The Breakdown: Arsenal vs Bayern Munich

By FOX Sports Staff

The Gunners relied on their rapid-fire counter-attack capabilities and were happy to send the ball forward for Theo Walcott to chase. Bayern, though, dealt well with the threat of the pacy winger. 

The visitors themselves focused on Arsenal's left flank and the trio of Mario Mandzukic, Franck Ribery and Phillip Lahm regularly regularly outnumbered Thomas Vermaelen and Laurent Koscielny.

Bayern took just 21 minutes to establish a two-goal lead as a cross and a corner from the right was put into the back of the net by Toni Kroos and Thomas Muller. 

After the break, Arsenal managed to get back into the game as Lukas Podolski scored via a corner after some poor decision-making by Manuel Neuer. But the Bavarians were not done just yet and Lahm again proved problematic for the Gunners as his cross from the byline was bundled into the net by a sliding Mario Mandzukic.

We take a look at how the various departments of the two sides fared in Tuesday's Champions League encounter at the Emirates Stadium. 

Arsenal

Defence

Although they only had Mandzukic to deal with, the central defenders repeatedly lost track of the striker allowing him to fire in a cross from the right that Kroos dispatched for Bayern's first goal. 

Vermaelen should particularly shoulder the blame as he repeatedly allowed Lahm to run past him on the overlap. The Belgian rarely made any serious challenges and appeared more keen to play in a central position instead of sticking to his left-back role, that caused a lot of confusion for the Arsenal defence. It didn't help that Koscielny was not confident in covering for his captain either.  

Wojciech Szczesny also had a game to forget as he rarely communicated with his defence with the result that they were often blindsided by the constantly-flowing Bayern attack. 

Szczesny - 6 | Sagna - 5 | Mertesacker - 5 | Vermaelen - 5 | Koscielny - 5

Midfield

As they were easily muscled off the ball, the Arsenal midfield decided to be equally aggressive but the timing of their challenges was invariably poor, leading to yellow cards being regularly dished out by the referee. 

They were also bereft of ideas and could only give the ball to Jack Wilshere and expected the young midfielder to come up with the required defence-splitting passes. This tactic rarely worked and the Englishman's through-balls were regularly intercepted, swiftly brining an end to many an Arsenal attack.

Only Podolski seemed determined to carve a path to goal and he repeatedly ran down the left but this left Vermaelen isolated whenever Bayern launched their counter-attacks. 

Arteta - 6 | Wilshere - 6.5 | Ramsey - 5 | Cazorla - 6 | Podolski - 6.5

Attack

Walcott did not get enough service upfront to really make an impact within the game. He opted to revert to his familiar role as a winger but had no one to cross the ball to in the middle. 

Walcott - 5

Subs

Most of the Arsenal substitutes were brought on far too late to really make much of an impact and failed to provide the boost that manager Arsene Wenger would have desired. 

Rosicky (on 71') - 6 | Giroud (on 72') - 6

Bayern Munich

Defence

Unlike the Arsenal defence, the Bayern defenders were comfortable with their roles and adhered to a high offside line that hampered Walcott. Veteran defender Daniel Van Buyten's command of the backline was absolute while young Dante's athletic running ensured he made up for any sluggishness on the part of his senior defensive partner. 

Lahm was also at his influential best on the night and regularly posed a threat down the flank, notching an assist for the late goal as well. 

Goalkeeper Neuer was rarely troubled because of his defence's impeccable decision-making but he made the wrong call in failing to punch the ball clear from a corner in the 56th minute. As a result, Podolski had an open goal to aim at and scored against his former side. 

Neuer - 6 | Dante - 7.5 | Van Buyten - 7.5 | Lahm - 8 | Alaba - 7

Midfield

The midfield knew that because Podolski and Ramsey committed themselves to the attack far too early, there was always acres of space available down the flanks. Ribery and Muller, stationed there, proved to be good fulcrums for Bayern to turn defence into attack. 

Furthermore, midfield general Bastian Schweinsteiger kept things simple and passed the ball around instead of losing it in key areas as certain Arsenal midfielders seemed to do.

Efficient performances by the central duo of Javi Martinez and Toni Kroos was also a significant factor - the former played as the anchorman and made some crucial tackles while the latter helped draw the Arsenal defenders out of position with his mazy runs. 

Ribery (off 63') - 8 | Muller - 7.5 | Kroos (off 73') - 8 | Martinez - 7.5 | Schweinsteiger - 8

Attack

The striker was picked ahead of the mercurial Mario Gomez and he rewarded his manager's faith with a goal. He was always keen to get on the end of any crosses from the wings and generally looked lively. 

Mandzukic (off 78') - 7.5

Subs

Arjen Robben picked up from where Ribery left off and immediately managed to get Mandzukic a clear opportunity on goal. He was only denied by the offside flag although it did appear as if the Dutchman had waited for the striker to get into an onside position before sending in a through-ball. 

Luiz Gustavo sent a rasping drive that Szczesny did well to get a hand to but Gomez should have done better with the rebound. 

Robben (on 63') - 7.5 | Gustavo (on 73') - 7 | Gomez (on 78') - 6.5