Not sure where to put this but Ozil let out this interesting nugget in his post match Villa comments.

"We knew exactly what strengths we would have. We analysed Aston Villa before the game and knew how they would play. Especially in the first half, we created some very clear opportunities. We didn't waste our chances - we took them and that made the game easier for us.
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-arc...me-self-belief

Bolded the bit that I'm immensely pleased with.

One of the main criticisms last season was that we did zero research on our opponents and instead focused on our own game which of course led to some of the massive defeats we witnessed with the team refusing to adapt to different opponents. Could this be a sign of a different tact of approach now this year?

Didn't look like that way against Dortmund of course as we looked unprepared with their high intensity pressing game which everyone is familiar with, but maybe that could have genuinely been a bad day at the office instead of something more inherently wrong perhaps?