Bayern defeat shows how FA Cup game was the big one
ARSENAL 1 BAYERN MUNICH 3
FROM GOODPLAYA AT THE EMIRATES
FRANKLY I’m far more upset about Saturday’s result than this evening’s.
We were always liable to lose comfortably to Bayern. They’re a top side in top form. We’re neither of those things. Anyone who thought we were likely to turn them over was frankly deluding themselves. Blackburn and FA Cup glory on the other hand…
In terms of what actually came to pass, my thoughts are these:
- I didn’t get the team selection. Ok, so you want to accommodate Ramsey. But dropping Giroud and playing Walcott up front seemed desperate. We’d tried it before and it had failed completely (most notably against City). And for the past eight games we’ve played Giroud up front. And now suddenly we’re dropping the only bit of height we have. It can’t be right.
- Their opener was yet another example of Per Mertersacker not blocking a ball properly. We saw it against West Ham, we saw it against Liverpool and we saw it against Bayern. He jumps side on at the ball, making himself as small as possible. Keownesque, dare I say even Terryesque, it ain’t. And yet nobody seems to tell him otherwise.
- Their second was crap marking and not great goalkeeping. Sadly, Szczesny has no form of competition.
- I’m not really interested in hearing we were lucky for our goal because it wasn’t even a corner: you win some corners, you lose some corners. Ultimately, they’re all corners and you have to deal with hundreds a season. Their defending at the corner was quite extraordinary: I’d have winced if we’d conceded it.
- We had begun the second half much better than the first, but welcome as our goal was, it seemed to me to be an aberration rather than the consequence of sustained pressure. And so given that I’d have made the subs earlier than AMT (Arsene mean time – 67 minutes ahead of GMT).
I too am more upset abut the lose to Blackburn and Bradford. Tonight was predictable. Wenger must be convinced now that he is getting it all wrong over and over. It’s painful to watch. The only people who can get rid of him is the fans, because the board don’t know enough about the game to see the truth
yes, the scoreline was an accurate reflection, 2nd half was even enough, but they were always dangerous on the counter. 1st half was fairly abysmal.
We are at our best in a 4-3-3 with Giroud in the middle and Theo on the right. I also prefer to have Jack deeper so that we can generate something from the middle. Put Cazorla in front of him. Arteta and Ramsey together doesn’t work.
I’m glad you picked up on the Per side-on tackle routine or whatever excuse for an attempted block it might be. He’s not good enough at this level.
I thought there were a couple of decent individual performances – Jack and Koscielny in particular. Rosicky played well when he came in as well.
It’s not over ’till it’s over, but there is not a lot of grounds for optimism.
1-3 flattered us. Our only player who could make it into their squad is Jack Wilshere. None of the rest are anywhere near the level of their opposite numbers.
Of course, Arsene will argue that there’s still one trophy to play for; 4th place. (In fact, unbelievably, he was on the radio saying that this tie is not yet over. Maybe he has to say that, but we are not going to play this Bayern Munich team off their own park and win 3-0 next month).
This has been Groundhog Day for about 5-6 years now. As long as Arsenal finish 4th or above the board are happy with the bank balance, the manager says “I told you so, look at my record!” and Arsenal stays a team that is incapable of challenging the best. 4th place is an illusion of success that only the board and manager believe.
The club is kidding itself when it pretends it’s a European elite club. We are second tier in Europe (about level with Marseille and Schalke) and second tier domestically (about level with Everton, Liverpool and Spurs). I’d be disappointed to finish outside the top four this season but on the other hand, it might be the wake up call that will end of a decade of under-investment in the squad.
In the real world, you cannot operate a net transfer surplus season after season and compete for trophies. You’ve got to spend some of the TV and sponsor money on improving the squad otherwise you will inevitably lose ground on your competitors. That has been the narrative at Arsenal since the Invincibles’ season and the results speak for themselves.
Good post and comments – predictable result and performances. Bayern didn’t have to break sweat in the first half.
