Arsene Wenger cuts an image of a man who realises his life work at Arsenal is in shreds after humiliating defeat

As Arsene Wenger walked in for his post-game press conference on this most galling of nights, there were many questions, but one of the most pressing was to be asked about him rather than of him.

What sort of press conference would this be – would he be just as deflated in that way that has sadly now become so common, or would this be one where he would be furious; where he would finally throw his Arsenal players under the bus. It felt like he had a real right to the latter, especially with the way so many of his players just stopped playing. You could see Wenger’s frustration even before the second-half collapse to Bayern Munich, like when he called Granit Xhaka over for a stern talking-to on the sideline mid-game.

If he was still angry by the time he sat down in the Allianz Arena press room, after a second 5-1 defeat here in successive games, it was fully internalised. He just looked depressed; dejected - defeated. This wasn’t the way that has become so common after such defeats, either. It seemed worse, as if a real nadir had been reached.

And, difficult as it was not to criticise Wenger in the most ferocious terms for the familiar nature of this collapse, it was even more difficult not to feel huge sympathy for him.

Sure, in response to that, many might bring up how much he earns and he still keeps making the same errors despite the abundant weight of persuasive evidence to the contrary but this goes beyond all that. This was the look of a man realising so much of his life work, the obsession that means more to a football obsessive like him than anyone else, is in shreds right now. That is genuinely sad to see.

Carlo Ancelotti was asked after the game whether he had any sympathy for Wenger, and rather off-handedly pointed to his counterpart’s experience, as if to say he could relatively easily shake it off.

“This is football,” the Bayern manager said. “I think Arsene has a lot of experience, the experience to manage this moment, this result and look forward to the next game. It’s only one game.”

But it feels so much more. For one thing, it is just the latest game like this, creating a heavy cumulative effect.

You would wonder, then, whether he really can manage this moment; whether it might just persuade him to go in the summer.

Those close to Wenger say his attitude towards that is dictated by his mood following every game, so what will a defeat like this to it?

It said much that he was asked whether this was the worst moment of his reign, and that he didn’t really want to get into that.

“How I feel I don't think is the most important but of course it is disappointing.”

In truth, Wenger didn’t really want to discuss any of it, as was made perfectly clear when Arsenal’s communications director called his press conference to an end after just three questions and two minutes 57 seconds.

Managers should have to explain themselves in such situations but, again, this had a human angle that went beyond that.

It would effectively have been an interrogation of a man facing up to his worst professional crisis, something that is so personal to him. At his lowest, it would have been questions about how what he believes about management is currently so wrong.

That alone sums up how bad it has got.

These defeats are no longer just about how suitable his management is for Arsenal football club. They’re how devastating they are for Wenger as a man.

Again, within searching criticisms, it was impossible not to feel sympathy.

The fact he wasn’t even angry only emphasised that.