Arsenal 0 - 2 Bayern Munich: Another case of "what if" in Europe

It's becoming something a familiar trend in Europe. We get to a certain point in a game where we look like we can compete, but then something happens to conspire against us and the whole thing ends on a bittersweet note. If van Persie hadn't been sent off in the 2nd leg against Barcelona in 2011, and Bendtner had put away that chance at the end, we would've gone through. If we had gotten that fourth goal against Milan at the Emirates in 2012, we may have gone through. If we had scored that second goal five minutes earlier against Bayern in 2013, we may have nicked a third. Always on the cusp of doing something amazing, but never quite getting there.

Tonight, for 35 minutes, we competed with Bayern. We started the game extremely well, had the better of the first ten minutes, even won a penalty that, although we missed, still showed that we were up for this and in this. The game levelled out once Bayern settled, and they had a clear advantage with Lahm's overlaps down the right hand side, but we weren't being overly stretched.

Then, it all changes. Gibbs goes off injured, so Monreal comes on. Minutes later, he loses Robben, who nicks the ball ahead of the on-rushing Szczesny, gets taken out and wins a penalty for Bayern. Szczesny, of course, has to see red. Plenty have misgivings about this rule, purely because it punishes teams twice for a single foul, but it's a rule nonetheless and the ref had no other choice. The only gripe Arsenal can have is that Boateng did not receive red as well, either for denying Ozil a goalscoring opportunity earlier or for two yellow cards.

Alaba missed the penalty, the Emirates roared like we had just scored and we managed to get to half-time with the score still 0-0. Deep down, though, I think we all knew that getting through that 2nd half without conceding would require a miracle. Kroos popped up and scores a worldie and you got the sense that "yeah, that's probably that". Bayern basically passed us to death after that, stretching us, making us work and creating overloads everywhere, especially down our left. More goals seemed inevitable but we actually did pretty well to deny any sort of clear opportunity for them, until the last couple of minutes when we tried for one last effort, but ended up leaving a gap at the back.

It's tough, but that's football for you. It's hard enough defending against Bayern with eleven men; doing so with ten was just never going to end any other way than Bayern scoring. We missed a penalty, had an important player go off injured and another one sent off in the first half, but we still did well against a great team; a team that beat Barcelona 7-0 on aggregate last season, and a team that went to Man City and completely schooled them. It's certainly no shame to lose, though I do wish we had a full compliment of players so we could have given the second half a proper go.

And hey, we may still pull off something special in the second leg. Very unlikely, but strange things happen in football.

The players will likely feel disheartened after that, if only because they had to put in a lot of hard yards for ultimately nothing in the second half, but they can take confidence from how they performed when we had 11 men. In the last two games, we've had a bit more pace and intensity in our game, and as long as we keep that up we'll have a strong finish to the season. Chances are we'll go out the Champions League, but at least we're still in the title race and the FA Cup, unlike last season. Any progress in the Champions League was always going to be a bonus.

Well done to Bayern, too. A fantastic team who will probably make history again this season.

I thought we did well tonight, special mention to Kos and Per. I just hope the result doesn't affect the team particuliarly Ozil. His head just went down after the penalty, i hope the rest of the team rallies around him.

Disappointing from the referee, if there's reasonable doubt, you don't kill the game.

From then on, it would have been a miracle not to concede multiple goals let alone one.

Yeah we did well until Gibbs went off, the whole team worked hard even after that goal conceded but Bayern with their possession football with 10 men is almost impossible to go against so props to the players for their hard work. Sometimes you just have to say hands down they were better and move on. CL was never our main target this season, so it isn't as heart breaking as going out of the FA Cup or being too far behind from the leagie title.

We have Sunderland, Stoke and Everton next... the positives are that Cazorla, Arteta, Giroud, Podolski, Rosicky, Gnabry - got somewhat of a rest so we should be fine I hope.

Ugh. It's always the redcards man. Always


Now well win the second leg 1-0 ffs

Or be leading 2-0 in the 89th, only for Eboue to give away a penalty

Well, 2-0 is technically a better result than 3-1 so it's not to write off our chances completely. But last season, I believe we were out of all other competitions by the time we went to Munich so it was all out, do or die.

