Bayern Munich vs Arsenal

Bayern Munich cruised the first leg at The Emirates, after an Ozil bottle-job, but Arsenal's last performance at Allianz Arena was impressive, so tonight's game could be interesting. I'm sure the fact that Arsenal have beaten Bayern at their own ground before will play on the minds of the Bayern players.

Can't call it, really, but I feel if Bayern score first, it's game over.

It'll be about 3-0.  The experience of last year will be on the minds of Bayern's players, they'll make sure it doesn't happen again and beat Arsenal into a fine paste.

ResurrectionRooney wrote:It'll be about 3-0.  The experience of last year will be on the minds of Bayern's players, they'll make sure it doesn't happen again and beat Arsenal into a fine paste.

I hope to enjoy and laugh at a demolishing of Arsenal tonight. It's the only reason I'll be watching it.

My body is ready.

Arsenal will get hammered

Shrewd tactics from Wenger, all 11 men behind the ball to defend Arsenal's 2-0 deficit.

Funny how he's playing 5 attack-minded players then.

SBSP wrote:Funny how he's playing 5 attack-minded players then.

It doesn't matter how many attack minded players you have if you put them all in defensive positions.

RR is right, wtf, there's been 10 Arsenal players behind the ball for the majority of the game. Pathetic.

Think that's about it.

Oh. 1-1

Finally started showing some fucking balls an hour too late.  They do this every single year.  Get absolutely blitzed then come mount a futile comeback attempt and fall short.  Wankers.

Arsenal bottle it in the knock-out stages of Europe, again.

Scott_LFC wrote:

ResurrectionRooney wrote:It'll be about 3-0.  The experience of last year will be on the minds of Bayern's players, they'll make sure it doesn't happen again and beat Arsenal into a fine paste.

I hope to enjoy and laugh at a demolishing of Arsenal tonight. It's the only reason I'll be watching it.

My body is ready.

  

Keyser Söze wrote:

Scott_LFC wrote:

I hope to enjoy and laugh at a demolishing of Arsenal tonight. It's the only reason I'll be watching it.

My body is ready.

  

Quite enjoyed it, tbh. It's always fun to watch Arsenal's annual bottle-job.

I don't think anyone expected Arsenal to go through. It's hardly bottling.

Arsenal have really surprised me with the amount of mental strength they've shown in the last month or so. I expected them to get raped over and over again after their humbling at Liverpool but they've knocked out two of the best sides in England in the FA Cup, drew with United at home and got a pretty respectable result against Bayern.  It's just a shame Wenger is such a tactical inept that he tries to defend a 2-0 defeat.

It's OK SBSP, we did bottle it in the game Scott watched. Me and you probably watched a fake game I mocked up.

SBSP wrote:I don't think anyone expected Arsenal to go through. It's hardly bottling.

Of course it's bottling. They should thrive on being the underdog and raise their game and play with no pressure on getting a win, because no-one expects them to. Instead, they transform from a silky passing team, to a team that can't string 4 passes together.

Nobody expected Liverpool to beat Juventus or Chelsea on the way to Istanbul. Nobody expected Liverpool to win the final against AC Milan. But guess what? We still did it.

See Celtic's win against Barcelona for a perfect example. Celtic played out of their skin and scraped a win against the mighty Barcelona. Arsenal don't seem to be capable of grinding out that kind of win.

Yes, because Celtic's win against Barcelona and Liverpool's comeback against Milan happen all the time   

And yet, every season, Arsenal think they can win the Champion's League

Keyser Söze wrote:Yes, because Celtic's win against Barcelona and Liverpool's comeback against Milan happen all the time   

If you want to win the Champion's League with a squad like yourselves, then those kind of wins are required. Chelsea pulled it off at the Nou Camp and went on to win the Final. Inter Milan did the same too, with Mourinho's famous bus. Liverpool surprisingly beat Juventus and squeezed a win against Chelsea on the way to Istanbul.

It's about mental strength and belief. Arsenal don't seem to possess any genuine belief in Europe's knock-out stages. They are beaten before they even walk on the pitch.

You have the same mentality against Man United.

The win in Istanbul was a freak result with some suspicious refereeing.

Moriarty wrote:The win in Istanbul was a freak result with some suspicious refereeing.

Tbh, I think it was more about momentum and belief. The crazy YNWA at half time, the Gerrard goal and his attempt to rev the fans up, it was pure momentum. The players themselves believed that it could be done. You could see it in their faces after Gerrard's goal, after Smicer's goal, after Dudek's double save.

As for refereeing decisions, Gerrard's dive in the box was debatable, but then again, we were denied a penalty (?) in the first half seconds before AC Milan broke and scored a goal. I remember Garcia or Baros being involved in that. Can't remember exactly what happened, though. Maybe a handball?

Scott_LFC wrote:

Keyser Söze wrote:Yes, because Celtic's win against Barcelona and Liverpool's comeback against Milan happen all the time   

If you want to win the Champion's League with a squad like yourselves, then those kind of wins are required. Chelsea pulled it off at the Nou Camp and went on to win the Final. Inter Milan did the same too, with Mourinho's famous bus. Liverpool surprisingly beat Juventus and squeezed a win against Chelsea on the way to Istanbul.

It's about mental strength and belief. Arsenal don't seem to possess any genuine belief in Europe's knock-out stages. They are beaten before they even walk on the pitch.

You have the same mentality against Man United.

We don't expect to win the CL, if you look back at the thread on this forum when the group stage draw was made then you'll see almost all of us thought we'd finish 3rd and no one thought we would even get a draw in either leg vs Bayern let alone win the tie. Also, you're bringing one-off examples that happened years ago   Don't you understand that these results aren't likely? We've had a few "1st English team to win here" moments in the CL.

