Matchday Thread - Bayern v Arsenal - 4 November 2015

Don't think tactics could've saved us tonight. Bayern's movement was too good, I was having trouble tracking them visually let alone the players on the pitch.

There is always a way to win a football game, regardless of the gulf in quality between the two teams. That's why Celtic could win against Barca in their prime with only 19% possession, etc. But in order to do this consistently you need to be an adaptive and brilliant tactician. You need to identify the opposition's weak points - all teams have them. In Bayern's case it's their arrogance and high pressing that can be exploited. Traditional 4-4-1-1, park the bus. Bore them to death, and pounce if something opens up.

Why on earth play Sanchez on the wing, when he attempts to dribble at every opportunity and we're playing against a high pressing team that doubles up on every player. He was doomed from start to lose the ball repeatedly. Why not Gibbs on that flank instead, to close the channel?

And why on earth are we playing Joel Campbell - a striker - in the right wing position against Bayern at home. He has no defensive instincts, which is fine, but we're playing a team that has its biggest strength on the flanks. We should have made sure Bayern couldn't use their flanks tonight. Force them through the middle, force them into mistakes and thick traffic.

We granted them free range on the flanks by playing two extremely attacking wingers, and opting for a very casual pressing game. We should have been on them like a bad rash throughout the entire game, making them miserable, roughing it up, making fouls, frustrating them.

But no, we have to play "beautiful". Nothing beautiful about losing 5-1.

Not going to disagree with that. They knew going into this group that any points from the bayern ties were a bonus. They really dropped the ball (quite literally against olympiakos) in their other group f games.

Are they going to take Europe seriously? I think there is no shame in winning that trophy. Better than FA cup imo.

Are they going to take Europe seriously? I think there is no shame in winning that trophy.

That's another issue though, and I don't think any club below the top tier (Bayern, Barca, Real) should take Champions League that seriously. The competition format just has too much luck involved to win. Knockout formats never truly reflect which is a better team.

If we use the same aggregate system as you do in the knockout stages, the result of the two games against Bayern was 5-3. But are we really two goals away from Bayern's level? Not a chance. In order to win the Champions League you need lots of luck in both the draw and the knockout, and I don't think a club at our level should be putting so much time and effort into a competition where pure luck is mandatory.

I meant Europa league, but autocorect kicked in.

Teams like Barca, Real, PSG and Bayern are in very uncompetitive leagues. They can horde the top talent and cruse through their leagues focusing on the ECL. Their fixtures are even made easier by their leagues to help them in Europe.

The EPL is rightly focused on making itself the best and most competitive league. I am not saying it is, but that is its focus. All the other leagues actually just prop up their 1 or 2 top clubs and help them challenge in Europe.

Honestly I don't care about the ECL anymore. This is not based on this result.

Wenger seems to agree this season and has clearly focused more on the EPL.

This was my first matchday thread ever since TopTopQuality had that terrible accident when he dove in head first in a pool full of retardation potion. I just want to say that I'm never opening a matchday thread again. Superstitions...

This was my first matchday thread ever since TopTopQuality had that terrible accident when he dove in head first in a pool full of retardation potion. I just want to say that I'm never opening a matchday thread again. Superstitions...

I share the responsibility with you then, i had match thread done but forgot to press "Create Post" forgot the tab and went to sleep. Next day it was too late. And look what happened ;(

It was the perfect shitstorm.

They just have to beat olympiakos to go through. What tremendous luck.