A rubber match isn’t, as the casual reader might suppose, an extremely poorly designed item for lighting one’s pipe. It is in fact (according to Wiktionary) “A sporting event at the end of a series in which the opponents are tied in terms of events won and lost.”
Hence we have the term ‘dead rubber’ coined to indicate the antithesis of this phenomenon. This, many would argue, is the appropriate term to apply to tonight’s fixture between Bayern Munich and Arsenal.
With the first half of the tie so effectively settled in favour of the German side there appears little point in getting overly excited about the return leg. It’s an argument with which it’s difficult to argue. Especially when one factors in the awful run of form Arsenal is trying its best to overcome.
I’m not going to attempt to sugar coat it, the side is shorn of confidence, making poor decisions all over the pitch and playing as if they expect to lose. It is never a particularly edifying sight watching your favourite team struggling like this, and I’m not interested in any of the excuses I’m sure are being bandied around.
The current malaise is almost certainly temporary, the players are not suddenly incapable merely because collectively they cannot find their feet. The amount of poor decisions on the pitch against Liverpool had me shaking my head and tutting in a manner seldom seen in Wesley Avenue on a match day. I know this comes as a shock to you, but yes, even the most positive among us is capable of sighing heavily from time to time.
I think what upset me most was not so much the hurried wayward passing as the amount of times the poorly executed pass was played directly into the danger zone, precisely where Liverpool would have wanted it, usually to a man heavily marked or on the back foot and without support. This was as much the fault of the players off the ball not moving to decent positions as it was the hapless attempts to find them with a bad pass.
Taken together it added up to a shaky, panicked display from a bunch of bewildered sportsmen struggling to understand why that which they usually find comes as second nature was suddenly so difficult.
How can the squad possibly do the improbable against one of the best teams in Europe? How indeed. Perhaps it would be more realistic to hope they begin to turn the tide. Put in a more coherent display, gradually turn the ship around and get themselves in the frame of mind to make a decent fist of the run in and the remaining FA Cup fixtures.
I had a sense that this was the plan at Anfield. Sit back and defend, draw if necessary but hope to hit on the break. Build a run of unbeaten results to get the engine running smoothly again. That would have made sense but of course team sport is a capricious beast and one cannot always steer it the way one might hope. The opposition, for example, will have a part to play in proceedings.
So what is left? Well, might I suggest that perhaps the only thing left tonight is the only thing that ever really mattered anyway? A game of football. An hour and a half of entertainment for the devotee both in the stadium and on the couch. Strip away the hyperbole and false analogies with armed conflict, remove the ridiculous media fuelled scandal and razzmatazz and what you have left is a football match.
Dead rubber or not if you are genuinely a fan of the sport you ought to able to enjoy the contest, the individual moments of improvisation and skill and the occasion itself. If not, if the match in and of itself isn’t enough for you and results are really all that matters then the final league table is widely published every May, you could spare yourself the weekly anguish and just glance at that.
Positively Arsenal 
I don’t doubt you are right Shotta, but at the moment that looks a flawed template, especially with this teams injury record.
These are confidence sapping games, they need a more robust alternative backs against the wall plan in place as well as wonderful flowing football. These lesser forms of the game aren’t as hard to train in as some of the stuff Wenger has them playing.
If Wenger stays, he is going to have to change something….more quality as you suggest, or an allardycian plan b, as horrible as that sounds
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Any data on Bayern Shotta ?
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The thing being their data might be better than our data !!
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I apologise
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shotta is the wenger template a problem then
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Feed the fish
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wenger says the lew penalty was a dive, and that the guy was also offside, so a triple whammy, he congratulated the ref on his effect on the game.
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And if any one else fancies putting seneering – snide pictures or comments about the players who turned in their best tonight they will find their effort binned.
Read the “what we are about” thing.
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No point talking about the individual errors that led to some of those goals as scapegoating and recriminations will not change the outcome so I will focus on the positives instead.
