Özil Showed Courage To Match His Ludicrous Ability

Match Review: Arsenal 2 Bayern 0 - Champions League 20.10.15

This will go down as one of the great European nights at the Emirates. Arsenal stood up against one of the top European sides, executed a game-plan and took the points in a make or break game. Defeat would have all but condemned us to elimination from the competition and whilst it might not have been the worst thing for our league campaign, the Champions League is the pinnacle of club football and to be knocked out at the group stage would be embarrassing.  

Wenger resisted the temptation to rotate and played an unchanged team from the victory at Watford. This meant Cech’s first appearance for us in the Champions League and he proved his class straight away, palming out a close range effort from Thiago. Make no mistake, Bayern are a sensational football team and after an initially encouraging opening for us, in which Özil forced Neuer into an excellent save, the away side took control. Bellerin in particular had his hands full with the tricky Douglas Costa and for a while we were unable to keep the ball.

It was also evident though, that Wenger knew full well this would happen and seemed to have instructed his team to keep it as tight as possible and then use the pace of Walcott and Alexis to try to pick the Germans off. The pair did their job too, causing a lot of problems for the Bayern back four. Theo had a great chance which he spurned after a nice one-two with Alexis and the latter blazed over when a corner fell to him in space. The golden chance though, fell to Theo and although he is often guilty of missing sitters, you can probably forgive him this one.

Monreal created the chance with a wonderful cross from the left. It was whipped over the two centre backs but placed perfectly for Walcott to guide into the net…or so we thought. Somehow, Manuel Neuer sprung to his left and clawed the effort away at full stretch. Neuer is probably the best keeper in the world right now, but even for his standards it was spectacular, Theo was less than six yards out and didn’t place the effort badly at all. Honestly, it’s the best save I’ve ever seen at a game I’ve been to, although it’s still not a patch on Seaman’s save against Sheffield United!

Interestingly, Wenger changed the formation in the second half, moving to a 4-4-2 system with Alexis partnering Theo. Özil and Ramsey were the two widest men, but formed two of a tight four in midfield that sat deep and protected the back line. Theo and Alexis were seemingly charged with pressing the back line and being available to take the ball forward as soon as we got it back. It also served the purpose of restraining Bernat and Lahm slightly, as Bayern were able to leave just a single defender back at times in the first half.

Another thing it served to do was conserve our rapidly draining energy levels. The first half took a lot out of us as we pressed and harried and chased the ball. Dropping deeper meant we were no longer constantly chasing the man in possession, more trying to rob him of passing options towards goal. Bayern still forced Cech into some fine saves, but they were mostly from long range efforts.

Despite our strong defensive work, we did suffer an early blow in the half, as Aaron Ramsey pulled up with a hamstring injury and immediately signalled to the bench. It’s likely he’ll miss a number of weeks now, which is a great shame for both him and the team as he was starting to find form and Wenger clearly sees him as a vital component in the team. Chamberlain seems to be the next man up in that position and we’ll certainly need him to put in improved performances from what we’ve seen recently.

Ultimately, the match was decided in the 76th and 77th minutes. In the 76th, we made one of our few mistakes of the night, allowing ourselves to be carved open. Costa slid a ball in to Lewandowski on the right of the box and the form striker in the world looked set to break the deadlock, only for Cech to tip the effort over the bar. Really Lewandowski should have scored, but Cech came up big for us in the way we were counting on when we signed him. It turned out to be crucial just a minute later.

We won a free kick about 40 yards out and Cazorla whipped in an enticing ball towards the penalty spot. It was enough to tempt Neuer to come flying out of his goal and when he missed it, super sub Giroud was there to bundle it in to the delight of the Emirates crowd. I’m not sure how much the newly bearded Frenchman knew about it, but he was exactly where he needed to be and held off Boateng to score and at the perfect time too.

The team performed magnificently after we scored, defending with determination and giving every last ounce of energy to hold on to the points. Bayern didn’t seem prepared for this eventuality and as the game moved into four minutes of stoppage time, we caught them again. It was all down to Bellerin, who somehow found the energy to sprint from his own half, intercept a pass and then charge into the Bayern area. He squared the ball for Özil and although it looked initially as though Neuer had pulled off another ridiculous save (Chamberlain inexplicably missed the rebound), the fifth official signalled to the referee that the ball had crossed the line. Replays vindicated the official and secured the much needed points for us.

It was a glorious night, a slightly ridiculous one too, given that we somehow contrived to lose our first two games. Although it’s a brilliant result, we still have a huge amount to do to get through. We certainly have to win at home to Zagreb and away at Olympiakos and depending on how Olympiakos do at home to Zagreb (they beat them away), we may need a point away at Bayern too. We certainly have to hope that Bayern beat Olympiakos and if we finish level on points with the Greeks, we’ll have to beat them by at least a two goal margin, owing to the Champions League using head to head records to separate teams. Right now we still have a huge amount to do to qualify, but on the evidence of this performance, there is no reason why we can’t achieve that and even greater things this season.

Teams

Arsenal (4-2-3-1/4-4-2)
Cech, Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Coquelin, Cazorla, Ramsey (Chamberlain 57’), Özil, Alexis (Gibbs 82’), Walcott (Giroud 74’(Y))
Subs
Macey, Debuchy, Gibbs, Chambers, Chamberlain, Giroud, Arteta Bayern

Bayern Munich (4-5-1)
Neuer, Lahm, Boateng, Alaba, Bernat, Alonso (Kimmich 70’), Thiago, Vidal (Rafinha 71’), Costa, Müller, Lewandowski
Subs
Gaudino, Ulreich, Koman, Kimmich, Rafinha, Martinez, Kirchhoff

Player Ratings

Cech - 9/10 - Made a number of outstanding saves, world class
Bellerin - 8/10 - Great character to come back from a sticky start to assisting Özil’s goal
Mertesacker - 9/10 - A colossus, his positioning is outstanding
Koscielny - 9/10 - Wanted for imprisoning Lewandowski in his back pocket
Monreal - 9/10 - Dealt with everything thrown at him, now one of the best in Europe
Coquelin - 9/10 - Our Coq was massive on the night (sorry, not sorry)
Cazorla - 8/10 - Showed grit and worked incredibly hard for the team
Ramsey - 8/10 - The injury was cruel as he was doing a great job
Özil - 9/10 - A God amongst men, battled hard as well as showing his ludicrous ability
Alexis - 7/10 - Non stop pressing, but lost the ball three times in very dangerous areas
Walcott - 7/10 - Dangerous in the first half, but less prominent in the second
Subs
Chamberlain - 7/10 - Did his job will, still not sure how he missed that rebound though
Giroud - 8/10 - Wonderful cameo, scored and also held up the ball at crucial times
Gibbs - 7/10 - Not on long but put in some important tackles and gave fresh legs

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