Arsenal 1-3 Bayern: Arsenal outpassed and outpressed
The starting line-ups
Bayern took a commanding lead following a dominant first leg performance.
Arsene Wenger chose to leave out Olivier Giroud, using Theo Walcott as the primary striker with Santi Cazorla right and Aaron Ramsey in midfield. Left-back problems forced Thomas Vermaelen into that position.
Jupp Heynckes was without Jerome Boateng and long-term injury victim Holger Badstuber, so Daniel van Buyten came in at centre-back.
Arsenal made another poor start at the Emirates, and despite a promising spell for Wenger’s side after the break, Bayern always looked the better side.
Wenger selection
This game was always likely to be won and lost in midfield, where both coaches use good passers as their deepest midfielder, creating a midfield zone blessed with great technical quality. Indeed, Wenger’s team selection recognised this – by using Jack Wilshere as the number ten, and Santi Cazorla drifting inside, Wenger was trying to squeeze an extra passer into his side, at the expense of the directness that comes with playing two wide forwards.
The other reason for this shape was that Walcott’s pace would theoretically caused Van Buyten problems – the Belgian was never the quickest, and these days is clearly a liability with his lack of speed – but Arsenal never got the ball to Walcott in the right situations.
Bayern without the ball
Scoring three away goals in a European tie is highly impressive, but Bayern were actually more impressive without the ball, making Arsenal’s build-up play slow and predictable, and denying them space in the final third. There were three things Bayern did well without the ball:
(1) Bayern pressed very well at the start of the game. Toni Kroos moved forward to join Mario Mandzukic upfront and caused Arsenal’s centre-backs problems in possession. For the first goal, for example, Kroos pressing Laurent Koscielny resulted in Arsenal conceding possession cheaply inside their own half, and Kroos eventually provided the finishing touch. Kroos and Mandzukic’s work was backed up by proactive positioning from Javi Martinez and Bastian Schweinsteiger – Martinez, in particular, kept intercepting the ball in advanced positions (for Bayern’s deepest midfielder) and Arsenal took too long to get into a passing rhythm – Bayern were already 0-2 up by the time the home side started playing.
(2) When Arsenal did manage longer spells of possession, Bayern’s shape was excellent. It was two banks of four, with Kroos and Mandzukic often dropping back into the midfield zone, leaving Arsenal’s centre-backs unopposed, but making it difficult for them to play incisive passes into the midfield. The prospect of Walcott’s pace meant Bayern couldn’t afford to play a high defensive line and therefore sat deeper than usual, and the need to stay compact forced the front two back into deep positions. They got through their defensive work admirably, and both were substituted because of the amount of running they were forced to do.
(3) Not only was Bayern’s shape good, but their defensive transitions were extremely quick – when they lost the ball, they were back in defensive positions immediately. There was one situation, towards the end of the first half, when Walcott was running one-versus-one at the last defender, but Bayern got numbers back to offer support, and in the end they crowded out Arsenal so much that it became yet another slow passing move, with the centre-backs finding themselves on the ball with eleven Bayern players between them and the opposition goal.
Arsenal without ball
Arsenal’s approach when Bayern had the ball was less positive – they generally stood off in their own half and allowed Bayern to start passing moves. This was a less exaggerated example of Arsenal’s 2-2 draw against Barcelona three years ago, when Barca’s early pressing left Arsenal shellshocked, and seemingly unable to instinctively respond with pressing of their own.
Eventually Arsenal got the idea midway through the first half and got into Bayern, but the tackling was often clumsy and resulted in a flurry of yellow cards.
Bayern also passed around Arsenal’s pressing cleverly by bringing Thomas Muller and Franck Ribery inside into central positions – which was essentially what Wenger’s plan had been with Cazorla. The Spaniard, however, was tracked inside closely by David Alaba.
Bayern right
With the ball, Bayern were most dangerous down their right. Here, Arsenal were naturally weakened with Vermaelen out of position on that side, and although it wasn’t a disaster to have a centre-back playing against Thomas Muller, who drifts into central positions naturally, Muller was left unopposed to cross to Kroos for the first goal.
The major problem, though, came from the ’second’ man running into that space. Most often it was Philipp Lahm, who typically motored forward with great pace and consistency, and simply won his individual duel against Lukas Podolski (although later it was Cazorla, when moved to the left, who let him go free to cross for Mandzukic’s goal).