That first half performance should encourage the team as 11 v 11 we were more than a match for them to the extent that they started the cheating and gamesmanship early doors. I know Shotta goes on about the loss of our technical leader Santi, but clearly the other one is Kos. Once he went off it was a repeat of last time. I was glad the players didn’t give up and from where I was sitting at least 2 of their goals looked offside. BM are hard enough to play when both teams have the same number of players on the pitch
The other positives are that a few returning players got a little run out to sharpen them up for Saturday
Wasn’t there supposed to be a protest?
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Does nobody note that it wasn’t just Kos who went off before the collapse? Last I checked it was only 1-2 before we made substitutions. Which means the team that started didn’t get to try and hold the line? Did that not matter? I haven’t seen it, only listened, and the Arsenal commentator who doesn’t whine all the time thought the result was an unfair reflection.
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http://www.101greatgoals.com/101ggvideos/im-revolted-wenger-blasts-officials-arsenal-1-bayern-5-video/
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Go get em, A5!
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I knew it was a dive, without even being able to see it. I hope they get crushed in their next game, bunch of cheats
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Oh well, if the angry get their way, and the Telegraph was right a couple days ago, we can start to prepare to welcome Thierry Henry as the new man. He will sort out that defence!
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Trouble is, some teams are allowed to cheat….some of them are giant teams, the refs seem to gravitate towards them in their decisions. Other teams granted the same priveledge just happen to be playing Arsenal on a given day…..Liverpool, Sutton , Everyon, aren’t current day Giants
I sense many clubs would not be as accepting of this status quo as Arsenal…as a club seem to be
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Again, I haven’t seen it. But didn’t we shift Granit to cover for Kos after he got sent off? And we’re surprised we conceded four? With 10 men and a midfielder playing CB against Bayern? I’m surprised we didn’t concede more, tbh.
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On a positive note, sounds like the 8th best midfielder (TM) had a decent first game back.
Too soon? I’ll get my coat…
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I think we are all on the same page there AG – and the deeeeep frustration that after as good a first half as we have put together all season we were derailed by a bizarre refereeing decision, and then chopped into tiny bits by high quality opponents.
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All I want to say is we have the best doorman on blogsphere.
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We have the very best quality of club members
It is not a difficult job – even on a busy night
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Danny WelbeckVerified account @DannyWelbeck 3h3 hours ago
No injury, no tweak, just ill at the wrong moment. Devastated I couldn’t play tonight.
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Full of it me – digitally speaking
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Rob HarrisVerified account @RobHarris
Asked Wenger if he’ll mange Arsenal again in Champs Lge: “I don’t know … I am here to talk about football not my future.”
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Wenger said the refereeing was “scandalous” tonight.
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1886 @1886_blog 52m52 minutes ago
Wenger doesn’t give a fuck about UEFA or their punishments. Says he was “revolted” by the officials tonight. Tells Bayern to thank them.
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James MawVerified account @JamesMawFFT 1h1 hour ago
Ian Wright, who played for Arsenal in the days they finished 10th & 12th, says this is the worst period he remembers in the club’s history.
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Do we get the softest red cards in football?
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Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain completed 10 dribbles against Bayern – No player has managed more in a CL match this season. [@WhoScored] #afc
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Passenal always comes to my rescue….
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Wenger: “I think the club is in great shape but going through a difficult situation.”
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Arsenal’s next 6 fixtures:
Lincoln H
West Brom A
Man City H
West Ham H
Crystal Palace A
Middlesbrough A
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You know me Mandy – friend of the friendless – the last man attempting to impede each and every referee heading for the drop – hanging I feel is too much
However ……
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when you see the footage of the penalty incident from behind the goal, it is a clear dive from lewandoski. Kos does not trip or push lew, in fact lew pushes kos and then throws himself to the ground. No wonder wenger called it scandalous and that he was revolted by the refs performance.
