The most vital thing is to keep a clean sheet. I believe our defence is strong enough to do this. Again, our poor defending against them last season at home was the difference between us going through to the quarter finals last season. As already stated, 0-0 would be an ideal result. Just such a shame Arteta is banned. Hopefully Wilshere can step up.
I genuinely believe if Bendtner is given the chance he will score against Bayern. Giroud will obviously start first but Bendtner would give their defence more of a nightmare. Plus, he's not afraid to take on defenders. Oxo will be key down the wings. He's fearless and will definitely cause problems but I can't see him starting. I suspect Wenger will take a more conservative approach in the 1st leg.
-----------------------Sczezney----------------------- Sagna-----Mertesacker--------Koscielney-----Gibbs -----------------Flamini---------Wilshere------------- ---------------------------Ozil------------------------- --TheOx----------------Giroud-------------Podolski-- Personally this is how I would line up. I think Oxo's pace and Podoslki's left foot are both essential as we need efficiency in this game. I would be tempted to start Sanogo - or at least bring him on as a sub. He will be full of confidence after the Liverpool game. Carzorla - to be brought on either for Pod or Oxo in the second half.
Sanogo yes, for reasons of his performance against Liverpool, but Pod doesn't seem to offer much in the middle. I feel he's better playing wide & making runs (as yesterday) diagonally into the box.
Podoslki is almost the complete opposite to Giroud when they play in the middle. Giroud holds the ball up well and bullies defenders - Podoslki doesn't he tends to drop to deep (almost into midfield) But Podolski needs FAR fewer chances to score. In terms of Conversion rates this Season.. Podoslki 0.29 - that's basically one goal every 3 shots. Almost as good as Suarez and Aguero. Giroud 0.14 - Over twice as many shots per goal. In fact he needs seven shots on target for every goal he scores. (last Season it was 8 - or 0.12) So its tricky - Against the big teams you have to make the most of your chances. You have to be efficient and unfortunately for all his good link up play.. Giroud is one of the least efficient strikers out here.
I do agree Bear that Giroud is looking like a poor option, but I think the stats on conversion rate may be misleading. As the central striker you would expect Giroud to have more shots than Podolski. I don't think many people rate Pod through the middle due to his lack of movement when he plays there. Personally, I'd rather see Podolski left and Sanogo or Bendtner in the middle against Bayern.
I would start with Scezney Sagna Mert Kos Gibbs Flamini Wilshere OXO Ozil Cazorla Giroud It did cross my mind to drop cazorla in place of rosicky or podolski for the fact that they are more direct and will be better equipped to deal with Lahm's runs forward. As long as giroud's head is right then he should play, its alot to ask him to start on wednesday. While he did cause the liverpool defence problems, because of his lack of match time his link up play isn't up to scratch and on wednesday we won't see the ball for long periods which means when we do get it in and around the penalty box we need the ball to stick to the striker's feet, something which giroud has proven capable of. Being able to bring rosicky podolski and sanogo off the bench will give us the opportunity to be more direct especially if we are chasing the game in the second half.
for me , Giroud offers so little threat to the opposition that i would rather see Bendy in that role . But the pod needs to play on the left , he is a major strength to our attack . If he sits on the bench again for 70- 80 minutes i will implode. Giroud against united , he offered not a jot. Zip.
Thinking long and hard about this, i think we should try something different, they're going to have most of the ball, and they'll push up quite a bit too, so they can be hit on the counter, thinking about it, i'd play: Szczesny Jenkinson Sagna Mertesacker Koscielny Monreal Cazorla Oxlade-C Flamini Gibbs Ozil Play a 5-4-1 with Ozil as a lone striker, he's quicker than their CB's, just instruct him to shoot rather than always look for the pass. Ox's pace could also be handy, he could get up in support of Ozil if needed, this formation theorises that we're not seeing much of the ball on Wednesday.
Bayern are clearly much better than us, but they also have so many things going for them. They had a FIVE week winter break, and they are barely tested in their league because they are so much better and have basically already won the league, so all their players are going to be as fresh as a daisy. Also there are only 18 teams in the German league, so again, they play less games. They are going to have so much energy and they will use that to press us into submission. This is going to very hard, and for me Bayern are not only massive favourites to beat us, but also to win the CL. With their advantages, I do not see how they can be stopped.
We need a team that can break FAST against Bayern, as they rotate tremendously quickly from Attack to Defense.
This season, we have also shown that we can't cope with teams that press us high up (Everton,Southampton,Dortmund and Liverpool). One tactic is to play the long ball to escape that pressure, but with the form Giroud is in, I can't see him holding it up against the likes of Dante and Boateng. As for breaking fast, only the OX offers us that real speed. Cazorla is a no no for me in this game. Rosicky or Podolski has to play ahead of him, because they are quicker and can play at a higher tempo.
Red Action are organising a card display for before the game.Looking at the plan it would appear that I shall be holding up a white card.
Personally I think its complete madness to go for a totally new formation with several players playing out of position just for the sake of getting all our defenders on the pitch. Especially against possibly the best team in the world currently. We need our most fluid team, with players who know how those around them are going to react.
