tie. I also thought we got a much fairer shake from this ref than we got at home. On to Wolves, for the season can still be more magnificent than what it has already been.
GSD. Manfully done sir. You’ve done the dirty work of the match reports on the Villa and Bayern games and done them in a manner Dave would have been proud of.
We now have to look forward. We have three critical games in a week, Wolves, Chelsea and Spurs. We need to take nine points from those. Then three more games over the last three weeks, Bournemouth, there’d Mancsand, finally, Everton.
We can do this. Take our chances. Control games.
There are loads of trolls who can’t wait to label us as bottlers and losers. Don’t let’s give them the satisfaction.
An enjoyable read. Entirely agree with your match summary and observations. Sorry to hear you and your dad had to put up with the a-holes in the pub.
A very credible performance over two legs in my opinion. I deeply regret the careless loss of their equaliser in the first leg and, yes, definite penalty at the end of that game, I thought.
We’ve missed Thomas Partey badly this season. The starting eleven is now looking tired to the point of very jaded and I can only assume that MA8 has either lost faith in him or the hangover from his injury is limiting badly his contribution in training. I would really have enjoyed seeing him come on in the second half of both of our last two games.
On to Wolves.
Another really good report, GSD – and very readable even in these circumstances.
I was one who wanted Tomi at full back in the first leg and I did suggest Partey as a Jorginho replacement around the hour mark if we needed his more vertical passing – as indeed did you.
As you say though, we don’t know what any player’s fitness levels or issues are. It’s a shame because I keep barking back to the 20 or so minutes he and Rice bossed Man City for at the Emirates this season.
What I would say is that several of our players look very tired. The manager has chosen not to rotate much over the season but he will have reasons for that. I’m sure he would do it more if he believed it would improve our chances. That makes this summer extremely important.
The team and squad we have have done brilliantly and progressed faster than most of us would have dared to hope for. Having come so far we clearly need more reliable options to get our challenges over the line.
The fact that we can even realistically compete with C115y is a miracle in itself. So no entitlement or abuse here – just the joy of seeing us give our all, and wishing I was fit enough to get to the stadium and add to the noise.
barking 🤣=harking
Cheers GSD. Great report, I feel the same as you aboht it all and it looks like I felt the same as you during the match too, including the assessment of the first half, and the same reaction to the last free-kick+corner: the fk could have been a masterstroke, but it wasn’t and I’d definitely have chosen to take it in a more conventional way at this stage in the match, very poor corner kick too.
Unfortunately, there were a lot of similarities with the Villa match in the pattern.
Is it tiredness? If so, one can fear the next few matches.
Wolves away is a bit tricky, but at the same time, it might be the perfect opponent and location. We’ll see. Used to always be a special fixture for the guv’nor too!
Thanks GSD for a very fair report. I agree with everyone who says we will be back and that it was a good learning experience for our young team, but still it was also a bastard as we were very close. No complaints from me about the team selection or subs or the performance or attitude or even the ref!
Another excellent report of a less than excellent match. C100 voiced what I felt as I read this piece as I thought it truly Faberesque in its measured and wise analysis of events. If he’s up there looking down on these matches I couldn’t imagine a different reaction. You’ve done the good man proud.
As several observed yesterday in this place and in selected other places, the team did us proud last night but fell short on nous and certainly not on application and effort. Most were physically on their knees at the final whistle while several were running on fumes long before the end. We came up against a wilier and more battle-hardened opponent who despite the handicap of two despicable ex-Marshdwellers, proved a rock too hard for us to break. Though as observed by several fine fellows of this parish, we stood toe to toe with this trophies European giant and but for the avoidable lapses in London and a momentary three-man cerebral time-out in Munich the QF result might have been different.
Undoubtedly, to reach the QF in this young squad’s first attempt at this competition is worthy of praise. It certainly does not deserve the gobshite comments about the coach and individual players I have seen on ‘X’. I do not know whether TTG, truly a master at both profound observations and of hilarious unintended typos, meant it deliberately. It matters not, as many neologisms are created accidentally – but Goonerd is a perfect epithet for the self-entitled vermin who sadly infect our on-line and match-day fanbase.
