Dortmund 2 – 0 Arsenal Player Ratings by KJ
Szczesny – 4
Shocking all round. Made basic saves but almost cost us a goal and was culpable for the second.
Bellerin – 2
Completely out of his depth. Was systematically targeted by Dortmund players and was the source of most of their joy going forwards.
Mertesacker – 4
Was out played by all of Dortmund’s attackers. They ran circles around him. He couldn’t cope with the pressing or the pace.
Koscielny – 7 (our MOTM)
The only decent player out there today. Tried to do it all on his own and kept making last ditch tackles. But there was only so much he could do on his own with no support from the midfield.
Gibbs – 5
Meh performance. One decent dribble in the first half and the rest was a pretty basic performance.
Arteta – 2
Diabolical. He was absolutely destroyed by Mkhitaryan. He couldn’t keep up with the Armenian. Even then, it was just so easy for Dortmund to completely bypass our midfield with just one or two passes.
Ramsey – 3
He was also shocking today. Played far too high up when we needed him to be breaking down Dortmund’s play from deep and playing it out as he did last season.
Wilshere – 6
Only decent midfielder out today and even then, he still gave the ball away loads of times but he did try and make chances and tried to aid our transition by dribbling out from the defence.
Sanchez – 4
Constantly lost the ball and made the wrong choice too often. Did well in tight spaces but got the basics wrong too often tonight.
Özil – 5
Done the basics right but had no one around to help him do anymore. He was constantly crowded out because there was no passing option.
Welbeck – 4
Missed two one on ones and just generally poor on the ball tonight. Not very impressive.
Subs:
Chamberlain – 6
Decent when he came on. Injected pace but still misplaced passes.
Cazorla – 5
Didn’t really affect the game. By then, everyone was sulking so there was no real chance of him helping us get back into the game.
Podolski – N/A
Didn’t even know he was on really until he missed a decent opportunity to score. Classic Podolski.
Yup 2nd best tonight.
But we can win the return.
Have to make sure we beat
Gala and Delecht now.
Bellerin inexperience was clearly on show tonight,was specifically targeted by dortmund as they constantly overloaded his position.Overall though,we lacked that grit,midfield porous and we lacked a focal point,Giroud,yes Giroud.This is the 1st game ive watched all season to avoid such disappointments and I wont watch some for some time.Au revoir!
Szcesny a 4?! Are you f&@$&&)&& kidding me this man was the only reason we didn’t lose 7 nil
Yes I completely agree, KJ that is a complete shocker!
agree, we cant expect him to stop every shot, the second goal was very unlucky.
Are you st*pid , hw does ozil get 5 ? He should around -8
reality check
Koscielny should be club captain. Arteta has no balls, he is weak, not a leader and I’d say he’s no better than Accrington Stanley standard. Honestly. Something needs to change vs the big teams away however I just don’t see any signs of that happening I’m afraid.
I wonder if Wenger still thinks he was right not replace vermalem and Arteta this summer. He says this squad is strong enough but strong enough for what? Certainly not to win the league or champions league and not 4th place either in my opinion.
What is most annoying is when I read a qoute of his saying that we probably needed a physically imposing player in midfield. And I am like, ‘why the heck did he not get one then?!’. Is he doing this on purpose? To find excuses for failure? Why on earth is he making such painful statements only after the window has been long shut down? Is he trying to wind up the fans, especially with a poor defensive display from Arteta tonight?
I’m just really confused.
Oh dry up. Crap performance, no question but leave the talk of us not being good enough for 4th alone.
We didn’t strengthen as much as we should have in the summer but no way have we regressed, or been surpassed by liverpool/united/everton squad wise. Games like these always bring the doom and gloomers out.
This just highlighted the same stuff we already knew. Defensive depth? None.
Top class DM? No way.
Keeper with a ricket in him? You bet ya.
Big names way underpar? Why of course.
Tactical flexibility mid game? Not on your life.
Pretty much classic Arsenal of the past 5 years so why we’re all dumbfounded a performance like that was due is beyond me. Half a dozen games into the season after a poor summers transfer dealings and we’ve played exactly 25mins of good football which we turned into being 0-1 down to City.
