In all honesty, writing this feels more like a postmortem than a report. But it is how it is, and Arsenal are how they are, so I’ll try to crack on.
I don’t think anyone went into this game feeling particularly optimistic. Aside from the wild-card “We might produce something magical here” phase supporters go through minutes before the game kicks off, everyone knew we were in for a difficult night. The late double-blow to Hector Bellerin and Laurent Koscielny made that all the more complicit.
Even so, we hoped Arsenal would show some sort of pride today. That, despite the final result, our performance at the Allianz Arena would be, in some way, salvageable. We knew the team were injured, we knew it was tired, we knew the XI we put out there was pretty much all we could muster, especially in the attacking department. And we knew we were playing the best team in their backyard, in this state.
We lost. All the signs were pointing to that, anyway. Despite the loss, if we win our next two matches and hope Bayern defeat Olympiacos (which is almost definitely going to happen), we will go through. Irrespective of what the media says, I think our odds of progressing, on paper, are rather good.
On paper, that is. It wasn’t the loss as much of the manner of it, that worried me. Mesut Ozil, Petr Cech and Olivier Giroud aside, I didn’t feel anyone entered this game with the right mindset. And, as soon as Lewandowski headed the first in, the roof started to fall in the house.
We gave up. It’s as simple as that. We didn’t use the inconvenient circumstances against us as fuel for motivation, we used it as excuses for failure. When things are going wrong, Jose Mourinho tends to use the media and channel a “everything’s going against us” propaganda, in the hope for firing his team up. Should he ever use those media tactics for Arsenal, I fear we could literally implode.
When things are going great, this team is an absolute joy to watch. We pass the ball about magnificently, rip the best teams apart and score screamers worthy of the highlight reel. But when things go south, you wonder what will get the team out of their depression. Our propellers won’t spin, and we sure as hell can’t get it started on our own.
I worry a mauling like this could begin the descent from our maxima. Wenger teams take outrageously too long to pull themselves away from a rut, but with a North London derby and two Champions League matches coming up, we don’t have time to sulk.
The best teams bounce back from failure. If we don’t, then perhaps our possible exit from Europe’s elite is justified.
-Santi [Follow me on Twitter @ArsenalBlogz ]
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