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The Ox was immense tonight…
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That result massively flattered Bayern, aided and abetted by a blind linesman, and a friendly referee. I hope our players are not too disheartened by the result, because their performance was much better than we’ve seen for a while. I did notice that the Ox was getting frustrated with the referee giving everything to Bayern and nothing to Arsenal and that directly led to his booking when he told the referee what he thought of him after yet another gift to the opposition.
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thought ox was our best player tonight.
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Mattias KarénVerified account @MattiasKaren 2h2 hours ago
Ancelotti: “This result doesn’t really respect what happened on the pitch today because Arsenal played a really good game.”
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‘The red card killed us completely’
It was another frustrating night for Arsène Wenger on Tuesday as we were well beaten by Bayern Munich as we were knocked out of the Champions League.
But the Arsenal manager told the press afterwards that it could have been different were it not for Laurent Koscielny’s sending off at the start of the second half.
This is what he had to say:
on the defeat…
I felt that we produced a performance with the spirit and the pride that we wanted. After that the story finishes badly. Personally, I would say that we really put Bayern under pressure and that we were really unlucky tonight because it was 100 per cent a penalty in the first half after the foul on Walcott. I checked it on television. In the second half, the referee killed the game. After that, it was very difficult but the referee was very, very powerful for Bayern tonight. At that moment in the game, not only was it not a penalty, but Lewandowski was offside. On top of that, he gave us a red card and that killed us completely. Overall I must say that Bayern are a good side, but tonight they can also say thank you to the decisions of the referee in the second half.
on how he feels…
It leaves me very angry, very frustrated and, because we are in a difficult period, it hurts even more. It’s absolutely unexplainable and scandalous. You look at what really happened, and the guy behind the line gives the penalty and the red card when the referee had given a yellow. Okay we have to take it on the chin and I have to stand up for it, and I will take a lot of criticism, but it doesn’t change my mind. We have to deal with these kinds of situations in this game but that doesn’t make them right.
on whether the players have let him down…
No, I feel the referee has let us down.
on the lack of leadership shown after Koscielny’s dismissal…
It’s difficult when you have to go forward and score goals. You have a deficit of four goals and you’re down to 10 men. If you go forward you can be caught on the counter-attack but if you don’t go forward then people will say, ‘Why did you not at least try to score goals?’ so it’s a difficult situation. It’s an impossible situation.
on whether this is his most disappointing European night…
I don’t think so because we knew before the game that it would be difficult to qualify after the first leg. We wanted to at least go home and feel we dealt with the situation with pride and commitment. We did that. The fact that the end result will not highlight the quality of our performance is very disappointing.
on whether he will manage Arsenal again in the Champions League…
I don’t know. You’re always worried about headlines. I’m here to speak about football, not about my future.
on whether the uncertainty over his future is affecting his players…
Tonight there was no uncertainty in our game. I felt that we played very well and it was more the decisions of the referee which killed the game. It’s difficult because when it’s 1-1, you’re down to 10 men against Bayern and you have to score four goals, it’s irresponsible from the referee. We have to stand up and of course give all kinds of explanations but, at the end of the day, that is the reason for tonight’s result. That was not the case in the first game. We lost Koscielny in both games at the beginning of the second half.
on why Arsenal cannot compete with Bayern…
I think we can compete with Bayern Munich and we have shown that tonight in the first half. I believe the second half was a very difficult situation for us. Bayern are a good team and they do what they want in Germany, which we cannot do in England. Nobody can compete with them, they take the players they want and they are a bit lonely on the market. That’s not the case in England.
on what needs to change at Arsenal…
What needs to change at this club? What do you mean by that? I think this club is in great shape but we’re just going through a very difficult situation at the moment. What needs to change is the result in the next game.
on whether his players gave everything tonight…
It was difficult in the final 20 minutes because you have no hope of qualifying anymore. Bayern brought fresh players on and it was of course very difficult.
on how he picks them up after this…
We play in the quarter-final of the FA Cup on Saturday and we want to focus on that. We want to do our job properly and prepare well.
Copyright 2017 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to http://www.arsenal.com as the source
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wenger likely going to get at least a big fine, probably a touchline ban, from uefa for his ref comments after the game.