However, it was also notable that both Schweinsteiger and Martinez popped up in advanced right-sided positions, which is strange for an away side in a Champions League tie, especially when they took an early lead. This probably said two things about Bayern’s approach – not only were they confident enough that only Wilshere (rather than Mikel Arteta or Ramsey) would provide a central playmaking threat, and could therefore afford to leave one midfielder protecting the defence, they saw Arsenal’s left side as weak. With Podolski staying high up and Vermaelen out of position, there were space to exploit – and Bayern did so consistently.
Average positions - both Bayern's midfielders played right-of-centre
As always, Kroos’ positioning throughout the game was fascinating. He started off playing very high, close to Mandzukic, but when Bayern went ahead he dropped into deeper positions, helping Bayern retain the ball and control the tempo of the game. At the risk of going over old ground, few midfielders possess his natural tactical understanding of matches, and he’s surely Bayern’s most important player.
Changes
Considering how obviously Arsenal were outclassed in the first half, it was a surprise Wenger waited until the hour mark before making a change. Arsenal had got a (rather fortunate) goal back and were now seeing more possession inside the Bayern half, but substitutes could have been introduced earlier.
In Wenger’s defence, his substitutes nearly had an immediate impact. Tomas Rosicky replaced Ramsey and played higher up the pitch, while Giroud’s introduction pushed Walcott right, and Cazorla went left in place of Podolski. Within a minute, Rosicky sprayed a pass out to Walcott, who crossed for Giroud, whose shot was straight at Manuel Neuer. Arsenal looked good when they tested Alaba – who is a promising left-back, and his great pace worked well against Walcott – but he can still take up some odd positions, too far away from his centre-backs.
Heynckes replaced Ribery with Robben, but a more significant change was Luiz Gustavo on for Toni Kroos, who sat deeper in that left-of-centre holding role Bayern didn’t have covered, and helped protect the lead.
Conclusion
Two key factors here – Bayern’s superior work without the ball, both in pressing and getting into a good shape quickly – and their dominance of the right, thanks to overlapping from Lahm and bursts forward from the central midfield zone. Kroos’ positioning was also important, if not decisive.
Arsenal will need to score three goals in Munich, which will be impossible if Bayern defend this effectively in the second leg.
I thought this was a missed opportunity for arsenal. In Wilshire, cazorla and Walcott they had players who could attack quickly and exploit bayerns slow back line, with Arteta and a technically gifted back line able to distribute the ball quickly and accurately. Instead they sat back and allowed Bayern to control the game in the first half, attacking slowly and without any sort of order to their attacks. All four goals were simple mistakes by individual players really and rather lucky goals, but Bayern always looked smarter and more organised in both attack and defence.
Arsenal showed what they could do in the second half with a great period of pressure, but again lost momentum to an unlucky goal. For me Walcott should never have played up front, he was frozen out of the game and never got into good positions. While Ramsey lacked the positional awareness to protect his back line alongside Arteta, though Arteta frustratingly pressed forward at the most unnecessary times. Arteta and Wilshire in deep midfield, with cazorla central, Walcott high up on the right and giroud up front would have made more sense. Giroud could have provided the pivot for arsenal to play around high up the pitch in quick transitions.
But Bayern deserved their win, despite not really playing their best football. I’m not sure if they can go all the way just yet, as they still have some defensive weaknesses.
defensive weaknesses??? 7 goals conceded in 22 bundesliga matches. i’d say they have the best defense in europe.
8 goals in UCL is what he might be reffering to
I think against the best teams that defence could get exposed, as arsenal showed in the second half, despite the awful finishing. If their midfield want to dominate the game like they can, the slow defence has to push up, if they sit back to protect their back line, then they find it harder to keep possession.
Arsenal usually create plenty of chances at home but I think they had three at most here. The goal, which was a blunder, the Giroud effort and Wilshere shooting straight at Neuer.I don’t know which exposed you are talking about. Yes, Arsenal put pressure on Bayern from around the 55-75 minute mark but without creating much really.
Bayern didn’t need to get out of 3rd gear for this tie. Mind you Boateng and badstuber weren’t available and in Van Buyten you have the 4th choice CB partnering Dante.
Wait until Boateng comes back, then how slow is their defence really? Maybe even Badstuber can have his comeback right in time for the end of the season.
And two shots on goal in a mediocre performance by Bayern is pretty alright, isn’t it?
Funny, I can’t think of many defensive lines in this competition that are quicker than Bayern’s. Van Buyten’s lackof pace to me is a red herring here, at this stage he’s basically Bayern’s Iván Córdoba and only gets into the team on account of a long-term injury and a suspension – this won’t be the case for the 2nd leg. And even so, as Michael suggested, the speed at which Bayern managed to recover from lost possession to crowding out the opposition was very impressive. Just how you saw Arsenal exposing that back-line in the 2nd half (scoring from a corner that wasn’t one doesn’t really count) I do not know.
