Arsenal: Szczesny, Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs, Arteta, Ramsey, Wilshere, Ozil, Alexis, Welbeck.
Subs: Ospina, Chambers, Rosicky, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Cazorla, Podolski, Campbell
Arsenal endured a chastening night at the Westfalenstadion as Borussia Dortmund ended Arsene Wenger’s 14-game unbeaten run with a clinical 2-0 victory on matchday one of Champions League Group D.
Dominating from the off the Bundesliga outclassed the Gunners all over the pitch before Italian international Ciro Immobile broke the deadlock just seconds before half-time. Patrick Aubameyang doubled the lead two minutes after the break and the Germans threatened an avalanche of goals only for Wojciech Szczesny to repeatedly deny them a third.
Pre-game
Arsene Wenger handed Hector Bellerin a Champions League debut at right-back with Mathieu Debuchy out for the long-term and Calum Chambers struggling with tonsillitus. The latter took a place on the bench as the only defensive option. Kieran Gibbs replaced Nacho Monreal, left in England nursing a back problem, while Mikel Arteta returned to the starting line-up in place of Mathieu Flamini. Up front Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez continued to flank Danny Welbeck as they did against Manchester City at the weekend.
First half
The opening moments were something of a yellow and black blur as the home side attacked the Gunners like a swarm of angry hornets. It was to be an ongoing theme.
Jurgen Klopp’s men forced a couple of early corners, snapped into challenges and then had a big shout for a penalty as Mikel Arteta and Henrikh Mkhitaryan came together on the edge of the box after the Spaniard had given the ball away. The Portuguese referee dismissed the Armenian’s dive and instead gave him a yellow card. It could easily have gone the other way.
The pressure from Dortmund was unrelenting as they repeatedly took advantage of desperate hacked clearances by the men in blue. On 13 minutes Greek international Sokratis Papastathopoulos fired just wide as a corner that landed inside the six-yard box, two minutes later Ciro Immobile screwed an effort wide from distance. When we did retain possession for any period of time, which was rare, the whistles from the packed Westfalenstadion were deafening.
As the half hour mark came and went the Gunners goal continued to live a charmed life. First Wojciech Szczesny made a fine stop from close range to deny Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang before Jack Wilshere’s last-ditch challenge put off Mkhitaryan who looked destined to score as a cross was palmed into his path just yards out.
Forming something of a one man wall against the constant waves of attack our Pole in goal again stopped Aubameyang, tipping around the post, as the Gabon international struck from a tight angle, and also clung on to a fiercely struck Immobile drive.
In a rare Arsenal attack Gibbs showed tenacity to reach the byline only for Welbeck to make a mess of the dinked cross that found him at the far post. Five minutes before the break the new boy latched onto a Ramsey through ball but he again fluffed his lines, screwing wide with only Roman Wiedenfeller to beat.
A minute before the break Dortmund finally got the goal they deserved. Arsenal had a throw-in down by the home side’s corner flag but after surrendered possession too easily. Ciro Immobile latched onto a long ball on the halfway line and didn’t look back. He charged at the Arsenal defence, cut across Laurent Koscielny and found a perfect angle to slide the ball past Szczesny. (1-0)
It was the last kick of the half and a body blow just when it looked like we might have a chance to regroup on level terms.
Second half
Arsenal couldn’t afford a poor start in the second period, but that’s exactly what they produced and again they were ruthlessly punished. Only two minutes had passed when Kevin Grosskreutz fed Aubameyang who bundled his way around Szczesny and somehow managed to bounce his shot in despite Koscielny’s presence on the line.
Smelling blood and more goals Dortmund continued to make chances at will. With 50 minutes on the clock Mkhitaryan nearly hammered home a third but his shot was tipped over acrobatically by Szczesny. Papastathopoulos gave it five minutes before testing the Pole with another stinger, then Aubameyang cracked the bar. In between Welbeck’s poor evening continued when he failed to make contact with a Ramsey cross at close range.
There was a booking for Mesut Ozil, who fouled Marcel Schmelzer on the touchline, and not long after he and Aaron Ramsey were subbed off in favour of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Santi Cazorla. The German international just wasn’t at the races, but he was hardly alone in that.
Dortmund took their foot off the gas a little as the second half wore on and we managed to string a few passes together. In fact we got so relaxed that Szczesny seemed to slip into a coma; nearly gifting the hosts a third when he dealt with a Koscielny back pass by passing it to Aubameyang just yards from goal.
The individual mistakes just kept coming. Arteta not for the first time gave the ball away and Mkhitaryan spurned another glorious chance. The Armenian’s shooting really was appalling all evening.
