Wenger’s sugar coating does not hide Arsenal capitulation

I am not going to disagree with some of the points made by Arsene Wenger after Arsene Wenger lost 5-1 to Bayern Munich in the Champions League (AGAIN) because the Frenchman was right to pour scorn on some of the decisions made by the Greek referee and his unusually involved team of assistants at the Emirates Stadium.

Yes we should have had a penalty for a first half foul on Theo Walcott that could have seen us two up at the break. The fact he was going away from goal or that his touch may have taken the ball too far should not matter a bit. He was fouled and it should have been a spot kick to Arsenal.

The penalty that Bayern got was soft in the extreme as well as Lewandowski was looking for it and threw himself after bumping Koscielny and to change his mind and send our defender off after initially showing yellow was strange and unfair in the extreme, so there I have sympathy for Wenger.

But all of that is really just sugar coating and does not hide the fact once again the Gunners collapsed under pressure. The boss suggested that chasing a four goal deficit with a man down was a major factor in the heavy defeat but it was another collapse in Munich that put us in that position in the first place.

We also lost to the same team by the same scoreline in last season’s group stage so you can see there is a pattern forming and no amount of talking about a poor night from the officials is going to cut much sway with the Arsenal fans who have to bear this sort of pain on a regular basis.

Bob.

21 Comments

  1. No SUGARCOATING, Arsene has to leave and he should take his son’s along with him ( Walcott, Ramsey, Giroud, Gab, Sanogo, Debuchy, chamberlain ,Le Coq)

    1. Slightly unfair – Ox has been putting in a shift for the last few games, and at least Walcott and Ramsey didn’t disappear last night. I was dreading Ramsey back on again, but he wasn’t too bad. AW’s not managing the team properly , from tactics, to rotation, to positioning of players to giving players responsibility. Because a few relocations worked for him in the past, TH14 being the most notable, he think he can do it with everyone, and he simply can’t. Maybe he just has too much on his plate and has become a jack of all trades and a master of none.

      1. Theo had a good game in the 1st half, he seemed a bit quieter in the 2nd half but he was trying to get back help defend and then get forward.
        Alexis was not as good as Theo in his def duties and Alexis did make the defensive error leading to a goal…

        I’m not saying Theo is as good as Alexis but he had a good game and didn’t make some of the mistakes Alexis did and he still got moaned at????

        It was nice to read you supporting them ^.^

        I would say that Wenger has too much to do now and he is looking more like a jack of all trades, as you put it.
        I will put that change down to Dein leaving Arsenal.

        Combos do work, teamwork can allow for greatness… and I honestly do believe that is what Wenger had with Dein.

        When it comes time for a new manager to take over in real life and not our dreams then I want that manager to have great support and the club to have the infrastructure to allow the new manager to focus on the team and the tactics.

        Just compare David Dein to Ivan Gazidis…

  2. I wish Bayern beat us fair and square so that we don’t have any excuses.
    I wish it was Bayern that got a man sent off, and had all the decisions go against them, but still managed to beat us, just to show how useless a team we are at the moment.
    Who in their right minds will think a team that lost at home to Watford could overturn a 4 goal deficit against Bayern?

    1. We needed to go in at the break two goals up. If that had happened I believe Bayern would have shown some nerves, and would have been in disarray if a third had hit the net.

      We did come close to having that scenario, but for the referee totally siding with Bayern. And don’t forget that it is they who should have been down to ten men with that challenge from Vidal, a Prem ref would have shown you the showers, so I was gobsmacked a CL ref did nothing while in plain view. That, along with the penno decisions, and the strange/soft calls, he did influence the game too much.

      1. Tell me I’m wrong about the sending off. Ref gives penalty and yellow card, then back line Referee said Koshelny was the last man which is an automatic Red that’s why he changed. Right or wrong. CB

  3. I feel like an idiot after the first goal thinking we could win 4-0. I must have been in La La Land (love the film BTW)

    Wenger almost always blames anyone but himself. Referee, pitch, weather, tiredness, linesmen

    Wenger Out (even if we win the FA Cup, which is the only trophy we have a small chance of winning)

  4. Hi fellow gooners i am new to posting on this site although i have been sitting on the sidelines for a while now reading your posts. I was neither a wkb or aob but neutral in admiring how wenger had transformed Arsenal from the boring times to the invincibles. Sadly i have to say it is time for him to go before he truly taints his legacy ! I have supported the gunners from the bertie mee great times of the early seventies but never ever have i felt so saddened, disilusioned or embarassed to be a gooner ! Ffs its bad enough my spud mates laughing at me now even my west ham mates have joined the chorus. We have become a laughing stock in the footballing world..even my french nephew has texted me gloating over our demise. Change must happen…please Arsene just go with a bit of pride and dignity.

