Morning all.
The Arsenal are in Germany this evening for a Champions League encounter with Bayer Leverkusen. Not that long ago, the German club went through a season unbeaten in the Bundesliga under Xabi Alonso and with Granit Xhaka in the side. Alonso was widely tipped to go far in management so when Real Madrid came calling the following year, he jumped at the opportunity to manage such a big club. He didn’t last long in the Spanish capital though. Neither did Erik ten Hag, the manager who replaced Alonso at Bayer – two Bundesliga games and three competitive games in total to be precise. Kasper Hjulmand replaced him in September last year.
When Alonso left, Wirtz, Frimpong, Tah, Adil, Hradecky, Boniface and Xhaka left too. As did Hincapie who has fast become a key player for Arsenal.
Bayer sit in sixth place in the league and needed a playoff round to progress from the league stage of this competition after finishing 16 in the table but they still a side not to be underestimated. Yes, PSG thrashed them 7-2 but they defeated Man City 2-0 at The Etihad and drew 2-2 with Newcastle.
Like ourselves, Bayer have a number of players ruled out through injury. TransferMarket show wingers Seghir and Tella, keeper Flekken, defenders Bade, Schick and Arthur and forward Vazquez all ruled out.
The training photos on Arsenal.com bring positive news as Saliba, Gabriel, Rice, Calafiori, Zubimendi, Trossard and Havertz are all involved in the session so it looks like just Merino and Odegaard will be missing from tonight’s squad.
August 2024 was the last time these two sides met which was in a pre-season friendly. Goals from Zinchenko, Trossard, Jesus and Havertz earned us a 4-1 win. Not that anything can be taken from that game.
This match, along with the home tie next Tuesday means something very different and is of more importance. A place in the quarter-finals is on offer. An opportunity to play one of Sporting CP or Bodo/Glimt in the semis.
Mikel Arteta:
When you start the second part of the campaign and you know what is at stake. We start to play games where you are in or you are out, there is no margin for manoeuvre, and we’re going to face a very difficult contest tomorrow against a really good team.
The only thing you can take is game by game and try tomorrow to be better than the opposition and earn the right to win. We always talk about that. Obviously we play so many games in different competitions – in the next three games we’re going to play in three different competitions, against completely different opponents. You have to adapt to that.
Ideally, we would batter Bayer tonight and make the home game next week an easier one but at this stage of the competition it’s about managing the two legged tie as well as the actual game. Something we did well last season. Until we came up against PSG of course.
The big boys will be back tonight and they need to put in a big performance. Be smart, be switched on and be clinical when opportunities to score arise.
Catch up in the comments.
Good morning Rico, just back.from the weekly swim and enjoying crispy bacon roll and strong coffee.
If tonight’s game is not actually a must win, it is certainly one we need to win.
No Odegaard so I suppose we’ll have Eze at number ten. I would like to see Havertz and Gyokeres start, they have the makings of an awesome twosome.
Thanks for the post Rico,.
Morning Rico, great post, an interesting read for me as I don’t know much about Leverkusen. I didn’t even know where there were in Germany but it seems they’re close to Cologne.
Can Arsenal continue their winning run in this competition?
All being well we should be able to as Leverkusen isn’t a very happy place atm if what I’ve read is correct. Their manager is under intense pressure to retain his job after a season of mixed results and the dull reassertion of the all conquering Bayern. I saw brief highlights of Bayern dismantling Atalanta in Bergamo on TV when I got home from work, their finishing left me envious because Arsenal rarely dismantle anyone anymore even though we create as many opportunities.
It was great to see Trossard and Calafiori back in training yesterday on YouTube, the morale is high and I’m cautiously confident of a promising result this evening. Let’s hope that Martinelli has his Champions League scoring boots on…
LG I’m not at all in favour of sending Myles out on loan next season, he may have missed the boat in regards to appearances this campaign (so far) but that can quickly change as we know so well. Ethan should still be with us and I don’t want to be bemoaning the absence of Myles as well next season if Lady Luck buggers off.
There’s no certainty about the business we may or may not do this coming summer although we’ve been linked recently to a couple of mature Bundesliga players who Arteta has shown an interest in previously. Not sure how true those links are, could be an agent ramping up interest in his clients whose contracts expire this summer?
I’d much rather go for young, squad bolstering talent that we can access through smart scouting and contacts à la Mosquera.
Limey, I thought previously that Joe Cole wasn’t a media blimp like so many on MSM but he showed his true colours during that FACup draw so now I will disregard everything he says like all the other anti-Arsenal wanker pundits.
Morning Cicero, Kev, all.
Any win would do me.
Thanks Kev, me neither but Google does. Lol
Dev, I used to have, way back when, 5 moggies and a Labrador, watching them interact was hilarious, they were all unintentional comedians.
I agree re MLS, especially as Calafiori’s fitness isn’t reliable. Why is it we seem to collect fragile players so much.
Thanks for the preview, Rico.
The one they’ll miss big time among their absentees, I think, is Schick, who’s had an excellent season so far. His hole in the starting lineup is very likely to be filled by Martin Terrier, who is a very good player, though. He drew a blank in his first season in Germany because his Achilles did a “Koscielny in Madrid“ on him at the start of it, when just he was finding his feet there, but he’s a smart player, not particularly strong or fast, but very gifted technically and with a great talent for picking the right pocket of space at exactly the right time – which has made him so far a scorer of great goals, rather than a great scorer of goals, as Charlie G. used to say; our problem tonight being this tendency to score his goals in “big” games.
I happen to be able to catch glimpses of Bundesliga sometimes, thanks to my Canal subscription; I find it boring because of Bayern’s dominance, but that aside, the teams play open football, which make games not unpleasant to watch for an absolute neutral. I don’t know them better than the next Arsenal fan, but I’m quite sure they’re not a bus-parking team, our forwards should get more time and space to express themselves; this game might be the opportunity for Gyö to shine on the big stage in particular …
Anyway, looking forward to watching this; I love cup nights … well, evenings!
I want Myles to stay too, Kev; I just can’t get my head around why he’s not been given any minute in midfield already this season; there were games lately when Martin Z., as well as Declan, to a lesser degree – could barely walk. But what do I know, eh?
COYG
No comments , big match nerves or my computer playing up again ? could be one or both or even operator error .
We need a strong efficient display tonight get a win by a couple of goals and then back to our place next week and complete the job .
Now in the real world , who knows what we will get . we have the capability to play out of our skins or struggle to put two passes together .
Lets just hope that it’s the former
And as I posted , all the other comments magically appeared.