The idea to use Walcott upfront against van Buyten was the right idea in my opinion. The best way to attack was to counter quickly and play fast out to the flanks or in behind defense for walcott but arsenal couldn’t play the necessary passes because bayern pressed their midfield and denfense too well when arsenal tried to build up. Using a pivot striker like Giroud is something Bayern are more than comfortable in playing against as this is used by many Bundesliga sides (see Dortmunds Lewandowski for example), also van buyten would have a much easier game because of his strength in the air.
I think giroud occupying van buyten could have created room for walcott moving inside from the right.walcott high up on the right would have threatened alaba’s poor positioning and bayerns high line as well. It would have given arsenal someone to hold the ball up in attacks as well, something they really lacked.
Yeah, what defensive weaknesses are you talking about? Van Buyten only played due to injuries and bookings and he had a very good game. Surprisingly good distribution. Dante was excellent as always. No need to talk about Lahm. Alaba had indeed some positional problems, but that was surprising as well. Doesn’t have them usually. If it wasn’t for some unusual misunderstanding after a corner, Arsenal wouldn’t have scored at all.
All in all: not the best the performance, but absolutely unusual.
wrt defensive weakness: Bayern’s defense didn’t allow one shot on target in the first half! …and this without parking the bus..
the biggest suprize for me is van Buyten, anticipation was never his strenght, but suddenly his positioning and timing is just perfect …(he also prepared the second goal BTW)
Bayern’s defense allowed only one real chance, the shot from Giroud, were they came to late… otherwise the movements of every player without the ball was very, very impressive…
Hahaha. You are a true Arsenal fan. Much of what you just wrote seem like hopes and dreams. The reality is that Bayern are and were the better side. The MUCH better side. Perhaps you should read the editors article again. The one thing I did agree with you on was that Bayern could have played slightly better, got out of 3rd gear, if not just in the second half as the first they were nearly perfect. But I suppose that between the ref’s incompetence and Arsenal’s lack of resistance 3-1 is an extremely respectable score to take back home while playing in Europe.
Ha I’m not actually an arsenal fan, just thought arsenal seemed capable of exposing some of bayerns, weaknesses. I did say Bayern were the better side in this game both offensively and defensively and they probably have this tie won. I was more saying if arsenal played to their strengths and with a clearer strategy, then they had the players to trouble Bayern in the likes of Wilshire and Walcott. They didn’t do this for the whole game and deserved to lose on the balance of play.
walcott hasnt got that technique and brain to trouble opposition .
He does have the pace, good finishing and good movement though.
Luck goals, really, while Bayern moved the ball to get into scoring positions, created chances that they dully converted.
I would like to hear you tell me the definition of “not a lucky goal”?
Bayern were the better side, but all the goals were rather fortunate, a miss hit cross (though great finish), a error by the goalkeeper who should have held it, a lucky corner for arsenal and for bayerns third it sort of looped in goal having hit manzukic rather than him finishing it well.
Again bayern were the better side, but the goals were rather fortunate
I disagree. Of course, you need the “fortunate” situation that your opponent does not defend perfectly in order to score. However, as regards Bayern’s first goal, I couldn’t tell whether thís was really a mishit. It was anyway a marvellous finishing, so more credit to Kroos’ technique rather than to old Ms. Luck. The second goal was only a set piece, but a powerful header from this close range is not something that a goalkeeper can hold at any times. I couldn’t tell that this was the goalie’s fault. And Mandzukic: In his position and with that cross delivered by Lahm I think he would score in 6 of 10 times at least. It may have looked rather funny but it was a very good chance and he converted though he could have done it in a more convincing way. So not really only fortunate. I agree that the Arsenal goal was slightly more fortunate (e.g. compared to the second Bayern goal) as (i) the ref’s mistake to grant a corner and (ii) the number and quality of flaws in Bayern’s defense was ridicoulusly high compared to their usual standards.
i agree bayern are so overrated and arrogant as well, that fucking coach and these clowns rummenige and uli hoeness talking like they are the winners already, they want to getb revenge for last year (hahaha) and as well to make very nice goodbye for that heinckess – it’s not gonna happen for sure
???
For the first goal the cross was intended. Kroos was completely free on the edge of the box and Müller has a great sense of space and creating chances, although he almost always looks a little clumsy in the way he plays.
The second goal was a little unfortunate but in no way an error of the goalkeeper. you can’t expect to catch a powerful header that close. after parrying its part luck of who gets there first (and part positioning beforehand, something müller does extremely well).
