We will see. When dutch teams play aainst the germans they always play better. that said, i think PSV wil not reach the Semis. But it is great that they made it this far. The goal of Ronaldinhio was unbelievable. i was just watching expecting nothing of moment, and suddenly it is in the back of the net. Ok almost every team i liked in the championsleague are out. Now my hope is set on PSV
I'll agree that Henry's goal was brilliant. It was just a very long pass and he made the most of it. By "lucky", I meant that it was not a result of strong pressure or dominance on the field...it was just a long pass and he converted in brillant fashion...only the world's best strikers can do that. Vieira's shot was not really close to going in, but yes, there were a few chances. Corner kicks must have been 12-5 or so for Bayern, though...and Bayern also had a few chances (e.g., Ballack's shot). Senderos was good, and he seems like a tough, fair sportsman. The Arsenal players which impressed me the most were Henry, Vieira and Senderos. I still cannot stand Lehmann, though, did you see how he treated Deisler when Deisler got kneed in the chest and was wincing in pain? They play together on the national team...Lehmann is just a disgrace. To be fair, Arsenal could have advanced with a little more luck, but overall, I felt that Bayern pretty much controlled the game, especially in the first half.
By the way, Arsène Wenger seems to rate Bayern more highly than Chelsea: ARSÈNE WENGER ...on the performance "I feel overall tonight we gave absolutely everything. There was many positive points, but we lost against a very good side and you could not say that they didn't deserve to go through.For me they are the best side we have played for a long time." http://www.arsenal.com/article.asp?...e+the+best+side+we've+played+for+a+long+time' I always thought Wenger was a pretty classy guy. Opposite of Mourinho. Also, I thought the game report on the official Arsenal website was pretty well-written: http://www.arsenal.com/article.asp?...s+League:+Arsenal+1,+Bayern+Munich+0+-+Report
This seems to have been written by an Arsenal fan, and it seems much harsher than what I said about Arsenal...not sure why what I said was considered classless... http://soccernet.espn.go.com/feature?id=327265&cc=5739 Gunners floored once again The Insider When a boxer has been knocked out time and time again, his hopes of climbing off the canvas and achieving his ultimate aim become weaker with every blow and punch drunk would be a good way of describing Arsenal when it comes to the Champions League after yet another failure. There is only so many times they can claim this is going to be their year before the self doubt begins to destroy their hopes for good. That moment of accepting defeat may have arrived long before this all too predictable evening at Highbury and the only surprise was that they got to within one goal of causing a second Champions League sensation of the week in London. A wondrous Thierry Henry goal after 65 minutes gave Arsenal real hope that their improbable dream of reversing a 3-1 first leg defeat was within their grasp, but the comeback was never genuinely on the cards. Arsenal have again proved unable to compete with Europe's best as the Premiership's 'Invincibles' of 2004 were shown to be little more than bridesmaids in the Champions League. A patience to create chances is a key part of this Bayern Munich side, revived under the management of the hard task master of Felix Magath, but their work rate is hugely impressive. Led by the tireless Michael Ballack, Bayern's willingness to fight for their cause was reminiscent of the Chelsea heroics against Barcelona on Tuesday night and it is a quality that has so often frustrated Arsenal's flamboyance in this competition. While it is easy to kick them when they are down, Arsenal have been exposed as little more than a top class Premiership side, on par with Manchester United's best title winning sides of the 1990s. If they were anything more, they would have ripped into Bayern from the off in this game, but instead they took half of the game to find their feet and the rest to create a mere couple of half chances, one of which produced Henry's goal. Struggling to get over the halfway line in the first half hour, Bayern were constantly knocking on the Arsenal door and it left the attacking threat they possess blunted to the point of irrelevance. Henry's body language was that of a man who wanted to believe his moment would come, but you suspected he knew the opposite was true. Such was Bayern's dominance in the opening 40 minutes that Oliver Kahn must have been relieved to get himself into the action as Henry charged in on goal and was denied by the big keeper four minutes before the break. And while Arsenal started the second half with a little more confidence, you rarely felt that they were about to click into gear and score the two goals they needed to progress, even after Henry's fine opener. Having hailed this team as supernatural not so long ago, the Highbury press pack were licking their lips at the thought of dismantling the fallen giant with their poison pens and a downbeat Arsene Wenger had few excuses when he came face to face with his former disciples. 