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7 home games left this season, and 6 away games, and a possible 2 neutral games.
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And to your immense credit anicoll, refs in general in the UK and throughout the world should be , and need defending.
But, I just would love to know what happens to some of them when they do an Arsenal game….that guy gave us nothing. The card switch….a pretty rare thing…..the first Moss Xhaka red….have never seen a red for that before or since…..going back a bit, but I have never seen another red for the RVP incident in Barca either. I can go on and on, but won’t bore readers.
Just don’t get it…..we are a pretty clean team, don’t cheat like some, perhaps the team are bordering on naive at times, I really believe Wenger tries to take a stand against some of the darker elements of the game , but the amount of red cards and penalties we concede would put us up with the dirtiest teams going. We have conceded I believe ten penalties in all competitions this season, that is pretty incredible.
Sadly, I think recent events may lead to something, will be very interesting to see of our fortunes change in the future
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Mandy your comment brought back a thought I had the other day about what will be the biggest change to Arsenal when ever Wenger does leave, and for me it is likely to be the sight of our players diving, cheating, appealing for non existent fouls, feigning injury, and all the other scumming stuff that is brushed off by the media and pundits as the “dark arts”. tonight G Souness dismissed the lewandoski dive for the penalty, with “yeah he dived, but everyone dives now, so it was a deserved red for Koscielny”, just think about that for a minute, “it was a dive”, and “it was a deserved red for Koscielny”, all explained away by “everyone dives now”.
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I didn’t see the game. Dish Network or ESPN refused to schedule; unable to DVR. Came home late and missed the replay. So according to you guys and Wenger we were screwd over by the refs. Surprise, surprise, surprise.
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by the way, if our players do start cheating like so many others, I will be totally against it and will not be afraid to call them cheats and more.
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shotta here is a link to the goals, it don’t show the penalty from behind, which is the clearest view of the dive. but it does show that the 4th and maybe 5th goals were offside.
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20170307/match-video-arsenal-v-bayern
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must say that the 4th goal looked yards offside, not even a close call
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Agreed Ed….no need to lower standards. I just get the impression the football establishment has it in for Wenger…may even be a bit fearful of him, who knows. Arsenal have staff who testified during the Marseilles scandal that UEFA blatantly tried to hush up….who knows, maybe these things follow you.
Not wishing Wenger away, but intrigued to see if we give away ten plus penalties, and three plus reds in a season under a new manager.
If the great man goes, guess it depends who we get. If it is Koeman, Rafa , Sampaoli, perhaps Allegri…we will become dirty cynical feckers. If it’s Martinez, more of the same. Eddie Howe…his team certainly tried a few of the dark arts on our boys this season, including two highly dubious pens….but why wouldn’t he, all teams know they will get away with a bit against Wengers arsenal. If wenger signs on again, think it will get even worse, he may be aware of that, of the new guy is Josh Kroenkes alleged favourite, Thierry Henry, we are going into monty Python territory …who knows what may happen….the Spanish Inquisition or gunnersaurus being replaced by a Norwegian blue parrot for all I know
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But whether Wenger stays or a new man comes in, please,please can they start working a bit more on defence, it is not that hard according to ex pros…a few weeks intensive drilling….failure to do so causes so many problems and makes the msm/AAA for too happy.
If Wenger stays, better defending in all circumstances should be a stipulation….it won’t be, but it should be , it would save so much grief
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Mandy I think the “Josh Kroenke wants Henry to replace Wenger” thing, comes from a malcontent blogger months ago claiming he would not be surprised if the Kroenke’s try to curry favor with fans by appointing a club legend like Henry as assistant to the new manager when AW goes, this sowed the seed, that ends up being the story we seen in the last few days. As Josh Kroenke speaks even less than his non vocal father, I would love to know how anyone knows who he wants as Wenger’s replacement. Anyway, Gazidis will be the man to draw up any shortlist of replacements when wenger goes, him and Dick Laws are directly responsible for that side of the club.
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