february 23rd
Do I even need to break out the patented YANDNIEFA©™® template? I think do, you know. Bayern 3-1 Arsenal.
It couldn’t really have started any worse as a Kolo Toure fluffed his header from a long punt downfield and Pizarro was on hand to rifle the ball under Jens after just three minutes. Not what the doctor ordered. Cue TV pictures of Oliver Kahn looking like a dirty, stinking ape. It was almost enough to make me bring up my dinner.
The rest of the first half was insipid, dire, boring, toothless and dull. We didn’t have a chance to speak of unless you include a deflected Gael Clichy shot from outside the area and our big names were quiet. Henry hardly touched the ball at all, Vieira kept giving the ball back to them and Ljungberg and Pires both looked like two players playing out of position, which, of course, they were.
That said we did have plenty of possession in the first half we just didn’t do anything with it. The second half started brightly. It wasn’t a minute old when we carved Bayern open and a square ball across the box from Reyes to Ljungberg would have set things up nicely but José either went for glory or totally miskicked and the ball his the side netting. It looked like we might have a bit more gumption about us in the second 45 but again a fair amount of possession amounted to nothing. Then they got a free kick on the right hand side, Kolo lost Pizarro and he nipped in to head past Lehmann. Then when you thought it couldn’t get much worse it did. More faffing about on our left, they crossed it to the far post and Sillcuntybitch slotted home to make it 3-0. That, you thought, was just about that.
But with just a couple of minutes to go Arsenal got a free kick, Reyes played it in, Vieira knocked the ball onto the post and as it bobbled around it fell to Kolo who smashed it home to make it 3-1 and to give us a lifeline for the second leg. At 3-0 it would have been almost impossible but the away goal gives us some hope. I’d love to say it was a goal we deserved but we didn’t really – I’m glad that Kolo got it though. He had probably his worst ever game in an Arsenal shirt but he kept going and plugging away and did something positive to get us back into the tie.
Overall though too many players were poor on the night. Whether that was just bad luck that so many players had off nights or whether we were set up wrong tactically I don’t know. I don’t really understand why we insist on playing wide midfielders up front in Europe when we’re away from home either. We’ve tried it with Pires before and it hasn’t worked and Freddie is best cutting in and making late runs into the penalty box. He’s no good with his back to goal trying to hold up the ball and Arsene Wenger has to hold his hands up and say he got that one wrong, especially when we have Reyes and van Persie who could have played up front with Freddie and Bob in their usual positions. I know we’re missing Bergkamp but when the game is in Munich you have to ask is there any reason why Dennis couldn’t have been there? If he’d left England on Sunday he could have been in Munich Monday morning at the latest and we really could have done with him there. Wouldn’t it be better to be without him for a game against Southampton than a game against Bayern Munich?
Thierry Henry was as quiet as I’ve ever seen him. Lack of service, no question (we missed Edu when he went off), and he was very closely marked by two Bayern players all night, but Henry is good enough to drop deep, take the ball and do something with it if nobody’s giving him the service he needs. I know he can’t be expected to win games single-handedly but when we’re flat and lacking leadership and direction from where it’s supposed to come from then maybe he needs to get more involved instead of watching the game pass us by. Now that brings us onto leadership and direction…
Patrick Vieira’s form has been better of late, no doubt about it, but tonight he played like a player who didn’t want to get injured in case it might scupper a move in the summer. At least twice, and possibly three times, he wimped out of 50-50 challenges in midfield. This is the captain, the man who says he’ll lead by example on the pitch. Well that’s the kind of example that’s seen us get beaten 3-1. His example was ‘I’m not really that bothered’. What are the other players supposed to think when they see that their captain can’t be arsed to challenge for a ball? Watching the game we also lost count of how many times he gave the ball straight back to Bayern, his passing was atrocious. One moment in particular stood out, we’d just scored, there was a little sense of momentum about us and a Bayern attack broke down. Henry, van Persie, Pires and Reyes were charging forward, the ball came to Vieira and he gave it right to a dark shirt. Typical of his game all season long and it’s not lack of ability, it’s laziness and it’s really, really, fucking annoying. Of course before the game we got the usual spiel from him about how Arsenal have learned from their mistakes and it’s time to show it in Europe – he really does talk a good game – but when it came to the crunch the ‘captain’ went missing, but then who’s really surprised? Exactly.
I thought Pascal Cygan was our best player on the night, closely followed by Gael Clichy who once again makes you think ‘Ashley who?’ for just a moment. In general though it was a bad night for Arsenal. Bad to watch, bad to write about afterwards let me tell you, but it’s not over and done with yet. The late goals gives us a lifeline for the second leg at Highbury. Can we play that badly at home? I doubt it. Can we beat this Bayern side? I think we can, provided we cut out the stupid defensive mistakes. That away goal could prove to be crucial but before the next leg there needs to be some backside kicked – individuals must improve, the team performance must improve. Most of us can accept defeat, however hard it is, when we know every single player out there has given their all for the 90 minutes. I don’t think that’s the case with last night’s game though and that’s why there are going to be some grumpy Arsenal fans for the next few days. However, we’ve got to look at the positives and hope for another CL miracle. If we can beat Inter Milan 5-1 away then a simple 3-0 home win against Bayern should be no trouble at all. I don’t know why I’m worried.
Afterwards Jens Lehmann was honest enough about our prospects. He said “It would have been impossible to go through at 3-0 but with the goal we still have chances. Everything is possible and at least there will be a chance in two weeks.”
Arsene Wenger described it as Arsenal’s worst European performance and there won’t be a queue of people lining up to disagree with him. He went on to say “”I expected much more from my team. In this job, you have good and bad nights. This was a bad night – but I still have confidence in the quality of my players, as well as their spirit and desire.”
It’s up to them to show it now, on the pitch, and not in the press.
