Last Tuesday night wasn’t quite the night many Arsenal fans were hoping for when it was revealed that they would be facing Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
Mikel Arteta’s side may be entirely different from the one that seemed to succumb to the German behemoths on an annual basis in the mid-2010s, but the fans are still the same, and so revenge was very much on the menu.
Unfortunately for the north Londoners, a mixture of uncharacteristically sloppy defensive errors and the magnitude of the occasion saw them lose their 1-0 lead and settle for a hard-fought 2-2 draw.
It was a night that few of the Gunners’ starting XI could be particularly proud of, but there was one starter who truly had an evening to forget – well, half an evening to be accurate.
Yes, the Arsenal star who had the worst evening of all, and consequently the shortest, was Poland international Jakub Kiwior. The former Spezia man was brought into the starting lineup after Oleksandr Zinchenko’s less-than-stellar showing against Brighton & Hove Albion last weekend and to add some more defensive stability to the backline.
Unfortunately for Arteta and Co, the 24-year-old did quite the opposite and spent much of the first 45 minutes being spun by the electric pace of Leroy Sané, who did quite literally spin the full-back in the build-up to Bayern’s penalty for the second goal.
His performance was described as “shaky” by Arsenal content creator and fan Alexander Moneypenny, and while that may sound harsh, the Standard’s Dan Kilpatrick was even more scathing.
The journalist gave the starter a 3/10 on the night and wrote that he was ‘flat-footed for Bayern’s leveller and skinned by Sane for the visitors’ second goal’, noting that it was a ‘harsh lesson of the realities of this level.’
In all, it wasn’t a very good showing from the Arsenal man and one that will likely see him dropped from the starting lineup ahead of this weekend’s game against Aston Villa and the second leg next week.
So, realistically, two players, Zinchenko and Takehiro Tomiyasu, could replace the Polish defender. The former has seen his stock fall quite dramatically among fans and pundits alike this season, with his defensive fragilities seen as a disaster waiting to happen by many.
This is demonstrated by Andy Townsend telling talkSPORT (via the Metro) that the Ukrainian is “flimsy and flaky.”
However, for the second 45 yesterday, he looked relatively solid in his own third and gave the Gunners another outlet when going forward.
While he did misplace a few passes here and there, his ability to find a man on the other side of the pitch could be essential in unlocking this Bayern defence. On the other hand, what Tomiyasu lacks in his passing range, he makes up for in physical presence and defensive resilience.
The 6 foot 2 titan has spent the vast majority of his career playing between centre-back and right-back, so unlike his Ukrainian teammate, his first thought is not how to play his next diagonal, but instead, where he should be positioned to stop the next counter-attack.
Described as “superb as a right-back, superb as a centre-back” by talent scout Jacek Kulig, the Japan international is undoubtedly the clear choice should Arteta want to shore up his backline in the most high-stakes of games, but with a win needed on the weekend and the Allianz next week, it might be time to bring Zinchenko back in the lineup.
Anyway, Tomiyasu can always come in to defend a lead, should Arsenal gain one, that is.