Whatever Mkhitaryan did badly, Welbeck seemed to want to emulate. A smart turn on the edge of the box was followed by a wild finish which soared into row Z. His evening was compounded by a kick on the knee by Neven Subotic. Getting desperate Wenger threw on Lukas Podolski in place of Arteta and the World Cup winner received a warm greeting from his compatriots both on and off the pitch.
In the final five minutes Chamberlain denied Mkhitaryan his side’s third(again!) with a desperate challenge after the entire Arsenal defence backtracked at the end of a move that saw Wilshere left sprawled on the floor holding his left ankle. Clearly annoyed the midfielder picked up a booking for a petulant foul. Podolski did come close to getting a consolation as the game entered stoppage time but his inability to get a shot off served as another reminder of how limp we’d been all night.
All in all a pretty pathetic showing from Arsene Wenger’s men who well and truly had their arses handed to them by a far more organised and determined outfit. Next up it’s Galatasaray at home before Anderlecht away in late October. It already feels like we’re playing for second in the group, but even that’s going to be a tall order unless we improve quickly.
That performance was disgusting and the buck has to stop with Wenger. Too many times we go away from home and are humiliated. And that’s what that was, it was only 2-0 but could and should have been 6 or 7. Some of the performances were an embarrassment to the club. Arteta was shown to be so out of his depth and shows why would should have signed someone like Khedria. And don’t get me started on Ozil. Wenger needs to have a good look at himself because these performance just aren’t acceptable and they’re becoming the norm.
Absolute fucking garbage.
Fucking rotate the fucking team Wenger.
And yes, you can make up for a fucking shit defence by playing possession football, but only if you can keep the fucking ball.
Fucking shit.
Dropped our own trousers for a rodgering…. Embarrassing.
As shit as we were and we truly were, the Dortmund theatrics made me sick to my stomach. I thought that stuff was reserved for Portuguese and Spanish teams.
That happens pretty much everywhere, and to be honest it was only Mkhitaryan whose theatrics caught my attention (booking served him right). It doesn’t change the fact that Dortmund were vastly superior to us. They worked harder, looked sharper, and they got a result that they clearly wanted more than us. If not for Mkhitaryan’s woeful finishing (as someone who watches and follows the Bundesliga, I can tell you that he’s a wasteful finisher who doesn’t score as much as he should) we would have conceded more. The state of the squad is very worrying at present. There’s no proper… Read more »
I really like dortmund as a club but by god we’d better repay this with interest in the return.
Watching Arsenal for about the last 6 years, has been like watching Groundhog Day over and over. It’s looking pretty apparent that little has improved. I think the squad is close to being strong – we just needed that defender and that midfielder. I swear to God when you see us trying to defend, it’s as if the pitch doubles in size and the opposition double in numbers. That’s how bad and vulnerable we look. But I have to say, I think most coaches in the world would be able to make the signings to complete this team. Not sure… Read more »
Totally agree.
He has added truly world class players. I am not convinced that personnel is the issue. I even think that had he bought a proper centre midfielder and cover at CB we would have been humiliated in this game. Which amazing players should we have that guarantee we will play with desire and some kind of plan? He has great players. So why are they not ready for these games? Gary Neville on sky the other night was spot on about how lackadaisical it all is.
Fighting for 2nd in the Champions League group and the right to be knocked out by Bayern or Barca in the next round, And fighting for 4th in the league to get those Champions league funds for our owner.
Ooooh to be a Gooner
Jesus Christ, one loss (the first in a competitive match in 14 games!) and the knives are well and truly sharpened and ready to stab Wenger and the rest of the players in the kidneys. Doesn’t anyone have a sense of perspective anymore?
First competitive loss in 14 is also our 3rd game in a row without a win. Even the 2 games we have won this year, the home leg vs Besiktas and the late winner vs Crystal, we can count ourselves lucky. This team is nowhere near where it has to be if it wants to compete for trophies. Same old song and dance about not having the right parts to fit into place. Wenger has created this mess and is not capable of doing anything to change it. The worst thing that happened to Arsenal was to win the FA… Read more »
@Witoldo: I would say that 5/6 years give you a better perspective than the last 14 games. No?
Can’t understand Wenger’s faith in Arteta. He was slowing considerably last year. In what bizarre universe is the solution to this situation to give the player the armband and refuse to buy a defensive midfielder?
No club would be stupid enough to do that AND not a buy a defender, despite knowing all summer it needed both. Desperately.
Not to mention the knee jerk striker signing. I’m sick of siging players at the last minute and hoping they fit into the team.
I know a lot of Man U fans and they are fucking delighted that we signed Danny fucking Welbeck, Not hard to see why tonight or Saturday, Tries hard but not at the races, So fucking angry, don’t know if I can watch this shit much longer
Well fuck off then and watch Bayern!