Right now we're not in that situation so it would be tougher for the players to draw that kind of energy and belief for the 2nd leg.

What was with that last ditch attempt to equalise where Kos ran up for attack which cost us another goal?

Surely at that stage it would have been better to stay back and defend. 1 goal down is better than 2.

Adrenaline probably fuelled that. Koscielny manages to win a foul, the crowd get right behind the team and only being 1-0 down, they likely thought that this was a good chance to nick an equaliser.

The fans were brilliant all night. Even when the situation seemed hopeless, the crowd did it's best to rally the team.

The only silver lining from tonight is that that's our 1st ridiculously difficult run of fixtures over and done with

Interviewer: "One of the problems even when it was 11 v 11 was down your left hand side. Why do you think you were unable to contain that area?"

Wenger [bemused]: "Well, they're good, you know..."

Just got back in from the stadium. The result was extremely harsh, however Bayern look like they will retain the CL, champions improve and that's what they have done, they have evolved. Arsenal though were highly impressive, I just hope we have enough to do Sunderland.

Despite that they are still a work in progress, which is just insane, the CB's are probably their weakest point funnily enough. Had 11 v 11 been on the game would have been different. They struggled with players running in behind them and the gaps between the CB paring of Dante and Boateng were pretty big. Obviously they looked more assured after the sending off.

The ref was beyond poor, so many decisions we got made no sense they were almost pity like because of the red card. I've not seen any of the game again on replay, but some of the decisions did not make sense. The term "clear goal scoring opportunity" is so vague. Feel free to correct me but Robben ends up going away from the goal in order to round the keeper, but what's the difference between Ozil? Ozil would have beaten the man and he's one on one.

I also cannot understand how Boateng stayed on he should have been off after the Wilshere foul, with the penalty let's just say he was on orange.

I suppose what's most annoying is the fact that referees continue to make mistakes and there is no real accountability this is a profession, a job which can impact on the futures of clubs and decisions that carry weight in millions. In any other line of work you'd be sacked or at least explain your reasoning behind the decisions you made; and that for me is why referees do not get the respect that they want. If some sort of conscious effort was made to meditate this problem the fair enough, but every week there are games littered with incorrect decisions it's out of control.

Again correct me if I am wrong, but this the same ref who sent Fletcher off in the CL semi final, again an incorrect decision. So how can you respect someone who does his job incorrectly.

Sanogo is like Adebayor, so raw but so much potential, he can have real say on the outcome of our season, his feet are a bit hit and miss, but the guy has better natural attributes than Giroud.

Final point is for Ozil, guy needs to be left out now the way he's playing he's begging it. Massive fan of the guy but he let the team down comfortably. No excuses for the penalty at all, the miss literally sucked the life out of the crowd; credit to the team to rally around after the miss but he's so fragile. He doesn't have the mentality of a Fabregas, plus he's physically and mentally shattered although after 10 minutes you should be able to score a pen on £150K a week, so poor. I know the Iceman missed the penalty in 1999, but he always had something extra and could bring himself back into the game this guy tells me we need another player of higher quality.

Final final point Toni Kross what an immense player that goal and performance was unreal, if and I know it's a big if, if he's on the market he would be so great in this Arsenal side.

Great effort from the fans tonight:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuart_photoafc/12643716373/

Sanogo still > than Giroud.

The sooner this tie is over the better, we need to concentrate on the league and FA cup. The way we played today if we can keep it up, not many teams in the league can stand us.

Lets get back to winning ways.

Ozil dont ever take a penalty you halfhearted prick.  

Wenger please keep playing Sanogo, dont ever start Giroud.

Practice penalties, its embarrassing the amount we miss.  

