Five Talking Points: Arsenal 1-3 Bayern Munich

With the Gunners slumping to a 3-1 defeat at home to German giants Bayern Munich, their passage to the next round of the Champions League looks all but over.

Here are five pertinent points I could observe from yesterday’s game:

1.) Arsenal need to rediscover their confidence

“There is a success culture at the club,” was what Arsene Wenger used to say when Highbury’s trophy cabinet grew in prestige with silverware. That culture does not seem to be there of late.

Last night, Arsene Wenger’s team seemed to just let Bayern into the game time after time. The early tackles that saw Thomas Vermaelen and Bacary Sagna getting booked, spoke of a petulance one sees when one does not know how to deal with a situation.

Bayern on the other hand, were ruthless and seemed to show them no respect whatsoever when it came to humiliating the Premier League side at home.

2.) Bayern seem on course to ending their trophy drought

Bayern’s trophy drought? What trophy drought?

Yes, Bayern are now in their third trophyless season, with them narrowly missing out on the Champions League last season and losing the two previous editions of the Bundesliga to Borussia Dortmund.

But with a nigh unassailable lead in the German league and a clinical edge in Europe, Jupp Heynckes could end his career in Bavaria on a high with a double or could even rewrite history with an historic treble.

3.) Arsenal need to know what to do with the ball

Arsenal had the majority of possession last night, but it was Bayern who made them pay. Toni Kroos, Thomas Muller and Mario Mandzukic made the most of the chances presented to them in front of the goal. There was a decisive, clinical edge to them which is the stuff champions are made of.

Arsenal did try, but there was little end product to speak of. The presence of Aaron Ramsey out wide which saw Theo Walcott play up front, backfired for the Gunners in woeful fashion.

When Olivier Giroud did come on, he made an instant impact, testing Manuel Neuer with a point-blank shot that the Germany ‘keeper palmed to safety. One could see the intentions behind playing Walcott up front, given his electric pace, but more often than not, he was found out wide. David Alaba and Philip Lahm are both extremely quick players and while Dante and Daniel van Buyten may not be quick, they are technically proficient.

Why else would van Buyten be playing at the age of 35 and Dante purchased from the relatively unknown Borussia Monchengladbach?

While the plan to field Walcott up front was commendable, it disrupted a forward line that has functioned so well for the Gunners in the recent past.

4.) There are no mistakes allowed at this level

All four of the goals scored last night were the products of mistakes.

Toni Kroos’ opener at the Emirates was the result of a wonky cross not being properly dealt with by Per Mertesacker. Wojciech Szczesny parried an incoming corner straight into the path of the incoming Muller, Mario Mandzukic took advantage of an inadvertent slip by Sagna and Lukas Podolski’s goal was the fault of goalkeeper Manuel Neuer failing to get anything on the ball.

The tie is firmly in Bayern’s favour with three priceless away goals and the goal Podolski scored will be relegated to just a footnote if (and most probably when) Bayern go through. Arsenal will learn the hard way that one cannot make mistakes – as they have so often in the past – against Europe’s elite.

5.) Germany is surely going to be Europe’s most sought-after football destination in the future

Unlike England, where several football clubs are owned by billionaires, Italy, where stadiums are crumbling and the canker of match-fixing looms large, France, which people always tend to overlook and Spain, where the domestic league is almost always a two-horse race, the German league is exciting to watch, aesthetically pleasing and very, very stable.

They are now reaping the rewards of a law which states that no person can hold more than 50% of a stake in a club, meaning there is no majority shareholder, thereby resulting in a designated share of the profits and a democratic system of running a club.

All seven Bundesliga clubs who qualified for Europe are now in the knockout stages of their respective competitions. Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04 are all active in the Champions League, while Borussia Monchengladbach, Hanover 96, Stuttgart and Bayer Leverkusen are competing in the Europa league.