  5. It makes it worse you mean. Saying things like:”the club is in great shape” is irresponsible and frustrating as he seems oblivious to how we feel for the recurring problems both on and off the field, the results, failures and lack of major honors since the emirates has been in place. We get that for the 1st couple of years we had to hold tight and be financially responsible, we understood

    But since 2014 the year as to which we were supposed with Bayern we seem to have gone downhill. Our contests with Bayern show the gap as widen on the field anyway. Protecting the players doesn’t help do the performance and how when it got difficult they let fo warrants such a thing? And again deflecting blame to the referee…sure his decision was kind of shocking but this kind of happen to us often, players must know and be prepared for such a thing and it doesn’t excuse the overall performance over the 2 leg…10-2, please wake up.

    What you should’ve done Arsene is apologize to the fan who paid there hard earned money for such a performance, to explain that even though 1 decision wasn’t correct, that the defeat and overall score was well deserved and unacceptable for a club like Arsenal to find themselves in such as situation. That it should never happen and that you can only blame yourself and the players for such a showing.

  6. I must admit that the team was playing exceptionally well for the first half of the game. Alexis was not at his best and the other players stepped up. My question is though, why play with so much guts after messing up the first leg rather than trying to be composed? Even a 3-1 defeat away would have left us in a better position.

    Arsenal were unlucky in yesterday’s game, like we were in Munich. Having loss our best defender make us pay the price. Positive to note: Ox is a great player to have. He just need to be consistent which is everyone’s problem at Arsenal.

    1. You’re right about us playing well for 45 minutes, and you said it yourself, they can only do it once the 1st leg is completely blown. Same thing happened against AC Milan, Monaco, and Bayern in the past. It’s more than just one tie, one game, one squad. These same instances have been happening for almost a decade. Arsenal can only play well when the pressure is off. We only gather ourselves after the title race is out of reach too. Watch us have a good April and May, because all major trophies will be gone, and the only thing left to fight for will be a top 4 position. That’s all the board wants the club to achieve anyways.

  7. Wenger is right that the luck wasn’t with us last night but let’s remember, we were effectively trailing 2-5 before bad luck kicked in.

  8. Omg, while we were getting a spanking at home to bayern, lincoln city were handing out a confidence building 4-0 thrashing away at braintree lol.
    Of course it could not conceivably happen…..could it ??

  9. The 1-1 was squarely on the ref who was horrible. How can Eufa allow refs like that in charge of CL deciders???

    Everything that happened after the red card was on Wenger IMO.

    Not subbing right away to bring on fresh legs
    Not putting Gabriel on for Kos
    Putting on Ozil who never defends well
    Not telling his team to defend and ride out the game – nobody expected us to win 6-1 after the unfair penalty and red card – allowing 4 more goals was unacceptable and showed stupidity IMO.

  10. Not only was the shoreline the same but also the loss of Kos in both games, which proved decisive.
    Walcott’s comments today suggested that there were problems in the camp last week, stating that “we can’t be fighting amongst ourselves” and that issue needs to stay in the dressing room and needs to sorted out by the players and staff. He also said that these kind of incidents are likely to happen at every club but it rarely happens at Arsenal.

  11. I’ve been a gooner for 66 years (since I was 10). I chose not to watch last night’s game (but recorded it) and felt really down when I saw the final score. However the masochistic part of me decided to watch the recording this afternoon. Despite the 10-2 deficit, I strangely feel much more encouraged now than when we lost 5-2 in Munich. I thought that we played better in the 1st half than for some time. We looked sharp and pressed well and were playing with pride and passion. Of course all of this was undone by a ridiculous refereeing decision. I don’t dispute the penalty decision, but the challenge would not have merited a yellow card anywhere else on the field.

    Whilst I want to see change at the top like many others, I feel that this is the time when we fans must get behind the team for the remainder of the season, whatever the outcome. I can fully understand the frustration of the paying fans (sadly I can no longer go along to the Emirates) but as a fan for so many years, I believe it is now more than ever that we must give the players our full support. Arsenal ARE a great club and will ALWAYS be a great club imo, despite the board and the manager. I admit to being old, but my ideas on how the game changes and develops are not. We desperately need change, but I urge all fans to unite in their support of the team as it’s now when they need it most.

    1. For me, and I believe many others, that is why I feel the way I do about the team at the moment. I know they are a very capable team, and with the team selection we have available, are very capable of competing with whatever is out there. That is why people feel so frustrated, that they can perform the way they did in the first half, yet on a number of important occasions, such as against Watford, Manchester City, Chelski and Liverpool, simply don’t turn up and don’t put in the effort. Walcott is very synonomous with the team performance as a whole.

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