Proud of the team.

very encouraging first 30 minutes
dont need to dwell on 'what ifs' and such

clearly we showed progress when everyone had that game of last year in their mind

Chambo did well in 1st half can be game changer we miss in Theo's absence

overall we defended well given ciscumstances
Mesut was never going to track ball their late runs in to the box

Sanogo shows he has mentality to maek at this level

Good stuff overall by Jack considering his recent from
hope he builds onto that and get back his best for run in
i
much rather Bayern than any other supposed contenders win it

this doesn't affect our morale and should now focus on domestic comps

Great support by our crowd well done to them as well

should Arsene have second thoughts about AOC's future position?
he would make great wide player
one with combination of directness and creativity
ala Reus but with bigger potential

Of course he should, Oxlade-Chamberlain can be our very own Hazard if Wenger sticks him on the wing (preferably on the left).

Playing him in centre midfield is a waste of potential, he might become a good player there but with Ramsey and Wilshere already in that position, where will he play? I swear if SAF or any other coach had a guy who can shoot, dribble, is strong, fast, clinical as Chambo they would try to make him a CR7 kind of player not a freakin' centre midfielder, Wenger though will try every player who can dribble and pass to make a midfielder

I just saw Flamini going at Ozil.

Brave Matty Flam our own Scotty Parker
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Jeremy Wilson ‏has written on how Ozil's confidence was affected by penalty miss amid all the expectation
http://t.co/5qODe5HmMp

Sina wrote:Brave Matty Flam our own Scotty Parker
========
Jeremy Wilson ‏has written on how Ozil's confidence was affected by penalty miss amid all the expectation
http://t.co/5qODe5HmMp

Ozil needs to be told how legends like Henry and Bergkamp acted and stop being so spoiled. He should have picked himself up after the miss there was still lots of time. I know he wanted to do so well but who cars about the miss, he should have responded better and redeemed himself.

Ozil dont worry we still love you though, you need help and I hope Wenger brings that help in the summer.

Seems like everyone is down. Naturally. Nothing positive to say from me about how we can go there and win 5-0 because that is not happening. As much as the players themselves like to talk about winning there, it is not happening so I do hope we play our best against Everton in the FA Cup rather than wasting time in Munich.

About the match. Jay and Benry has said pretty much everything. But few individual notes

-Gibbs is WC. As it has been proved time and time again. The difference when he is on the pitch and when he isn't. Like that 6-3 at the Etihaad or 5-1 at Anfield. Compared to the first half against Bayern and the 2nd. He really is becoming the next Ashley Cole and easily the best in the PL this season.

-Wilshere was fantastic. 1st half he was playing at his best and outdid Thiago and Martinez time and time again. 2nd half he was really mature tactically and did nothing wrong with what he was asked to do.

-Sanogo needs to start at the weekend so we can learn more about him and also so he can score a goal to gain more confidence.

-Can't blame Szczesny for anything. He did what he thought was right. Monreal has been terrible of late. Gibbs would have never let Robben run in like that.

-Koscielny. What a defender.

As RG just pointed out, there were some positives amid this clusterf**** of a match.

Proud of the way the boys played, had some belief we could keep it at 0-0 but 2-0 is still technically better than 3-1.

While that's gonna take something special, I am just thrilled we're still in the FA Cup and Premier League. Would focus on those.

Good write-up Jay.

Well, that was eventful to say the least. I guess we'll never know would have happened if it had stayed 11 v 11. It was disappointing that we went down to 10 men and our lost Gibbs, who was brilliant.

Ozil's penalty miss was a huge blow. He wasn't the same after that. Flamini and Koscielny were excellent, and put in incredible shifts. The whole team started brilliantly, those first 10 minutes....even Pep admitted he couldn't quite believe it.

We're up against it. And the second leg is 5 days before a trip to Spurs. I'd like to rest players but we won't.

Focus on Sunderland now.

Proud of the team. Attacked Brilliantly when we were 11 vs 11. Defended well when 11 vs 10. Should put up a good fight at the allianz and try to repeat the post-Allianz form of last season.

Well didn't post last night. Didn't want to say anything OTT or crazy or something.

Now all I can say is what happened, happened. And that's it. Tough luck for us it might be, but it happened.