Cheers GSD!
Goonerd- a person superficially an Arsenal supporter while actually being a superficial twat . – a person of dubious birth who misunderstands what it means to support Arsenal
– a misprint of Gooners caused by time pressures and an errant Spillchucker
–
Yet brilliantly defined, TTG @11. It must gain wide usage.
This next week is so pivotal. I’m going to Wolves on Saturday. Now the disappointment has passed I am getting very excited for this coming week.
A first-rate report of a disappointing result, GSD, and one, as others rightly say, that does the memory of the Guv’nor proud. As I mentioned in the previous drinks, we were playing a CL Quarter Final. We looked as if we belonged, and it has been many a year since we have been able to say that.
24 hours on one can gain perspective on a very disappointing but not unexpected night . I rarely read other blogs but am interested in Peter Wood’s editorials on Le Grove. He is hugely pro- Arteta and really does ‘ trust the process ‘. But his congregation at Le Grove are hugely divided and many would see Arteta replaced because of his ‘ lack of success ‘.
GHF has generally tended to be a balanced house and one where managers get time if they appear to have a clear and progressive strategy.
My take is that Arteta is already one of the best coaches in Europe and given time and resource will create a real powerhouse at Arsenal especially if £115ty and Liverpool decline through a combination of sanctions and the loss of Klopp .
Arteta isn’t yet infallible but to pick out his clear faults gives an unbalanced view of his stature as a coach and suggests that he has a huge mountain to climb .
We did ok against an experienced Bayern team but we had few top performances across the two ties . Saliba, Gabriel and Jorginho were , in my opinion our most effective players and some like Rice , Odegaard and Saka were subdued but still did some fine things. A few like Martinelli are starting to worry me .
My main concern is that in big, away games we don’t score . We haven’t scored at Newcastle,Villa , Citeh, Porto and now Bayern . In the days of Ian Wright for example we had a predatory goal scorer who often won us tight away games or kept us afloat despite a midfield of Jensen, Hillier, Carter and Mcgoldrick. We have MUCH better players now but can look formulaic in the way we play away from home. We need a focal point for our attack who can score 20 league goals and is capable of scoring in Europe. I believe such players exist and if we can invest in one with possibly an alternate winger and a strong 8 or 6 I think we will have a superb team although we will need to part company with several players to finance this .
Just to agree wholeheartedly with Ned @14. It became hard to digest at the end of the Wenger years when we were still getting into the CL quarterfinal round, inevitably drawing Barcelona and Bayern, but then not really being able to compete at their level. Any neutral observer would have to admit that this year Arsenal-Bayern was highly competitive throughout the two games.
Should have said the round of 16 is when we would run into Barcelona or Bayern back then and not be quite up to snuff.
Doesn’t take many of the Le Grove regulars long does it?
Baffles me that anyone can look at the last few seasons and
conclude that changing the manager is the way forward.
But of course each to their own
Cheers GSD! I seems you run out of your luck having had two of most difficult report to write this year. Excellently wrtten though. Fair and balanced not a word to disagree. Even when results are disappointing this team a joy to watch. And we are there where we want and wanted to be during those banned years under the late Wenger rein.
Win the next one.
COYG
TTG @15
Nil desparandum .
Reinforcements will be arriving in the summer.
Edu and Arteta know who they want, and given our enhanced status, challenging for league title and giving the CL a fair go, there will be no issue getting them.
I don’t doubt some pre nups have already been signed.
Difficult previously when we weren’t dining at the top table.
In 2 short seasons Arteta has us back where we belong.
The true supporters far outweigh the numnut short attention span naysayers.
True supporters far outweigh the numnut naysayers.
Apologies GSD for not commending your Bayern report on a difficult night for the boys.
And the same for repeating myself at end of previous post.
Arteta is still relatively young and inexperienced as an ‘elite club’ level coach. He probably represented a cost-effective option for KSE. I can’t see them changing their minds on that despite whatever levels of noise from the fanbase (it took many years before they bowed to easing AW out of the door, and that was also a different club then).
Given his record to date, he will definitely improve further. And I back him to do so.
