Arsene Wenger admitted that Arsenal did everything wrong after losing Laurent Koscielny to injury in their 5-1 defeat at Bayern Munich in the Champions League round of 16.
Arsenal had been holding firm against the Bavarian giants at the interval, Alexis Sanchez’s rebounded effort from his penalty having brought them level after a fine Arjen Robben strike had opened the scoring.
The visitors had even started the second half the brighter of the two sides but lost captain Koscielny to a muscle injury just as they looked at their most dangerous.
Immediately after Bayern exploded into life, scoring three in 10 minutes through Robert Lewandowski and Thiago Alcantara. Thomas Muller was to add the fifth in the closing minutes and Wenger admitted his side had failed to deal with the departure of their skipper.
“The most important thing in the second half was we lost Koscielny very quickly, he came off at 1-1,” Wenger told BT Sport. “Suddenly it looked that we collapsed. It’s difficult mentally.
He added: “I do not look for excuses. It’s an explanation because we looked quite solid defensively and after that.
“It’s very difficult just after a game, it’s a shock of course to lose at that level. On top of that we made everything wrong, the fifth goal shows that.”
The outstanding Thiago inspired Bayern to victory and saw them reaffirm their status as the new favourites for the tournament after Barcelona’s defeat to Paris St Germain.
“Overall I must say they’re a better team than us,” Wenger admitted. “They played very well in the second half and we dropped our level. We were a bit unlucky as well but overall well done Bayern, they were better than us.”
Defeat will doubtless lead to further questions over Wenger’s future in the final months of his contract, with even his former player Martin Keown saying that the Frenchman should be “seriously considering his future”.
Wenger, however, was reluctant to discuss what the chastening loss could mean for his long term future at Arsenal, saying: “How I feel I don’t think that is the most important. Of course it is disappointing.”