Bad place to foul

That’s poor from the ref. Clear foul on Zinchenko to stop him winning the ball cleanly. Now Bayern have a dangerous free kick

Clear yellow for cynical trip from Partey- no worse than the one Laimer did and his was 60 yards closer to his own goal

I haven't seen a club counter us so easily in a while. The one thing they do when they get possession are at least a handful of players are bursting forward.

It always amazed me how refs allow teams to just gain 10’s of yards on throws and free kicks.
Partey gave the foul away maybe 5-10 yards outside their box and the free kick gets taken 5 yards short of half way!

Partey is very poor

It’s because they protect the ball so well to the first man it’s played forward to. It’s not just controlled it’s controlled with a purpose to play the best pass

And Zinchenko has also stunk the place out for me. It doesn’t even work tactically but he’s well off it as well.

I don’t care if Saka moves his leg that’s a pen. All day *%^@*** long. *%^@ off

Tough ask now.

Saka was stupid to try to draw a penalty. He was clear on goal

When you see the level of penalties that are given all season then that one has to be given. Saka makes sure there is contact. If he gives it no chance var over turns it.

I don’t think var would over turn the one we conceded if it wasn’t given.

The only thing you’d say with the Saka one is he was playing for the pen when he possibly didn’t need to as he had got past Neuer

Penalty?

All. Day. Long.

It’s Neuer isn’t it.

Neuer moved his leg too.

Penalty. Easy.

Neuer has put his leg out and he catches Saka. Saka makes sure there is contact but Saka doesn’t have to get out of the way of Neuer’s dangled leg.

For me that is one of those decisions which if you’re not sure as a ref you have to give it because it’s the far less controversial call

I fancy us for the away leg.

Watch it again Neuer would have taken him out whatever.

Yeah, it’s one you always always see given. Apart from there. I do fancy us away actually. They’re missing Davies at LB and Saka will go with a proper grievance to avenge.

Saka needs to try to score there instead of trying to win the penalty.

Yes, I fancy us too.

Look, overall I think the ref had a good game but that last decision is a shocker. It felt a bit like the first Porto leg where Bayern seemed to know what would and wouldn’t get given as a free kick in the second half. Just a few too many 50/50 type calls that they kept getting most likely through their experience and a bit too much of us looking for the foul rather than just trying to play through and the foul would eventually feel more obvious because you’re not trying to win it.

Whenever a ref gives or doesn’t give a penalty he can rarely be 100% sure each way, but he can be empowered to give what he thinks because of var to have a check. I just think with that kind of decision you can never be 100% sure either way so the much less controversial call is to give it because the contact is so clear! We see penalties given for the tiniest of contact - then if var decides the ref should have a second look he can.

To be honest I’d totally change the var protocol because the threshold for over turn is far too high. Bar should have the power to say ‘it’s not clear cut either way, you go and look at it yourself again on the monitor and you decide’ the onfield ref has got the feel for the game where the var sitting in a studio cant

We were the better team over the 90 minutes. No reason why we can't replicate this in Munich.

As always gets said, if that foul happens anywhere else on the pitch it’s a foul every time and no one bats an eyelid

Jesus and Trossard made a difference. Trossard has such an efficiency to his game, possible the best and coolest finisher in the team.

Zinchenko gave us more control but I wonder if the second leg plan should be Tomiyasu to start and Zinchenko to come on if required. Bayern will naturally attack more at home and I suspect we’ll naturally retreat a bit more.

Saka will be key again

Jorginho is fantastic in a controlled game (he obviously contributed to that depending how well he plays) but Bayerns accuracy and speed on the counter made it difficult for him.

Some really big decisions for Arteta in the second leg.
Right now the only players I think should be assured to start are:
Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Rice (as a 6 or 8) Saka and Havertz (as an 8 or 9)

We made some mistakes we don’t normally make. I still think we’re a better team than Bayern but it was almost like the playing field was levelled due to the experience Bayerns players have in knock out football compared to us

Tuchel complaining there was a moment we had a goal kick and the ref started the game and Raya gave the ball to one of our CB who put our hand on the ball to (in our view) actually take the goal kick. Tuchel saying it should have been a penalty.
I’d be shocked if a ‘technical’ penalty like that would ever be given

What a desperate nob. Getting the tin tack after being embarrassed by Xhaka’s boys.

I do think one day a ref will award a penalty when the CB handles it to put it on the ground before passing it to the keeper.
It's obvious what's happening but I'm paranoid one day a jobsworth ref will give a penalty and technically count it as handball.

https://x.com/eduardohagn/status/177781 ... -j6VVZXEoA

This angle makes Kane’s elbow look worse. I’m not saying its a red because unless you very clearly take a big swing with the point of your elbow you be be e get sent off for this, but it’s definitely not an accident and players often get yellows in Europe for elbows that are clumsy and this was more deliberate

The ref doesn’t blow the whistle for every restart though does he? You see plenty of free kicks in the middle of the park where a player passes the ball to the player who is actually going to take it, that player (or even gk outside his area) usually handballs it then takes the free kick. If you were a jobsworth ref you could say you already took the free kick but there is something called the spirit of the game which should be upheld.
If it was clear that our intention was to take the goal kick and then we saw that we were being closed down too quickly for our liking so pretended we hadn’t taken it I’d have a bit more of an open mind on it being a pedantic penalty, but not the way this has been described as happening

Frustrating not to get the win but at least we didn't lose.
Crucial moment early on when White could put us 2 0 up.
How's that not a bloody penalty???
Didn't even go to var.
Ridiculous.

This certainly isn’t a case of Neuer just standing his ground, how often do we hear that if the defender has been foolish enough to dangle a leg out then why should the forward actively avoid him and possibly worsen his chance because he’s tried to avoid him.

I do understand the argument that Saka initiated the contact but I do still think it should have been given as a penalty

Jesus probably has to start the second leg. His best performances have been in the champions league and the fact he’s our most experienced champions league player may not be a coincidence.
Rice as the 6, Havertz as the 8 to win duels(!) I’d play Tomiyasu at left back then it’s a 50/50 for Trossard and Martinelli. Trossard on current form but we might need Martinelli’s raw pace on the counter.

And that is why he was being stupid there. Let Neuer take him out. He should focus on getting the ball in the net. Momentum was with him going forward.
I am sure his very loud outburst at the referee post-match was more a cover up of his own poor choice.

All said, he is still loved

Agree that it should be a penalty. But Saka's action gave referee an option (excuse) to deny it. Saka should have simply played his way towards goal. It was wide open for him to have a go at. For me, it was an error of judgement from Saka. And a surprising one too.

Definitely not Kiwior. Not ready for these big matches. And too easily passed by Sane.

Prefer Tomiyasu because of his size to better match Sane. And also better going forward.

Zinny only when a plan B is required. He is still too error prone and careless. We cannot afford to be scrambling back because he decides to get cocky, leading to a poor pass.

Yep, I’d agree with this. Saka tried too hard to win the penalty and it counted against him

The media are making a big deal of the Gabriel handball to take the goal kick. I’d like to see any example of that being given as a penalty, or even any example of that being given as handball anywhere on the pitch in any game in the history of football.