The third goal had an “unusual” finish but was nearly perfectly executed otherwise.
“although he almost always looks a little clumsy in the way he plays.”
that’s what i love about him! he’s just effective without doing any tricks or so. he’s a smart player who just gets his job done (a bit like gerd müller just that he had another job). all in all thats what makes bayern great this season.. they are just effective as perfectly seen in this match. key point for that is for me the instruction of müller on the right instead of robben.
and yes, the cross was intended
Bayern’s “slow back line”?! You haven’t seen much of Bayern this season, haven’t you? They play extremely high line because Boateng, Dante, Lahm and Alaba (even Badstuber) are all speed demons! You’ll hardly find a quicker back line in the whole Europe! Van Buyten inclusion made them play deeper but even here they had no problems whatsoever. The way they dealt with Arsenal was highly impressive. Playing with the handbrakes on, one got the feeling they could play for another 90 minutes without allowing a goalscoring opportunity. Asenal had only two shots on target, the lucky goal and the best chance by Giroud. Bayern defence was highly impressive.
I agree having boating back will help, but Dante is no speed demon. I was more suggesting how arsenal could have exposed bayerns defense rather than saying they actually did. I still think Bayern will face some problems in the later stages against better teams.
“Arsenal never got the ball to Walcott in the right situations”: that’s been true so often for so long that he should have left them.
I was surprised to see that Arsenal never once tried to play Walcott thru by playing aerial balls from mid field. True that bayern were better organized defensively and tracked back to their position very very well; but neither wilshire nor cazorla nor arteta tried to play aerial balls for Walcott to run off center halves.
One reason may be that bayern too defended pretty deep but i thought they could comfortably do so coz they knew arsenal would bring the ball to the final third and then try to either spray it wide play through the center. no one ever tried putting walcott or podolski through by going over the defence. With bergkamp and anekla and later with henry, arsenal had a lot of success using these tactics.
the more arsenal games I see this season the more I wonder where does aaron ramsey fit into this team???
Arsenal is totally rubbish, Wenger time to go.
bayerns defense was incredible. they seemed to have 2 defenders on every arsenal attacker.
Speaking as a Bayern supporter: Isn’t the article a little bit harsh on Arsenal? Bayern failed to seal the deal on the break after the early lead.
Bayern usually are a far better team with the ball than without it and it’s atypical for them to see that little of it – even after a two goal lead. I was kind of worried, felt like Arsenal controled the game and goals were only a matter of time, but somehow they managed to break promisingly and then miss their window of opportunity every single time.
In what way is a 3-1 away victory ‘failing to seal the deal’?
Arsenal may have controlled for much of the second half, but it was basically impotent possession – Bayern seemed content allowing Arsenal to pass it around the midfield with little penetration.
You know how whenever Swiss Ramble brought up the concept of Player Amortisation, he’d explain it with the Bolton transfer of Fabrice Muamba? Whenever zonalmarking mentions Kroos, he mentions how well he finds space. Not that I mind, of course, I just find it rather amusing. And after all it’s a point worth reiterating because it’s true. Kroos is a FANTASTIC player.
Thank you Bayern München for showing us again how pressing, defensive organisation, tactical understand (Kroos) works. The defensive tactical aspect is so high in Germany and Italy. The majority of the English teams doesn’t even know the words pressing, “Gegenpressing” (kind of pressing, immediately after you lose the ball) and so on…….
That seems like a minor point, but is, in my opinion, a very good one. When you don’t have a word for Gegenpressing, then it seems to me, there isn’t even an adequate concept of this tactic. Which is probably the most important part of Dortmund’s dominance over Bayern in the last two seasons and now, after Bayern adopted this style, of Bayern’s dominance over the BL and Arsenal.
What is that “Gegenpressing”? Can you explain it?
Essentially counter pressing, i.e. pressing in that moment the opponent “won” the ball but doesn’t really control the ball yet. It’s what Barca likes to do, putting pressure on the opponent when losing balls as the opponent usually has worse ball control than themselves. Dortmund does it as well, but a little differently: they overload areas, purposely lose the ball in that area, and often go out as the winner nevertheless by adapting/reacting more quickly.
The best way to translate it would probably be “counterpressing” or something like that.
If, say, team A loses the ball to team B, team A does not just sprint back to their defensive positions but tries to regain the ball instead, e.g. by blocking possible ways for passes/moves with the ball while attacking team B’s player who has the ball.
