Where does this leave Arsène Wenger? Not in a good place. This was another terrible European night, a dark, dark night, for the under-fire Arsenal manager in his funereal black suit and he needs to take responsibility for this pathetic capitulation.
Sadly, he appeared a broken man as he spoke about the “nightmare” after his team lost their “organisation” and looked “mentally jaded”. His press conference lasted just under three minutes and was limited to three questions. If only his team had shut up shop after three goals.
Instead they lacked direction, fight and leadership. When Laurent Koscielny went off injured in the second half, before the collapse, the armband passed to Kieran Gibbs, who no one would regard as captaincy material. When the fifth goal went in, Alexis Sánchez, who at least fought throughout, sunk to his haunches in disgust, while the stadium announcer was laughing as he read out the score. Laughing.
Bayern did not even play that well but still could have scored six or seven. At half-time it was 1-1 and if anything there was a sense that Arsenal were in the ascendant, even if they had just 20 per cent possession. Mesut Özil squandered a superb chance just before the break, but that was the last we saw of the German international. He was inexcusably anonymous.
At the final whistle only two players – Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Héctor Bellerín – went over to clap the shell-shocked Arsenal fans. The rest of them exited as quickly as their Champions League hopes. It was a horrible, horrible night for Arsenal. Teams of substance do not crumble like this. Managers with the stomach for the fight do not let this happen.
This was Wenger’s 100th away match in Europe as Arsenal manager and it may be his last on the road. He needed a landmark performance and, terribly, he got it. Arsenal needed to break the pattern of going out in the last-16, of not being able to cope with Bayern, and instead they simply reinforced it. They even lost by the same thumping scoreline as in November 2015.
How can this happen? Bayern have brilliant players, but well as Thiago and Robert Lewandowski played this was not an awesome performance. They had stumbled this season under Carlo Ancelotti and will have to perform far better than this if they are to win the competition. But they were far too good for Arsenal, who appear fatally flawed, caught in a cycle, trapped by their own recurrent mediocrity.
It was summed up by the goals. An analysis of the first says it all. Yes, it was a brilliant strike by Arjen Robben, but he was invited to eat up the ground towards the Arsenal goal and arc a left-foot bullet beyond the grasp of goalkeeper David Ospina into the top corner. There was no pressure on the ball. Zero. Gibbs let Robben cut inside, Francis Coquelin all-but laid out the red carpet.
Even more maddening was the fact it was Robben. Robben, who has a habit, a career, a reputation, built on scoring exactly that type of goal from exactly that type of move from the right flank. Eat, sleep, cut inside. Repeat. If Arsenal are caught in some kind of soft trap then it was exposed bare here.
How Arsenal needed a break, a lifeline, and they received it when Lewandowski was deemed to have caught Koscielny with a high boot inside the area. Penalty. Up stepped Sánchez but Manuel Neuer beat out his first effort. The rebound was also blocked. But the rebound of the rebound was tucked home by the Arsenal striker.
Would it change the dynamic? Briefly, it appeared that it would. Arsenal had something with which to work, but how that unravelled. Koscielny limped off, appearing to pull a hamstring, and the defence could not cope. See more at Telegraph!
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