We made them work in the second when we pressed. The fans were up for it and got behind the boys but the gulf in class was immense – they looked like a team that has been thoroughly coached in all apsects of the game – most notably defending unlike us.
They are a big, skilful, physical team with a tremendous work rate and it would be fascinating to watch them run up against Barca later in the competition.
I strongly suspect that this will be the last Champions League game I see at the Emirates until Wenger is put out to grass.
I think the blog sums it up well. Thank you Arsene for all you have done for the club, but the dignified course of action is for you to take a rest. Leaving aside some of the strange positions players were in, most of the squad are simply not on a level that we had been told they would be in order to justify the new stadium, despite raising so much from sales. I believe the players we have sold have gone on to win 75 medals between them since gooners last saw a trophy. However, the saddest part for me is to witness a man that I have great respect for acting in such a stubborn and paranoid manner as he did at the pre-match press conference. Either he was trying to protect the players, or he has psychologically lost the proverbial plot. Unfortunately I suspect the latter.
any other top manager would have brought Giroud on at half-time. maybe even earlier. to wait until 70mins before correcting his initial selection error was what bugged me the most.
The Wenger Outers have an easy time of it today. But replace him, and it will be 10 years before we get back into the CL. There is no manager who, under these conditions, could have done any better. None.
Exactly Goodplaya, if anything last night makes Saturday even more acceptable. Bayern have better players, turned up with a first-class attitude : equals game over before half-time. We had much, much better players that Blackburn, turned up with a shitty attitude, game dragged on until one goal either way was going to win it. That’s what the eternal optimists (the ‘we lost, it happens, get over it’ brigade) just can’t seem to understand: it’s not the result that angers people – it’s the shitty attitude that led to the result that angers people. Especially as it’s not a one-off by any stretch of the imagination – it’s an attitude that’s becoming the hallmark of this side : the worst, least exciting & most infuriating team of the Wenger era.
I just fail to see how anyone with any passion for the club cannot still be furious over Saturday. The ‘real fan’ comments have be thrown both ways you know….
Uncle Mike, surely that comment is about 3 years too late.
A sobering thought by the way… Bayern outplayed us like that without both of their first-choice centre-halves…..
Clearly meant to say unacceptable in that first sentence….
Ah! Fu** it there always next season.
Walcott up top alone is a waste of space, he can’t play there alone, especially against an organized defense like Bayern’s. Wenger should know this.
Arsenal still have a shot at finishing 4th, and if they do and Wenger does nothing in the summer transfer window, then something must be done.
Listen, I understand that Wenger may be handicapped by the financial situation of the club, but that doesnt absolve him for pissing away the money that he DOES have to spend. A 10 million signing and a 15 million signing couldnt even make the bench for a champions league game. That doesnt even include what Arsenal pay those clowns. Add in the money spent on Nik, Denilson, Chamakh, Djorou’s European vacations and it adds up to quite the sum of cash thats been flushed down the toilet on garbage.
Wengers been handicapping himself as much as the supposed financial situation is.
Agre with 4thPlaceTrophy. We do need to get the dross off the books. According to a web site that I looked at that covers the player contracts, 3 of those players will be OOC at the end of the season. http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/arsenal-fc/kader-vertragsende/verein_11.html. I cannot vouch for the website’s accuracy.
If you look (and believe) at some web sites on player salaries, we should have an extra 175,000 per week to spend once Squillaci, Arshavin and Fabianski are released. Unfortunately, Denilson, Chamakh and Bendtner are still on the books for another year. We might get ~5m for the 3 if we could sell. Selling them on and freeing up another ~150,000 per werk would be great. Maybe Juve are paying close to the 50K oer week that Bendtner is on, but I doubt that Sao Paolo and West Ham are paying even 50% of the salaries of the other 2. Djourou’s contract is supposedly until 2015 at 50k per week. Hannover is not paying that amount: we need to move him on as well. I shudder to think at what me might be spending on Park. The strangest buy of all time. I doubt very much that the shirt sales in Korea paid for his wages.