It is sonewhat difficult for team A to pull off without exposing gaps in their own formation – but if executed properly, it is very difficult for team B to a) keep the ball and b) use it productively. If team A knows their counterpressing, team B will often only be able to keep the ball by playing through their backline (giving team A time to take up their defensive positions and usual pressing formations), or they have to give it back via throw-ins or long balls if they don’t want to be exposed themselves. It takes considerable skills on the ball for the whole team B to play around it and launch an immediate counter-attack.
Barcelona under Pep and, in Germany, especially Dortmund over the last two years have put it to great effect – the latter breaking the record for the most points in the Bundesliga at the end of the 2011/12 season with 81 points.
Bayern have only adopted their own variation of it for this season (and it’s where Javi Martinez truly shines), and it’s becoming more and more established in tactical discussions in Germany (which unfortunately are only a fringe topic in german football discussions themselves).
Don’t know about UK or Italy though, and my favourite football tactics page is german only, so hard to back this up with articles or video examples.
What is this German tactics website?
http://www.spielverlagerung.de – a team of great authors. Surprisingly, they’re starting to give Cox a run for his money, IMHO. Unfortunately, it’s all in German.
Taking a guess here, but he probably means http://www.Spielverlagerung.de It is the best known tactics side in German.
@ZM: Are external links allowed here? If not, please block or delete the reply.
My recommendation in german football tactics would be spielverlagerung.de
As said, they’re pretty much german only – except for one article about Manchester United, dating from November 2012: http://spielverlagerung.de/2012/11/19/strengths-and-weaknesses-of-manchester-united-201213/
Can’t say how accurate it exactly is, but the stuff about german teams is usually spot on.
And while we’re at it, there is an article about different ways of counterpressing – it’s in german, but perhaps the graphics can explain something. Link: http://spielverlagerung.de/2013/01/04/unterschiede-und-deckungsarten-im-gegenpressing/ They’ve dealt with the subject frequently.
As he said “pressing, immediately after you lose the ball”. Prime examples being Barcelona and to some extend Dortmund. Its all about quickly regaining possesion after you lost it, not allowing the opponent space to secure the ball, while at the same time keeping men goalside in order to capitalise on the disorder you have just created.
In the season that Cambridge United almost won promotion the the top division they used a pressing tactic. They’d kick the ball into touch as near as possible to the opponents’ corner flag, and move their team up to press those opponents deep in their half. It worked a treat.
(My own contribution to their tactics was to suggest they sign up Gavin Hastings, the Scottish rugby player, who could kick enormous distances very accurately.)
Mainz – who are known as one of the tactically strongest teams in the Bundesliga, despite their status as a small club without big financial means – have also tried something similar against Bayern on one occasion, a few seasons ago if I remember correctly. Didn’t work out that bad.
When was that season with Cambridge United?
Only a tactical genius could win this game for Arsenal. They simply do not match up well enough with Bayern to beat them–their midfield isn’t physical enough, and that is where Arsenal win games–midfield.
Looking at the game pre-match I thought arsenal should have had more to offer, individually it was not as much of as a mismatch as it should have been.
On their left handside, Podolski can track back fullbacks with succes but that is usually when their runs are obvious not well timed like Lahms. he also had the beating of Lahm on a dribble on occasion and would have been a handful on crosses at the back post. Unfortunately Lahm timed things to perfection and got enough overloads to overwelm Vermaelen with Muller.
On the other side, as I expected Ribery did not threaten Sagna too much neither did Alaba. Cazorla Had a few promising moments especially in the opening 5 minutes were I thought arsenal looked brighter than Bayern. But just like he has this season faded away from the game.
In midfield it was all Bayern, Martinez and Schwiney protected the back four and were superb in defensive transition. I thought AW should have rotated the midfielders until he had a better mismatch, Carzola or Podolski would have provided better end product than wilshere, because he was constantly doubled, had he been deeper and someonelse as a ten one of them would have had more room. I suppose that was the purpose of Cazorla on the wing and Podolski had to provide some sort of width.
In hindsight Giroud should have started sacrifice ramsey maybe, I mean that Wilshere, Cazorla and Arteta midifeld has to work eventually right? It would have made this match the end to end thriller that makes Walcott useful
Brilliant synopsis as usual. Thank you so much for your work, long may it continue.
