Gunners outclassed by Bayern

Arsenal looked a shadow of the side that had beaten Bayern Munich in October as they were outclassed in a 5-1 thrashing in Germany.

Bayern were already 4-0 to the good before Olivier Giroud's 69th-minute consolation in a match that, for large parts, Arsenal were very below par. To go from being one of the sides with the best defensive records in the Premier League this season to shipping in five goals in Europe really was poor.

Francis Coquelin and Mesut Ozil were individually excellent but the overall team performance was very sub-standard and simply not good enough. There is no denying the sheer quality of Bayern's performance and they deserve huge credit for that but the lack of fight we showed at times was rather worrying, especially given the importance of the game as we attempted to keep our Champions League dream alive.

The defeat, coupled with Olympiakos' late 2-1 win over Dinamo Zagreb, has left the Gunners' Champions League hopes hanging by a thread. It is somewhat remarkable that, after three defeats from the opening four games, Arsenal still actually have a chance of qualifying out of the group.

If Arsenal beat Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiakos lose to Bayern, Arsenal will be just three points behind the Greeks going into the final round of games. If Arsene Wenger's men manage this then they would have to go to Greece and get a better result than a 3-2 victory. Remarkably this still seems possible but rather than focus on what may be in the future, we cannot ignore just how disappointing the last performance was.

The first chance of the game fell to Giroud but the Frenchman's curling effort went wide. That early miss proved costly as in-form striker Robert Lewandowski put Bayern in front after 10 minutes. The defence gave Lewandowski far too much space, so much so that my initial reaction was he must be offside as the back four were almost static almost as if they were expecting the whistle to go. That wasn't the case and they really had given Lewandowski that much space to head home from close range.

Arsenal thought they had levelled the game two minutes later after Mesut Ozil appeared to score, only for his effort to be ruled out for handball. I thought it had hit Ozil's shoulder rather than his hand but, either way, it can't be used as an excuse as regardless of this Bayern were by far the better side on the night.

In truth, Bayern could've scored more before their second goal but fortunately Petr Cech was on hand to deny Lewandowski with two fine saves. But Cech could do nothing to prevent the hosts from doubling their advantage just before the half hour mark. Philipp Lahm's cross fell to Kingsley Coman, whose scuffed shot fell to Muller to score via a deflection off Per Mertesacker.

Cech again came to Arsenal's rescue when he denied Muller, but he was soon picking the ball out of his net for a third time following an unstoppable long-range strike from David Alaba just before half-time.

Arsenal's nightmare continued as Bayern added a fourth goal within 10 minutes of the restart as substitute Arjen Robben made an instant impact with a first-time finish.

Santi Cazorla wasted a decent chance as the Gunners attempted to salvage something from the game before Giroud finally gave the visiting faithful something to cheer about with a well-taken consolation goal 21 minutes from time. Giroud controlled Alexis Sanchez's pass with his chest before beating Manuel Neuer with a delightful scissor kick. It really was a truly great goal.

The goal appeared to wake Arsenal up and the Gunners finally began to show a bit more hunger and desire in the final 20 minutes. Wenger's men could've even added a second before the end, but Cazorla shot over when it looked easier to score following a great cut-back from Coquelin.

Arsenal couldn't find a second and instead it was Bayern who scored next as Muller netted his second in the final minute of normal time. Douglas Costa burst through the middle before setting up Muller to score to complete the rout for a very dominant Bayern side.

GROUP F
Arsenal are six points behind Bayern and Olympiakos with two games left to play. It has been a Champions League nightmare for the Gunners and the only crumb of comfort is the fact that somehow we aren't out of it yet.

If we beat Dinamo Zagreb and Bayern get a likely victory over Olympiakos then it will actually be in our own hands. We don't really deserve to qualify out of the group yet we still have a chance.

MY FINAL THOUGHTS
It is frustrating how we can go from brilliant one week, with excellent performances against the likes of Bayern and Manchester United at home, to performing very poorly in other games.

Bayern are a hard side to beat for anyone, especially away from home, but, if I had been told before the group stages started that we would take three points out of six from them I would have been fairly happy. Although we have achieved that I am far from happy as other results, and the manner of the performances at home against Olympiakos and away to Dinamo Zagreb and Bayern, were simply not good enough.

Our next game sees us return to league action with a London derby against Tottenham at the Emirates. Is this the best or worst game to have after such a poor result? If we lose it will be a nightmare week but maybe, just maybe, the poor display against Bayern can spur us on (no pun intended!) to put in the performance of our lives to get a victory against our local rivals.

If we are serious about our Premier League title challenge then this is a game we cannot afford to lose so let's make sure we go and give Spurs a hiding.

COME ON YOU GUNNERS