Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Arsenal Lose to Dortmund 2-1

It was always bound to happen. Since the opening day loss to Aston Villa, Arsenal has been unbeaten in all competitions, with only one draw in that run. They entered the game at the Emirates last night with the opportunity to all but secure their entry into the knockout stage of the Champion’s League. Instead they ceded a late goal to the world-class Polish striker Lewandowski, losing 2-1. Coupled with the Napoli victory over Marseille, it made our route through the group of death that much more difficult. Realistically, we will probably need to grab at least a point on the road against Napoli or Dortmund and win at home against Marseille. This is not an impossible task, but life could have been much easier, even with a draw. On the other hand, victory at Napoli is certainly a possibility and we must push for a point against Dortmund in the return fixture. Some thoughts on the game …

1.     Tactics: Dortmund overran us in midfield through much of the game, pushing up and challenging us at every opportunity (even in the back). Over the course of the game, Dortmund covered 117,887 metres versus 1006,281 for Arsenal. This strategy worked for opponents last season, until our impressive end of the season run, and the wingers’ return will be anticipated with great relish. With Ox, Pod and Walcott all out, we lacked width, allowing Dortmund to clog the middle and press across the pitch. It did provide opportunities on the wings, but Wilshere and Rosicky were too apt to cut in and, with the exception of the rather fortuitous equalizer right before halftime, Sagna’s crossing was abysmal.
2.     Wilshere: I hate to beat dead horse, but it’s my tendency. Wilshere has been rather average this season, forgoing the two goals in the past two games. In this match, he gave the ball away constantly, either through bad passes (65% completion rate), poor crosses, or simply dribbling into two and three defenders. Don’t get me wrong, he is a very talented young player with major potential, but he has to work on two things – his positional discipline and his thinking on the pitch. Wilshere just makes poor decisions far too often and goes to the ground even more than Bale or Ronaldo, though with much less effect. The fact that we are generally better without him was brought into clear focus the moment he was replaced by Cazorla, who was inches away from giving Arsenal the lead, hitting the top of the post after a nice layoff from Ozil. Arsenal actually dominated the later stages of the match and were unlucky not to take the lead, before a second defensive lapse cost them a point.
3.     Flamini: the original derision that Wenger received for picking Flamini up on a free, after he left back in 2008, has long since faded as the defensive mid has shored up our defense and eliminated one of our biggest problems (being outmuscled from the back). His absence last night was sorely felt, as we couldn’t control the middle of the pitch and were too often disorganized at the back (particularly on the two goals). The question that might come up in the next window, or next summer, is whether we should sign another quality DM to backup Flamini, as Arteta is not as strong in that role and seems to slow down our attack far too often.
4.     Don’t Read Too Much into This One: Arsenal lost to a team that was a late goal away from extra time with Bayern in the Champion’s League final a few months back. But for a weak start and loss of focus in the end, we still would have gotten at least a point (with a rare mistake by Ramsey the reason for the first goal). Once Wilshere came off, Arsenal came alive, and were a better final pass away from taking the lead. The next few weeks will go a long way toward determining whether this is the beginning of the fade, or a stumble along the path to a fine season. The match against a manager-less Crystal Palace should restore our winning ways before a key Capital One Cup showdown with Chelsea Tuesday. After that, we will have to again show our away chops against Dortmund and then Napoli along with matches against Man United and Liverpool. By December 1, we can start to consider where the Gunners truly stand at the moment.


COYG! 

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