Interesting match. Let’s hope the second leg is nearly as entertaining.
what a team Bayern are!!! and with pep coming next season they can dominate the next 5 years or so.
kroos is unbelievable, deserves to start for Germany more
The current Bayern is essentially built around him, Kroos is Heynckes favourite player since their Leverkusen days, and with a pressing monster like Mandzukic in front of him he’s really blossoming. Low on the other hand doesn’t seem to know yet how to make effective use of him, his role is occupied by Ozil for Germany, and trying to put them together resulted in the odd never before tried tactics Low came up against Italy…
i think earlier this week you did a piece on jovetic for espn website . just compare that to the way wolcott played in this game . his contribution to develop a move was none what so ever . if arsene wenger is true coach then this should be last game walcott should play as a forward he cannot hold the ball . he has not got that technique to do the half turn or beat defenders in dribble the only thing he can do is run and chase . he is better off in that wide positions .
you had written as to how well bayern were without the ball . but my real question is didnt wenger knew that bayern would do this to them didnt he watch them .
secondly most of time this season if there is a problem in an arsenal team then it is in the centre of the pitch because they look too light and how many time have they come second best in that midfield battle .
most importantly arsenal lacked a clear plan as to what they are gonna do when they have the ball . compound to it was the unimaginative and hopeless walcott playing who was playing in that forward position which made it even more difficult .
last but not the least just like walcott wenger shouldnt play the big german mertasacker in defense who is too slow if you look closely for the first goal he was too slow to react and close down kross or even get tight on him . he could had played sagna or even jenkinson who would had been decent .
i thinks it time that wenger stop signing hopeless players and get some good players discarding old weeds .
I was surprised before the game how many people in the media were giving Arsenal a chance to come away with a result. I think Bayern are the favorites in the Champions League right now based on form considering that was the first goal they allowed in 2013. (I love how often such a useless meaningless state like that had been used lately) With Barca in such a bad spot and Real MAdrids form of late, I have a hard time figuring out who would challenge them at the moment.
Juve?
As a Bayern fan, I fear Juve, Milan, Dortmund and maybe PSG.
In the Wenger era, having to rely on Walcott (as center forward) and Podolski (nothing personal) as the primary goal threat facing the most important match of the season must be an all-time high in lack of competitivity. In my opinion the actual difference in quality between Arsenal and Bayern was reflected in the first half. One wonders when the Gunners will reach a turning point in their long downhill wandering.
zonalmarking can you put milan v barcelona analysis please, it’s much more interesting to see decline of barcelona than this poor arsenal side battling superior club and getting thrashed.
Great piece as usual. It’s worth to note that although Bayern were very solid – they were very conservative in their approach to the game.
Basically, they did what any team does really against Arsenal – defend well, counterattack well and wait for them to trip up.
Unless Arsenal can curb their tendency to let in goofy goals, then they can kiss their chances goodbye in the second leg.
On top of that, I find that all this possession that Arsenal have doesn’t really have any real output.
This is due to the lack of movement in the midfield – basically Arsenal used to pass and move but now they just pass and stop.
No creativity means low chance creation which is why they lost the match.
No Milan vs Barca? Poor.
I’ve been on holiday and still catching up with stuff. It will be up later. Cheers.
Oh come on! You answer to such childish nonsense, but don’t take part in the discussions anymore?
I do when I can – this only came up because it was flagged as spam so I had to click ‘approve’. And then I responded before others questioned where Milan v Barca was
Fair enough. I think, one could easily forget that you’re doing this not just for fun.
Yir yir excuses excuses.Wish I could just not do work and then tell my boss that the work will be done next week because am going on holiday?
I bet you do. Oh well, I couldn’t care less how you manage your work-life balance (whereas you evidently care about mine).
I’ve been doing work since I got back – I know it’s apparently a surprise but this isn’t my sole full-time job! I honestly haven’t done anything else since I got back other than eat, sleep, watch the games (in order to write about them) and do work. My suitcase isn’t unpacked!
I’m sorry this is terribly inconvenient for you, but that’s kind of how it works when one bloke runs a website on his own, no real way around it. Sorry. Your sense of entitlement (from similar posts going back literally years) is bizarre.
I had a nice holiday though, thanks
Michael,
many thanks for your great analytics 8as usual), and i truly hope that you will always find enough time for
a) great and relaxing holidays
b) doing your work properly so you can earn money
c) writing insightful and interesting articles about all the important football matches, as you do anyway
Thanks, mate!
Cheers!
I was surprised Arsenal still dominated possession(58%) despite Bayern’s pressing and improved possession play over the last year.
Heynckes had a bit of a tactical battle with Wenger on substitutions. Giroud on for Podolski meant Arsenal were getting more direct and narrow at the same time, and after the sub was made the pace of the game sped up and Arsenal were dangerous. But after Gusavo was introduced the breaks were put on and Bayern regained the momentum.