This knee jerk striker signing was needed with Giroud out until the New Year and deserves a chance to bury future chances before the knives come out.
They say actions speak louder than words…. What am I meant to deduce when Wenger starts an out of form Ozil on the right hand side along with a RB making his first start?
That was a Basil Fawlty clown show.
I agree, football has moved on and Mr Wenger is yesterday men. Yess we can never deny that he brought to us the best period of our success and the best football we have ever seen. Some still love him for that and I am one of them. But, for me the club comes first and I am sorry to say, Mr Wenger has not improved the team and it is time for him to go. If some would put their love for the man above the club that is their choice, it is a matter of time before the… Read more »
Why you moderate me for my opinion? Or do we all have to agree with you or what you say??? I never insulted anyone or used a bad language, it is just my opinion and how I see football.
if you moderate me for that, it is a sad day and I hope you proud of yourself for doing so.
Allthough i Agree Wenger seems tactically inadequate to keep up with the modern game, I dont however see who we would bring in to replace him. None of the big name managers are available, and i dont think it wise to replace Wenger with someone like Pulis, Moyes or Tim Sherwood. I think we need to be patient and butter up some of the experienced top club managers like Klopp, Pep or Simone and warm them to the idea of managing Arsenal and line one of them up as the successor of Wenger ready to take the helm when Wenger… Read more »
chill out Cygan, we lost. sometimes posts get flagged for moderation not based on content but rather some keyword, its all there now -including your paranoid sounding rant.
by the way, i agree with you about Wenger not improving arsenal, we are static and predictable.
Relax man, sometimes comments get caught in the moderation queue for any number of reasons.
There are all kinds of opinions, critical and otherwise, on here so it’s never about what people say (unless it’s offensive/retarded/against the rules).
Reminded me of last years hammerings away against TOP 4, with an exception that the home team failed to put those chances away, or it would have been 6-7 as you said. No urgency, very poor
Yep, as it stands this side isn’t even good enough to win one of the domestic cups, much less the league. As for the Champions Leauge, I’m reminded of Bilic’s reaction when he was asked in the presser after dropping the tie whether he thought Arsenal could win it all. He could barely keep himself from laughing in reply.
Fourth will be an accomplishment this season. Blame is all on Wenger. Sanchez is a nice signing but the overall job this summer was close to failing.
Totally agree. This is where he could protect his players a bit more. Ozil was shit against City. Should have rested him and played Santi instead. Now everyone is going to get on his back (justifiably) but it should not have happened.
And don’t get me started on Arteta today. Normally he is OK but against big teams we do need someone a bit better.
Never said it before, WENGER MUST GO, we are going backwards, We don’t need to wait for transfer window, sick looking at our bunch of little tippy tappy fuckers
thumbs downers, open your fucking eyes
That’s out of line there. Plenty of our players are not representative of that performance. And you’re a fan of the club are you?
So where were they tonight?
And that, ladies and gentleman, is the internet fan summed up perfectly. Poor performance = WENGER OUT!!!11! Don’t get me wrong, Wenger has a lot to answer for with the squad balance and poor organisation, but you don’t sack the man this early in the season because his team shits the bed in their toughest Champions League game.
But you agree on one hand, make up your mind
Smudger, Poor performance? Where have you been in the last 10 years? Did you see the 6-3, 5-1, 6-0 and 3-0 last season? This is becoming the norm. Arsene took us as far as he could but now with money available he has no excuse, he missed up the TW for the 4th time in a row and bought what we don’t need. Is it hard to buy a DM and CB? You don’t have to be a manager to see Arteta is not good enough for a top 4 team last year and this year. You don’t have to… Read more »
Told you before, fuck off then!
We desperately need a proper CB and DM.
Wenger is way too stubborn – why persist with a formation trying to accommodate Wilshere through the middle?
Just not good enough.
The sad thing is, it is all about him proving people wrong not about what the team needs or what he paid for. He is not accountable by anyone so he carries on with this madness with no one to answer to as long as he gets for the yanks fourth place.
Just a Quote from that Chavs cunt who keeps humiliating Mr Wenger at every chance Mourinho….
*I dropped Cech not because I don’t like him, I do what is best for the club and pick the better player” .
Just don’t fucking quote that asshole to make a point here, please. You can make your point well enough in your own words.
And to think Wengers excuss for not bringing Fabregas back was he already had Ozil in that position what a joke wenger and Ozil should both fuck off
Ozil and Ramsey in the squad more in reputation than performance.
Ramsey scores a few goals against shit opp and next thing he is the next Messi
I think someone needs to take a few breaths and step away from the keyboard.
think you are right, should be getting used to this shit, off to bed!!
Shit opposition like Dortmund, Liverpool, Manchester City you mean?
Fuck off!
