Bayern Munich 5-1 Arsenal: 5 Talking Points

Bayern Munich put on a master-class performance on Wednesday night to beat Arsenal 5-1 at the Allianz Arena in their Group F encounter. Goals from Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Muller, David Alaba and Arjen Robben saw the Bavarian side play the Gunners off the park to heap more misery in their quest to reach the Round of 16. Olivier Giroud scored the only goal for Arsenal who had a first-half equalizer ruled out for a Mesut Ozil handball.Here are the major talking points from the game.

#1 Bayern Munich dominate and exact revenge

Pep Guardiola’s side were unbeaten in the Bundesliga and Champions League this season until their trip to the Emirates a fortnight ago. The Spanish manager has always had mixed results in North London and his side were put to the test when Wenger came out on top in a must-win game for the Gunners.

The Bavarian side were clearly hurting and they saw this as an opportunity to bounce back and announce their intention to fight for the only trophy they are yet to win in the Guardiola era. Arturo Vidal had been very vocal in the press and had said, “We'll show Arsenal the real Bayern on Wednesday.”

And that’s exactly what they did. They home side had 69% of the possession and took 23 shots on goal – 13 of which were on target (a record against Arsenal in the Champions League). In contrast, Arsenal could only muster two shots on target over the course of the 90 minutes.

The heat maps also show that Bayern spent more time in Arsenal’s half. For the majority of the game, Giroud was the Premier League side’s furthest man forward, and he was stationed near the centre-circle, barely able to make forays into Bayern’s half unless Arsenal countered.

The 5-1 result is Arsenal’s heaviest defeat in Champions League history, their previous worst being the 4-0 mauling at the hands of AC Milan at the San Siro in 2012.

#2 Injury-crisis leaves uninspiring Arsenal threadbare

While this could be termed as Arsenal’s worst game of the season, it would be harsh to completely blame Wenger for this defeat. As many as 10 first team players were missing for this game with the final result pretty much a foregone conclusion before a ball was even kicked.

In defence, both Hector Bellerin (groin) and Laurent Koscielny (hip) were missing after picking up injuries over the weekend. Both are still doubtful for the North London derby this weekend. Their replacements, Mathieu Debuchy and Gabriel Paulista, looked out of depth against a world-class attack. Debuchy, playing only his fifth game of the season in all competitions, was terrorized by both Kingsley Coman and Douglas Costa.

Bayern Munich (L) focused 40% of their attacks on Arsenal’s right flank (Image courtesy of WhoScored)

Bellerin’s attacking runs were missing and it was Nacho Monreal who had to ensure one of the full-backs attacked. And Joel Campbell wasn’t doing enough to help him out, especially after receiving a booking in the first half.

Gabriel, too, was responsible for the first goal as he stepped up too late to catch Robert Lewandowski offside. The Bayern wingers constantly rested the gap between Gabriel and Monreal at the far post by sending in cross after cross.

In attack, with Theo Walcott, Aaron Ramsey and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain missing, there was little the Gunners could do to switch tactics like they did in the reverse fixture.

#3 Muller and Lewandowski put Arsenal to the sword

Here’s a stat for those who love numbers. Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Muller have now scored 31 goals in the Bundesliga and Champions League already. It’s only the first week of November. The fact that they were also the two leading goalscorers in the Euro 2016 qualifiers (13 and 9 goals respectively) tells you how much firepower Guardiola has at his disposal.

The two were at it again with the help of Coman and Costa making life for Arsenal difficult on the wings. Lewandowski peeled off at the right moment to head home the first goal before Muller punished the Gunners when the ball fell at his feet and he took a quick shot on goal before Per Mertesacker could even think of making a move to block the shot.

Muller capped off the night with a brace on the counter-attack with a low, curling shot that beat a diving Petr Cech. Even Arjen Robben managed to get on the scoresheet with his first touch of the game.

The Gunners were cut to shreds by their movement in and around the box. Although Koscielny and Monreal had negated their impact two weeks ago, this time there was no stopping them. In fact, the scoreline could have been more embarrassing if not for the heroics of Cech between the sticks.

“You have to give credit to Bayern for their quality,” Wenger said, according to The Guardian. “On top of that, we made things quite easy for them with our defensive performance. We were extremely poor defensively.”

#4 Arsenal still tried to attack in spite of deficit

In the face of a rampant Bayern Munich side, credit must be given to the Gunners for still trying to make a game of it. They didn’t simply sit back when they got the ball, looking to counter whenever they regained possession in their half.

Mesut Ozil was the orchestrator-in-chief, drifting wide on many occasions to find space and create opportunities for the Gunners. The German finished with a pass accuracy of 94.1% and had the most touches for an Arsenal side starved of possession. He was also unlucky to be denied an equalsier after his goal from Monreal’s cross was ruled out for handball.

Although Cech was seen sending long balls to Giroud, as Guardiola had predicted before the game, it was the only way they were able to bypass Bayern’s midfield. Giroud helped himself to a wonderfully taken goal after chesting down an Alexis Sanchez lob and then volleying it past Manuel Neuer.

The Chilean forward was largely ineffective and cut a frustrated figure, closed down on numerous occasions by the German side’s midfield or defence whenever he attempted a dribble. Nacho Monreal and Santi Cazorla also had their chances to score in the game but Monreal failed to control the ball in the box while Cazorla, after playing a quick one-two wit Giroud, fired straight at Neuer who recovered quick enough to grab the ball off the rebound.

It wasn’t until the 87th minute when Wenger decided there was no use trying to attack anymore and hauled off Cazorla for Calum Chambers, although he didn’t do his best to stop costa’s run which led to Muller’s second.

#5 Arsenal hanging on by a thread in Champions League

The loss leaves Arsenal depending on other results going their way if they harbour any hopes of qualifying for the Round of 16. The Gunners are in last place with 3 points tied with Dinamo Zagreb who beat them on the first matchday.

Arsenal must win their next two games against Zagreb (home) and Olympiakos (away). Moreover, they need Bayern to beat Olympiakos in the next fixture while the Gunners must also beat the Greek side by two goals to ensure goal difference comes into the picture as the head-to-head record would read a win for both sides level on the same points.

But the north London side do not have fond memories of their trips to Greece. Coincidentally, the away game is again the sixth fixture for Wenger's side who have met Olympiakos in the group stages before. And they have never beaten the Greek side in three trips to theKaraiskakis Stadium.

Arsenal have played three times away at Olympiakos and lost all three.

Orbinho (@Orbinho) November 4, 2015

If Bayern and Olympiakos play out a draw, both sides will go through with the final game deciding who tops the group and who drops down to the Europa League.

After losing to Monaco in the Round of 16 last season, Wenger had said: Maybe it would be better not to pass the group phase and play the Europa League than to be eliminated in the last 16. We would have more chances to win a title.

Judging by the look of things, third place in the group and Europa League looks more likely for the Gunners than a spot in the Round of 16.