Bayern Munich 1 - 1 Arsenal: Unbeaten at the Allianz!

We can look at this result in three different ways: within the context of the game itself, in the context of the tie over two legs and in the context of the whole competition and where we currently stand in our season thus far.

Over the two legs, there can be little argument that Bayern deserved to go through. They did the hard work at the Emirates and did enough in the return leg to progress. In both games, they played the better football and made the better chances and though we hardly embarrassed ourselves and had a number of "what ifs" that, had they gone our way, might have made a big difference, it was too tough an ask to go through into the quarter-finals. There shouldn't be any complaints about this.

As for the game itself, it was a fighting draw obtained from a difficult game, in which I think tiredness played a large factor. Bayern were dangerous and had most of the ball, but we did very well to limit the number of clear opportunities on our goal. Going forward, though, we tended to be wasteful, partly induced by Bayern's pressure, but mostly a result of our carelessness with the final pass or with our decision making. Ultimately, this made the game tougher as Bayern, being as good as they are at recycling possession, made us chase a lot which depleted our energy. That's why, I think, we couldn't muster up any consistent pressure after scoring the goal. The players simply didn't have the legs to keep it up for longer than a few minutes.

It's a shame since Bayern were making mistakes and the game was a bit more open in the middle. We got ourselves into some good positions but, again, lacked that final ball or key decision; Rosicky failing to put Oxlade-Chamberlain clear on goal springs to mind. There were other instances such as Gnabry blazing a shot over the bar, or Giroud failing to pick a team mate despite having the defender on the back foot. Just things like that that added the feeling of frustration to go with the pride and happiness at the performance. More "what could have been stuff".

It's tempting to think what might have happened had we had the likes of Ramsey, Wilshere or Walcott available to us, either at the beginning or from the bench. We really could have done with some quality subs after we scored, just to get that second wind, but thanks to injuries we had to rely on Gnabry and Flamini. With that in mind, the work the team went through and the competence it showed in defending against such a good team was impressive. So much so that had the penalty gone in, it would have been like a massive blow to the crotch. Thankfully, Fabiasnki did brilliant to save it, and we came away with a draw which I can't see many being too unhappy about.

So that's the game. As far as the Champions League goes, a deep run would have been nice, as would a spectacular evening against one of the best sides around currently, but it was not to be. It was expected that we would get knocked out by Bayern, and with the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid in the competition, I don't think we had any chance of progressing too far. It's a bit frustrating that we haven't gotten past the last 16 in three years now, but then we're a developing side playing against great teams.

With the games coming up, it's something of a blessing that we're out. That's two extra games we don't have to play, so we can rest players more. With any luck, the team will draw confidence from this result and the Everton result, and continue in the same way for the remainder of the season.

Fingers crossed that Ozil and Chamberlain are fit for Sunday, especially Chamberlain who performed with such maturity and ability tonight, and that we can welcome Gibbs and Ramsey back into the side. I'm very proud of the effort tonight and wish Bayern well for the remainder of the competition. It's goodbye to Europe for another year, but we'll be back next year, hopefully with a bit of silverware behind us.

Well Said

Hope the players are proud of the effort. Could have won the match but then thats where the 'ifs' comes in.

No one thought we could do it so I guess we can slip it under the rug but that was a heroic effort in terms of defensive play. Fantastic tactically.

Oxlade easily the MOTM. What a talent he is. If only he wasn't injured for 5 months.

Pride intact.

Disgusted at Bayern players constantly looking for contact, not just Robben but Martinez too? Follows Guardiola, I suppose.

AND LUKASZ FABIANSKI

Gave us the last laugh with the pen save.

Onto Sunday.

Jay pretty much summed it up, Bayern deservedly go through but it's fair to say they didn't have it easy. We'll hopefully be stronger next season and get an easier draw early in the campaign.

Hopefully Özil, Chamberlain and everyone else is alright for Deathmatch 2, that's all.

Ozil out for 3 weeks

Great.

FFS

What the hell do we have to do to keep one our key players fit ahead of an important run of games?

Complete joke, *bleep* off....

thats just ridiculous

RealGunner wrote:Well Said

Hope the players are proud of the effort. Could have won the match but then thats where the 'ifs' comes in.

