By CHARLIE WYETT
The Gunners, whose trophy drought will now extend to eight years, were taught a Champions League lesson by brilliant Bayern.
But under-fire boss Arsene Wenger was backed by midfielder Jack Wilshere, who said: “The players have to take responsibility. We are man enough to take it.
“The boss has been there for 16 years and he has done a great job.
“For me, you can’t question him.
“It’s nothing to do with the manager — it’s up to us to perform.
“The manager can motivate us but we have to do it when we are on the pitch and at the moment we are starting badly.”
Arsenal went behind after just seven minutes as Toni Kroos netted.
And Thomas Muller put Bayern 2-0 up on 21 minutes following a series of blunders in the Arsenal defence.
Lukas Podolski pulled one back but Mario Mandzukic bagged a third for the Germans in this last-16 first-leg tie.
This match represented Arsenal’s only chance of silverware this term.
They are nowhere near the title race and have gone out of both domestic cup competitions to Blackburn and Bradford.
Their only hope is for some kind of footballing miracle in the second leg on March 13.
Wilshere added: “The players will take it on the chin and move on.
“There’s always a chance you know.
“We will take it to their place and we’ll have to get a few goals, we know that now.”
Gunners striker Olivier Giroud added: “We kept going in the second half but I think that the third goal really changed the tie.
“Nothing is lost yet but we’ll have to score three away from home. It won’t be easy.”