Let’s all agree to drop the title talk. We’re not there yet, so let’s not set ourselves up for failure. Top 4 and hopefully an FA cup defence and we can go again in the summer. Not how I’d like it to go, but no shot we have the balls to buy what we need in Jan. God it doesn’t half get irritating this cycle of mediocrity.
Top 4 is far from certain. We have looked every bit as weak as United this year and United has injected serious goal scoring prowess. Only playing one game per week is a huge advantage made worse by the fact that Wenger refuses to rotate our worn-out squad.
I am completly in agreement with you! What a pathetic display. They did this time and time again, last year. Dont bother guy’s, you get your inflated wages every week, what’s the prob?You are a joke, you know that? So far this season, you have done sweet F.A. And I’m not exspecting anything to change. Give the guy time? Are you kidding, Wellbeck is supposed to be a pro striker? I dont think he knows where the goal is yet, get there early Danny, try to remember where the goal is, before you start, roughly in the centre,just behind the penalty Spot!!If there is a sell by date, check out Wenger? I reckon he is well past his:
I said this before in another post. I think Wenger wants to give a chance to Flamini, but especially Arteta to prove he can hold that place. And maybe even give ANOTHER last chance to Diaby, who we know can boss the midfield. We’ll see what happens in January, a lot of clubs might not be willing to sell then, but we might have to go in for a Carvalho like player. But Arteta has been a good player for Arsenal since he joined, he isn’t physical obviously, but he is in the top three or even two for the most passes made and interceptions. BUT you guys are right. We need a physical presence, Wenger knows this. But we all know how much he values player loyalty and his willingness to give players a chance.
Must be three seasons ago I suggested Arsenal will not win the Champions League in my life time. I was 77 years old then so I don`t think anyone will quarrel with that.
A little perspective does not hurt.
Winning the ECL these days
is near impossible.
Dortmund look really good now
so even Real, Barca and Bayern
will struggle there. Yet Dortmund
probably won’t win it either.
We just have to nail 2nd place and
might get someone like Porto Monaco or Bilbao.
Need a good win at Villa now.
Completely confused at that statement.
Someone has to win it every year, and between that and the prem we have more chance in Europe to get someone on a bad day and soldier on. We’re probably level with Dortmund/Atletico in terms of chance of winning. But that in itself is poor seeing as our financial capability makes them look like Fulham compared to us. Goes to show what inventive/dynamic management can do to boost your performance.
Reckon you will make it to at least 95 no trouble Jack – who knows what the footballing landscape will look like in 2029. Bellerin will be our most experienced player then, will be a mere 34 years old. Wenger will be a sprightly 79 and still building the team for the future.
Wilshere has done his ankle again 🙁 This game called for a Rosicky but the boss had other ideas. Against BVB, you need to play your energetic players, that means players like Rosicky and OX. The game was simply too fast for Ozil and Arteta to cope with.
why do you always be bias towards ozil you idiot there were players much worse than ozil yet u again try to scapegoat him your a idiot
@Gamer I don’t know what your problem with Twig is, and I’m no Ozil hater, I’m actually a fan of his… But what Twig said is the truth. The game may have been too fast for many of our players, but Arteta and Ozil (and Bellerin for that matter) were picked on. For Arteta (and the rest of the midfielders) to allow Immobile to run straight through the middle of the field to score is beyond me. But Ozil and Bellerins flank was exposed all day long!
LoL. You’re okay for me to take a swipe at Arteta but not at Ozil? Are you his agent or something. Why do you think Wenger took off Ozil and Arteta?
I was watching on a very stop start stream and everytime the stream cleared all I would see was KOSCHIELNY running back towards his own net clearing and tackling..
Mertesacker wouls be seen in the background or corner of the eye jogging back towards his goal like an old man having heavy legs. I have been so disappointed in Mertesacker so far this season, he is killing us, his body positioning is terrible, he goes on walk about very high in field and he is turned with so much ease game in game out..
You would then see him running back like he has got sore feet and suffering from cramp..
The whole team is not exciting, we are so inconsistent, it seems like One Step Forward and 5 Steps back in the next game..
Ramsey has a very good last season, but from nowhere this season he is back to the Ramsey of 2 seasons ago.. Instead of pushing on our players do the opposite, they deteriorate the next season..
Cazorla was amazing in his first season, 15 goals and 15 assists and we thought he wouls push on the next season, he was terrible last season..
