Munich defeat shows Arsenal have not improved since the Wenger days | OneFootball

How you lose by Dan Smith

So, I said it wasn’t as black and white as what the result would be in Germany.

There is no disgrace to lose at the Allianz Arena, but I stressed it’s how you lose.

That’s what hurt so many Gooners on Sunday. Given the stakes it was unsettling how much we froze. A trend at this time of the year for our young squad.

I can’t write we were as bad as we were against Aston Villa, but were we brave?

Bravery isn’t about getting your foot stuck in and being physical. It’s about demanding the ball, believing you can make the difference, a refusal to play the safe pass, willingness to take a risk.

Think of the last 15 minutes against Bayern Munich. Can you say any player did that?

I think of Paul Merson’s words at the weekend when Havertz failed to close down a cross. His stance was having got this far in the season, you need to close down that cross.

His thoughts echoed in my head in the final stages in Munich. It’s easy for me to say as I’m sure the Gunners were physically and mentally tired, but did we come across as a team desperate to get that ball in the box?

Did we ever come across that we believed we would equalise?

In a Champions League Q Final did we leave it all on the pitch?

If the answer is no, then Arteta didn’t get the leadership he demanded. Some know those leaders don’t exist.

Some readers moved the goal posts since the first leg. There were those who refused to believe we would have to dramatically improve from the Porto tie to reach the Final.

All season some claimed we were second favourites to lift the trophy for no other reason than being called Arsenal.

Despite being away from the competition for 6 years?

Knocked out of the Europa League by the likes of Olympiakos and Sporting Lisbon, without a domestic title in two decades!

Kai Havertz up front!

Eddie Nketiah and Reiss Nelson on the bench!

Why are we paying them 100,000 pound a week if they are not trusted when it matters?

Remember a week ago when I says our manager has zero faith in Smith Rowe?

In the last few days though, those same readers quietly changed their approach, suddenly we were being told that just being involved was progress. Conditioned to think like that. Does a big club think like that?

If you have learnt anything this week, it’s that experience matters at this level. Porto over two legs were able to exploit their game plan simply because they had the knowledge of playing knock out football.

As Tomas Tuchel pointed out before kick-off, he has a dressing room who have won this Cup and played at this stage every year.

In the second half they controlled the tie.

I wouldn’t say we went missing on Wednesday, but we played it safe.

If we win our next two games, we go 4 points clear of City!

Who though on the plane back to England is pointing that out?

Who in training is stressing that these are the occasions you want to be involved in?

Who in the canteen is pointing out that instead of being crippled by a fear of failure, we should be excited about writing our names into the history books?

On the balance of this week, I don’t think that person exists.

I worry how many of our players believe they can still be Champions?

Arsene Wenger rightfully got criticised for taking us to the knockout stages without any ambition to actually try and lift the trophy. Look at the last 20 mins of Wednesday night.

Has anything changed?

Dan

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