In all fairness, Ramsey has contributed 3 goals this season – 2 goals and an assist. Without those we’d be 4 points less than where we are today. Goal against Everton and assist against Man City is no bad thing. Yes, he is not being Jesus this season but as long as he makes runs and pops up when we need him to why not play him? Don’t forget that through ball for Welbeck which Welbeck missed And for all the knives out for Ozil and Rambo, what about Welbeck – He missed 2 sitters at 0-0, just like at… Read more »
Generally would have to agree. We were poor. We created very little against a well organised defence, while our own defence was shambolic yet again. the new formation leaves us hopelessly vulnerable to a counter and with our defence acting like amateurs it’s impossible to not concede.
The other player that I am really disappointed about is Mert. He was a best defender last year, and whenever he had a good game we had a good game. But sometimes his lack of pace is soooo frustrating. He will make a good tackle or get a touch on the ball but then can’t get to the ball before the next attacker does, meaning that we are still under the pump.
Kos on the other hand always seem to be able to recover the ball because of his good pace. I really like Mert but sometimes he is frustrating.
We were shit, it happens in football.
Pick me any top European team and I’ll show you a night they were shite.
We’ll bang them at home.
Finally! Someone with some brains.
Considering that we were playing with about 9 and a half men (we need to have a chat about oezil. Bellerin needs a loan) and still managed to have wellbeck mess up two GREAT chances, not to mention Poldi, i think we shouldnt be imploding quite yet.
Crouch,
I think the problem is that this isn’t just one night. We’ve looked average in every game this season, and this follows from a number of totally shit league performances last season.
That, coupled with our mounting injury concerns that have exposed an already insane gamble on the fitness of our defensive players means that there is little to be optimistic about.
Sorry, but I think that’s a fair assessment.
Come on let’s stop this Ozil bullying now it’s getting boring. Sometimes his passes are sloppy or he hangs on to it too long and gives it away, but he is a world class player and if you watch him closely you’ll see that. His first touch is out of this world, and his footballing brain is so good, he knows where the space is and he can (normally) pick an inch-perfect pass. It’s just it’s hard notice things like that because we expect it from him. What. Could you do better? Haha Come on whatever happened to form is… Read more »
To those of you out there who pillory fans who wants change – Ask yourself whether you can think of any other coaches who can do better with this team right now than Wenger.
Then ask yourself whether there are any other coaches who can develop this team better than Wenger.
Unless your delusional, the answer to both questions will be Yes.
This is not based on last night’s game. It’s based on Wenger’s inability to compete with competitive teams over the last 8 years. On top of that, we’re dropping points against lesser teams too.
Pathetic display.
Only thing worse was that fucking spinning camera. Made me more upset than the performance.
I felt a little sick…..more so than watching us play. But seriously thou dortmund were just the better team. Worst i seen us play since liverpool spanked us. Just everything we did was crap……utter utter crap.onwards and upwards i hope.
Wenger out!
That didn’t take long
There’s only so much a man can take. Wenger wasn’t proven right by his tactics. Nor by his selection of players. Apart from a few amazing performances against lower teams, we’ve been average at best. Don’t get me started on these games, the humiliations, the pathetic displays. You tell me right now, who is to blame? The players? Are you saying that we’ve got players that can’t play a proper pass or position themselves? So far we’ve only needed one leader – a proper manager, and not the kind that tells the players to make up their mind mid game… Read more »
See now that is a fair rebuttal. Compared to some of the complete daily mail/ Le grove dross written above, I couldn’t agree more.
I supported Wenger for years and years, so I don’t consider myself one of those knee-jerk reaction fans. At the same time i’ve come to realize how naive and biased I was ( how could you not be biased towards Wenger after the invincibles) but time has gone on, all things evolve but not Wenger. He is holding us back and I don’t need to explain why by now we all know exactly why. It NEVER CHANGES with Wenger and this type of sh*te keeps happening. It’s routine by now and that is disgusting. Would love to see what a… Read more »
We’ve ended talks with mutiple good players because of wage demands.
Perhaps if the manager didn’t demand such a ridiculous wage we’d be able to spend the wages on the big players we need. At the moment, Wenger justifies his wage about as much as that Fat Walrus down the road.
few games into the season and this shit is already happening, embarrassing
Nope, seeing the same exact type of defeat every season & not progressing is embarrassing for a club of our stature. The FA Cup win was great, but can you really say if we met Chelski or Citeh in the final we would have won? Nope, and history shows that’s true over the past few years. We don’t beat big teams & THAT is what’s embarrassing. You’ve been so used to the level we were told we should be at that you refuse to aim higher.
We lost, but none of our players got injured tonight, so we got that going for us which is nice.
Could still happen! Waiting to hear news on Wilshere’s ankle… Looked painful, but hopefully nothing serious.