Arsenal had this much possession, because Bayern let them have it. Arsenal is prone to get counter goals and pose some threat on the counter. After Bayern was two up, they sat back getting chances to counter and making it very hard for Arsenal to counter. It’s not like Arsenal are very good at breaking down a solid defense.
What do other ZM writers, and ZM himself, think about what will happen with Wenger? Personally I think it’s time for him to go.
I read a book by Paul Merson recently, and the stuff that he talks about that Wenger done for Arsenal in the early years is fantastic; the changes to diet, training, he changed Arsenal from top to bottom, and made them into a top club who enjoyed fantastic success (Premier Leagues, FA Cups, the invincibles etc.) But he’s lost his edge, and Arsenal are getting worse, the only reason he’s still there is through sympathy and Arsenal feel they can’t say enough is enough because of all what he’s done for the club. They just have to realise that life can go on without Wenger.
Arsenal’s problem is the defence, without any doubt. How Per Mertesacker has over 80 caps for Germany is certainly beyond me. Never seen someone so slow, struggles with pace and intensity, struggles with movement and for someone of his size, he still easily gets beaten in the air by players smaller than him. He was good at bringing the ball out from the back, but recently that’s been poor from him as well.
Secondly, Vermaelen. Hugely overrated defender who actually costs Arsenal many goals. Think the Arsenal fans, and some media/journalist ‘experts’ like him because every now and then he’ll do something noticeable like steam into a 50/50, absolutely dominate a header, or something along those lines, but what doesn’t get picked up on as much is his dreadful judgement and reading of the game that actually costs the team regularly. He’s far too eager to win every ball, and he’ll charge in, going out of position, to try and win a ball he’s absolutely no chance of winning. Vermaelen and Mertesacker don’t compliment each other at all really. If you’re not sticking to a rigid shape in defence, I think it’s common to have one attacker who’s going to win things, and one who sweeps up behind, and surely it should be Mertesacker doing the attacking, and Vermaelen sweeping up behind? The attributes of both surely makes this more logical? With so many fundamental flaws in you’re 2 centre backs, you won’t stand a chance.
Lastly, I think Arsenal have to get Abou Diaby and Tomas Rosicky in the side. I think Arteta is a good player, but he literally offers the side only one thing, and that’s the ability to keep the ball, surely Diaby offers much more? Diaby is good on the ball, plus he offers very good physical attributes, he can drive from deep, gives the side more of a presence in the midfield as well. Also, I’d take Rosicky over Cazorla. If Rosicky wasn’t injured so much, I genuinely believe he’d be one of the best midfielders in the league, I think he’s that good. Part of the problem for Arsenal on Tuesday was that they basically isolated Walcott, yes Bayern had a good shape, but there was no one trying to get between the lines of Bayern’s midfield and defence to try and play the ball through that Walcott was looking for. I think Cazorla is far too happy to be more of a keep ball player as opposed to playing the killer ball, whereas I think Rosicky is very good at playing the killer ball, plays well between the lines, and can also dribble well. Last season he had a regular run in the side towards the end of the season, and he was actually inspiring Arsenal to play some of the best stuff we’ve seen from them in quite some time.
Well played to Bayern though, good two banks of four, and clinical going forward, stand a good chance of going all the way again.
It’s a difficult decision as an Arsenal fan regarding Wenger leaving.
For one part, the side looks unorganized every match, there’s no structure and it just seems like most of the team isn’t on the same page (specially the defense).
On the other side, I feel like Wenger needs another year to make this current team work. The main problem over the last 2 years is that Arsenal have been rebuilding. Lost Fabregas, Nasri and Clichy(to a lesser extent, but he rarely got injured which is a current problem with gibbs)one year, the next RVP and Song, so it’s been difficult for the team to build up chemistry.
The last time arsenal had players that had good chemistry and a good understanding in the way they played was in 2011. It showed because they reached the Carling Cup final, beat Barcelona in the first leg of the CL and were the closest rival to MU for the league that year until a series of bad results demoralized the team. After exiting the CL and FAcup coupled with the CC lost they only picked up 12 points from the last 12 games.
Another thing is, I think your description of those players is not entirely accurate.
Mertesacker isn’t as bad as you make him out to be, his reading of the game is his best quality. The fact that Arsenal play a high line just emphasizes his biggest weakness.
I will agree that Vermaelen is a reckless defender but it’s just highlighted by the system as well. I wouldn’t mind replacing him as I think Koscielny + Mertesacker are a better partnership but he is club captain.
On Arteta, he’s been one of the better players these last 2 years, he’s a great at distributing the ball and a great leader in the side. Rotation of players needs to happen more often because I agree that Diaby offers something different to other players.
