It was an open game, end to end and Arsenal had 60% possession.

People always say it’s not the amount of possession you have but what you do with it (well, teams that play negatively anyway) and Arsenal were punished for playing an attacking game.

Sp*rs, at home, played like the away team.

They have a small club mentality, which was summed up when Gareth Bale tried to waste time by the corner flag with 10 minutes to go.

The frustrating thing for me is the better team lost. Our play was more ambitious, but we didn’t have the cutting edge. We had the majority of possession, had the same amount of shots (as the away team), more blocked shots, more shots inside the area, won more tackles, won more balls in the air and had more corners. We made almost 200 more passes than they did and almost has twice as many crosses.

What lost it for us was some shambolic defending and no cutting edge.

When Ramsey was played in by Rosicky, he had so much time to pick his spot and score what would have been a well-deserved equaliser. But clinical finishing was never Ramsey’s game.

I thought Arsenal were excellent for most of the game, and showed a hell of a lot more ambition than the “home” team.

But Arsene made big mistakes with the important decisions. Jenkinson was excellent today and why he was taken off is anyone’s guess. His defending was top class and his attacking play was fantastic too – his delivery from the wide-right position is top drawer and he should have stayed on. Jenkinson would have had a better chance of converting the opportunity Ramsey squandered.

And Podolski should have started wide on the left with Giroud up top and Walcott on the right. Podolski is no good when chasing a game and he is more effective when there’s a chance of playing on the break (which was not that often in the first half and then impossible when we went behind).

I think the best way to describe today’s game is that form is temporary, but class is permanent. The way they acted on the touchline and after the game was of a side which won a cup final and you could even see William Gallas was a bit embarrassed when he was coming on and Steffen Freund was giving “encouragement” as if they were about to win the world cup.

Gareth Bale was nowhere near this ridiculous “third best player in the world” tag every man and his dog have been harping on about for the last few months. He was hugely ineffective apart from the goal and didn’t contribute anything else. He didn’t give the Arsenal defence any problems and Wilshere was a far bigger influence than him. Before the game Bale had only scored 4 goals at home and 11 away, typifying the fact that Sp*rs play a negative football most effective on the break.

In the end, our defending was the reason we lost. Not our desire, effort or possession play. We gave it our best shot but gave ourselves a mountain to climb with a crazy 3 minutes where we lost our heads. But for the rest of the game we were the better side.

I predicted in my last post this afternoon that it would be 3-1 either way. My heart said it would be to Arsenal, but my head was saying Bayern. And that’s what ended up happening.

Arsenal started the game poorly and at this level, you can’t give a team like Bayern any head start. But after only 7 minutes, Bayern opened the scoring and grabbed a vital away goal through Kroos.

Then in typical Arsenal fashion, our shambolic defending gave Bayern another goal this time from a corner. Szczesny, just like against Blackburn, was again culpable with a extremely poor save gifting Mueller a tap in from a yard out. Szczesny talks the talk but too many times has cost Arsenal dearly. He palmed the shot against Blackburn into the danger area from Kazim-Richards to score and instead of getting the ball clear tonight he gave it straight to a Bayern player. When Almunia and Fabianski made mistakes Arsenal fans would by quick to late them, but for some strange reason the Pole is never questioned or criticised. He’s not good enough and Arsenal need to buy a decent goalkeeper as competition because Szczesny is in the comfort zone.

After that, Bayern played out the first half and as expected, Arsenal were fired up for the second half. But far too often, Arsenal are abysmal in the first 45 minutes and then “show character” to fight back in the second 45. But why can’t Arsenal get their act together from the start? There is something fundamentally wrong with how this Arsenal team set themselves out from the first whistle.

We nicked a goal through Podolski when Bayern failed to defend a corner (they must have caught “Arsenal-itis”) and we tried to get an equaliser.

Giroud and Rosicky came on to replace Ramsey and Podolski, and Theo went out wide. Within minutes, Rosicky did well to find Theo on the right and his fantastic cross found Giroud who shot straight at Neuer.

And when that happened, every single Arsenal fan knew what was going to happen next.

Too often, Giroud has the chance to make a massive difference in the game which ends up being vital to the result. Again, he missed the chance to score the equaliser, and give Arsenal a huge boost in the game, only to miss and what happens? Bayern go and score a sucker punch goal.

Arsenal conceded a goal that only Arsenal could concede. Ridiculous, and if you weren’t an Arsenal fan you’d probably laugh.

I like Giroud, but like many players at Arsenal he’s not good enough. That’s not his fault, he tries but the fact is the calibre of player we bring in these days isn’t as good as the players we sell. Would Van Persie has missed that? Actually, don’t answer that.

But the point is at the top top level, little things like that matter. A world class striker and a very good striker can be the difference in these games. Having a world class goalkeeper would definitely make a difference.

And how about the starting eleven?

How can any sane person start Theo Walcott up front? He is electric on the wing – we all know about his pace and his delivery has massively improved in recent seasons. And the fact is he can exploit his pace with more space out in the wide areas. That decision made things extremely difficult and had a big bearing on the potential result in my eyes.

Ramsey was off the pace. He gave it his best but unfortunately he wasn’t in the game tonight. Wilshere was excellent but he can’t do it all by himself. With a bit more luck, he may have nicked a goal but it’s too much to ask of one player.

Bayern Munich were clearly the superior side, and at times controlled the game comfortably. The biggest frustration is that Arsenal could have given themselves a much better chance tonight. They could have started Theo out wide and Giroud up top. They could have brought Rosicky on much earlier. The team and system that started the game gave Arsenal little hope and that’s how it turned out.

At least we can now concentrate on the only trophy that really matters – 4th place.