I don’t like our players getting injured, but at least it means that Wenger has to rotate. He seems to play the same team every time unless there are injuries. Does he not trust his squad? If not, he needed to do something about this a bit earlier!
Rotation involves tactics, which we have seen (& also been told) Wenger is none too fond of
That was shit
I blame the blue shirts.
Yeah and why was the ref wearing the same colour?
Boom!
*weeps inconsolably*
Absolute wank.
Shit performance under inept management. Wenger and the players should bow their heads in shame.
And to think Wengers excuss for not bringing Fabregas back was he already had Ozil in that position what a joke wenger and Ozil should both fuck off
terrible
we don’t need a proper CDM nor another defender
#arseneknows
for fuck’s sake
i have a really bad feeling about this season
on the plus side, we got our worst performance of the season out of the way at the one match in this group we can afford to lose.
keep the faith
COYG
Seriously, I applaud that optimism. The best I could come up with was that nobody had a massive injury, even then Jack and Welbeck both took knocks late in the game so it still might come to pass that they miss a game or two or eight.
hahaha, i was pretty close to going depressed after tonight, but came to realise that every time in the past year or 2 we have had a shocking performance like that ,we have recovered pretty well in time for next game. and i got full faith in the boys and wenger to get a win on the weekend
Last season, after each of the disasters, we displayed lame lethargic performances which ended in draws. This bodes well for Villa’s unbeaten run.
Exactly, I applaud positive people but they are actually re-writing history to fit their strange narrative now
We haven’t looked that sharp this season, and we’ve just been comprehensively beaten by a slightly weaker Dortmund than the one we faced last year.
Worrying.
We will regret Wenger’s decision not to buy a defensive midfielder (Arteta was hopeless) and a defender.
Very unconvincing management.
We will – or should – regret the Board’s decision to continue to give this Manager unlimited opportunities to do as he likes and to hell with the consequences.
But it’s ‘Arsene’ Football Club and so thousands of little squealers will thumb this down.
But the truth is Wenger is and has been for some time, well past his sell by date.
If you want this – and probably/possibly fourth place in the EPL, he’s your man.
If you want to stop Chelsea lifting title after title – he isn’t.
Simples !
wish I could give Rob’67’s comment a hundred thumbs up. I don’t know why people just blame wenger without talking about the board. Where on earth do you find any other redundant and utterly inept board as the one we have at arsenal. How many boards will allow their manager so much freedom that he works and takes decisions virtually without any sort of checks and balances. Its like wenger dictates to the board instead of vice versa. How will a board watch and allow a manager to sell all his back up central defenders and go into the season… Read more »
We ARE regretting it. His handling of the transfer windows is downright abysmal. He’s made some nice signings, but the biggest holes in the side go unplugged year in year out. There was a time when he was one of the best, but he’s lost it. It’s to his credit that he was able to drag the likes of Bendtner and Chamakh to the UCL year in, year out, but I agree, he’s too naive tactically and in the transfer market to bring the fight to Chelsea/City in the league, nevermind the UCL.
To be honest, a DM would have helped but that does not account for why everyone played so bad. Ozil, Ramsey, Mert, even Sanchez played terrible. The team was so bad tonight it was crazy.
Only really Wilshere and Woj played OK tonight.
Agreed, NZ_gooner.
I don’t mean to pick on Arteta. I just think his situation is somewhat representative of a systemic problem at the level of management, and it affects the whole team.
I disagree. It has everything to do with having no cover in midfield. Jack and Aaron are playing too high, and Arteta gets sucked up too. Gaping holes in the team shape. As a result our balance gets thrown completely off. No one is where they should be and players start second guessing themselves…not to mention it’s not the best thing to keep having your midfielders sprinting up and down the touch line to stop counters every 2 minutes.
Completely agree with your assessment that Wilshere and Ramsey are too high, they need to play about 20 yards deeper. Ramsey exacerbates the problem by roaming all over the pitch and forcing Ozil and Alexis deeper. This formation is a failure for both the defensive and offensive parts of our game
There is a systemic failure at the moment with the new formation, we are completely open through the middle and on the flanks. Man City and Dortmund should’ve scored more than they did without playing that well, 4 or 5. Wenger has got to get this formation working or change it.
But we were open in the same exact spots when we got thrashed last season too, so it’s not the new formation
How could Wenger justify continuing to send both full backs forward at every opportunity when it’s so blindingly obvious that Dortmund were using it to their advantage every time they recovered the ball? The space in behind them is stupid to leave when u have the slowest defender in the Prem as one of your centre backs… it was pointed out on MOTD on saturday, and it will be pointed out again this season. Wenger still thinks all teams should prepare for us, we will play our game, but how about, for once, please, Arsene… Set up to play against… Read more »
Same thing Rodgers and Mou did to us away when we lost, what 11-0 collectively. If you’ve got the players, that’s how you eviscerate us. If not, put 10 behind the ball watch us kick it around and wait for your chance to counter when we’re totally exposed.
