Arsenal draw in a quick check
Tuchel’s surprising plan awakens FC Bayern
By Sebastian Schneider
April 10, 2024, 12:26 a.m
They can still do it: FC Bayern fought to a 2-2 draw against Arsenal FC in the Champions League. The Tuchel team impresses with its pragmatic attitude. The only question is, what does it mean?
What actually happened at the Emirates Stadium in London?
England! Floodlights! Royal class! It’s even about something! A title dream! And exactly what FC Bayern had hoped for happened: the CL quarter-final first leg against FC Arsenal became a kind of respite from the bleak world in the Bundesliga, where Xabi Alonso’s unbeatable machine, Bayer Leverkusen, was already miles away (16 points) and the Munich team no longer has any hope of winning the championship.
And at the weekend there was the next bad low point. What a debacle was what happened on Saturday afternoon in front of 15,000 people in Heidenheim an der Brenz. When the big FC Bayern collapsed like a house of cards again at the hands of a smaller team (1. FC Heidenheim). Like against VfL Bochum, which then completely collapsed, a few weeks ago. This time it was a comfortable 2-0 half-time lead, which resulted in a 2-3 defeat. Sports director Max Eberl then described his club, where he has now been employed for five weeks, as “arrogant”.
And now? Coach Thomas Tuchel said it before the game. A defeat like the one against Heidenheim may still hang around for a day or two. “That’s how it is in competitive sports,” he said. Not only that, he announced even more: In the game against themselves, in which FC Bayern was supposed to prove that they could suffer a little more, the Munich team did exactly that. Tuchel surprised and sent a remarkably pragmatic team onto the field. No possession, no pressing: Instead, it should be a counterattack game with a lot of concrete. The first indication of this was already there before kick-off: Thomas Müller was looked for in the starting line-up in vain because speed was needed for quick counterattacks.
And it was. Regardless of Arsenal’s early lead Bukayo Saka (12th minute). FC Bayern faltered, but it is uncertain whether they would have been able to cope with the 2-0 scoreline. But: He didn’t collapse like he might have done in the Bundesliga. Instead: The Munich Wall held, no matter how much the London craftsmen checked it for holes. They could adapt and do magic as they wanted. Bayern remained ice cold. Two counterattacks, one penalty and at the break we were leading 2-1 with 2-9 shots on goal. They continued this in the second half. Leandro Trossard only got through once (76th minute) and was able to make it 2-2. And, that was also what once distinguished FC Bayern, the luck was still there: in the last scene of stoppage time, there was no penalty for the Londoners after Manuel Neuer made controversial contact with Saka.
Teams and goals:
Arsenal: Raya – White, Saliba, Gabriel, Kiwior (46. Zinchenko) – Odegaard, Jorginho (67. Gabriel Jesus) , Rice – Saka, Havertz (85. Thomas), Martinelli (67. Trossard). – Coach: Arteta
Munich: Neuer – Kimmich, de Ligt, Dier, Davies – Laimer, Goretzka – Sane (66th Coman), Musiala, Gnabry (70th Guerreiro) – Kane. – Coach: Tuchel
Referee: Glenn Nyberg (Sweden)
Goals: 1:0 Saka (12th), 1:1 Gnabry (18th), 1:2 Kane (32nd, penalty kick), 2:2 Trossard (76th)
Spectators: 55,000
Yellow cards: Thomas (1) – Davies (3), Kane (1)
Click here for the match report!
Why was what FC Bayern did good?
Thomas Tuchel was back where he is loved and unreservedly appreciated: in London. There he won the premier class title with Chelsea FC before the club slipped into chaos and is still there. This Tuesday evening, as he kept gesturing on the sidelines, Tuchel showed why he is actually a top coach. Against Arsenal he actually found the remedy that the Londoners couldn’t really cope with: a lot of pragmatism. He has already tried this completely new and surprising approach against a strong team: in the 3-0 win over VfB Stuttgart, one of the best games of the season so far.
The coach stated it before the game, the team on the pitch implemented it: it was about “intensity and dedication”. Bayern defended deeply and left the ball to Arsenal most of the time. They always doubled against Saka, who was dribbling wildly, and Bayern’s Serge Gnabry acted as something like a second left-back alongside Alphonso Davies. On the other hand, it was Leroy Sané who threw himself into the duels. And they weren’t alone, the central defense of Eric Dier and Matthijs de Ligt fought off anything that flew into the penalty area. And Leon Goretzka worked so hard in the headquarters that he might also want to recommend himself to national coach Julian Nagelsmann. The door is finally still open a little.
What wasn’t so good?
It’s not without reason that Arsenal are at the top of the Premier League table, said Tuchel. That is also true. It was repeatedly apparent why the team can keep up with the teams of the coaching giants of Pep Guardiola (Manchester City) and Jürgen Klopp (Liverpool FC): The Londoners combined safely and worth seeing.
And yet there was a problem: Arteta’s team couldn’t really create anything countable from the 59 percent possession of the ball in the end. Even if the agile winger Saka tried again and again. In the end, Kai Havertz, who is currently the strongest attacker in the Premier League, was practically hanging in the air. Because Bayern condensed their own center so much, he had to repeatedly move outwards.
That also had another consequence: the man who Tuchel publicly flattered before the season and whose type of player was missed at FC Bayern played at Arsenal: Declan Rice. But the England international, who was supposed to provide stability in front of his own defensive line, didn’t really do that at Arsenal. Most of Munich’s attacks came through the middle.
Is this the big turning point at FC Bayern?
That’s the big question, who knows? There was already a similar starting point when Munich needed a similarly great performance in the second leg of the round of 16 against Lazio and won 3-0. They also stumbled in the league before: in the 2-2 draw against SC Freiburg. And now there was the same reaction: After the embarrassment against Heidenheim, the Tuchel team played strongly in the Champions League. But be careful! There is a risk of a repeat again: After the short Lazio high, there was a 0-2 collapse in the German classic against Borussia Dortmund. The problem remains: There is no security with this FC Bayern team. They can compete like a top team at the highest Champions League level, but they can also lose a Bundesliga game completely uninspired and listless. Nobody knows why.
The voices about the game:
Harry Kane: “A big game for me. I’m very happy to have helped the team. We’ve taken a small step. We have to be focused from game to game.”