When Pride is a consolation..

A snowy night away facing arguably one of the biggest clubs in the history of football is never a happy outing for any team. Add to that a 1-3 deficit in the first leg, and you cannot rule out the possibility of a cricket score on aggregate. With the current form Arsenal and Bayern Munich are in, such a prospect loomed large. Arsenal, instead of reveling in the news of Ribery and Schweinsteiger being ruled out for the tie, reciprocated with bad news of their own, as their talisman Jack Wilshere, the Bayern misfit Podolski and Bacary Sagna had to be restricted to their TV sets with injuries. And so the sane bets were on Bayern as the odds were strongly in favour of the ever in-form German giants running away with the match right from the whistle.

This year's Champions League had its share of upsets and comebacks as was evident just the previous night, with Barca beating the shit out of AC Milan to overturn a 0-2 deficit. But come on. That was Barcelona and they had Messi. All Arsenal had was an empty trophy cabinet and a bunch of youngsters trying to make it big. But then, there was one similarity. Both the teams had very recently lost to bitter rivals and had a point to prove. Barcelona certainly had vengeance on their mind, as players were ready to "put their hands on fire" and promise to win. That they did, as they took Milan to the cleaners. It was Arsenal's turn now. The pre-match mood did suggest that the players were in a similar mood, with Vermaelen talking about repaying the manager's faith. They believed they could deliver the Munich Miracle and so did the Gooner family silently.

And so they kicked off, in a vibrant Allianz Arena, with some determination. This instantly paid off as Rosicky slipped it through to Walcott who put in an inch perfect pass for Giroud to tap in, just under 3 minutes. "The goal is just gonna wake up the sleeping beast" a random tweet read. But, to the surprise of everyone, this stunned the Arena into a gloomy silence. The away supporters suddenly found their voice as Arsenal started getting passes together in an attempt to strike again. "Oooh... Saanti Cazooorlaa.." they went. The unsual thing was the attitude of the Bayern eleven on the pitch, almost displaying a certain arrogance from the first leg lead. Unperturbed by the early setback, they continued to attack with Lahm and Abate streaming forward at every opportunity they got. This, and poor passing by Arsenal and especially Rosicky (with the lack of game time, the poor co-ordination was clearly evident) meant Bayern had a lot of shots at goal. But, Bayern clearly left their shooting boots in their dressing rooms as everybody from Kroos to Robben aimed to lift the top off the stadium (Arrogance, may be?). In the meanwhile, Arsenal looked threatening on the counter and were waiting for the right moment to strike. As the half ended, Bayern looked more comfortable on the ball and in the tie.

Carl Jenkinson: The rising star proves his worth again in the back four.

As the subdued tempo of the game continued into the second half, Arsenal started to get into the stride as anxiety started to creep into the Germans. "Oooh... Saanti Cazooorlaa.." the away contingency roared on as the home support seemed settled into a sleepy mood. The Gunners clearly missed  Wilshere's drive and passion in the midfield as Rosicky had a day to forget and Arteta, who seemed be pissed off about something, continuously committed needless fouls. Into the 75th minute, game still dull, Wenger played his cards and brought on the Ox and Le Forehead to inject pace. That they did, as the persistance finally paid off and Kocielny headed in to give a glimmer of hope. But the Germans held on, rather disgracefully, to deny a quarters spot for Arsenal, twice in two years now, on away goals.

One of the biggest wins but barely a reason to celebrate

On the night, Arsenal delivered a perfect performance to beat Bayern 0-2. Beating Bayern, who have not lost since last October is no mean feat. Bayern never looked like a team sitting on a 20 point cusion in the domestic league, as their domination in midfield never really led to convertible chances. This was mostly due to solid defending by Arsenal, as the back four, same as the one which produced the best defensive performance of the season against Man City, held on to a well-deserved clean sheet. Compared to the secong leg of last year against AC Milan, this was a rather held-back performance but no less exceptional. Again, the team went down heroically as a proud performance was followed by heartbreak for the second time running. The Arsenal faithful were left applauding the second leg but feeling frustrated about another trophyless season. Last year's performance triggered a run of continuous victories. One only hopes that this performance can turn around Arsenal's season, in a bid for the "coveted" fouth spot in the league. You cannot help but wonder why Arsenal failed to deliver a performance with similar passion in the first leg, with the backing of the home crowd. If only they had stopped the third goal..