And if you're going to be throwing "tbh" around you mention that "tbh" we've had the best team in the world in 4 of the last 5 CL rounds hence why we get knocked out early.

Keyser Söze wrote:

Scott_LFC wrote:

If you want to win the Champion's League with a squad like yourselves, then those kind of wins are required. Chelsea pulled it off at the Nou Camp and went on to win the Final. Inter Milan did the same too, with Mourinho's famous bus. Liverpool surprisingly beat Juventus and squeezed a win against Chelsea on the way to Istanbul.

It's about mental strength and belief. Arsenal don't seem to possess any genuine belief in Europe's knock-out stages. They are beaten before they even walk on the pitch.

You have the same mentality against Man United.

We don't expect to win the CL, if you look back at the thread on this forum when the group stage draw was made then you'll see almost all of us thought we'd finish 3rd and no one thought we would even get a draw in either leg vs Bayern let alone win the tie. Also, you're bringing one-off examples that happened years ago   Don't you understand that these results aren't likely? We've had a few "1st English team to win here" moments in the CL.

That's not how I remember it at all. I remember Arsenal fans saying they'd easily finish 1st or 2nd in the group. Particularly Theo.

Either way, that's not really the point I am making. I don't care what the fans expect. I'm just highlighting Arsenal's mental frailty in the Champion's League knock-out stages.

Yeah, and I see that as having 4 chances to pull of an upset and progress to the latter stages, and 4 failures. Weak mentality. Back when we were in the Champion's League, from 05-09, we were consistently pulling off upsets. Yet you seem to use the "they are a better team than us" as an excuse for always being knocked out early? Come on.

Scott_LFC wrote:

Moriarty wrote:The win in Istanbul was a freak result with some suspicious refereeing.

Tbh, I think it was more about momentum and belief. The crazy YNWA at half time, the Gerrard goal and his attempt to rev the fans up, it was pure momentum. The players themselves believed that it could be done. You could see it in their faces after Gerrard's goal, after Smicer's goal, after Dudek's double save.

As for refereeing decisions, Gerrard's dive in the box was debatable, but then again, we were denied a penalty (?) in the first half seconds before AC Milan broke and scored a goal. I remember Garcia or Baros being involved in that. Can't remember exactly what happened, though. Maybe a handball?

Have you never rewatched the game?  Shevchenko had a goal wrongly disallowed for offside in the first half, Smicer's goal was wrongly awarded even though the assistant raised his flag, Gerrard dived to win a penalty and Dudek's encroachment and unsporting conduct on the penalties was allowed to go unpunished.  If you are prepared to resort to cheating and enjoy incredible luck from a referee you can overcome a better team.  If you don't get the luck, try not to cheat and you're tactically inept you have no chance.

Something needs to be done at Arsenal. Wenger is a brilliant manager but he can't take the side any further...that's a fact. Buys players who are injured, buys a midfielder when they need a striker. Arsenal fans deserve better. Out in round 16 every season and 4th/3rd every season.

Nothing seems to be changed. I don't think Arsenal are that far away from having a really good squad which could do something in Europe.

Where is plan B up front for Arsenal? Why isn't Wenger spending money? He had chances to do it and spent £42m on a player they don't really need.

I can't believe any Arsenal fan can defend Wenger.

ResurrectionRooney wrote:

Scott_LFC wrote:

Tbh, I think it was more about momentum and belief. The crazy YNWA at half time, the Gerrard goal and his attempt to rev the fans up, it was pure momentum. The players themselves believed that it could be done. You could see it in their faces after Gerrard's goal, after Smicer's goal, after Dudek's double save.

As for refereeing decisions, Gerrard's dive in the box was debatable, but then again, we were denied a penalty (?) in the first half seconds before AC Milan broke and scored a goal. I remember Garcia or Baros being involved in that. Can't remember exactly what happened, though. Maybe a handball?

Have you never rewatched the game?  Shevchenko had a goal wrongly disallowed for offside in the first half, Smicer's goal was wrongly awarded even though the assistant raised his flag, Gerrard dived to win a penalty and Dudek's encroachment and unsporting conduct on the penalties was allowed to go unpunished.  If you are prepared to resort to cheating and enjoy incredible luck from a referee you can overcome a better team.  If you don't get the luck, try not to cheat and you're tactically inept you have no chance.

He only supported Liverpool from 2007.

ResurrectionRooney wrote:

Scott_LFC wrote:

Tbh, I think it was more about momentum and belief. The crazy YNWA at half time, the Gerrard goal and his attempt to rev the fans up, it was pure momentum. The players themselves believed that it could be done. You could see it in their faces after Gerrard's goal, after Smicer's goal, after Dudek's double save.

As for refereeing decisions, Gerrard's dive in the box was debatable, but then again, we were denied a penalty (?) in the first half seconds before AC Milan broke and scored a goal. I remember Garcia or Baros being involved in that. Can't remember exactly what happened, though. Maybe a handball?

Have you never rewatched the game?  Shevchenko had a goal wrongly disallowed for offside in the first half, Smicer's goal was wrongly awarded even though the assistant raised his flag, Gerrard dived to win a penalty and Dudek's encroachment and unsporting conduct on the penalties was allowed to go unpunished.  If you are prepared to resort to cheating and enjoy incredible luck from a referee you can overcome a better team.  If you don't get the luck, try not to cheat and you're tactically inept you have no chance.

Plenty of times. Shevchenko was offside. The linesman didn't raise his flag. Whether Gerrard dived or not was debatable. Had he stayed on his feet, he would have been clattered into anyway. We had a penality disallowed and AC Milan scored from the resulting counter-attack.