Match Reaction - Dortmund

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Originally Posted by Syn

Wasn't a bad performance, but with 20 minutes to go, we easily could've held out for the point if we wanted it. Dortmund were happy to take a point. But then I think Wenger was a little naive in pushing forward so hard for the win when 7 points would've still left us in a much, much stronger position in the group. i.e. it wasn't worth the risk to turn 7 points into 9 IMO.

Still, there were still plenty of positives to take. Thought Arteta and Giroud were excellent. And Koscielny and Rosicky also did very well. Fullbacks disappointing but they had a tough time with Ozil basically playing as the second striker.

It's great that we're playing Palace next. Easy game to get back to winning ways.

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It really wasn't worth the risk. A point against Dortmund would have been a good point. We just made mistakes in that game and they punished us. Weren't a great difference between us and we weren't outclassed like before when we played them. Fine margins.

Didn't pose enough of a threat - they scored with their only goal in the second half and via ramseys derp in the first, not because we where poor defensively (we were pretty good defensively) but because we didn't give them enough of a threat going forward.

A good left winger today would have made that a completely different game.

I was fairly confident that we'd go on to win the game at HT, but we didn't do much upfront really.

Thought we did do enough to get a point, but the combination of Sahin and Bender stifled our attack in the middle. We had nothing on the wings to combat this, and as a result Ozil was anonymous as they didn't afford him any space to get on the ball.

Also with Jack, I'd like to see him rested for a while so he can get sorted out. He's going into too many challenges, dribbles too long and gets knocked and really needs to improve his injury record.

We massively missed Flamini today .

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Originally Posted by LDG

There was a bit of hesitation all over at times today. Against lesser opposition, you get that split second more.

The difference tonight were a few opportunities where quicker ball was needed and didn't get that cross in, or nip that ball through in time.

That's all to do with tempo, and a bit of confidence. At times we werw trying too hard, when the simple ball would hve sufficed.

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Agreed. They were definitely quick to the ball and at various stages seemed a pace ahead of us.

All in all, I think we showed we can play with the best. We're still a team on the rise and all that's missing IMO, is just that extra special ability to take those half chances in tight games.

Onto the next where I hope we quickly put this game behind us by smashing Palace come weekend.

#COYG :scarf:

Giroud really was bloody good again. Maybe even his best performance for us all things considered. He was winning physical battles and turning 30-70s in our favour.

I think we played a great game, despite the 2 mistakes/goals, we were never really in any danger.

Dortmund had all the luck today (especially with the ref) and that was the difference, with a fit cazorla, walcott and flamini, we wouldnt have much problem vs Dortmund, which is quite impressive considering its last years chl finalist

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Originally Posted by Steve French

That said, I don't see them getting that second with Flamini on the pitch.

Almost all the talk of the transfer window has been about Ozil, yet Flamini has almost been as instrumental to our success.

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This I agree :gp:

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Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory

It really wasn't worth the risk. A point against Dortmund would have been a good point. We just made mistakes in that game and they punished us. Weren't a great difference between us and we weren't outclassed like before when we played them. Fine margins.

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Indeed. That has left us with a much bigger task now. I fancy our chances of getting a point at Napoli and our better GD to Napoli's should help. But an extra point would've left us with the upper hand on how to approach games.

Also getting exasperated with the bot refs in the CL who seem to add 3 minutes stoppage time no matter what. There could be 100 streakers and they still wouldn't budge on that figure.

Hes had a great overall impact but im still waiting for a £40m game from Ozil, but I reserve judgement until he is properly facilitated with runners. Bergkamp admitted Ljungberg, Anelka, Overmars, Henry etc were key to his game as they could run off the ball so same here.

The first goal was down to arrogance, im hoping this at least makes them a little more grounded.