How Thomas Tuchel’s genius tweak to Bayern starting XI nullified Arsenal attack and ‘took Bukayo Saka out of the game’
FANS have hailed Thomas Tuchel’s tactical tweak that “took Bukayo Saka out of the game” against Arsenal.
The German coach masterminded Bayern Munich’s 1-0 triumph over the Gunners at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday.
Joshua Kimmich scored the only goal of the game to secure a 3-2 aggregate victory to set-up a Champions League semi-final with Real Madrid, who beat holders Man City on penalties.
Arsenal barely laid a glove on Bayern throughout the second leg and their talisman Saka was subdued throughout.
His stats made for grim reading afterwards as he failed to register a shot, create a chance, complete any dribbles and also registering zero accurate crosses.
We revealed earlier how Tuchel, who led Chelsea to Champions League glory in 2021, was planning to spring a tactical surprise.
With regular full-back Alphonso Davies suspended, one of either Noussair Mazraoui and Raphael Guerreiro were expected to replace him.
However, Bayern’s pre-match training saw the pair both feature as Tuchel plotted a way to stop Saka from being Arsenal’s main driving force.
And the 50-year-old coach followed through with that idea by starting the pair as they doubled up on the danger man.
It was Mazraoui that played at left-back with Guerreiro playing higher up, offering him protection from midfield.
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And the plan could not have worked out any better – and supporters were quick to praise Tuchel afterwards.
One wrote on X: “People saying Saka ghosted didn’t watch the game. Tuchel took Saka out of the game with his tactics.”
A second post read: “After seeing what Saka did with Alphonso Davies, Tuchel decided to pin him with 2 LBs and Mazraoui absolutely did that job well.”
A third fan said: “Thomas Tuchel masterclass – kept Saka quiet and in turn Arsenal quiet.”
“Tuchel did his homework on Saka,” claimed another one.
A fifth wrote: “Guerreiro and Mazraoui absolutely locked up Saka this game. Seen nothing from him at all.”
While a sixth added: “Thomas Tuchel with a tactical masterclass today starting two full-backs on the left wing to keep Bukayo Saka locked down.
“Through 75 minutes, Saka has 0 shots and 0 chances created. Just 19 accurate passes & 32 total touches…”
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta admitted afterwards that his side missed a moment of magic: “Yes. Had to be. A mistake from them or a magic moment, that is what unlocks the tie.
“We didn’t manage to win it at the end and we could have won. At moment we were better than them and had a lot of moments of dominance.
“That spark around the box is what you need in these ties to get the victory.”
He added: “The club has been without Champions League football for seven years.
“The first time you want to be in it, then you want to be in the semi-finals and finals.
“We all want it so badly, but you see in many other clubs it takes six, seven years to get to that stage. But we were very close, that is the reality.”
Meanwhile, Arsenal legend Martin Keown told TNT Sports: “Hugely disappointing. Just feel as though we didn’t really lay a glove on them in this second tie.
“It was there if we wanted it and Bayern came out with the resolve, direct, and posed much more of a threat than Arsenal did.
“I think the cautiousness of the game really helped Bayern to sort of, ‘okay, let’s change gear in the second half,’ and Arsenal never really did that. They contained Arsenal.
“It was just such a flat performance.”