No one thought we could do it so I guess we can slip it under the rug but that was a heroic effort in terms of defensive play. Fantastic tactically.

Oxlade easily the MOTM. What a talent he is. If only he wasn't injured for 5 months.

i really think that injury somehow helped him, to me he looks a lot leaner and fitter than he did pre injury. he has been clearly working on slimming down his body, he is not as 'bulky' as he used to be, which in my opinion helped his technique.

calma Kallstrom got this https://i.servimg.com/u/f72/16/79/56/27/calma10.png

but srsly how about 433
for big games

most likely 2-3 with Ramteta and AOC-Rozza-Santi though

btw 10/10 take ons
http://www.fourfourtwo.com/statszone/5-2013/matches/738774/player-stats/81880/2_ATTACK_02#tabs-wrapper-anchor
OX

papers have always been disgrace

Spoiler:

Gutted for Ozil, the guy is comfortably the best in the world in his position, misses that crunch game against Chelsea, with him in the side we have a huge chance of winning, without him nowhere near as confident.

However the one player, for me who put season relies on is Podolski. Tonight I thought he was quality, such an elite finisher. If Sanogo is fit start him and Podolski up top for the rest of the season. Giroud in the past two games showed his best role for the team coming off the bench. He's too easy to defend against, and this is just off the top of my head stat research it and correct me if I'm wrong but his goal ratio is better coming off the bench than starting.

Team was great tonight, the lack of options didn't help but onto the next one, smash Spurs and go for the league and cup double.

so annoying, i knew we were going to get an injury to a key player today, we always do after an intense cl match.

so how many matches does he miss? spurs and chelsea? who else?

Neuer: "I know Podolski very well,and i know his left leg. The first thing i thought was not to save the shot but to hide my face *laughs*"
Aha https://2img.net/r/ihimizer/img96/5076/trolldolski.gif

So happy it ended 1-1, would have been devastating had we lost. Proud of the team, hope we can get all 3 points on Sunday.

Dont you guys know by now, for every player we get back from Injuries we lose one?  

Really why do the football gods hate us, when are we going to get a break, this is so sad.

Raptorgunner wrote:So happy it ended 1-1, would have been devastating had we lost. Proud of the team, hope we can get all 3 points on Sunday.

Dont you guys know by now, for every player we get back from Injuries we lose one?  

Really why do the football gods hate us, when are we going to get a break, this is so sad.

we will only catch a break when we have a complete squad, then all of a sudden we will get less injuries. as we can rest players more. im so surprised merte hasnt been injured yet,fingers crossed.

Surprised people are surprised we have injuries - it's been like this for years now. We know when we get to mid-March, we have an entire XI unavailable.

On the game, part of me is pleased we didn't get thumped, part of me regrets that in the first game we didn't have 11 v 11 and part of me wishes we had rested players to avoid injuries, like Ozil's now.

Chamberlain outstanding. Vermaelen did very well against (cheating) Robben.

I would say Giroud needs to do more, but I think he can't, he's at his limit, we can't expect anything more. It's up to the manager to bring in a world-class forward this summer.

Time to focus on Spurs (a) on Sunday. Hopefully Rambo will be back.

Well Ozil injury is huge blow, HUGE so not an outcome I want

Honestly, I was kinda glad we were knocked out of the CL. Look at our squad today. He have no depth whatsoever. Another 2 games on top of all our games coming up with have been too much for our thin squad.

I'm just glad it wasn't a thrashing and Podolski scored.

Really waiting for some UEFA punishment for the homophobic poster Bayern fans put up mocking Arsenal last night. I don't care if you call it banter, it's not.

This is 2014 and that's unacceptable.

Nothing unexpected, i thought we did okay against them. Özil out for 3 weeks is a huge loss.

journalism in England is embarrassing, I know Ozil has been up and down lately but the way they are targeting him is so disgusting, I felt sick just reading few lines they wrote.  

Do they even know he is was injured? 

Chamberlain alone completed 10 successful dribbles equaling those of Robben, Thiago, Alaba, Gotze combined.

MJGunner wrote:Really waiting for some UEFA punishment for the homophobic poster Bayern fans put up mocking Arsenal last night. I don't care if you call it banter, it's not.

This is 2014 and that's unacceptable.

I bet Thomas Hitzlsperger is proud of them