Arsenal’s second-half performance against Bayern Munich ‘not good enough’

Renee Slegers has criticised Arsenal’s second-half display against Bayern Munich after they threw away a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 in the Women’s Champions League.

Goals from Emily Fox and Mariona Caldentey had the Gunners in a dominant position at half-time at Munich’s Allianz Arena.

But Alara Sehitler and Pernille Harder struck to level with 10 minutes to go and skipper Glodis Perla Viggosdottir stabbed home in the 86th minute to complete a remarkable comeback.

Holders Arsenal have lost two of their three Champions League games and head coach Slegers has told her side their second-half display was not at the standard she expects.

“First half was really good. I think we did a lot of really good things on the ball, I think we caused issues in their low build and the high press was working really well,” Slegers told Disney Plus post-match.

“Players were really disciplined, when the press was broken once or twice, we all worked back.

“Second half we said they’d probably do something different because they’re 2-0 down at home and they’ll come out differently.

“That’s what they did. I think that’s what changed the game in the second half. They played more of a long ball, second ball game and stacked numbers high.

“We don’t deal with it well enough and it’s not good enough. We don’t want to concede three goals in one half in the Champions League.”

Bayern have back-to-back Champions League wins and goalscorer Harder believes victory can give her side confidence going forward.

She said: “An unbelievable feeling. I’m super happy. These three points are so important for us and coming back down from two goals is really great.

“This gives us a lot of confidence. After the first half, we were thinking, ‘where are we at?’ but the second half gave us a lot of confidence and showed we can still compete in this competition.”