Arsenal vs Bayern Munich. A highlight of the Super League afternoon. Arsenal win and we are on 15 points, enough to qualify for last year’s final rounds, giving us three games to collect enough points to finish in the top eight and miss that really nasty preliminary round that hits in February.
It wasn’t the best night for English teams last night. Man City fell to Bayer Leverkusen and that was a real shock. Newcastle were defeated by Marseille, two goals from Auba. Spurs play PSG tonight, a match that could prove to be a thrashing. Liverpool plays against PSV, a match in which they might have a chance.
The match against Arsenal is without a doubt the most watched match of the evening. It’s quality from top to bottom. The best striker in the world right now against the best defensive unit in existence. The football will be exciting. Bayern don’t actually know what a back five is and there’s no way their fans would tolerate anything outside of an all-out attacking blitz. There aren’t many teams playing Arsenal these days, not even Manchester City, so it will be interesting to see how we duel them.
I’m looking forward to seeing how we physically overpower them. It is underestimated how beastly Arsenal are man for man. I think we will have more power in almost every position. I’m also interested to see how we approach them from an open attacking perspective.
If Bayern has any weakness, it comes from set pieces. Harry Kane complains about the pre-match media trend.
“Watching the Premier League is probably a little less fun than what it has been in recent years, to be honest, but that’s kind of the evolution of football.”
“Sometimes it comes in like that and that’s the case this year. Arsenal have benefited from that and are a very strong set-play team.”
I honestly can’t understand what a fan is like, damn, I hate that every free kick, corner and throw now has a greater potential to result in a goal. So boring. Wouldn’t it be better if those set pieces were worse?
Man played under the burden of Mourinho and Conte and wants to throw insults at the way Arsenal play? Surrender my friend. You would love to play in this current Arsenal system. It would be a party. I really hope we give them nightmares tonight with long throws, low corners and cowardly free-kicks from distance. I loved those Bukayo free kicks the other day. Diagonal crosses disguised as shots. A real two for one magic there.
Bayern were terrible in the first twenty minutes against Freiburg this weekend. The German minnows had scored 54 percent of their goals from set pieces, scoring two early on and almost scoring a third. The first was a near-post move to the back post. They conceded a free-kick that was completely missed by Upamecano and Tal, before conceding a second with a simple, unchallenged header into the back post.
But Bayern scored six goals in response. Pretty loud. Although it is always worth reminding people that the financial differences between clubs in Germany are much greater. The have-nots really have nothing. Freiburg’s shirt deal is €5 million per season, Bayern’s €60 million. Bayern spends 430 million euros on wages, Freiburg 88 million euros.
What I’m trying to say here is that Bayern don’t often get pressured by the smaller teams in the Bundesliga. It’s not that competitive. As far as I’m concerned, that gives them more freshness than us, something we don’t really talk about. But needless to say, they have some good players.
A few years ago we glazed the Gnabry hype machine with wonderful thoughts of reuniting him with his home club. At his peak he was a €90 million player, now he’s 30, he’s worth €22 million and he’s not the talent he once was. They have two players we need to keep quiet tonight.
The first is Michael Olise, who, as we know all too well, is incredibly good. I knew he was talented, but I didn’t think he was capable of the world-class level he is now showing at Bayern. This season he scored twelve goals and twelve assists in 23 games. He is unstoppable. Great on the ball, a tight space machine and pure bang BANG.
They also have their own version of Max Dowman. Seventeen-year-old Karl Lennart. The attacking midfielder, who can play center or right, has set Germany on fire. He is fantastic on the ball, he has an attack to him, he is very fast and the Germans love him.
We’re going to have to keep this man under lock and key tonight. Bayern have surrounded Harry Kane with tricky technicians whose main job is to find a slower Kane in the 90 minutes so he can contribute his standard goal per game.
At the back of Bayern it is Jonathan Tah and Upamecano. Undoubtedly good defenders, but not at the level we are used to at Arsenal. I suspect Arteta will enjoy probing those two for weaknesses tonight. It’s easy to be a Bayern defender. They are rarely tested. I hope we do the killing and startle them.
I suspect Arteta will rest Calafiori and perhaps Trossard for this game. Other than that, I don’t see him wanting anyone he’s coached to get the upper hand. This game is personal. Bayern have been bullying Arsenal for years. He will want to kill our euro bogeyman and send a warning message to the rest of Europe.
Can’t wait for the game. We’re going LIVE next with me and Matt Kandela. Sub up if you want this podcast in your ears. This is for members only. X
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