7. The Last Stand At The Allianz
Bayern Munich's progression through the 2012-13 UEFA Champions League was about as good as you could ever hope to get. A casual, straightforward navigation through the group stage; the humbling of a superb Juventus team, home and away, before the absolute, total humiliation of the juggernaut that was (and still is) FC Barcelona seven goals to zip, capped off by a victory over your national rivals in the final. As good as it gets... with a sole exception. Bayern's razor thin victory over Arsenal in the first knock-out round was expected by few and predicted by less. Following a harrowing 1-3 home defeat for the Gunners in the first leg, all that was expected of Wenger's men as they arrived in Munich for the second was that they go out and give it their all. Whatever the result, hold your heads high. Little would any but the most brazen know, Arsenal came within an eyelash of dumping Champions-elect Bayern out before their history making run had ever really got started. The question is: Why? Why did Arsenal succeed that night where the likes of Juventus and Barcelona would fail so miserably? A part of it was fortune- Bayern were as poor that night as any time before or since in 2013- but part of it was a critical tactical change that Arséne made, one of which he has kept to since: he switched from a 4-3-3 to an outright 4-2-3-1. A small change but a crucial one. Aaron Ramsey joined Mikel Arteta in the hold, whilst Theo Walcott and Tomas Rosicky played deeper than previously seen, in an attempt to counter the threat of Bayern. In this, Wenger abandoned principles he'd been standing by for years, essentially creating two banks of four for Bayern to penetrate, whilst abdicating the lion's share of possession. An early goal and a headed effort from Koscielny from a corner led to the most unconventional of Arsenal victories, in this sense. From that game forward, Arsenal went on a run of 9 straight away victories, eventually broken by Manchester United earlier this season. They have the best away record in the Premier League this season and boast the largest amount of clean sheets overall, shared with West Ham. On many occasions, the wide players of Arsenal have been seen retreating into these same two lines of 4 when under the cosh, this season, leaving Giroud and Ozil the two outlets up top to hold up the ball (more on that later). It's made them far tougher to break down, especially away from home and it's a lesson they learnt from that one game last March where they beat the reigning World Champions.
