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| Arsene Wenger could find few positives from his side's drubbing in Germany |
ARSENE WENGER criticised Arsenal’s defensive display after a thrashing by Bayern Munich that leaves them needing a miracle to avoid going out at the group stage for the first time since 1999.
Two goals from Thomas Muller and others from Robert Lewandowski, David Alaba and Arjen Robben, with Olivier Giroud scoring a late Arsenal consolation, saw them fall to their heaviest defeat in UEFA competitions.
Arsenal must now beat Dinamo Zagreb at The Emirates on November 24 and hope Bayern beat Olmpiakos that night, then go to Athens and win by two goals in December.
“You have first to give credit to Bayern for their quality and on top of that we made things quite easy for them with our defensive performance,” said Wenger.
“We were extremely poor defensively and we were not at the races. The funny thing is that when we went forward we looked like we were going to create chances and we did create chances but with a defensive performance like that we are going nowhere.”
Asked if it was the worst display in his time at the club, Wenger added: “Over 19 years my memory is not that good. But it will certainly not remain in my memory for anything positive.”
Wenger insisted this shocking loss should not shatter his team’s confidence going into Sunday’s north London derby at home to Tottenham.
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| Robert Lewandowski scored the first of five Bayern Munich goals |
“We were extremely poor defensively and we were not at the races. The funny thing is that when we went forward we looked like we were going to create chances and we did create chances but with a defensive performance like that we are going nowhere.”
Asked if it was the worst display in his time at the club, Wenger added: “Over 19 years my memory is not that good. But it will certainly not remain in my memory for anything positive.”
Wenger insisted this shocking loss should not shatter his team’s confidence going into Sunday’s north London derby at home to Tottenham.
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| Robert Lewandowski scored the first of five Bayern Munich goals |
“You have to not be negative and face reality,” he said. “That is as top level sportsmen we have to accept our performance was not good enough but that should not affect the players.”
As to his team’s hopes of making it through to the knockout stage, he added: “There is a small chance but it is a real one and we have to realise that if we put in a performance like we did today our chances are at a minimum.”
Bayern boss Pep Guardiola promised Arsenal his team would go all out to beat Olympiakos next.
“It is impossible for a team like Bayern not to try to win the game or to try put in the best performance possible,” he said.
“So Arsenal and their supporters be calm we will go into the match wanting to win and be first in the group.”
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