'I felt we had a good defensive performance and the same was true of Bayern,' stated the thoughtful Arsenal boss. 'I would like to congratulate my team for the effort they have put in and I would wish them all the best for the rest of the competition. 'At half-time, I still had plenty of confidence. Then we scored the goal at the perfect moment in the game. It was so tight all the way through and it may have been that we had one final ball missing at times. The difference between the two sides was so close and when you look at this game, it is obvious that you cannot afford to give the sort of goals away in Munich that we did. 'There are so many good teams in Europe now and we are not alone in falling at this stage. Four big teams have gone out in this round of the competition and the prize to go through was clear. Bayern have a great chance to win now, as do Chelsea and Milan. We couldn't do it, but we have to come back and do better next season.' Kolo Toure's 88th minute header fluttered a few Bayern hearts and forced Kahn into a decent save, but it is hard to argue that Arsenal deserved to progress after 180 minutes against the Bundesliga's finest. Felix Magath's press briefing was more of a shouting match in German that a was vaguely translated by a figure who looked overwhelmed among all the booming Bavarian voices, but the views of the Bayern boss were expressed something like this. 'We controlled the game in the first half, but Arsenal always have the attacking threat and we saw that in the second period,' said Magath. 'We deserve to be through as the better side in the two games, but we have beaten a great Arsenal side, who never gave up.' “ Bayern have a great chance to win now, as do Chelsea and Milan. We couldn't do it, but we have to come back and do better next season. ” — Arsene Wenger The holes in this Arsenal team were all too obvious on this most disappointing of nights. While the youngsters Philippe Senderos and Mathieu Flamini can be pleased with their displays, the wonderkid bought to add an extra dimension to this Arsenal side again failed to deliver when it mattered most. Soccernet's Insider has previously noted the negative gestures thrown in Jose Antonio Reyes' direction from his own team mates when he makes mistakes and a similar scenario was on display once again tonight. The fact that he is in the side in place of Robert Pires is never going to go down well with the Gallic collection at Highbury and every time the little Spaniard failed to deliver when in a good position, Henry, Vieira and the rest offered him a savage stare by way of compensation. Reyes tries to smile off his isolation, but it is clear that the gamble of spending a bulk of transfer kitty on a young unproven forward who has struggled to settle in London is not paying off. He will doutbless head back to Spain in the summer and Arsene Wenger will need to spend his promised transfer booty wisely as they remain a long way off the pace in the Champions League. Where Arsenal go from here is anyone's guess as it is hard to see how a team who have fallen such a long way short of the mark in Europe can be modified to the point where glory will be within their grasp next season. When the dusts settles on this latest flop, it won't be long before the media start speculating on the futures of Henry, Vieira and even Wenger and it may only be cranes cutting into the North London sky above their new 60,000 stadium that provides some light at the end of the tunnel. Even the most optimistic of Gunner would have to accept that the balance of power has shifted west in England's footballing capital. It may take a long time for it to return. MAN OF THE MATCH: Philippe Senderos When you see the performance of this impressive young central defender, it is hard to understand why Arsene Wenger has wasted so much of his time trying to find a way of making Pascal Cygan defend properly. Senderos looks to be a real star in the making. PRESS BOX VIEW: The extra seating put in for the Champions League was needed to house the dozens of German media who made their way to London. Their desire to converse by shouting at each other was more than a little annoying. FACE IN THE CROWD: Ex-England manager Graham Taylor was mingling with his former tormentors in the media as he made his contributions as a radio pundit. FOOD WATCH: The extended press box meant additional arguments for the Highbury chicken wings, but Soccernet's Insider made his presence felt to secure some prized poultry. FAN WATCH: Bayern's travelling army were as vocal as anything that has visited Highbury this season. They kept screaming encouragement from start to finish. ARSENAL VERDICT: There are eight teams left in the Champions League and Arsene Wenger's men are not among them. They don't deserve to be either. ----------------- To me, the favorites to win it now are Bayern, Juventus and Chelsea.
