It's been twelve games and over two months since I've last written about a loss and I'd be happy not to write about in for another two months. This time, however, the situation is markedly different from that Villa game. There is, in my opinion, nothing shameful about losing a game to a team which is as good as yours in a match as tight as this one. But first things first.
Arsene Wenger, fresh from celebrations, made two changes to the side, that demolished Norwich on Saturday. Ramsey started in place of injured Flamini and Rosicky was deployed in a wide position, substituting Cazorla, so the Spaniard could be eased into action cautiously, following his injury.
Ramsey`s and Rosicky`s restless energy did little to influence how the game unfolded, however. From the first minutes Arsenal didn't have much of the ball, chasing ghosts all over the pitch, while Borussia was knocking the ball about. The Germans had a lion's share of possession, but were unable to come up with anything, other than shots from distance, both before and after the 16th minute.
The 16th minute brought a goal which was logical and illogical at the same time. Logical, because Borussia looked the better side. Illogical, cause they had nothing to show for it.
Ramsey tried to dribble his way out of trouble at the edge of the box, lost the ball, Lewandowski laid it off for Mkhitarian who put it beyond Szczesny with a low shot.
This seemed to finally shake the Gunners out of their apathy, though, like Borussia before, we couldn't do anything with the ball we had. We were mounting the pressure and the warning signs for the Germans were there, when Rosicky`s volleyd strike was cleared off the line by Hummels. However, when the goal came, it did so with a touch of good fortune.
The move started in our half. Mertesacker robbed someone of possession, played the ball to Ramsey and the Welshman fed Sagna on the right. The Frenchman crossed the ball, Weidenfeller and Hummels weren't sure, who should claim it, so neither did. Giroud squeezed his way through them and smashed the ball into the net from several feet. 1-1.
In the second half, Arsenal kicked into high gear right from the start (presumably having got a kick up the arse from the manager), but were again unable to create moments of real danger. Borussia were on the back foot, defending deep and snuffing out all the problems. Whilshere came closest to scoring when Rosicky`s lob, meant for the Englishman, was claimed by Weidenfeller. Jack sustained a knock to his ankle in this episode and was soon replaced by Cazorla. After the game, Whilshere said the knock was nothing serious, Arsene`s assessment was a bit more cautious, so it's unclear, whether Jack will have a part to play against Crystal Palace. Given the slew of important games coming our way, I won't be surprised, if he's rested.
Cazorla changed the dynamic of the game, but also came up short, when it came to creating goal threats. He did, however, had the best moment of the half.
Ozil ripped through the right flank, cut the ball back for the Spaniard, but Santi`s first-time shot hit the outside of the crosshair.
After that we continued to pile up the pressure, but to no avail. With eight minutes to go, we paid the price for monetarily switching off defensive-wise.
Grosskreutz teared down our left flank and sent in a low cross to the far post, where Lewandowski had all the space and time in the world to volley the ball home.
And that was it. It was obvious, this was the blow, Arsenal wouldn't recover from. We gave too much, both physically and mentally, to find the winner in the second forty-five minutes, that eventually conceding was the last straw. Wenger threw Bendtner and Gnabry on in the latter stages, but Borussia`s expert time-wasting ensured they left London with all three points.
This is what the manager had to say after the game:
« It was a game of high intensity but very few chances. Dortmund were well organised to stop us from playing, and I must say as well that we were not as good as we can be offensively. Some of our players were not as fresh as they were recently. But we put ourselves on the back foot with the first goal and naive for the second goal. If you look at the number of saves our keeper had to make tonight and you concede two goals, you can say that we can only look at ourselves for not being mature enough in situations like that. If you cannot win the game, you don't lose it. Especially in the second half when we were on top, we made things difficult for ourselves by giving them the second goal».
That pretty much sums it up. It's disappointing to lose a game in such a fashion, but better Borussia, than, erm, Blackburn.
So, what happens now? In terms of qualification, our result, combined with that of Napoli`s, throws the group wide open. Three teams have six points, so anything can happen. Our situation is not ideal, but it's also far from precarious. We now have to get an away result, but I recall a certain German team, that has suffered at our hands on their turf. Don't see, why we can't repeat this feat.
Until later