Sad that a a three sentence internet comment is pretty much the entire book on how to play against Arsenal.
Fair play to the Germans. We were second best in all departments today, and made to pay the price. All I can do right now is thank Szczesny for being on point when needed the most. Could have easily been 5-0 had he not performed.
Not fecking working hard enough, and Ozil is NOT a winger
Cowardly useless fucker
You’re funny. You must be doing it on purpose.
your brain washed
you’re such a nice person.
Ozil is sacrificed on the wing because wenger playing both wilshere and ramsey and I can only blame wenger for ozil form he destroyed the man form on the wing and he is destroying his confidence playing him out of position, las year we played out best football with ramsey and ozil in the middle and wenger payed 42m for him to sicrifise him on the wing because of wilhere and ramsey which they don’t playing good together and I don’t know if enyone is analysing our games that when we play midfield with ramsey and wilshere ramsey is not… Read more »
And to think Wengers excuss for not bringing Fabregas back was he already had Ozil in that position what a joke wenger and Ozil should both fuck off
I see you figured out how to copy / paste.
Phewks. Though I was seeing triple.
To play devils advocate, he did win the World Cup being played out there; I just think he is unhappy being put there for his club. Personally I think Wenger needs to drop players that do not perform on the pitch eg Vermaelen, Szechney, Wilshere etc in the past. Just because of Ozil’s price tag he seems to be immune which can hardly be good at all levels of the club. On a similar note 4-4-2 anyone? Ozil can play in the center, Alexis and Welbeck upfront, the LB RB do not need to press forward as much so we… Read more »
Nah don’t think we could do that, Ozil would get overrun in the midfield if his partner was Arteta or even if it was Ramsey.
We need to go back to 4-2-3-1
Arteta/Flamini and Ramsey/Wilshere
Sanchez Ozil Ox/Carzola
Welbeck
Agreed, we’re always wide open with this 4-1-4-1
Agree totally. The 4-1-4-1 experiment must go down as a failure not because it’s an inherently flawed formation, but rather because of the kind of personnel we have at our disposal. For instance, it was painful to watch Ozil on the byline, and as much as I appreciated his efforts to cover Bellerin, he’s entirely wasted there.
Wenger changed it, he can change it back. 4-2-3-1 please.
He did fuck all in the WC, watched him in every game
I expect that why he was in the WC winning team then?
The first time we play a decent team in their patch we get obliterated and somehow manage not to return home with a cricket scoreline which we were popular for last season. Something is wrong, something is definitely not right
Boys looked tired, nonetheless this was BVB B squad. Should’ve done better. Defense looked very exposed, I am not sure what Wenger can do at this point, should have brought in a CB or two but didn’t. Now we paying the price.
Yes they looked tired. Wenger needs to learn to rotate his squad. He wants to play this lot into the ground early. Mostly the same squad that played Man City. We could have started with Rosicky, Cazorla, Ox, Chambers, Ospina, Podolski etc and stilll have quality on the pitch.
you are right what’s the use of having a depth in midfield and attack not use it
At least Szczesny is playing well
Right if you call coming out of goal to do nothing on that second goal playing well I’d be worried to know what you think of the team as a whole.
Your GK standards are not too high. He’s not AFC starting quality, hasn’t been for a while which is why Fab gave him quite a run for the #1 spot…..Ospina should get the gloves with WOj playing in cups/backup. Hurts to say it bout my Polish brethren but it’s true. Too rash in a challenge, too cocky (not Iker in his prime cocky), hands are not great, distribution is actually getting worse. Go watch other GKs distribute the ball around the pitch & u will see how far behind Woj is in that aspect.
Not the end of the world at all.
Wont be the only team to get dominated by dortmund, we’ll do ek at the emirates!
That was terrible…. Well at least Wilshere seems to be hitting form. Apart from him… Garbage
Wenger probably knew he was going to play a 4-1-4-1 formation this season. Why on earth will he then stiick with a DM whose legs are running out. We dont have a defensive midfielder to play this formation, best we switch back to 4-2-3-1.
Can’t understand how these professional football players playin at the highest level just don’t turn up. Same thing happened last season when we played against the top teams and same today. Absolutely terrible to see from a team that you love so much
Anyone seen my shin pads?
