Arsenal surrendered their Champions League clean sheet record last night as Bayern Munich found the net during the Gunners’ 3 to 1 victory at the Emirates. The team have been outstanding defensively throughout the season in all competitions and had not conceded a Champions League goal before the Bavarians arrived in London. Many expected Bayern to pose a far greater attacking threat than previous opponents, and they did precisely that, testing Arsenal with intensity and accuracy.
Bayern’s Equaliser And Defensive Concerns
Arsenal opened the scoring, yet Bayern responded quickly by capitalising on a moment of hesitation, levelling the match before the Gunners eventually added two more goals to secure the win. Despite the positive result, some attention has been drawn to the defensive sequence that led to the Bayern goal. Paul Merson, who analysed the match, highlighted the involvement of Myles Lewis Skelly in the build-up to the equaliser. The defender has spent much of the season on the bench due to the strong form of Riccardo Calafiori, and this match offered him an opportunity to regain momentum.
Mikel Arteta opted to trust him with a starting role, yet the youngster appeared to struggle in key moments. On the play leading to the goal, he needed to apply pressure and close down his opponent, but he did not do so and allowed the cross that ultimately produced Bayern’s finish. It was an unfortunate moment for a player aiming to compete for regular inclusion once again.
Merson’s Reaction To The Goal
Speaking via the Metro, Merson said, ‘Lewis Skelly falls asleep. It is a diagonal ball over to Gnabry but he falls asleep Lewis Skelly, it goes over his head. But what a goal, honestly!’ His reaction, as cited by the source, reflects both criticism of the defensive lapse and appreciation of the quality of Bayern’s execution.
The result remains a significant win for Arsenal, although the incident serves as a reminder of the concentration required at elite level.
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I thought so too – great goal but the way it got to gnabry looked too easy to me. MLS needs to play more for his development and to keep him ready but this may not have been the best game to bring him back to. Thankfully it all turned out alright in the end.
The former Arsenal man is right, the kid was a little ring rusty and thrown in at the deep end.
Lewis Skelly was far better against the cemetery of talents, not a single time Rodrygo was able to go pass him.
The gaffer may have fail the young Englishman here as this could damage his confidence, but on the flipped side it could serve as a shark reminder to the kid, he’s not quite the finished article yet.
Two things we learned from the Lewis Skelly participation, the kid needs to play more and the gaffer must involve the kid in his man management
The boy needs more games to sharpen up,but overall he tried as his wing was overloaded with Bayern talent of Gnabri and Olise
On numerous occasions, i have highlighted the failings of MLS as a defender, but basically he lacks the instincts needed to become a quality back four player.His display against BM did nothing to allay my fears, and i only hope Arteta is not tempted to play him against the dangerous Neto on Sunday.I don.t know what the future holds for MLS, but he is not a competent defender and never will be.
Totally True. MLS had an awful day at the office yesterday. You can respect players of Olise”s caliber, without showing fear. He did not make a single and gave Olise space to receive balls. Not impressive infront of Tuchel if he’s hoping to make WC-’26.
It wasn’t a confident display by Skelly yesterday. Can I attribute it to not playing regularly as he did last season or that he is still young and not exactly the finished article? I’m going with the latter as he was remarkably confident last season but did often resort to making fouls when beaten. I noticed this early on last night. Calafiori was the man brought in by Arteta, so he clearly felt he was superior. I like MLS and he will get opportunities but probably not as regularly as he did last year
SueP,
For me it’s two things. Firstly we must still remember he’s still making his way in the squad, and his inexperience shows up sometimes.
And if Arteta is going to persist with him at left back when he plays, we’re going to have to wear his weaknesses until he learns the position better.
For Bayern’s goal last night for instance, he showed his inexperience regarding positioning and awareness of the wide player.
I take you back to the great back 4 of Dixon, Winterburn, Adams, and Bould. Winterburn would have steeped up having seen the ball that their player was about to play, hence Olise would have been offside.
And a bit later in the game, they got in down our left again, this time Skelly was nowhere to be seen. That was until the Bayern player was about to shoot. Then Skelly appeared down the middle of the penalty box, having just jogged back.
So as I say, until he’s learned the art of playing full back, this won’t be the last time he’s facing these same questions.
I called Skelley from the off last season
Defensively makes too many mistakes
Skelly is just not good enough yet, he was nervous against bayern army, but good news is he has a role model in calafiori so skelly should follow his lead