Poor defence to blame for Bayern loss: Wenger

Munich, Nov 5: Arsel mager Arsene Wenger has blamed poor defence for the 1-5 thrashing at the hands of German powerhouse Bayern Munich in the second leg of their Champions League Group F match here.

Thomas Muller found the net twice and Robert Lewandowski, David Alaba and Arjen Robben scored once each at the Allianz Are here on Wednesday as Bayern extracted full revenge for their 2-0 defeat at the Emirates Stadium in the first leg. Olivier Giroud found a late consolation for Arsel.

It was Arsel's joint-heaviest loss in European competitions, ranking alongside the 0-4 humiliation away to AC Milan in 2012.

"You have to give credit to Bayern for their quality. On top of that, we made things quite easy for them with our defensive performance. We were extremely poor defensively. 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.

"I can't tell you if it's the worst of my tenure. It will not remain in my memory for anything positive. We have a chance to qualify. It's a small chance but a real one. We have to realise that with that kind of performance, our chances are at a minimum. We have to give it our all to have a chance to qualify," Wenger was quoted as saying by the Guardian.

It was Arsel's latest setback in a turbulent campaign that saw them suffer defeats at the hands of Dimo Zagreb and Olympiakos. The former English Premier League (EPL) champions must now beat Zagreb at home on November 24 and hope that Bayern beat Olympiakos, then beat Olympiakos by at least two goals in December.

"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," Wenger said.

Wenger insisted that Wednesday's setback will not shatter his players' confidence ahead of Sunday's north London derby at home to Tottenham Hotspur.

"You know you can't be too negative but you also have to face reality," Wenger said. "Our performance was not good enough. We live in a world where you have to face reality.

"That is as top level sportsmen we have to accept our performance was not good enough but that should not affect the players." IANS