#aha
Here, have mine. Not that it’ll do you any good mind you…
On another day it would have been comical – however when we’d been shambolically taking it up the arse for 80 minutes it made us look even more unprepared. I love this club but boy don’t we make it easy for people that don’t to take the piss sometimes. Maybe Poldi just never thought he would get a game!
i’m so tired of watching us getting bossed easily in midfield
You’ve captured it perfectly. We’ve seen this all before and it’s just so, so preventable, but nothing gets done about it. Ever. It’s boring. When was the last time you felt our midfield had some steel? Years of this shit. It doesn’t work, but the solution from Wenger just seems to be ‘more of the same’!
Not to take anything away from Dortmund tonight, they were incredible, but as good as they were, we were equally poor. Team is lacking cohesiveness and not clicking at all. It’s a truly worrying sign because we can’t even use the excuse of “the season has just started.” We have had about 7 games and we still not looking great… This season we have literally maybe had a game and a half (Besiktas away and about a total of 45 minutes against Citeh) where I’ve been like shit, we look great, other than that, has been incredibly frustrating… I love… Read more »
It was obvious we were already doomed once I saw the referee dressed in fucking dark blue (or whatever it was). I thought we had 15 players on the pitch, 4 of them were avoiding the ball. Have we run out of colors, or atomic transitions? How fucking inept.
Woe 🙁
Chin up lads. Shit happens. Gotta move on. Sanchez and Wilshere both had decent games. Welbz had two glorious clear cut chances, but c’est la vie.
Looking forward to the next game.
COYG!
Sanchez played well? As blind as the manager.. Welbeck had four chances including two miss-kicks from 2 yards and one yard, a one on one screwed horribly wide and one blazed over the bar.. Your glasses are well and truly rose tinted
That’s arse tinted to you, brah.
Teams lose. Get used to it ya big baby.
Go and find some passion..
Exactly, people act like ambition & not wanting to lose is something negative or bad……I guess winning & playing to win throughout my life has really clouded my judgement.
It is the lack of fight back that worries me most. Not the losing away. Got used to that
That was worrying, after 50-60 mins they seemed to give up.
What is up with us! In these big games more often than not we dont turn up! Not just this seasons but for too many!
This was pathetic, one of the most heartless performances I’ve ever seen. Dortmund without their biggest stars makes our pretty much impact team look like shite. On the paper we had a stronger squad, and this is the kind of performance we put up? Tell me, how the fuck do they look themselves in the mirror after putting an performance like this and then go home and get their 100k a week or whatever they earn?! Sure, Sanchez was playing good but all in all, the defence was shite.. Time to put some fucking commitment in to the games maybe?!
Agreed, as I’ve said before….
We make crap teams look good.
We make good teams look great.
And we make great teams look unbeatable.
We have many quality players, but lack seriously in some departments. Can only blame the manager.
The result is one thing. Anyone can lose away to Dortmund.
But the manner in which we were ripped apart in that first hour was just sad to see.
Second best in every department.
Does anyone know why the formation has changed, and why we seem to be playing obe of the best #10s way iut on the left? i dont understand it.
No and no
I see three possibilities: 1) Wenger has talked a lot about our British core, and playing 433 is the best way to include both Wilshere and Ramsey in the team in their favoured CM position. Especially as playing Wilshere deep in the 4231 didn’t work too well last well last season.
2) Arteta can’t cover a lot of ground, theoretically the two other CM’s could do most of the running for him.
3) This is a temporary fix till Walcott comes back.
Any other ideas? My money’s on the first option being correct btw.
it’s not a 433 and if it was the 3 in midfield would be Arteta, Ozil and Alexis with Wilshere and Ramsey closest to the striker. The formation is a complete shambles.
No end of nigh, Wenger out etc diatribe…(yet) But that performance was fucking awful.
Wow, totally overwhelmed by Dortmund, whose tactic was spot on. We didn’t have single shot on goal. Bad finishing, misplaced passes in our part. Bad night in general.
Bright spot: at least this won’t last forever. We’re not going to have the worst coach amongst the big clubs forever.
I’m tired of us losing over and over and over again to decent opposition.
It hurts. I stay up till fuck all o’clock to watch this, get depressed and go to sleep.
Fuck.
who cares if they beat us? we have a British core.
Possibly the Worst Most disjointed, disorganised Performance from an arsenal team in ages.utter shambles from top to bottom.
A Midfield that on paper looks world class and can perform that poorly seriously needs looking into or maybe needs to be coached better. A tactically clueless display.
Hmmm IMMOBILE??? So many jokes so little time. Very poor display. Sort it wenger.
Player would get destroyed by fans if he played for Arsenal
Meh, not too worried about Wenger signing a proven quality goal-scorer like him…..just “projects” & strikers that don’t score a lot
Very poor performance tonight.
The approach to the game and tacticts were very bad, and the final score doesn’t even reflect what really happened.
The Ox and Santi should have definitely started, and I thought Bellerin with all his calmness was phazed by the occasion.
