There are always two sides of the coin with Arsenal! by KM
Hi guys. So I’ll take us back to the Watford game for a second, where we managed a 3:0 win in the end. That doesn’t tell the whole story. In the first half we missed some chances and for 60 minutes Watford were up for the challenge, but then in a swift move we finished them off in 12 minutes.
Aaron Ramsey squandered some good chances, but eventually he scored a deflected goal which he badly needed. The guy finds the space, but his finishing is way off what it was two years ago. I think he will be the native replacement of Cazorla in the middle, but on the wing at the moment he really is trying his best and I hope a few more goals will restore his confidence.
Overall with Arsenal you just never know. We might go sloppy, underestimating smaller teams, scoring own goals and looking comic in defense, or we might blow teams away. But even though it’s so pulsating, it kind of feels familiar in the end.
We will have that period of the year where we are doing really great, keeping up that championship form, then there will be a period where we fall into hibernate mode and we wake up in the end to grab that third or fourth place. Or it could be the other way around, where we start really good, then slump at the end and miss on the title by 7 – 10 points.
We are like Pandoras box. Everything can come out of Arsenal but in the end hope is left. Can we do it over the whole season? Next year will be our year. That is ongoing since 2008, but there is a disturbance in the force of late. The financial restrictions excuse is no longer bought and the media is now judging Arsene as they would judge the best in England.
Even some of the die hard fans, start to judge Arsene against League titles not top 4 trophies. Interesting times to be an Arsenal fan, with some sort of success returning with two back to back FA cups and Community Shields. The end of Wenger’s reign is also close and even the boss realizes this.
Wenger records start to fall one by one, for example he recently lost the “I haven’t lost to lower league opposition in the cups” and now the group stage passing is on the ropes too. That will leave him just the top 4 finishes left.
So Bayern up next. One of the best run football clubs on the planet with a wealth of talent and probably the best striker there is in times where truly great Centre-Forwards are a rare breed. If we don’t beat Bayern and Olympiacos wins against Zagreb it’ll be pretty much over for our hopes.
Although Bayern have been the ultimate winning machine this season, this game could go each way. We have to score first this time. Last time we faced them at the Emirates we had a wild start, missed a penalty and ended up with 10 men and a 2-0 defeat.
Wenger said we will attack Bayern. We really do not have much of a choice. We must score first. Out of five games in which we’ve conceded first, we’ve lost 4 with Leicester the only exception. Walcott will most likely be our main striker. We need to repeat what happened with United. Go gung-ho, eat every yard of the pitch up. Put them under pressure and score first. Then if they go forward punish them on the break.
Easier said than done against a well oiled German winning machine. Their weak point (if their is any) is the defense. Alaba is a great player, but the rest of the back four can be exploited. They have some injuries, but their squad is so spoiled of choice when it comes to talent, that this would hardly mean we will have it easy.
They have probably the best keeper around, but their strike force will be the main problem. Can we contain Lewandowski? Defense is our weakest point, albeit Cech helping us to some good 5 clean sheets in the league, what we will face on Tuesday will be on a different level. The center backs are our main concern. We had some recent injuries with Koscielny and now Gabriel, and Mertesacker will have problems with the pace of Bayern.
The midfield will need to help out in defense. Coquelin and Cazorla will be key. Up front you can expect Alexis, Ozil and Ramsey, with Walcott up front. I fear for Alexis, because he had a small problem and still played all the games, but this is probably our last chance to prove ourselves worthy of the Champions League and we will hardly rest him. Will we rest Cech though? I don’t know, he just runs so much every game.
Jokes aside, if Wenger rests him, it will be just disrespectful to the fans, Bayern and the Champions League. I’m hoping for a sneaky 2:1 win, but I’ll take any result that will give us a chance to go through. If we lose, might as well sack Europe and go for the title, where we are in a good position.
Whatever happens, it should be a good game. Enjoy.
Konstantin