Have Patience : Barcelona Can Still Succeed!

A humbling 2-0 defeat at the hands of A.C.Milan at San Siro, and now this painful 3-1 defeat at home at the hands of arch rivals Real Madrid. Barcelona fans are certainly not accustomed to such humiliating losses, owing to their dominating and enthralling performances in the last few years, and these losses are disheartening to a majority of them. What can possibly go wrong in such short time for a team who was winning everything that came into their way!

The best start to the season in the entire history of the club has turned into a nightmare after these recent losses. The La Liga crown is definitely in safe reach, but that wouldn’t help in escaping the questions that would arise about the lack of ideas and poor strategy, which are evident from the last few performances by the team. The blame lies equally on the shoulders of Jordi Roura, who takes the responsibility of the position of coach in the absence of Tito Vilanova due to illness, and the squad, which has failed to perform to the level of competition, leave aside performing on the level they are expected to perform consistently.

Fabregas, who was the standout midfielder in the first half of the campaign, so far seems to be lost between midfield and attack, and has been a victim of sluggish passing, poor first touches and finish in the second half of the season. Messi, as skillful and impactful he is in majority of the matches, has shown an increased tendency to drop down too far deep into midfield in major clashes, to the extent that his mesmerizing runs and brilliant one-two’s fail to create too many goal-scoring chances due to the amount of ground he is left to cover and the number of defenders he is left to surpass. The unwillingness to use a specialized winger in the left wing has urged the teams to further crowd the center of the pitch leaving the wide areas harmlessly unprotected. Alexis Sanchez’s ineffective performances on the several trial occasions aren’t helping either. In spite of some decent scoring performances, Villa is still being neglected in being handed a starting berth in main clashes, leaving the dangerous positions in the penalty area unoccupied most of the times during attack. Xavi, in spite of being majestic in possession as ever, has surprisingly been found guilty of losing the ball at crucial moments of the build-up play. Alves’ form has visibly declined. His crosses are bad, his defense is embarrassing.

This period of adversities calls for a question. Is this a failure that finally marks the beginning of the end for the dominant reign over the world of football for the past 4 years or so? Or is it just a phase that was necessary for the team to rethink, realize, re-strategize and come back stronger than ever. I certainly think of it the second way. These kinds of losses are sometimes important to realize the faults in the system and the changes that need to be made to help the system adapt and face the upcoming challenges.

Losing hope is certainly not the correct option right now. It’s just not the Barca way. There are upcoming clashes against Madrid and Milan in the Liga and Champions League respectively, and these clashes can still be season-defining. Remember the last year’s UCL Round of 16 return leg, where Arsenal came that close with a 3-0 score at half-time in response to the thrashing 4-0 defeat in the first leg against the much stronger Milan? The team should take that as an example and draw inspiration from the fact that they are capable of much more than that. Jordi Roura needs to be a little more fearless in rotating players. Why not try Montoya or Adriano in Alves’ place, and Villa/Tello in the left wing position with Iniesta switching back to his normal midfield role? Tweaking the formation to three at the back for some period of time against Milan might also be an option on the cards, keeping in mind the number of goals required to stay alive in the tie. Jorda needs to prove his worth as a good care-taking coach and the team needs to show their mettle in this period of adverse results, and step-up their performances and match the expectations .

The best  way to minimize the pain of loss is to stand back up and start winning again, and what better way than to avenge the losses against the very same teams. A couple of good results, and the “disaster” could suddenly turn back into success. All it needs is patience, and the never-ending support  from the Cules community. Keep calm and Visca el Barca!