As far as Cazorla and Rosicky, this is the point that I find myself in most disagreement with. Cazorla, in my opinion, has looked tired for a couple of months now, it didn’t help that the whole side’s creativity depended on him at the beginning of the season. His biggest assest by far is how vertical he is, always looks for the killer ball. In comparison I think Rosicky’s final ball actually lacks, he’s great at driving forward and keeping the ball moving but he is not as effective as Cazorla in setting up teammates for scoring chances. Rosicky is great at turning away from markers and speeding up transitions with his drives forward, not to mention the way he dispossesses opponents occasionally.
This game was a blueprint for failings of this Arsenal side. Ofcourse, they got trashed many times during this season, even by much smaller teams than Bayern, but there was always some sort of ‘defensive sloppiness/lucky goals/bad luck/team-not-clicking-yet’ stuff. Well, now you simply cannot offer any excuses anymore. It’s just ‘B’ class team, and Bayern was there to prove it to all of us. First of all, and you might argue with me, but Podolski is, simply, tactically outdated player. If he was of any use to Bayern, the would’ve kept him, be sure about that. He is asked to play to what is essentially Cazorla’s preferred role – cutting in from the flanks. He’s simply not that kind of guy. He may be in his prime age as a footballer – but he was brought as a player, and came into limelight, as a left-side midfielder in outdated, rigid 4-4-2 system. You can see this guy’s average position after every game, he’s always in midfield area. But what he does is that he always plays fast vertical one-two’s and sprints forward, with no gain to the team, ever. This is exactly opposite of what modern winger is supposed to do. On the other hand, Podolski has got a killer left foot drive, and could be immediate goal threat if used accordingly. But when this guy has most assists in Arsenal so far in this campaign, it doesn’t do credit to him – it just shows how deep this Arsenal team’s setup is rotten. I could go on and elaborate on other players. My point is – Arsenal may not have players, or ‘big names’ to compare with other top squads, but they do have immaculate talent, and they should use it properly. If I look at the setup against Bayern, there’s Walcott, Podolski, Ramsey, Arteta, all playing out of their best positions. Not to mention Vermaelen at left back, due to Gibbs injury. So, that’s almost half of the team, asked to play in uncomfortable roles. Now, take that team to play with Bayern, a team that bred and bought players for specific style of play and specific positions in the team… You can only go that far.
Well, Podolski’s position is near the middle because he is asked to protect the left back area most of the times which is Arsenal’s weakness generally. See his games for Germany and you’ll know how effective he is on that side. He’s great in counter attacks, giving protection to the left back and getting into those goalscoring positions.. It’s the same reason he has scored the most goals for Arsenal in this Champions league.
It’s the coach who has to use the tactics effectively. Podolski should be played centrally in my opinion. In fact, he has the best goalscoring instincts among all the Arsenal players and can hold the ball very well. Wenger would do well to play him as the center forward for the rest of the season with Walcott on the right and Cazorla down the middle.
A further issue is that video games usually are serious naturally with the most important focus on learning rather than leisure. Although, there is an entertainment aspect to keep your sons or daughters engaged, every game will likely be designed to improve a specific skill set or course, such as numbers or scientific discipline. Thanks for your write-up.
Great analysis. When Bayern substituted Gustavo for Kroos, Gustavo actually took up Schweinsteiger’s spot in defensive midfield, while Schweinsteiger moved into Kroos’ spot higher up the field with the intention of controlling the ball higher up the pitch. This seemed to work perfectly, as Bayern were much more settled after this.
Well, I kinda am! I could have stopped doing the site a while back, but really enjoy doing it. That said, other stuff has to come first sometimes
Well, that’s what I meant
I was just wondering what your opinion on “Gegenpressing” (chasing the ball and cutting passing options collectively immediately after you lost it, instead of dropping back) is. I remember an interview with a German tactics blog some months ago, where the interviewer asked you about it, but it seemed you were kind of in a hurry. Do you think this is something more teams should be doing? It seems to me, the most successful teams with a possession based approach use it. It’s kind of hard to implement, because it’s to a high degree a mental thing, but when it is applied properly, it is a very efficient way to a) win the ball and b) start counter attacks.
I think the “Gegenpressing” has been news in the last years, the successful sides apply it more and more these days. The really innovative thing is to get the players back in the defenisve lines as quckly as possible – something Heynckes calls “defensives Umschaltspiel” (sth like defensive change play) – and this is exactly where Dortmund has to improve this season: They are conceding too many goals because their opponents gradually apply the Gegenpressing themselves, and Dortmund isn’t prepared for that.