Bayern Preview + Lineups - Time To Prove What We Are Made Of!

This is not going to be one of my usual previews, with the scoop of the week. No interview excerpts, or analysis of formations and tactics. No talk of transfers, no talk of rumours etc. So, in short, just some straight talk.

The Blackburn defeat, as painful as it was, infact bought no emotion out of me. It felt something very familiar. Something that I am accustomed to. There was a sense of deja-vu, as the final whistle blew, on yet another doomed cup campaign.

Usually, I would be depressed for a couple of days, and life would trudge on. But, this time, nothing of that sort. Life was back to normal the very next day. It has been some while since I really felt my adrenaline pump up while watching Arsenal play.

People go on about passion and commitment these days. How Arsenal players are so disjointed with the club, that they are happy to just turn up and pick their wages, and not at all bothered about the fans.

There have been rumors of unrest in the coaching staff, a bust up between Arsene Wenger and Steve Bould. Talk of how Wenger retains his monopoly on all matters, and severely restricts the inputs of Bould into training sessions.

The usual ramblings doing their rounds in the press, of how Arsenal have fallen behind the pack, how Arsene Wenger has lost the plot, how Sebastien Squillaci picks up his fat wage packet, how Arsenal has become a business more than a football club.

I am absolutely tired of the camera reels hovering on to the 2005 written at the Emirates, and the commentators using that moment to cover up the time, as they have nothing better to speak about, as to how Arsenal have failed to win trophies for 8 years now!

I have grown sick of the camera’s focusing on Arsene Wenger as soon as a goal is conceded, and the freckles and the frowns growing on his face, with the commentators doing their usual crap of Wenger-bashing, by blurting out words like “Here is the man right in the middle of a firing zone!”.

And then there’s this photographer so obsessed with Jack Wilshere. Everytime we lose a game, this guy comes along to snap up Wilshere contemplating the defeat. And, that becomes the headline photo the next day.

I am tired of all of the nonsense above and more. But, I will give it a break.

Tonight is a chance to prove what we are made of. Stern stuff or are we just cannon fodder. Are we really an army that is willing to fight it against the odds or just a lethargic bunch of narcissists, who are least bothered.

It is a test of our resilience, a battle for our nerves, a challenge to our ethos. It is not Bayern Munich we face today, but the world. Arsenal, go out there and make me proud. I want to feel the same adrenaline I felt when we beat Barcelona, when we thrashed Sp*rs, when we went 3-0 up against Milan! Give me back those moments, and for once I will forget that I have a haystack of problems in my life! Give me something to hold on to!

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Right, team news then! So, Laurent Koscielny supposedly looks fit enough to start, while Nacho Monreal (cup-tied), and Kieran Gibbs (calf) are out. That means Thomas Vermaelen starts at left back.

Elsewhere, Jerome Boateng (suspension), and Holger Badstuber (hamstring) are out. That means Brazilian Dante could partner Belgian Daniel van Buyten. Bayern are expected to start with Croatian international Milan Mandzukic up top.

Here is how I expect the teams to lineup!

Like I said, no discussions about tactics!

Go out there, and get the job done, you Gooners!

Jai Arsenal

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Go ahead you lazy bum, that’s all I ask of you!

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