We could have respected Bayern a little bit more…

I wholeheartedly admire the way this Arsenal team approaches matches.

The passion and togetherness is forged in the spirit of the manager.In this quarter-final first leg, maybe that could have been reined in a little?

After such a blistering start, where we exposed our opponents key weaknesses, it might have been prudent to build again rather than going for a quick second.I’ll say at this point that everyone who gives their opinion on football has to do so without being too hung up on hindsight.

So it’s worth saying now that if Ben White puts us 2-0 up then this becomes a very different column.

After White’s miss I feel we underestimated the abilities of the world class and near world class players Bayern had in their ranks. Being out of form doesn’t mean they can’t switch it on in a one-off game.

Especially one with lots of outside motivations.The portion of the game between our two goals was full of what I can only call disrespect for the German side.

Confidence is great, but not tinged with a little arrogance.Our lads tried to over-play certain situations. We had free-kicks where quite tricky routines were attempted rather than keeping the ball and composure, lots of through balls were overhit - what I’ve called Hollywood passes in previous columns.I feel the end result was extremely fair - without going into the officiating which has been done to death elsewhere.

It may have been nerves or excitement rather than arrogance, of course. But whatever the explanation we paid the price by conceding two goals that were entirely avoidable.

All of the above considered, this team and the manager are brilliant at righting wrongs and not making the same mistakes twice. I back them to make amends next week. So should you!

Winger burnout at concern…

It’s testament to his individual qualities that Bukayo Saka is never far away from the scoresheet (or the assists column) even when he’s in the midst of a bad game or poor form.Involved in pivotal moments at the start and end of last night’s game, his middle portion couldn’t actually be described as headline making stuff, but once again he got the job done.

Pundits love to cite Lionel Messi’s injury record when stating how one his biggest abilities was availability. Yet I wonder if that would have been the same when not being protected by picky Spanish refs and having to put up with the PGMOL, like Saka does, each week.

Either way the pace of the game in this country is frantic.We all know Saka needs a long rest and with Euro2024 on the horizon we also know he’s not going to get one.

A bigger concern is the form and output of fellow winger Gabriel Martinelli. Eight goals and five assists across the season so far is by no means a disgrace. Although his goal tally might be some way behind that of last season’s 15 when we get to June.

Wingers are possibly unfairly judged on that kind of output alone. But you’d expect him to cover a few more assists from wide positions. Just one every two months since August 2022 is not the kind of assist total you’d want from that position. He had a quiet game last night.

He’s desperately in need of a rest too, but do we have the players to cover those positions? Leandro Trossard has been superb when coming on as a sub, but not that effective when starting matches. He can’t be fully trusted from the off. Reiss Nelson looks to have blown any chance of a regular berth following a lacklustre display versus Luton (not helped by our tactics on the night).

It’s a headscratcher for the boss as he approaches a high stakes game where the wrong decision could kill all off our hopes. Rather him than me. 

Fully fit squad should make the difference…

In a relatively low margin scoring sport such as football it’s easier to get punished for not taking chances or having elements of luck conspire against you over 90 minutes.

On paper our remaining fixtures all look winnable. It would be wrong to assume that will happen just because the likeliest outcome of each game will be an Arsenal win - even the matches at Old Trafford and down the road.Mikel Arteta seems to prefer getting the job done early and then resting his first choice players.

A strategy I broadly agree with. His intelligence over the injury situation at Luton allowed him to push the boundaries a little further in that one-off game.Aston Villa on Sunday are definitely no pushovers. We also owe them for the defeat at Villa Park, that some argue was unjust.

Even though this game comes either side of the Bayern matches, we cannot afford to slip up.

Villa seem to concede their goals in multiple bursts. three in 9 minutes v Brentford, three in 25 minutes at Man City, two in three minutes (twice) v Tottenham.

We need to exploit those kind of heads-down periods of poor play from Unai Emery’s side and ruthlessly put the game to bed on Sunday before resting personnel for the trip to Germany. We shouldn’t take chances from the off by resting key players that are in form.