Mertesacker too, he just look like the one that was left on the floor against Sunderland 2 seasons ago.
Instead of our players pushing on, they just get worse..
It’s frustrating…
Last season Mertesacker knew any bad game meant his spot on the team was in jeopardy, so fought out of his skin. Wenger sold verm, so now knows he has no competition, and he’s back to being just an average defender that we signed. Ramsey had a great season because he simplified his game, and ran more off the ball and got himself in the box as much as possible. This season, we the fans have labelled him our saviour, and it’s got to his head. Now instead of making runs off the ball, he too wants to get on the ball and make fancy 5 yard passes like the rest of our midfield. Cazorla scored 15 goals and had 15 assists from an attacking midfield position and then next season Wenger moves him to the left midfield to accommodate Ozil. Of course the guy’s form will dip. People say we need signings and blah blah….It’s so obvious that we need a new manager now it’s ridiculous. He has no idea what kind of system he wants to play, or style. You can see in some of the games when Sanchez starts pressing forward and turns around to see the rest of the players sitting back looking confused. When I see that, I start wondering if he even gives players instructions before the game. Realistically we have a team to finish 2nd in PL, as nobody is touching Chelsea this season, but we will finish 5th or 6th, because we are being held back.
My MOTM
those 3000 travelling fans who presented in stadium
Wilshere is fine, Wenger just said it’s not serious but he needs to be cautious with him seeing as he’s had ankle problems before.
Hopefully, that will force some squad rotation. Something Wenger refuses to do unless injuries force his hand.
As usual every season…same old mistakes
Poor tactics
Poor player selections
Failure to drop poor performing players
playing players at wrong positions
Terrible
Really think Wenger is not good enough anymore. He claims he has strong squad but why does he rely only on 14-15 players? such a mistake to start ramsey and ozil when u see how jaded they were on sat.
And anybody else need convincing about how bad is arsenal is off the ball? they are so causal. it might be working against small teams who decides not to play but definitively not against any serious opponent.
Wenger is making too many basics mistakes and it has been frustating more couple years now…
Boys we had a bad day at the office i mean a real bad day and dortmund were excellent you have to hand it to them the better team won. Am i pissed? YES that was an abysmal performance but that was our first game and it was away, we can make it up.
I know everyone is going on about tactics but i think wenger got the selection wrong (which you can argue is tactics) and even though wenger is stubborn he is not stupid and i think he will buy 2 players in the january transfer market.
and please give welbeck time he missed golden chances but he got himself in those positions and showed promise his finishing should improve with a run of games
COYG
How many bad day at the office excuses do we need?
i will forecast the next few bad day at the office
vs Man Utd, City, Liverfool and Chelsea…..we are definitely gona have bad day at the office
Did we not just play city and outplay them where we should’ve won?
Enough with the negativity the team needs our support there’s nothing we can do until January
really? we outplayed city last saturday? thats new. i saw a game where the opponent was close to score everytime we lost the ball because of such a causual defending tactics. oh and lucky us Yaya Toure was not playing.
and jovetic
we shoulve won? They hit the post, what, 3 times? We’re lucky we got a point. Yeah our attack was good that game, but same story a completely embarrasing defense. Its amazing we only conceded 4 goals in the last two matches. A miracle honestly.
We should have won against City? What game were you watching? They would have scored 4 goals in the last 10 minutes, we were hanging on for our dear lives after it got to 2-2..
We were lucky to get a point…
Why don’t you go put your Lily White kit on. You make me sick.
you are a big fool.
im going to come out and say it with wilshire and ramsey in the middle we are creating much less opportunity we need to bring ozil or cazorla in the middle with one of jack or ramsey
ozil and cazorla are playmakers wilshire and ramsey are more of a box to box player both like to make runs from deep
from todays game
ozil passing 87% 20/23 passes
wilshire passing 79% 49/62 passes
ramsey passing 67% 25/37 passes
alexis sanchez passing 69 % 24/35 passes
cazorla passing 71% 13/19
Was Ozil just doing his usual safe 5 yard passes to his team mates??
why didn’t your rubbish stream not catch the game ?
