Pep Guardiola’s substitutions and a lack of creativity played into Arsenal’s hands
Guardiola’s decision to replace Xabi Alonso for youngster Joshua Kimmich raised a few eyebrows, considering how influential Alonso was in controlling the midfield battle for the visitors. He was single-handedly dictating the tempo of the match, completing 105 passes and taking 125 touches during his 72-minute shift.
This, along with the decision to replace Arturo Vidal with the more defensive-minded Rafinha, gave a clear sign that Bayern were content to shut up shop and come away from the Emirates with a point. From that moment onwards, Die Roten relinquished their control in midfield and gave Arsenal the impetuous to be braver going forward.
The lack of clear-cut chances will also concern Guardiola, with statistics showing Arsenal created equally as many chances despite only having 27% of the possession. In fact the eight shots on target conceded by Bayern was the most a team has mustered against a side managed by Guardiola in the Champions League.
There have been instances during the Spaniard’s reign as Bayern boss where you feel they have not converted their territorial dominance into goalscoring opportunities and at times they have lacked purpose going forward. Barring the excellent performance from the mesmerising Douglas Costa, this was another one of those occasions. It could be the loss Bayern needed in order to bring them to earth after their superhuman run of results over the past three months.
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