This draw effectively killed any remaining interest I had in this competition. The CL is not the competition it use to be. It’s been uninteresting for a few years now.
The Bayern games should be a good tests to see where we are. I don’t really buy any of this crap about Bayern being weaker or less capable of smashing us. The most important thing is to approach the legs in a more pragmatic and intelligent way really.
Personally and in the context of Arsenal I prefer to have the away match as the last leg. Don’t think playing at home does anything special for the squad but who knows, our home support could turn the emirates in a cauldron on match day and be a major factor in spurring on a quality performance from the 11.
Obv you could get reasons why having it either way being beneficial but in the context of Arsenal:
Managing a decent result at home, making sure we limit their away goals and then going away as an underdog with the intention to attack, knowing our away goals are more damaging to them in normal and extra time suits the current squad more I think considering the opposition.
If I were I Liverpool fan I’d always want the home leg last for instance, the atmosphere obviously intimidates the opposition and acts like a shot of adrenaline to LFC players. Can you say the same of Arsenal and the Emirates?
I’ve been to a few big European games at the Emirates, The atmosphere for them is a massive cut above your average Arsenal home game. The game against Bayern last year was absolutely electric, easily on a par with any atmosphere in the country. Our fans are always fired up for the big European games. Being at home second is definitely better for us in a tie like this.
Fuck me… I was hoping for someone we haven’t played 4 times in the past couple of years. I think we can progress, but it’s Arsenal so who knows what will happen?
The important thing is to still actually be in the tie. We don’t want to be getting walloped in Munich and having virtually nothing to play for when we bring it back to the Emirates. Ain’t nothing an electric atmosphere could do to rescue that!
Plenty of prominent managers out there have said they prefer the Home leg first for practical/pragmatic reasons.
I lifted this from a Guardian article about Chelsea’s 1-1 draw away against Gala in the last 16 “Our result against Galatasaray is very dangerous, very dangerous,” said Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho ahead of Wednesday’s second leg at Stamford Bridge. “One-one away from home is very dangerous.”
SAF also previously echoed the same semtiment - 'Sir Alex Ferguson was famously spooked by the goalless draw away from home. “This sort of result can be dangerous if you concede a goal at home,” he said following Manchester United’s 0-0 draw away at Marseille in 2011, echoing sentiments he expressed after the stalemate against Inter Milan in 2009.
These guys have actually won the CL, they what it takes to get to the final consistently, in any case the thought is hardly ‘rubbish’ lol. I think any player, fan, manager really only cares about progressing through any means tbh
You’re stretching if you think any of that means either of them would say no to the 2nd leg being at Old Trafford. Obviously a draw in the first leg away from home is a precarious position just like a 2-1 lead in a normal match. But just like a 2-1 lead it’s a position you would rather find yourself in.
I’m sorry but when you’re going on about how you’d take it as a Liverpool fan I can’t help but violently disagree. I’m not saying we won’t make an entire hash of the first leg or even fail to rise to occasion at the Emirates but this is our best chance to put them out in a long time.
We’ve had the first game at home plenty of times in recent years, and it never worked out in our favourite. There’s something to say for both cases, but I’m glad we have the second game at home for a change.
It’s not really stretching is it when they’ve expressed these opinions consistently - If given the choice plenty of managers would prefer the home leg first for lots valid reasons and vice visa, mourinho said it outright somewhere but cba to find the quote but that’s not to say playing home in the first is the end of the world, never suggested it was.
I’d take it as a LFC fans because their european pedigree compels the supporters to make the atmosphere terrific, I’ve seen this evidenced many times. As an Arsenal supporter I’m not so sure the home atmosphere will do much psychologically to boost the team or intimidate the opposition.
You could even approach it from a mathematic position, if you play the away leg last away your chances of winning the tie are better. If the match does go to extra time, away goals still count - you’ll have a greater chance of winning the tie because you have 30 minutes to affect the match which the opposition never had - that is a pretty ideal scenario because away goals will still count as two.
I’m not too sure about the second part at all tbh. Let’s wait and see what condition Bayern is in come the fixtures, no doubt that would have increased in cohesion come February and be refreshed about a winter break. Ancelotti is a winner and he knows what it take to manage a result in this competition over two legs unlike Wenger.
Our condition will be interesting too but I don’t think Bayern are there for the taking like some are making out, we were outplayed by an arguably worse team than Bayern in PSG during large parts of both group matches. Bayern have a ton of individual quality all over the pitch
Their response to individual the result is indicative of how they feel considering the results were draws and not losses.
That % you cite was before the Champions league rule enactment which placed league winners automatically in pot 1, that started this season.
That calculation is no doubt skewed by the fact the group favourites were often in pot 1 and steamrolled the group, that isn’t the case this year it’s more balanced hence you should see a change the L16 trend between group winners and runners up.
This is only the second season those rules have been in place so you can draw exactly zero conclusions from last season alone. Even then, 6 of the 8 group winners progressed.
read in a gruff voice