I wish I knew what was wrong with it.. What is wrong with your Prince Ozil bias?
one thing you can critize ozil for is his workrate and defensive duties but u cant dout his playmaking abilities so stop your hate when clearly tonight he was not bad as the others were all i want is to be fair but u try to make ozil as scapegoat all the time
And when you look at it all those guys had more passes than him.. So that shows they are more involved and will try risky passes while Ozil will keep it safe with his short 5 yard passes to team mates a few yards away from him..
lool ur so dumb seriously you understanding of football is so basic . did you ever think to yourself 1. players in the middle will naturally get more touches and 2. two of those players played 90min
Hahaha, Sanchez was playing in the middle I take it? Don’t try to sound like a smart dumb person.. lol
err he played 90mins ? idiot
Why did he stay on for 90 minutes and not great passer Prince Ozil? If Ozil was doing better than Sanchez then why was Sanchez not taken off?
What it shows is that Ozil was doing what he has been doing since he moved to Arsenal, hiding in every single game..
@ goonster
Get lost seriously your ozil obsession is annoying. Do you secretly love him?
@goonsquad thats why i get pissed off at this guy all he ever does is bash ozil is irritating
Bwahaha.. All you Ozil fan boys are as mentally weak as him.. You get emotional easily..
And are you the same so called Arsenal fans that have been and are still cursing GIROUD since he moved to Arsenal? It’s fine to disrespect the so called not too fashionable players just because they cost £10 million. But £42 million Ozil on £150,000 a week can get off criticism free, right?
I don’t kiss no players butt, if you are not performing for more than 10 months like Ozil has been, then you will get my criticism.
Alright sweetie? lol
i am not a fan boy never will be i just reconise the talent ozil has i live in uk so i grew up on football played it every day on the streets in school now i play 7 aside 2 timnes a week so i would consider myself pretty indepth about football so with that i reconise what talent ozil has as a attacker i agree aswell he needs to improve his workrate. as for giroud i called him rubbish since the day he walked in and will continue to call him rubbish hes decent sub tho
@Goonsquad.. I ain’t got any obsession with Ozil.. I just can’t take all you his fan boys who will curse the likes of Giroud, Wilshere, Arteta, Flamini, Cazorla, Monreal all season, and even get to the point of blaming other players for Ozil’s deficiencies..
That’s why I will keep highlighting his liabilities even if you lot don’t want to believe that he has been found wanting in the EPL..
😉
So regarding Giroud, you will keep calling him rubbish and he is a good sub? lol..
You Ozil fan boys are so funny.. You are here crying your eyes out just because I hurt your feelings due to my Ozil bashing..
But then you go and say you will keep calling Giroud rubbish because he is rubbish and just a good sub? lol. What’s the difference between me bashing Ozil and you lot bashing Giroud? Not one rule for Ozil and his fan boys and another rule for poor old Giroud and people trying to stand up for him..
The Irony.. I love..
Hahahaha. smh
im sorry you have no right to judge the game when you clearly admitted you struggled to watch due to your stream.
are you seriously using those possession stats to say Ozil played well. You damn well know he was playing 2 yard passes the whole match, or just losing posession. Just because he was off the ball more doesnt mean he was any worse. The whole midfield was bad, Wilshere the best, and even thats not saying much.
for me flop of the match, leave ciro wide open to walk away in his box, dont touch him at all out of the box, and second goal he must kick that ball out… him welbeck, arteta and wenger… misjudge subs ozil was fine for me in that match, cant really know what is happening with him… maybe he think that his train is go long time ago and now building english core in arsenal and think that england will wine world cup with 6-7 arsenal players and everybody would be thankfull to him and than arsenal… england wouldnt win world cup in next 20 years either arsenal would win cl… that meating with sir alex ferguson bring welbeck in arsenal so man utd can get rid of not world class players in van gall and world opinins… wenger think that ferguson wish him well, ahh that old fox he trick him again….
Is MERTESACKER and ARTETA going to come out like they did last season every after a tonking we got from the other Top teams.
Their catch phrase from last season went something like this. “We will learn from this experience and we will go back to the drawing board and find out where we when wrong and will improve in the next match”.
I heard this same rubbish from Mertesacker and Arteta after every bad game.. It seems they just don’t care, they just give us the talk to get us off their backs, they are just a very weak and poor bunch of players..
