To quote some of the words of the song, not so long
ago quite a few were wondering whether Arsenal
would still need Arsene Wenger when he was 64.
Arsenal were without a trophy in eight years, many of
the natives were rowdy and restless and plenty were
wondering out loud whether the great alchemist of
his Highbury years had lost the touch forever.
And yet here he was celebrating his 64th birthday
riding a fresh wave of optimism at Emirates Stadium
as Arsenal, top of the Premier League, confronted
last season's losing finalists Borussia
Dortmund
after opening their Champions League campaign
with two wins.
Sadly for Wenger, there was no perfect present as
Arsenal had holes - not a lot but enough - picked in
their resurgence by Jurgen Klopp's Dortmund.
German domination
Arsenal's last three Champions League defeats at
home have been to German clubs. The Gunners loss
was just their fifth in 48 home games in the
Champions League
The pessimists would say Arsenal had failed their
first major test of the season. The far more rational,
and realistic view, is that Wenger's team were
unfortunate to lose 2-1 to one of Europe's best teams
thanks to a late goal by Robert Lewandowski, when
he could just have easily been taking first use of the
shower for an elbow on Laurent Koscielny.
Wenger is normally the great supporter of his players
but here he was arguably the harshest judge as he
accused Arsenal of being "naïve" and "not
being mature enough"
when most agreed many aspects of the display were
worthy of more credit.
Arsenal and Wenger need not be hard on themselves.
This was the performance of a developing team, one
that will suffer setbacks along the way.
There are lessons to be learned, though, and on a
rain-lashed night in north London two of the most
sobering involved Wenger's most influential summer
signings.
Mathieu Flamini was missing after suffering
concussion against Norwich City on Saturday.
Also missing was his ability to shield the back four,
take up crucial positions and also add a ruthless air
to proceedings that might have prevented two rather
soft Dortmund goals.
The first from Henrikh Mkhitaryan, the man on which
Liverpool would have loved to have spent
£25m in the summer,
was the result of uncharacteristic ball concession by
Aaron Ramsey on the edge of the area, and the 82nd
minute winner from Lewandowski - while a finish of
some expertise - was aided by slack marking in the
build-up and the final execution.
And then you come to Mesut Ozil.
Ozil made some headlines before kick-off when it was
revealed in Sir Alex Ferguson's lavishly-
publicised "My Autobiography"
that Wayne Rooney, during a period of discontent at
Manchester United, got a flea in his ear from his
manager and told to mind his own business when he
suggested Ferguson should sign the Germany
midfield man.
Arsenal's next five matches
Sat 26 Oct: Crystal Palace (away), Premier League
Tue 29 Oct: Chelsea (home), Capital One Cup
Sat 2 Nov: Liverpool (home), Premier League
Tue 6 Nov: Borussia Dortmund (away), Champions
League
Sun 10 Nov: Manchester United (away), Premier
League
Arsenal's £42.4m signing from Real Madrid has spent
this season providing strong evidence that Rooney
certainly knows a good player when he sees one -
and that he may have been well served offering the
same advice to Ferguson's successor David Moyes.
On this night, Ozil was thwarted by a Bundesliga
team and a German coach in Klopp who know him
well. Give Ozil room and you invite trouble but here,
for the most part, he was confined to small spaces
and his influence was limited.
It is not a case of "stop Ozil and you stop Arsenal" as
they have too many creators for that. It is a reality,
though, that if you can subdue this graceful operator
then you remove one of Wenger's most potent
weapons.
Ozil was only seen in flashes but one pass set up
substitute Santi Cazorla for a shot that glanced off
the woodwork at 1-1.
There are also ongoing concerns over Jack Wilshere's
fitness as he limped off to apply an ice pack to his
ankle only 57 minutes, the result of an awkward first-
half landing.
The result leaves Group F in the balance with Arsenal
still top on the same six points as Dortmund and
Napoli, but with visit to both places to come.
And yet, despite the loss, there should still be plenty
to please Wenger despite his somewhat uncharitable
final analysis.
For 20 minutes Dortmund were the pressing machine
Klopp so desires, relentlessly hunting Arsenal in
possession and denying them any room to play the
passing game that has served them so well in the
Premier League.
Dortmund are on an elevated level from most
opponents Arsenal will face domestically, and it
showed - but there was great resilience to set
alongside the style and Olivier Giroud's equaliser just
before half-time was the reward for hanging in
throughout a torrid opening before imposing their
own influence.
Even in the second half, which ended so
despondently, Arsenal more than matched Dortmund
but the lack of street wisdom Wenger noted let them
down.
Arsenal now have it tough to get out of the
Champions League's most taxing group, but this is
not a result that should dent confidence. They
deserved a point.
Wenger's birthday may not have been a joyous
occasion - but as he indulged in some belated
celebrations he will should still have found aspects of
Arsenal's game to give satisfaction. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24633275
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.
No comments:
Post a Comment