Sir Chips Keswick, former chairman, has passed.
RIP Sir Chips Keswick who has died at the age of 84. He had to steer the club through a very turbulent period and we did win the Cup twice while he was Chairman
Hear Hear Esso @22!
RIP Sir Chips. Took on the chairmanship at a very torrid period and steered the club well considering the attempts of Usmanov to dictate the agenda.
RIP, Sir Chips. He was a steadying hand in what seems like a different era at the club, even though it was only a decade ago.
TTG@15: What we lack is a player who can conjure up a goal out of nothing, someone like Ian Wright or TH14 who you always believe can produce a little bit of unexpected magic to get you back into a game when nothing else looks as if it can.
RIP Sir Chips.
In other news, I found a ticket for Everton on Ticket Exchange (that small window when it is open only to Silvers has been my saving grace for attending matches this season), so that’s me sorted for the last two home matches of the season, after an unusual success in the Bournemouth ballot!
Somehow I will have been able to attend 12 matches (+Community Shield), despite only 3 successes on the Silver ballot, out of 16 applications (OK, I also got two successes on Red out of 11 attempts -the 12th is pending- both actually allowed me to help other people).
NBN @28, exactly that.
Nicely done Ollie. Can I ask if tickets for the Arsenal Cup whatever it’s called are a free for all? Obviously I realise tickets for any game will be an impossibility after we win the league!
Or Robert Pires and Freddie banging in 2 goals each game on top of whatever TH14 did.
My usual travelling companion to Arsenal gave up a season ticket after Covid and thought red membership would see him alright . It hasn’t but very strangely he is regularly contacted by the club to offer him a ( very good ) ticket in the Family Enclosure after his ballot application fails . He missed out on the Bayern tie but has had tickets for the last five league games and has just had Chelsea and Bournemouth confirmed . And the cost is ridiculous . Last Sunday he paid under £20 for the Villa game ( the cost of Luton was £13.95 ) and as an invaluable bonus he had the opportunity to take lunch with the Countrymen and Btm.
I don’t know if others get these offers but maybe applying for the Family Enclosure is the way to go – it is for him this season . He is 75 so maybe this is a concession for seniors? ( he is still playing 11 a side football for Kent Over 60s)
SP
The Emirates Cup ( which has become one game recently) has been open to all and has been easy to get tickets for. My experience is that half the crowd are under 10 but they know more about football than some of the Goonerds I’ve encountered recently !
What TTG said, SP. If it happens this summer (I may have missed the announcement), there might be more demand than usual due to the frustrations about not being able to attend regular matches (in general), but it’s accessible to all and should not sell out too quickly.
Interesting, TTG @ 33. I think the whole process this season has not been particularly transparent, but yes, maybe it’s a concession to Seniors.
My own regret was to not take up a ST when offered one seven years ago or so, because I’d have had to give up on most midweek fixtures while Silver seemed ideal and perfect.
Besides, I did ask and it was only Upper Tier they offered (only been back there this season for the first time since becoming Silver, as beggars can’t be choosers, but I did enjoy some good views) and I must admit I quite enjoy sitting in a different block/seat most matches.
But that was before they drastically reduced the number of tickets available to Silver even before the ballots.
I’m not considering going on the Waiting List again now, because in all probability, it would either grant me access to a ST by a time when I’m dead, or we’ll have become shit enough again for the Membership to be a good enough scheme for me.
Arse OuT!
But-t (4 Trev) not in that way UTA! Xx
PPS: just saw the Chips stuff – R.I.P. Xx
PPPS: (soz – backreading) had me doubts about Arteta, and he ain’t perfect, but to deny he hasn’t made us bettereraH & more beautiful (in the Arsene tradition – for now it is one – thank Denis) is knobheddery UTA!
Bloody hell, the reverend is back paying a visit!
Big XXs to you Ol & all yous marv propaH GooNAH. & if i me has/hasn’ts are a wee bit muddled – please blame my expensive education – UTA!
“GooNAHZ” … obvs.
… & the drowning of me wassernames Xx
me neither …
If the Rev Al is back, it must be a sign we live in miraculous times.
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