I would agree to an extent and I don't think we were particularly negative against Everton. I think we were against Napoli though and Wenger's comments on playing Walcott if we needed a goal were particularly telling.
As someone else mentioned recently.... we've barely won a single game playing negatively since the FA Cup triumph in 2005, so why Wenger opts to do so, so often in big games is a mystery.
Bayern beat City away from home quite easily but then lost at home (similar to last season when they knew they didnt have to win) so it looks like we will need to be still in the tie after the first game and then hit them on the counter away from home.
Martinez likes he's full backs to get forward. Everton had a lot of players in our half during this game because of this. If Martinez had seen Theo on the team sheet with Cazorla on the other side he would have had to limit this. Therefore less Everton players in our half resulting in us not being pressed so much & retaining the ball better. We made Everton look good because they always had an option, they were poor in the final 3rd. We played the way we did in Naples because of the manager, not the players.Originally Posted by Bumble
Ozil & Cazorla being asked to do a defensive role by tracking back with their full backs & not to go beyond the half-way line - if we wanted to get a 0-0 we should have used Gibbs & Monreal down the left & 2 defenders down the right. The reason we were 1 goal from going out & the reason why we now face Bayern is Wumgers negativity.
Thats optimistic, not delusional.
Im always optimistic with Arsenal, especially this season FFS. We're the kind of team that always has a chance of winning every game, we're too good to be written off against anyone, even Bayern, bring em on, it'll be two great, exciting games of footy.
I think if it was a one-off game I would be a lot more confident of beating Bayern. We are more than capable of beating them in one game, over the past 3 or 4 seasons we have beaten Barca, Milan, Dortmund and Bayern away. What we seem to have a problem doing is being consistent in 2 games against the same opposition or in CL's case over 2 legs.
We go into this game as major underdogs because despite having the quality in our team to hurt anybody we have a horrible habit of throwing games away in CL and making the task of getting back into the tie nigh on impossible.
100% agree with your comments on consistancy but it what's goign to happen when Wumger try's to play the master tactician. Bayern will do what Dortmund did to us at the Emirates, they'll be slightly more defensive minded than if they were playing in the German league but still look to attack with speed and numbers. We quite simply have to do the same but if he doesn't play pace upfront against teams like this then we've had it. We have 2 very different plans in Europe when we play good teams home & Away when in reality because we are a footballing team we shouldn't to anywhere to try & get a 0-0 because we're not trained at it. Even in the tough away games we have to try & attack in numbers.
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