CL:Arsenal vs Bayern Munich 19:45pm Tuesday 19 Feb ITV

[DOUBLE-YOU]

Why did Wenger play Cazorla wide and Walcott through the middle in such an important game? Once again the boss comes up short in the tactical department, an all too familiar scene this season. He's been doing things like this for years, the difference is we no longer have the individual quality to overcome these idiotic decisions.

This was the type of game where Wenger had to step up and earn his 7m. Up against a superior team we should've made life difficult for them. No freebies, no stupid defensive mistakes. Instead we let them cut us open and we had no clue what to do when we were attacking.

To make matters worse we don't even play our only outlet in the form of Giroud. He would've relieved some pressure and could start attacks from a single long ball. He could also have been useful in corners.

For me, Wenger has to take the blame for this. How the **** can the tie be over in 20 minutes? Bayern weren't even that good, they were just excellently organized and didn't lose possession through low percentage passing and laziness.

poor post.

Giroud is not dynamic enough nor is he physical (yes i know Theo isn't exactly Drogba). For a player his size he doesn't win enough in the air ( when have you seen him beat a defender and control a high ball like what Mandzukic did to create the 3rd goal). It made sense to play Walcott because he would stretch the opposition, Giroud tends to drop too deep, thus enabling the opposition to squeeze the play.

It's lazy to blame Wenger's selection when the reality is, Bayern are a fantastic defensive unit. This was the first time they conceded this year. They've even gone three games without conceding a shot on target. You have to pay them the respect they deserve and recognise we don't have the players good enough to beat them. Our poor defending is down to player concentration.

Wenger is only to blame for acquiring the players in the squad, not the mistakes they made last night.

 

[dyeruz]

People are going a bit overboard with this Bayern are so amazing stuff..and I'm not being bitter. I'd judge them after they'd played a Barca or Man U or even Madrid. Unfortunately Arsenal is no longer the standard on which to judge a team. A Sad fact

 

[RUS arsenal]

Why did Wenger play Cazorla wide and Walcott through the middle in such an important game? Once again the boss comes up short in the tactical department, an all too familiar scene this season. He's been doing things like this for years, the difference is we no longer have the individual quality to overcome these idiotic decisions.

This was the type of game where Wenger had to step up and earn his 7m. Up against a superior team we should've made life difficult for them. No freebies, no stupid defensive mistakes. Instead we let them cut us open and we had no clue what to do when we were attacking.

To make matters worse we don't even play our only outlet in the form of Giroud. He would've relieved some pressure and could start attacks from a single long ball. He could also have been useful in corners.

For me, Wenger has to take the blame for this. How the **** can the tie be over in 20 minutes? Bayern weren't even that good, they were just excellently organized and didn't lose possession through low percentage passing and laziness.

I have to agree with this. I was shocked not to see the front 3 that looked so good domestically lately (Poldi - Giroud - Theo). In addition I was surprised Diaby didn't start next to Arteta. Why experiment on such a big game?! :?

PS. I blame Wenger's tactics for this loss, but let's not go overboard and say that he is incompetent in that area. We've seen him pull rabbits out of a hat enough times that we shouldn't question his ability as a manager, however, he is prone to mistakes like everybody out there and he made one here.

 

[Pies]

Wenger is only to blame for acquiring the players in the squad, not the mistakes they made last night.

I don't think anyone blames Arsène for the individual mistakes but I do blame him for our tactics, organisation, discipline, shape, gameplan....thought Bayern was superior in all those areas in addition to having the better players.

About Walcott up front- I actually thought early on it wasn't a bad move as he did cause their CBs something to think about. Once they scored the goals it really didn't matter. Obviously Arsène was planning on sitting and countering with Theo getting in but never really worked out and we lost the midfield and with them controlling us. Another thing is Cazorla. He obviously kept drifting in looking for the ball and providing another man in midfield (probably instructed to do so) but leaving open that space and not much width or cover (although I haven't re-watched the match yet, so want to watch it again to see). In hindsight may have been better to keep Theo on the right where we had him helping back and providing some width down the wing other than Sagna. Really don't think it would have made much difference as we were well and truly outclassed by the better side both in terms of personnel and tactics.

 

[mo50]

poor post.

Giroud is not dynamic enough nor is he physical (yes i know Theo isn't exactly Drogba). For a player his size he doesn't win enough in the air ( when have you seen him beat a defender and control a high ball like what Mandzukic did to create the 3rd goal). It made sense to play Walcott because he would stretch the opposition, Giroud tends to drop too deep, thus enabling the opposition to squeeze the play.

It's lazy to blame Wenger's selection when the reality is, Bayern are a fantastic defensive unit. This was the first time they conceded this year. They've even gone three games without conceding a shot on target. You have to pay them the respect they deserve and recognise we don't have the players good enough to beat them. Our poor defending is down to player concentration.

Wenger is only to blame for acquiring the players in the squad, not the mistakes they made last night.

I don't know what Giroud you've been watching, but it isn't the same one I am. Giroud has won plenty of aerial duels, plenty of knock downs, and has initiated numerous attacks from long balls. He's very physical and can more than hold his own.

We had nothing through the middle, absolutely nothing, and that's because we couldn't use Walcott's strengths effectively. Why was this, you ask? Because he hasn't played as a CF in several weeks. We've just thrown him in there against the strongest side we've faced this season. All logic went out the window with that selection. Giroud has been doing very well recently and deserved to start.

