MOTD: Arsenal 2-0 Bayern Munich

By on October 20, 2015

London cabbies are famous for their knowledge of their city and to an only-slightly lesser extent, of their football. Last November, I traversed across the pond to England and whilst in London caught Manchester United’s Premier League visit to the Emirates. However, that hardly touches upon the journey it took to get to the game.

By the time I arrived in London, the tickets were unsurprisingly scarce, and seemingly far overpriced leaving myself and my travel companion to scavenge wherever we could to find seats. About a week before the match, we chatted with a London cab driver, who just happened to know another cabbie who held season tickets at the Emirates. We got in touch and they were kind enough to “give” us their tickets (i.e., at a fair price).

The match in question was consistent with Arsenal’s frustrating tendency to go missing in key moments against the rest of the Big Four. The Gunners dominated the first seventy-five minutes only for United to score two goals late on. Angel Di Maria blew an opportunity to bag a third and Olivier Giroud’s late consolation goal did little to blockade the torrent of cynicism amidst the Arsenal season ticket holders.

“At the end of the day we were not efficient enough in the final third, or defensively, and we made a mistake at the back which they took advantage of,” Arsene Wenger summarized, per the BBC. “We were a bit defensively naive.” It was a familiar story for Arsenal, as our other cabbie on the road back lamented.

Nine months later, Arsenal are still prone to the same mistakes but their 2-0 home win over Bayern Munich tonight, in which The Gunners struck two late goals on the counter-attack, joins a refreshing few performances where Arsenal’s tactics adapted to their opponents’ strengths and the players responded with mettle when it mattered.

Bayern’s possession figures were so vastly overwhelming that they can be thrown entirely out the window given the scoreline. Pep Guardiola himself was befuddled about the scoreline, “I can’t explain how we didn’t score,” Guardiola lamented to the BBC. “That is the mystery of football.”

Both Robert Lewandowski and Douglas Costa found space to dominate Arsenal’s back-line but it took mental strength from the home side to contain them. The win considerably eases Arsenal’s burden going into their final three matches of the Champions League group stages and they no longer rely on a difficult result in the return leg in Munich.

Wenger’s men carved multiple chances throughout the first half, and in the seventh minute, Mesut Ozil dragged low effort from the edge of the box across goal, forcing Manuel Neuer into a sprawling save.

Arsenal should have put one away in the thirty-first minute, with Neuer somehow pawing away Theo Walcott’s six-yard header from Nacho Monreal’s cross. Aaron Ramsey could only drag a low effort wide across the goal at the far post.

Neuer’s opposite, Petr Cech, was similarly on top of his game, parrying Thiago Alcantara’s fifteen yard effort after the former Barcelona midfielder broke into the box at the end of a one-two with Thomas Muller.

On the other side of the half, Costa rifled a twenty-yard effort over the crossbar and Lewandowski arrowed a volleyed effort wide.

With the tide in Bayern’s favor, Wenger made an attacking gamble to bring on Olivier Giroud in the seventy-fourth minute for Theo Walcott. Giroud provided valuable hold-up play and allowed Arsenal’s full-backs and midfielders to release down the wings. Just three minutes after coming on, the Frenchman put Arsenal ahead, bundling home a deep free-kick after Neuer missed a rare punch. Giroud appreciated a “helping hand from destiny.”

He sent a towering header straight into Neuer’s arms with five minutes to go and Arsenal were rewarded with another goal deep into stoppage time, as a hawk-eyed goal-line assistant spotted that Mesut Ozil’s far post tap in from Hector Bellerin’s low cross had crossed the goal-line before Neuer scraped it away. It might have taken some luck and perhaps destiny, but there will be no love lost for Wenger’s tactical shifts either way.

Homepage photo credit: By joshjdss, via Wikimedia Commons

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.