This is from Arsenalworld: http://www.arsenal-world.co.uk/news/loadnews.asp?cid=TMNW&id=210465 Arsenal v Bayern Munich - Player Ratings Story by Mike Bohndiek 10 March 2005 Analysis of key moments / player ratings for the Bayern game. Well it’s “Bye Bye Europe” for another season and what a poor way to go! Over the two legs we can have no complaints about going out. So we could maybe point to some of those poor refereeing decisions, which were evident more so in the second leg, but you can’t hide behind this sort of thing forever. Before the match Thierry gave a great interview, where he stated that passion would be the key to victory. Did we have any passion at all in this game? If we did then I must have missed it! The only player who had a good game out there was Senderos, and that was his first Champions League start. The half time statistics spoke volumes. One shot on target – 2 shots off target. So a total of three shots in 45 minutes. Hold on – didn’t we need to win 2-0? Didn’t we require goals? You wouldn’t have known it! There was no attacking threat as the team had no energy, no desire and no commitment. Munich totally out played us, keeping possession for long spells and defending high up the field which stifled any possible threat. We could hardly get a touch in the first half, and the second half was little improvement. We kept going route one, which was immensely frustrating. The only way to deal with teams that press high up the field is to have the midfield give some movement, and drag defenders away. This simply didn’t happen, as our midfield and frontline were static all night, hands aloft waiting for that killer ball. The goal we did get was pure luck really – it was totally undeserved and came against the run of play. It was to be a false dawn, as we never looked like getting that crucial second goal. The biggest cheer of the night came when in a shock move Gilberto was named on the bench. The crowd (who hadn’t yet received their team news text messages) stood stunned, and I can only hope that his first team return is not far away. Below par performances from the big names over the course of the two courses cost us dearly, and now Saturday’s trip to Bolton provides us with our only chance of silverware this season. If the lads couldn’t get themselves up for a big European night in front of their own fans, what are the odds of them being up for a 12:15 away tie to Bolton only a few days later? Our season is in serious danger of fading away. Key Incidents: Goal (Arsenal) (66) – A long ball finally paid off, as the defender missed it allowing Henry in. His low shot went under Kahn to give us a fortunate lead. Man of The Match – Philippe Senderos Player Ratings Jens Lehmann - 7 - Made some good punches from corners, and made one great reaction save from a thunderbolt of a shot from Ballack. Ashley Cole - 6 - Allowed players to get to the by-line far too easily. Hardly featured going forward as Arsenal offered little in that area. Kolo Toure - 6.5 - Lets just say it was an improvement upon his first leg performance! He had one of two wobbles, but generally had an average game. Philippe Senderos - 8 - Now here we have a player who is making his Champions League debut, has rarely featured in our first team, and has spent more time out through Injury than he has in training. Should he really be our best player tonight, in a big, crucial game such as this? The answer quite simply is no! With the likes of Henry, Bergkamp, Reyes, Ljungberg, Cole and Vieira all on the field you would have expected at least half of them to turn in professional and committed displays. But no! It was only Senderos who even looked like he wanted the ball for the first hour of the match. When everyone else stood still it was him making himself available and doing his best to help out where he could. He got up well for every header and put in some great challenges. One mistake in the ninety minutes was all that he made. It was good to see him have such a good game against quality opposition, as while his previous performances were also good his credentials were questioned due to the fact that these teams were lowly teams such as Sheffield United and Pompey. Tonight, he was immense and by far and away our best player, putting the experienced lads to shame. Lauren - 6.5 - Got forward well, but also allowed people to get past him with a great deal of ease. Jose Reyes - 5 - My God did he have a poor game! What an absolute shocker he had! He never looked like he was in the game; his head was clearly off in the clouds. He wasn’t alert for the first twenty minutes, and even when he did look for the ball his first touch was poor and he failed to keep possession. His passing was average at best and he always had his back to goal. Whatever happened to the Reyes of mid August, who would pick the ball up and just run at defenders with no fear? Now he looks for a simple pass and nothing more. One of a few players who didn’t have the impact that they should have had. Patrick Vieira - 6 - In this game it was hard to see our midfield. Vieira did little to help this, and he was another who had a poor game. He didn’t hold the ball, up or play a simple ball; instead he continually lost out and allowed Munich to over run the midfield. Mathieu Flamini - 6.5 - Even Flamini, who has been the highlight of the last few weeks, had a largely ineffective game. He made fewer tackles than normal and was surprisingly run ragged by the Munich midfield. Freddie Ljungberg - 6 - He scrapped away for a while but seemed to give up midway through the second half. Thierry Henry - 6.5 - Well at least he made some runs! His passing wasn’t great, but he was the only attacking player to make continual runs looking for space. He got his reward when he got his goal. Dennis Bergkamp - 6 - He was disappointing today. Much was made of his return to the side, but he failed to deliver. The flicks weren’t quite coming off and he was caught in possession. Subs: Robert Pires - 6 - Made a few runs and was actually beating defenders. However, he wasn’t looking very sharp, and had to be fed the ball while under no pressure to do anything with it. Cesc Fabregas – 6 - Replaced Flamini as a more attacking option. However, he hit the Bayern brick wall and had little penetration. Robin Van Persie - 6 - Played as an out and out centre forward, but had little time to influence a game which was already slipping away. ------------------- Basically, exactly the same observations I made, from an Arsenal fan. "I'm disappointed Arsenal lost, but just as disappointed that you are show so little class in winning the tie." Huh?
SJC, you might have something to learn from Arsenal's humility And as far Wenger goes, not only does he have bad eyesight but he seems to be suffering from amnesia. Apparently he forgot the drubbing Manchester United gave to his team at Highbury a while back. Since I have no team to root for this year, I guess I must root against Bayern. You know the old saying 'if you can't beat them, than to hell with them". Actually my anti-german soccer feelings have yet to subside since Torsten Fringes decided to use his left hand as a ball stopper on the goal line against the U.S. in Korea. It makes me wonder about the refereeing during the Che/Bar game, when Collina gave a penalty kick to Barcelona. Did the ball play the player or vice versa. I heard there was something similar in the Manchester AC Milan game. And what the hell is the difference? I thought if you touch the ball with your hand in the box it's a penalty.
