So many talking points after the Bayern match; handball at a goal kick, penalty in the last minute, red card for Kane. What no one seems to have commented on is the position of Raya for the first Bayern goal. Gabriel, having chased back a long ball, would have have expected to comfortably play a back pass to his ‘keeper. Except Raya was almost on the edge of the centre-ciricle and the risk of playing it at pace might have been a perfect lay off for the lurking Harry Kane. So Gabriel ended up trying to swivel and play a forward pass and we know what happened next. I suppose he could have walloped the ball into touch, but his mind was on restarting an attack. Instead, his pass forward was too long for Kiwior and that left the surge by Serge. (Incidenatally, isn’t it amazing to think that he was on Arsenal’s books and with Theo Walcott, and vying for a starting place until the injury that delayed his progress allowed Walcott to become a fixture so he grew imaptient and moved. And while Theo is in the commentary box these days, Gnabry remains a class act.)
It wasn’t the first time I’d had the vapours with Raya on the half way line. I know the strategy seems to be for the ‘keeper to be in a position to be quick to intercept a breaakway attack from the opposition, but joining everyone else in the Bayern half scared the life out of me. I mean, who can forget Anders Limpar from the halfway line? Actually, most people seem to have done, but he scored from just inside the opponents half (Manchester United, was it not?). I don’t suppose David Seaman has forgotten Nayim. And Aaron Ramsdale was beaten by transgressing too far forward not so long ago. But in no case had the keeper come not quite so far away from the goal as Raya on Tuesday. He’d been there several times already. I began to wonder if maybe he was getting bored down the North Bank end, seeing so little of the action, and had wandered forward for a better view of the way we were dismantling the Bayern back line.
We’ve largely managed to do away with the classic breakaway goal in England. One assumes tactics might be being revised for Wednesday.
Funny as it may sound, but we missed the away supporters
The other thing that struck me about Tuesday was the effect the absence of away fans seemed to have on the match. The atmosphere at the opening was beyond anything I can remember in 100 years of going to home fixtures. Yet, as Gnabry scored , it was as if a balloon had been punctured. All the life went out of the crowd. We went flat and none of our team seemed to be able to whip us into a state of frenzy to help them get reset. Had their been Bayern fans, who would have gone wild at the equliser, we would surely have responded and given the team huge boost as we’ve done in the opast. Not Tuesday. With nothing to goad us into voice, we allowed nerves and uncertainty to prevail. Even the Clock End drum sounded mournful, not motivational.
We have always known the value of supporters to making the matchday special. But it appears that includes the presence of away supporters.
That said, ours have made themselves heard all through this season, and hopefully they’ll do it again on Wednesday and inspire us to victory. Dodgy decisions by the referee and roaming ‘keeper notwithstanding, we didn’t lose on Tuesday. With our current away record, we can feel positive about meeting either Manchester City pr Real Madrid in the semis.
Richard Smith 12/04/24