Arsenal deservedly beat arguably Europe’s best team at home tonight. On a night when salvaged pride was the mission, the players walked off the pitch at the Allianz Arena with their heads held high and the cheers of the small band of steadfastly raucous travelling fans deservedly ringing in their ears.

This result should give Arsenal belief. The defence that has looked so poor was superb against the team dominating the Bundesliga and the lift this result creates can fire us on our way to Champions League qualification. But amidst the numerous positives lurks the nagging doubt of ‘what if?’

Arsenal lost by a single goal to a European giant because of a first leg when they could not defend and a second leg when they weren’t good enough going forward. It sounds churlish, but one less sloppy goal at the Emirates, or a few less sloppy passes in Munich and things could have been even better.

Not enough chances created

Of course, there were the chances to win it anyway. Gervinho played a one-two then brilliantly twisted his way into space only minutes after coming on but Giroud didn’t anticipate the Ivorian’s poked effort and stood flat footed as it went wide. The Frenchman then dawdled when quick thinking would have found the excellent Santi Cazorla on the six-yard line.

The Frenchman did make positive contributions, displaying his usual class as a long-ball focal point and scoring the early goal. Had he been a yard further forward he probably would have scored an identical goal off a wicked Walcott cross.

But these chances were carved out against a backdrop of wastefulness. Credit to Javi Martinez – a player who could go on to rename the Makelele position – but the players most to blame for Arsenal’s inability to keep the ball were Rosicky and Ramsey, whose willingness to press was matched only by their ability to misplace their passes.

When Arsenal did keep it they looked dangerous, but we kept it too seldom. We mustered nine touches in Bayern’s box. Our pass accuracy was 77% (via @Orbinho).

But brilliant in defence

Maybe I’m being too harsh on the midfield. When the early goal went in, Arsenal’s job was definitely to get to half time with the lead intact, and the middle three did much good work without the ball.

Behind them, the Arsenal back five put in a performance that undoubtedly represents the biggest positive from the night. The thought of Lukas Fabianski starting brought long-suppressed images of him chucking the ball in at Porto flooding back, but he was confident, decisive and sure handed.

Kieran Gibbs stepped right back into his pre-injury form. Laurent Koscielny’s positional sense is perfect for European nights and his goal was rich reward for 90 perfect minutes. With the team sitting back, Per Mertesacker didn’t have to worry about pace and put in the tackles and blocks that make the same people who mock him proclaim Jamie Carragher and John Terry giants of the game.

And then there was Carl Jenkinson. Brilliant Carl Jenkinson. The calmness with which he robbed an Arjen Robben in full flight was the best defensive moment of Arsenal’s season. He is our best right back.

Looking forward, and benching the skipper

And this is our best back four. Thomas Vermaelen should be very afraid. The skipper should be at his peak, yet his calamitous game at Spurs followed by the rousing success of his understudy are surely confirmation that he is only our third-best centre back.

Vermaelen has not shown the leadership required to warrant his inclusion ahead of Mertesacker and Koscielny. Those two were a big success story of the early weeks of the season, and maybe sticking with them in the final ones can salvage respectability and another pop at this competition.

And what of the other high-profile omission, Wojciech Szczesny? The truth is, his being dropped is good for him and good for Arsenal. At 22, the Pole is in his goalkeeping infancy and, despite what many say, he’s still a prodigal talent. Managed correctly, he can still be first choice for a decade.

What he needs is equal parts protection and competition. Someone to drive him to improve, and take the pressure off him. Will it be Fabianski? After tonight he deserves a crack until the end of the season, but hopefully an old hand will be brought in in the summer.

But the summer is a long way off, and there’s plenty of football to be played. Hopefully the pride we restored tonight will be looked back on as the critical moment we got our belief back.

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