Arsenal 3 – 1 Bayern Munich
I don’t know about you, but I am still getting used to this new era of consistently good Arsenal performances and successes. They are so frequent now that we are becoming addicted to them and, like a gambling addiction, we just cannot wait for our boys to play again, to win again, to satisfy our unquenchable hunger. The team keeps delivering and with key players returning to the squad the sky seems the limit. But we need to keep our feet on the ground, of course, and focus on OGAAT only.
Last night performance against the German champions was such fantastic evidence of the true progress Arsenal have made under Arteta. Gone are the days of fearing these sort of encounters. It does of course make a big difference whether we play the likes of Atletico or Bayern at home or away, and I would like to see us taking these teams on away from Ashburton Grove rather sooner than later, but there is also the factor of home crowd expectations and pressure; and these the boys are managing ever so well these days.
**Eight quick observations:**
1. **Rice** (supported by the solid rock Zubimendi) is starting to realise that he is **the one to lead this team to the final stage of its development**. Systems and culture are great, teams need to play like a unconquerable team, quality players are needed and so is depth of squad, but at some point a player in midfield needs to lead a team to glory. All great teams had such a player. Declan is that player for us, and his second half performance was a statement to the rest of Europe and the PL. Rice is ready to burst to the summit.
2. Bayern tried to play their football against us, but with just two shots on goal in the entire match we can safely say that they failed. It was another demonstration of **Arsenal’s ability to control games, set the tempo and (gradually) overcome an opponent**. The Germans started quite strong but they soon realised that they needed something very special to crack us. Once Arsenal warmed up, we slowly became stronger and stronger and the game seemed to simply pass Bayern by the longer it took; like the boys dozed them to sleep. This is all down to Arsenal’s tactics and application of Arteta’s instructions.
3. The **set-pieces looked even more impressive** against players who have not experienced anything like it in the Bundesliga. If Merino had had a bit more focus and luck he would have scored a brace last night. I bet the Bayern defenders and goalkeeper will have recurring nightmares of last night’s set-piece bombardment!
4. Miles did struggle at times but I loved the way **the team** sensed this and made sure they doubled up as much as possible. Arteta made the right decision to sub him after 68 minutes, which did only strengthen our defence but also led to the all important second goal.
5. I thought Raya, who actually had little to do with his gloves, did very, very well with his feet. **His decision-making and distribution of the ball were a joy to watch – a class apart last night.**
6. Once again, we used both flanks very well, which is a huge difference to last season. Teams focus hard on Saka by denying him space and fouling him as soon as he breaks free. But we do need to feed him better balls to use him better. The good news is **Odegaard is back**, and we all know how well he is able to combine with Bukayo; but the big question is will he fit back in to the team now that Eze is so settled in?
7. **Gabriel, who?!** I really thought we would struggle more without Big Gabby, but **both Hincapie and Mosquera just fit like a glove** into our defence. It is quite astonishing how unaffected our defending is by the absence of such a big player as our Brazilian monster.
8. I want to finish with **that smile of Madueke** after he scored, AND **yet another incredible CL goal by Martinelli.** These boys started on the bench but what a difference they made straightaway in the game. Martinelli just seems to fly rather than run when we can break from the back, and how deadly he is every time! Noni made sure that a fine cross by Calafiori was not wasted, and I am sure that every Arsenal supporter with a human heart was as delighted as he was with his ever-so-important goal. Only good things happen to man who can beam a smile like Noni does.
**By TotalArsenal.**