Arteta, Mertesacker, Chamberlain, Jenkinson and Gervinho were all bought in 2011. Podolski, Cazorla, Giroud were all bought this summer with new boy Monreal coming in the winter of 2013. This is not to mention young players who are establishing themselves into this new team, the likes of Szczesny, Wilshere and Walcott are all works in progress to varying degrees. It is little wonder that Bayern Munich have higher confidence in themselves in their team mates, it is little wonder why they are more organised and it is

There has been many times during my Arsenal supporting life time that I have witnessed our team perform poorly and lose games. We have gifted the opposition goals, we have failed to punish teams and we have lost many games home and away when we have been the better team. That is life, that is the nature of the game. There are also times when you face a team who are simply better, that was very much the case last night and there should be no shame in that.

I thought we had started the game brightly with Walcott and Cazorla running down the sides of the Bayern Munich defenders into their penalty area and forcing the Germans to defend. But it wasn’t long until they settled down and controlled the game.

7 minutes in and Tony Kroos flashed a half volley past Szczesny from the edge of the box. Doubt filled the stadium and most probably the Arsenal players. The lead was doubled on 21 minutes, a close range steer home by Mueller. You can point to several errors by Arsenal players but this is always the case when a team concedes.

Bayern looked like a team full of belief, while Arsenal looked like a team full of self doubt. Bayern Munich know who they are while Arsenal are very much trying to figure themselves out. I will come to that in further detail later.

I didn’t agree with Arsene’s choice to play Theo Walcott as a striker. It might work against Newcastle to some extent but not against Bayern Munich. Theo wasn’t able to hold the ball and bring others into play. We kept launching high balls to him, balls that were never going to stick. Theo could prove me wrong in time, it wouldn’t be the first time that a player in a new position would eventually make me change my opinion but right now, I just do not see him there. I would have gone with Giroud central and chosen either Podolski or Cazorla wide left, Theo is currently far better from the right.

We looked better in the second half, partly because we knew we had to improve but also because Munich dropped back and played the counter attacking game. Lukas Podolski pulled one back after some uncharacteristic bad defending and goalkeeping from the visitors and we really could have found an equaliser on another day but it wasn’t to be, instead a quick break saw the overlapping Lahm cross for Mandžukic to almost seal the entire tie.

The defeat has left Arsenal fans bemoaning the gulf of quality between the two sides and that quality was obvious on the night. Bayern are essentially what Arsene Wenger wants Arsenal to be. A self sustaining super club, who produce young players and have a style of attacking football. A team that can go anywhere and win games as a collective and not individuals. Arsene Wenger was brought up on German football as a youngster so it is no surprise to see Arsene incorporate some of the German philosophy in his teams.

Bayern Munich are ahead of us but I do not understand why we are spoken of in such absolute terms. Almost as if the squad we have is the final squad that we will see for the foreseeable future. The reason why Bayern Munich are ahead of us is because they have been together for a number of years now, after losing out to Borussia Dortmund in the league, they strengthen their squad in the summer and have improved further. They have been the richest team in Germany for many years now, they have had the pick of German youngsters as they have sat top of the tree for decades in a well run league that doesn’t allow for teams to spend beyond their means.

Like it or lump it, the fact of the matter is this that we have had to rebuild our squad in the last two seasons. I have never seen such a dramatic overhaul in personnel in my entire time as an Arsenal supporter.

Arteta, Mertesacker, Chamberlain, Jenkinson and Gervinho were all bought in 2011. Podolski, Cazorla, Giroud were all bought this summer with new boy Monreal coming in the winter of 2013. This is not to mention young players who are establishing themselves into this new team, the likes of Szczesny, Wilshere and Walcott are all works in progress to varying degrees. It is little wonder that Bayern Munich have higher confidence in themselves and in their team mates, it is little wonder why they are more organised and it is little wonder why they have better game intelligence than we do.

Looking at both line ups, the German’s have an advantage of three years from making their first team debuts. While the average does not paint the full picture, it is clear to see the advantage that the Germans have over us. They have also had superior spending power. Fans can point to the wage comparisons and state how close they are but that is to ignore the money spent on transfers. Vastly different and this is the only way we are going to close the gap on teams of this quality. 2014 has been highlighted as the time for a change financially for our club and whether or not you want change in management, you cannot ignore that the team is in it’s infancy and more importantly we are still a work in progress. Fringe players will be sold and replacements will be sought.

Currently we are not good enough to challenge Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Manchester United but regardless of what happens to Arsene Wenger, I see no reason why we cannot get back to the very top.