I completely disagree about blaming the tactics being lazy. I'll usually be the first to blame the players when they fail to turn up, but they didn't last night. They were let down by very poor preparation. Our best playmaker was shifted out wide and our most lethal wide man moved centrally, and the only player resembling a decent lone ST was put on the bench.

 

[Enfield]

I've had 24 hours to mull this over and I've come to a few conclusions.

1. I don't care who decided not to spend any money but they are all out of excuses with the highest paid manager and CEO in the PL and a big deal sponsorship announced.

2. Wenger is no longer tactically astute. In fact he has had one maybe two tactics since around '00

3. Everyone is responsible for their own attitude and last night bar 2/3 players our willingness was appalling.

4. Wengers terrible post game attitude is not befitting a club of our stature. At no point should anyone associated with Arsenal EVER refuse to shake hands leaving the pitch.

5. The atmosphere was appalling at the Emirates, The Bayern fans showed us up big time and the latest in a long list to do so

6. Fans groups need to start organising themselves and everyone else into firstly generating a discussion on how best to stage a protest/display at our anger at the direction our club is taking. Personally I would go with literally not spending a penny inside the Emirates and encouraging others on match day to do the same. We must never boo but always support our team. Hit Stan where it hurts

 

[Floating]

That match reminded me a lot of United in the quarter-finals a couple of years ago.

Massive night, cracking atmosphere, concede early goals and it's all punctured. Then we were taught an absolute lesson.

 

[dpt49]

IHit Stan where it hurts

If anyone could get close enough to him I'm sure thay would :wink:

He was actually seen last night at the Emirates.

A rare sight indeed. All the naturalists were there to see the lesser spotted leech.

 

[McIntyre]

Looking back at the game, its obvious Rosicky and Giroud should have started.

Rosicky didn't need to start. We just needed to start Giroud, put Walcott wide right (where he has been most effective this season) and put Cazorla at AM (where he has been most effective this season).

It's not exactly rocket science.

But in the biggest game of the season Wenger just had to experiment with square pegs in round holes again, then look despondent when they don't perform miracles.

 

[Rain Dance]

Looking back at the game, its obvious Rosicky and Giroud should have started.

Rosicky didn't need to start. We just needed to start Giroud, put Walcott wide right (where he has been most effective this season) and put Cazorla at AM (where he has been most effective this season).

It's not exactly rocket science.

But in the biggest game of the season Wenger just had to experiment with square pegs in round holes again, then look despondent when they don't perform miracles.

I agree Rozza didn't need to start but the one thing that bug me from last night.
How the heck he looked like the only who knew what to do in the game?
Running off the ball making through ball and making a general nuisance for Gustavo

Ramsey was playing well (one of his best game recently I think), but the difference of our midfield was apparent. Before Rosicky came in, its like they ran out of ideas and started to either over-dribble or pass it to Sagna to cross and hope Theo get a fluke error or something.

Anyway, if you think we are doing well before Rosicky and Giroud were introduced I suggest you rewatch the earlier part of the second half again, and btw, the goal should not stand at all.

What the heck did we do in training? Did we train for this game at all?
Did we even bother to analyze Bayern's weak points cause Bayern sure know which area to attack.

 

[trunks206]

Why did Wenger play Cazorla wide and Walcott through the middle in such an important game? Once again the boss comes up short in the tactical department, an all too familiar scene this season. He's been doing things like this for years, the difference is we no longer have the individual quality to overcome these idiotic decisions.

This was the type of game where Wenger had to step up and earn his 7m. Up against a superior team we should've made life difficult for them. No freebies, no stupid defensive mistakes. Instead we let them cut us open and we had no clue what to do when we were attacking.

To make matters worse we don't even play our only outlet in the form of Giroud. He would've relieved some pressure and could start attacks from a single long ball. He could also have been useful in corners.

For me, Wenger has to take the blame for this. How the **** can the tie be over in 20 minutes? Bayern weren't even that good, they were just excellently organized and didn't lose possession through low percentage passing and laziness.

poor post.

Giroud is not dynamic enough nor is he physical (yes i know Theo isn't exactly Drogba). For a player his size he doesn't win enough in the air ( when have you seen him beat a defender and control a high ball like what Mandzukic did to create the 3rd goal). It made sense to play Walcott because he would stretch the opposition, Giroud tends to drop too deep, thus enabling the opposition to squeeze the play.

It's lazy to blame Wenger's selection when the reality is, Bayern are a fantastic defensive unit. This was the first time they conceded this year. They've even gone three games without conceding a shot on target. You have to pay them the respect they deserve and recognise we don't have the players good enough to beat them. Our poor defending is down to player concentration.

Wenger is only to blame for acquiring the players in the squad, not the mistakes they made last night.

Completely agree. I liked the team selection to be honest. As Jack said in his post match interview the fault falls on the players out on the pitch.

We had our 3 best CBs + Sagna out there and couldn't deal with a incoming corner for their first goal, we had 4 midfielders and couldn't keep possession vs their 3. We selected a striker with pace to keep Bayern's CB honest and stop them from pushing up and compressing the midfield and helping their outnumbered midfielders as Theo is a threat in behind (he was initially a threat but he had no support in the couple of chances he had) and he was later totally isolated as we lacked ideas and passed it around our back 4.

We got punished by a very good Bayern team, its really that simple.