Sorry… I am getting p#ssed off.. This is embarassing, season in season out the same old liabilities of players that are nicking a living from Arsenal..
FFS….
we lost today because one singel reason- we don’t have a normal dm. we can get a milion attacking midefilders but they are useless if we don’t have a proper dm to get the ball to them and אם control the tempo.
arteta is the most average player in the world and right now i think even flamini playing better. alexis was better then ozil. mertesacker giving up on too many balls and runs. koss is ALWAYS the boss.
As for Mesut Özil.
I had to go watch youtube clips of him from back in the day. I just couldn’t not help it.
Did we buy a damaged player from Madrid. Was Florentino Perez right about anything he said? He looks a player short on confidence. Is he missing his buddies in the Madrid team? Or did the absolutely shambolic nature of our attack last season destroy whatever was left of his confidence? Am I missing something about his style and contribution? Or is Arsene Wenger simply playing him out of position the same way he did to Cazorla last year?
I am just confused right now.
Ozil was a bit part player at Madrid, he spent 50% of the games as a substitute and 50% of the games as a starter who can’t last more than 60 minutes, so if he started a game he would be taken off after 55-60 minutes because would be a liability in left on beyond 60 minutes..
Amazing how you got thumbed down for telling a simple truth. I bet if you put 2 + 2 = 4 some clown on here would thumb you down.
we tend to always make the players not playing into heroes thinking if they played things would of been different the truth is most of our players are simmilar to each other the issue is deeper than individual players its to do with the system were playing in and the balance
Time to go Wenger!!!
same old mistakes and excuses every season
What baffled me was that Wenger put Ozil in front of Bellerin.
In essence we had NO right side. Thus giving Dortmund free reign on the left.
but tonight dormounds attack cam from left right and center so it didnt really matter we got played off the park in every position. both goals conceded came from the middle
Ozil and jack were also poor both should have 4s or 3s.
Wilshere was back to hi olds hold on to the ball and run into people then lie on the groud grabbing ankle so he doesnt have to track back.
Classic KJ’s rating on Podolski.
Good control of the ball, not able to shoot because the keeper came out to block the possible shot.
No credit to BVB’s keeper but sound like Poldi missed a sitter.
The game went on and Poldi dropped back to get a number of touches and KJ probably did not watch the game after we conceded the 2nd.
Not a good game for Poldi but what could we expect from him in more or less than 10 minutes? The whole team played bad.
No matter what, just another biased rating by KJ. Crap job.
Lol’d when i read that. Poldi controlled the ball and ran it out of play. He should’ve scored, but lets be honest, Podolski was not the issue today at all, not even close.
*miscontrolled
That’s why I was asking for CESC, something different from what we already have.. Not a single Arsenal Midfielder has got the all round ability of Cesc.. Just someone like Cesc who does not need to be anywhere near the opposition penalty box to make things happen, he would sit int the middle of the park and spread defence splitting passes..
But the current players we have don’t have that long accurate passing, they all need to be in and around the opposition penalty box to create assists..
We need a dominant CM and a dominant DM.. Those are the most crucial players we need..
Too many weak tippy tappy players that need to run with the ball inorder to be effective, which in turn leaves us exposed at the back as they don’t have the ability to be flexible..
That’s why I was praying for Cesc and a string DM to be signed this summer..
But hey, what can we do……..
GOD BLESS YOUR MOUTH
If we do not pass the last 16 this year we will most likely be in pot 2 next season. In the latest coeffecient ranking Arsenal are 3rd with Dortmund,Porto and PSG lurking behind very close.
we always get 2nd in our group regardless. It honestly doesnt matter if we drop to pot two if the club only has an ambition to get to R16 and then drop out.
This was humbling. Whatever optimism we generated with a closely fought draw vs MC (which either side could have won, and was an even game), is lost. I think we are in trouble this year. BFG, Arteta and Flamini all one year older and no cover unless we use Chambers. We should forget about transfers until Jan. Until then, we need to go to 4-2-3-1, and hope to survive until Jan.
its not even about surviving until January because we all know Wenger rarley buys the players we actually need. Would anyone here be surprised if we got no CDM cover or no CB cover, and Wenger just said the squad was fine? He’s done loony things like that before, it wont surprise me if he does it again. My faith in Wenger was already low, but its just getting worse and worse recently. Our players only wake up when 4th place is on the line. Thats it
I totally agree..
buy the wrong players
fill the wrong players for the wrong positions…..
same old shit every season….