It felt like we didn’t even try to play, and I think there was so mich room to do well tonight.
I guess its best to forget this game and look forward to the next one.
COYG
Worst performance in years
Yep, the consolation is that we’re seldom this bad. The only way from here is up.
Problem is that playing anywhere close to that will get us smashed by Villa this weekend…..even a “mid-table” team can give us a cricket score playing the way we did today.
The only way from here is up.
===
We’ve said that before. And then gotten thrashed again. See results from last season.
We’re a decent team. We’re good for challenging fourth place, but not much more. That’s it, really.
The objective of this season is to improve againest the big sides, but we look we worse definsively. Also very poor offensively l. Ffs Basel manged 16 attempted againest Madrid, while we could not get more than 3 I think.
When we had medicore players like denilson we looked better going forward!
Maybe we are lacking another creative midfielder and play him as CDM, yeah?
Bellerin was decent. Kos was sub-par. Arteta was dreadful. Alexis huffed and puffed alone with no support. Welbeck is starting to prove his doubters right.
Yeah for all the talk about Bellerin coming in he performed solid enough I don’t remember him making any glaring errors or being at fault for there chances but the CB’s, midfield and attack were not good enough.
Poor performance but it’s only one game,calm the tits people
If it truly was a one off then all the reaction and vitriol being thrown about would be unreasonable. But its not. This is a continuation of 6-0, 5-1 6-3, 3-0 (can go further back) thrashings that consist of us being utterly clueless in defence, and allowing opposition attackers to waltz through the middle. And it’s hard not to look anywhere other than the management as a result of this. Why not accept a result at Dortmund would be bonus, stay tight away while trying to hit on the counter with our pacy forwards. Instead we challenge gun for gun,… Read more »
Nonsense we sat back for the whole first half and they pounded us! sloppy passing and great pressing from Dortmund also contributed to stopping the counterattack, similar to how Barcelona used to play.
Well that was a painful watch!!! Gunners all over the show, poor in every aspect!! Can’t believe injuries cause us the biggest upsets year after year after year……. You’d think he (Arsene) would learn from it!! Can’t wait wait for the player ratings, will struggle to give anyone a decent respectable rating other than Sanchez, who along with Chambo, were yet only ones on the pitch !! Flush this poor excuse of a performance down the *******hole, and get some home truths be known to the senior players! Come on guys, we were expecting a Man City performance and got… Read more »
Well, where do we start? Well with the abysmal lack of a game plan to stifle Dortmund and the mental decision of playing Ozil, Wilshire and Ramsey(who does not look fit) in the same midfield, it doesn’t work. Make no mistake, the players were poor tonight but they were underprepared by Wenger’s non exsitent tactics. The lack of a back up defender and powerful defensive midfielder was completely exposed as time and again we were cut apart. The Manager has made some poor decisions so far this season, we have only won two of our first seven games. The Oz… Read more »
This team got no balance. If you are gonna play 4-1-4-1 then you gotta have a pure DM. Not even box to box mid will work there, now this was common sense.
Ditch the shit 3rd kit
Gave you a thumbs up for your name, north bank, happy days..
“THIRTy pence a bag.”
Hilarious how Wenger is suddenly a sh@t manager. Completely binary reactions.
We were awful today. Of that there can be no doubt. But it’s a fact that we missed two glorious chances just before their goals. It really wasn’t hugely different to last season’s game there – take the lead and you probably sneak it 1-0. That’s champions league football.
Got to take your chance when you get it, and we didn’t. Next game please.
We were cut open time and time again, they had twenty two shots to our five and the consensus is that it could have been five or six nil if their finishing had been better and Szczesny hadn’t made some key saves. Just about every football fan in the country knew what we needed to do in the summer to prevent nights like these (centre back and holding midfielder) yet Wenger and Gazidis didn’t do it. What’s their excuse?
I agree with your criticism of extreme reactions about the manager.
We an criticise the lack of rotation and also what is looking like a poor formation mainly designed to cram as many of the players he likes into the team as possible though.
But boy are you blinkered! did you see the same game? We got hammered? This was not going to be a smash and grab, that starts with looking like you are doing your best not to concede!
We shouldn’t be going into a fixture this big with a right back which has barely played a game for us before. We’re one injury in defence away from being absolutely buggered up the arse!
Typical arsenal performance. Play amazing at home to city and then.. This today. These Jekyll and Hyde performances are starting to get old. Yes, Dortmund were relentless but we are so fucking easy to suffocate it is ridiculous. If we are being pressed off the park then for fucks sake play a longer pass and use our pace on the wings. Welbeck isn’t as good as giroud at hold up play but it is as much the rest of the teams fault for not utilising his pace better. This pedestrian passing out from the back is killing us in big… Read more »