Bayern Munich 1-0 Arsenal: A narrow defeat that told us a lot

Match report – Player ratings – Arteta reaction – Video

Arsenal’s Champions League run is over after a 1-0 defeat to Bayern Munich last night. Mikel Arteta made some changes to his team, starting Takehiro Tomiyasu at left-back, bringing Jorginho back into midfield which pushed Kai Havertz up front, and using Gabriel Martinelli on the left.

Before the game, Bayern made it clear they were going to try and play a counter-attacking game, so it wasn’t a surprise to see them let Arsenal have a lot of the ball early on. Thirteen minutes in, we’d had 70% possession, with a couple of tame efforts from Kane at Martinelli at either end. It was cautious from both sides, understandable with so much at stake.

Despite that, Bayern demonstrated their threat with moments of danger. Leroy Sane got behind Tomiyasu, only for Gabriel to block at the near post, and a break down their left saw Ben White do brilliantly to get back and block what would likely have been a certain goal for Noussair Mazraoui. Jamal Musiala tested Raya with a shot from outside the box, while at the other end Martin Odegaard’s deflected effort had Manuel Neuer scrambling to make a save.

Our best chance of the half, and ultimately of the night, fell for Martinelli in the 31st minute. He took it first time with his left foot, but I think he had more time than he first thought. Could he have taken a touch and gone with his right? Possibly, but I understand why he did what he did. Unfortunately, while on target, it was straight at the keeper.

There were moments in the first half where we got ourselves into good positions, but the combinations around the box just didn’t come off. The final pass to set someone free just wasn’t quite there. Still, I don’t think 0-0 at half-time was bad by any means, and I suspect in their planning for this game, that was an eventuality Mikel Arteta and his coaching staff would have targetted. In a tight European tie away from home, it was a decent position to be…

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Author : arseblog

Publish date : 2024-04-18 06:24:17

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