Yes we need more excuses…
we were playing at home and City does have the edge over us…..
same old story every season….
Next season will be the same…..
I just saw the highlights. The goals were so juvenile!! For the first goal, our two back literally led them into our goal. No tackles, just no tackles at all!! And an open mid field. No body to check the run. We always assume that every body will pass the ball upto our box! And the second goal was comedy!! BFG just cannot stand on his legs and our GK just ran out like a child shown a lollipop. Awful. We really are in the ECL for the money I guess.
Why is Bellerin playing? The answer lies with Arsene Wenger who thinks the squad is strong enough to win the Premier League and the Champions League with the current squad! Madness!
Wenger is clearly delusional and his failure to strengthen central defense and defensive midfielder during the summer will cost the Gunners dearly!!!
Most of the team was exhausted tonight and it showed. Wilshire, Sanchez, Welbeck can’t play 90 every 3 days. That’s why we need better depth. Wenger seems clueless as he lacks any answers. I fully expected Chamberlain and others to get more minutes.
Welbeck must concentrate on his finishing. Period. I think he tries to be too precise. Just aim between the two posts, the pressure is on the defense/keeper.
Gibbs is miserable. He quit on the first goal which is typical of his defensive effort and why he should be second string.
BFG is has lost a step or two, if that was possible, and he looks simply unmotivated.
Not sure what Arteta was doing in DM as he wasn’t defending. Not a surprise though.
I’m not going to judge Bellerin as obviously he isn’t ready
A miserable effort atypical of any Arsenal team.
Hopefully, we’ll look better this weekend, but I think its going to be a long season.
What good is depth if Wenger refuses to rotate the squad? He no options at the back but plenty of fresh players he could have started up front: Santi, Ox, Poldi, Campbell, Rosicky.
Our lack of depth, lack of quality and lack of form was all too evident last night. Wonder if trying Rosicky in the deepest midfield position (like Cabaye plays behind Pogba and Matuidi) could work for us? I mean sure he’s essentially an attacking midfielder but despite his age he has pace, never lacks energy, can pick a pass, shoot from range and is not afraid to tackle and get physical. Its not an ideal scenario but I think we will always struggle against top sides if this role is occupied by Arteta. Flamini is a bit better but too reckless. So until the return of form for the likes of Ozil, Ramsey and Cazorla, I would really like to see our midfield trio consist of Rosicky in the deepest role and Jack and Ox in the box-to-box roles. If physicality in central midfield cannot be matched than quick feet might actually be the only option.
I’m pretty sure that the 2014 FA Cup was the very last trophy under Wenger. We need a new manager ASAP! Someone tactically aware, charismatic and ambitious for a change.
Why do we like to blame certain players and not others even when they play badly; koscielny caused us the immobile goal yet he is MOTM, he was d guy on immobile yet he wasn’t tight enough on him; against city he allowed Navas d whole time to pick out Aguero and everybody blamed Per. Don’t get me wrong, he is our best defender and I love d guy but let’s be bold and call a spade a spade; all our players were poor, buy scecsny was d closest to MOTM to me, he reduced d goals to a respectable margin. Peace
I’m afraid of ramsey! Hopes he will not be a one season wonder
The first goal I can’t believe we had 3 defenders and no one made a tackle. The emergency brake, OK we get yellow carded but it is a necessity.
We did so well in Dortmund last year by playing more defensive and getting out on the counter, why try not to repeat the same strategy.
It a shame to see we have so many Forward and midfield options that are wasted on the bench whilst we have hardly any good DM or CB options.
This was painful to watch and we are lucky it was only 2-0. Whenever we lost the ball midfield there was an imminent danger.
Does size matter, with Arsenal having the shortest team do we get dispossessed to easy by stronger players. Plus do we over compensate for the lack of our size and get more injuries?
I think people are too harsh on Bellerin. Gibbs was worse and the whole team was bad. We were completely overrun in the middle of the field. Arteta was by far the worst player on the pitch but Wenger should have changed the formation and made anther midfielder play deep in support (Ramsey or Wilshere or Ox). It was obvious after the first 10 minutes how the game was going to play out.