Arsenal Lucky To Have Lost To Dortmund By Only Two Goals

Match Review: Dortmund 2 Arsenal 0 - Champions League - 16.09.14

There isn’t a huge amount that can be said about last night. Arsenal were well and truly humbled by a magnificent Dortmund performance and left the Signal Iduna Park lucky to have only conceded two. It could have easily been four or five and we were second best from the first whistle to the last.

The injury to Debuchy and Chamber’s illness meant that Wenger was forced into starting youngster Hector Bellerin at right back. By all accounts, Bellerin is a prodigiously talented player, but there can’t be many more challenging places to make your full debut. With Monreal also injured, the back line picked itself, with Gibbs slotting in at left back following his return from injury. In front, Arteta replaced Flamini, with Ramsey and Wilshere completing the three. Up front, Özil, Welbeck and Alexis kept their places from the weekend.

From the instant the game began, Dortmund swarmed us. As expected, the home side came flying out of the blocks and suffocated us. Initially, I thought it would be a case of just waiting for the storm to pass and working ourselves a foothold in the game. But as time elapsed, it was clear that we weren’t able to cope. Our first touch was appalling, and when we did have the opportunity to pass the ball we were sloppy, possibly even lazy. Dortmund did a magnificent job of cutting our passing lanes, but we made it easy for them. We played with no intensity, our movement off the ball was slow and lacked conviction, we didn’t really look up for the fight. Szczesny had to be at his very best to keep the scores level as Dortmund had three very good chances to open the scoring. Despite that, we managed to grab a clear cut chance, but Welbeck snatched at his chance with just the keeper to beat and it went well wide. We looked like we would at least stagger to half time without conceding, until we pressed the self destruct button.

Somehow, from a throw in deep inside Dortmund territory, we gave up possession and Ciro Immobile stormed from his own half towards our goal. We had three defenders back and should easily have snuffed out any chance, yet Gibbs was weak and despite Koscielny’s close attention, Immobile was able to gain a yard and fire across Szczesny into the far corner. Pathetic considering we had possession and had only a few minutes to survive until half time. One Dortmund man should not be able to simply run through three of our defenders and score with such ease.

Of course, when you concede just before half time, the important thing to do is to regroup and make sure you don’t concede straight away in the second half. So of course we went ahead and conceded three minutes after the restart, from another breakaway. Großkreutz and Aubameyang combined and it was the latter who rounded Szczesny, with the keeper rushing out and committing far too early, and scuffed a shot beyond Koscielny, who couldn’t clear on the line. Gibbs was caught way up field and simply seemed to job back, while Szczesny inexplicably came dashing out his goal right to the edge of the area and slipped before he could make a meaningful challenge on the striker. With that, our hopes of even a point were dashed as Dortmund had an iron grip on the game.

The rest of the second half was grim. We tried to push forward, but our midfield and attack were miles apart, well off the pace and easy to contain. With every lacklustre Arsenal attack came a sizzling, purposeful Dortmund counter and it could have got been embarrassing. Mkhitaryan and Aubameyang both had a number of chances to extend Dortmund’s advantage, while our only real chance came from from Danny Welbeck, who did brilliantly to spin the defender, but then fired wildly over. All in all, I’m sure the players will have been delighted to get off the pitch and onto the plane home.

While there isn’t a huge amount of positivity to take from such a chastening defeat, I think it’s important not to lose our heads. Firstly, we’re not the first team to be battered by the Dortmund ‘pressing machine’, they are a top side and one that is made more than the sum of their parts by a magnificent manager. Secondly, we were coming off the back of a hugely intense game at the weekend. This shouldn’t really be an excuse as this is what having a squad of players is for, but with our current injury problems and the fact that our players already had a gruelling ninety minutes in their legs, you can understand why we were off the pace. Thirdly, we’re still very early in the season and we have five games left in the group, all of which are winnable. It’s not the full on disaster that some have been making out, but it is concerning that we are moving into late September and have only two competitive wins from seven. Significant improvements are needed, but let’s not have a meltdown just yet. There’s plenty of time to turn things around.

Teams

Borussia Dortmund (4-2-3-1)
Weidenfeller, Durm, Subotic, Papastathopoulos, Schmelzer (Jojic 79’), Kehl (Ginter 45’), Bender, Großkreutz, Mkhitaryan (Y), Aubameyang, Immobile (Ramos 86’)
Subs
Kagawa, Jojic, Ramos, Ginter, Langerak, Amini, Bandowski

Arsenal (4-3-3)
Szczesny, Bellerin, Koscielny, Mertesacker, Gibbs, Arteta (Podolski 77’), Wilshere (Y), Ramsey (Cazorla 61’), Alexis, Özil (Y) (Chamberlain 61’), Welbeck
Subs
Ospina, Chambers, Rosicky, Podolski, Chamberlain, Cazorla, Campbell

Player Ratings

Szczesny - 7/10 - Would have got an 8, but mucked up big time on their second goal
Bellerin - 5/10 - Acquitted himself quite well in the circumstances, but really not ready
Koscielny - 6/10 - Gave his best, but even he couldn’t live with Aubameyang’s pace
Mertesacker - 5/10 - Didn’t look assured and was exposed by Immobile and Aubameyang
Gibbs - 4/10 - A poor return to the team, off the pace and looked lethargic and sloppy
Arteta - 4/10 - Dortmund were too quick and aggressive for him
Ramsey - 4/10 - Really should have a break from the team, he’s in terrible form
Wilshere - 6/10 - Probably our brightest player on the night
Alexis - 5/10 - Worked hard, but constantly surrounded by three or four yellow shirts
Özil - 5/10 - Not as bad as some would have you believe and nearly created two goals
Welbeck - 5/10 - He needs that goal to come quickly because the doubters are already circling
Subs
Chamberlain - 6/10 - Looked lively and creative, everything we weren't until he came on
Cazorla - 5/10 - Barely noticed him
Podolski - 5/10 - Lost his shin pads and missed a late opportunity for a consolation

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