I do not think that we can ignore the fact that Arsenal were under the cosh from the start of our Champions League match away to Bayern Munich last night. Arsene Wenger may talk about us having managed to control the rampant German champions for about 50 minutes but I do not buy that.
We were extremely lucky, in my opinion, to be level at the break, as for most of it the Arsenal players were chasing shadows and getting nowhere near their opponents while also failing to do anything of note with the ball when we had it ourselves other than turn it straight over to Bayern.
Having said all that, we cannot ignore the fact that it was after Koscielny picked up an injury and was replaced in the 49th minute that the real punishment began. Three goals in the space of 10 minutes tells a sad story and the Arsenal defenders were culpable for all three. The final goal from Thomas Muller was a total gift with Oxlade-Chamberlain cheaply conceding the ball on the edge of the box.
So I can see why people are saying that the loss of Koscielny led to this disastrous second half and I definitely agree that the Frenchman is our best defender. But a look at the stats from the game on the Arsenal website shows that Koscielny was not exactly playing well himself at the Allianz Arena.
His passing accuracy of 50 percent was the lowest on the pitch and surely contributed to the vast pressure Arsenal were under throughout. His defensive figures were not really any better than Mustafi or Gabriel’s either. What we seemed to lose when he went off though, was the last bit of leadership on the pitch, but would the Gunners have fared much better with him still on?
The problems seem to run right through the team so I am not convinced. What do you guys think?
Bob.