Five Observations from Bayern Munich’s shocking 3-1 loss to Arsenal FC

Well, it happened.

Summarized by AI ⓘ

What is the story about?

What Bayern Munich needs right now is objectivity.

Bayern went into the Champions League, with a few cracks visible in their game from recent Bundesliga fixtures, but nothing could have prepared anyone for what was to come. Arsenal at home in the current scenario is a difficult game because they are everything that Bayern isn’t — defensively solid with a deep squad and efficient in set-pieces. This difference proved costly tonight as Bayern, after having dominated the Emirates for years now, lost

3-1 to the better side. Brilliant performances on the Arsenal side from Madueke and Calafiori won them the game and here are the observations.

There was no better squad to field

Bayern fielded a 4-2-3-1, with Konrad Laimer at left-back to subdue Bukayo Saka, Josip Stanišić on the right, with the centre-back pairing of Dayot Upamecano and Jonathan Tah. Joshua Kimmich and Aleksander Pavlovic has become the starting midfield pivot and it continued with this game. At attack, Vincent Kompany as expected, fielded Lennart Karl, Serge Gnabry, Michael Olise and Harry Kane and at goal was Manuel Neuer.

The odd choice of Laimer at left-back was both the best decision and the worst mistake at the same time. Laimer was crucial at keeping Bukayo Saka at bay and he did that effectively. Yet his absence at right-back meant that the attack was at large missing, without the Laimer-Olise link-up.

Dayot Upamecano is a world-class centre-back on his day and yet, had one of his worst games lately. His man-marking was awful and the fact that he lost the ball to the opposition on more than one occasion is concerning, and it in fact, did result in two of the three goals Arsenal scored.

Aleksander Pavlović, who usually runs a one-man midfield was not on his A-game at all (pun intended) and worse yet, one could go as far as to say that the lack of a midfield is one of the major factors that cost us the game. Kimmich too had an awful game and the number of corners tonight did not help — every single Bayern set-piece taken was miserably wasted.

The odd choice to place Gnabry on the wing and Karl in attacking midfield perhaps stunted Bayern creatively as well. Olise and Kane were almost entirely subdued by the Arsenal defense.

Yet, this is Bayern’s starting squad. The truth is there are no more players to field. Not Leon Goretzka, not Raphaël Guerreiro, not Sacha Boey or even Kim Min-jae. For every game that Bayern need to show up, it is some variation of this exact squad, albeit with Luis Diaz who was sorely missed tonight.

One cannot blame these players, or the manager entirely for what happened tonight, when they play day in, day out for both club and country.

Arsenal’s squad depth won this game for them, and by a mile.

Lennart Karl — that’s it, that’s the observation

Without Lennart Karl this game would have been far worse.

Karl was perhaps the only player who could do something for Bayern and he did. Every attempt was earnest and there was not a minute where he was not fighting for the ball. While Kane was busy playing midfield-centre-back and Olise was hardly around, it was Karl who weaved past defenders and gave it his all. Case in point, his goal. Tah passes to Kimmich, who then chips up the pitch this gorgeous long ball. Gnabry receives it, fantastic touch on that by the way and crosses to Karl who then takes a beauty of a shot on target and scores. He made sincere attempts even when Bayern had zero attacking progress in the second half but couldn’t make anything of the ball.

Luis Diaz’s absence was felt bone-deep, but Karl made up, in his own way. At attacking midfield.

Lesson of the day: Every mistake is costly unless proven otherwise

Let’s start from the back, shall we?

Manuel Neuer. Several crucial saves, until Arsenal’s final goal came along. From Neuer’s perspective I can see why he went that far into the pitch. Arsenal launching that counter with Eberechi Eze, had overrun the midfield and defense and as Neuer began running into midfield, the attack had still yet to develop into the final third. However, poor timing on his end resulted in Gabriel Martinelli spotting the gaping hole at goal. He goes past Neuer, who couldn’t clear it on time and scored.

Let us be very clear. This is classic of Neuer, nothing we have not seen before and the error too is a well-known, documented error of his. It was costly and proven so.

Upamecano was often the last man tonight and had perhaps his worst game in recent times. His header on the first corner was shambolic, his man-marking was poor and worse yet, he was often the one losing the ball to the opposition. There were so many micro-errors to his game that were jarringly evident tonight, and nearly every single one was costly. Tah had the better game, not losing his man as often.

Stanišić and Kimmich both had subpar games and were completely overrun on multiple occasions. Arsenal found the obvious gap in the flanks where they poked and prodded until it gave way for them to score. Kimmich not only took the worst set-pieces but made some awful errors. On one occasion, early in the second half, he passed STRAIGHT to Saka. Granted no goal came out of it, but that was one isolated incident.

There were occasions, such as that of Stanišić’s chance where he should have simply passed to an open Michael Olise but did not do so. A small error that proved deadly, for the numbers genuinely mattered tonight.

The team as a whole simply gave away one too many corners, to point where close to 40% of the game was just corner after corner… against Arsenal.

Bayern’s loss was not merely an overall quality issue, but an outcome of several micro-errors all of which together lost them perhaps one of their biggest games this season.

Now, what does this game mean for Bayern?

Surprisingly, almost nothing in terms of their UCL chances.

Bayern have been extremely unlucky on most aspects that led to this loss. There were one too many crucial players on a yellow and that did not help their cause.
The loss of Diaz weighs heavy — Arsenal pressed more than Bayern ever could tonight and perhaps the Gunners are building a shrine in the name of the PSG referee who sent Diaz off and gave him a three-match ban.
This game showed where Bayern lacks sorely — squad depth, defensive ability and set-piece training. Arsenal did not play attacking football to Bayern’s abilities — they simply subdued the Bavarians, played decent football but defended extraordinarily. The first half possession numbers becoming nearly meaningless and the second half slump were all result of Arsenal’s defending.
Stanišić and Kim need training on shooting. Desperately.
The Bayern board can no longer afford to settle for this squad depth. When your players aren’t rested, play nearly every single game and then fail when their A-game was most needed, you can neither blame the coach, nor the team entirely.
Gnabry needs to London-up. As soon as humanly possible.
This means nothing for Bayern’s UCL chances. They are still contenders. When they have their full squad depth.
The substitution of Goretzka for Kimmich was a Hail Mary, a toothless attempt at saving the game in its dying moments. One cannot argue that Goretzka would have fared any better than the starting midfielders either, for the last 10 minutes is hardly the time to effect any real change in the game.

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