Match Reaction v Borussia Dortmund

[Japan Shaking All Over]

Apologies but I didnt see the game but just read the match repirt and it sounded as if we came out with what we deserved which tbh considering is a good result.

We played the champions of Germany st thete home ground and came away with more than some expected, Dortmund are an extremely tidy team, rate Goetze and Kagawa very highly.
It was good to hear Song and Gervinho played there part and they will be very welcome additions at the weekend. . . .like a couple of new signongs (just wanted to say that)

Papering over the cracks finished, I still think a CB is needed, Cahill in Jan is realisric but whether we are still fighting on four fronts as was the case last year remains to be seen
I would also like to see our firmation change, this I appreciate is wishful thimking but a more direct approach would work better with a team which in truth is at the moment is inferior in quality to a Cesc led team, this cant be avoided and we should look for new strengths to play to. . .such as pace and dare I say it heart which Cesc led teams lacked

And heart is something that takes time as does confidence which I tgink some should remember is obviously still lacking within the team. . . .although self inflicted, the team went through an horrendous end to last season and the loss of two star players during the summwr, these kind of blows to morale are not fixed by two weeks at Club 18-30 - forced to watch a manager+20 fumble their way through to the transfer deadline
as well as suffer the heaviest ever defeat by an Arsenal team, it ay become clearer that although disappointing, it could also be deemed as a good result, something to take up Blackburn.
a win would have been great but a draw is good, the team may not be the best in the league but we can only use the players we have, Kos included, we can wait and see if this is addressed later

[Cripps_orig]

on whether Arsenal were unfortunate not to win the game…We battled really hard and we knew it would be a hard, hard game. To be able to defend well is a high-quality skill and that is something all of our players did this evening. I shouldn't think many teams will come to Dortmund and beat them and we were very, very close to doing that.?on Robin van Persie’s goal…It is nothing unusual to see Robin do something like that. It was a great run from Robin and it was also a terrific ball through [from Theo]. It is unusual to see Robin hit it with his right foot but it proves that he is not just a left-footed footballer.?on the captain’s leadership… Robin is obviously the Club captain and we encourage him to be verbal both on the park and also off it, especially in the dressing room. He was just asking me one or two things that he thought we could have done better and I was just saying one or two things that we could actually do to make the team better.?on withstanding a lot of first-half Dortmund pressure… As I said before, to actually defend well is a high-quality skill and our players did it very, very well. Don't forget Dortmund are a really good side, there is no question about that. Would we liked to have won the game? Of course we would, we were so close to it and so very, very near. But the same thing happened to us as when we played Tottenham and the boy [Danny] Rose hit and unbelievable shot from about 35 yards. It was the same this evening. I should imagine that he could try that 25, 30, 40 times and he would hit it over the bar or at the goalkeeper. It was a great goal.?on whether Dortmund’s style made it like playing against Arsenal… Yeah, very, very much so. Now we know what it is like whenever we are or form! But, as I say, our lads stuck to it well. It was a very hard game, as you could see. When Gervinho went through, the game could have been over if he had stuck it in the back of the net. So, really and truthfully, a point apiece was a good result.?on a strange situation without manager Arsène Wenger… First of all, it was extremely strange not having the manager next to me because usually he is shouting in my ear: 'why did he do that?' and 'why didn't he do that?'. Did I like it? Not really, no. It has never been one of my ambitions to be the manager of a football club. It is very strange. It is too stressful for me.?on two positive results after a difficult start to the season… Very much so. It seems, especially the game on Saturday, it seemed to me personally that it was the start of our season. Because of the uncertainty as to whether players would leave us or whether they wouldn't. The players that we have acquired are very, very good players, contrary to what other people have said. I have no doubt that they will show it in the games to come.?on Per Mertesacker… Per, from my point of view, is a terrific player. The amount of games he has played for the German national side means he cannot be a bad player. It is impossible. He is showing that gradually with us. I thought he was terrific tonight alongside Laurent Koscielny and I can only see him getting better and better when he gets used to the Premier League.

Don't disagree with any of that bar the Kos thing

[Globalgunner]

The problem with the Pat Rice comments isthat it again illustrates that these muppets have no idea how to fix whats wrong with this team. Yes it was a "wonder" goal. but teams are always scoring wonder goals against us. Rose, the chap at Newcastle last year. How many such goals are csored against Manure.....cant recollect. The problem is that when we are under the cosh, we all fall back on top of our keeper, inviting more pressure. If this had been united yesterday, somebody like Anderson or Fletcher would have chareged out at the chap Perisc and closed him dowm before he got the shot off. instead we just sit at home and hope for the best. We never learn, that s why top priozes will elude us with the dim twins Rice/Wenger) at the helm.

[Coney]

on whether Arsenal were unfortunate not to win the game…We battled really hard and we knew it would be a hard, hard game. To be able to defend well is a high-quality skill and that is something all of our players did this evening. I shouldn't think many teams will come to Dortmund and beat them and we were very, very close to doing that.?on Robin van Persie’s goal…It is nothing unusual to see Robin do something like that. It was a great run from Robin and it was also a terrific ball through [from Theo]. It is unusual to see Robin hit it with his right foot but it proves that he is not just a left-footed footballer.?on the captain’s leadership… Robin is obviously the Club captain and we encourage him to be verbal both on the park and also off it, especially in the dressing room. He was just asking me one or two things that he thought we could have done better and I was just saying one or two things that we could actually do to make the team better.?on withstanding a lot of first-half Dortmund pressure… As I said before, to actually defend well is a high-quality skill and our players did it very, very well. Don't forget Dortmund are a really good side, there is no question about that. Would we liked to have won the game? Of course we would, we were so close to it and so very, very near. But the same thing happened to us as when we played Tottenham and the boy [Danny] Rose hit and unbelievable shot from about 35 yards. It was the same this evening. I should imagine that he could try that 25, 30, 40 times and he would hit it over the bar or at the goalkeeper. It was a great goal.?on whether Dortmund’s style made it like playing against Arsenal… Yeah, very, very much so. Now we know what it is like whenever we are or form! But, as I say, our lads stuck to it well. It was a very hard game, as you could see. When Gervinho went through, the game could have been over if he had stuck it in the back of the net. So, really and truthfully, a point apiece was a good result.?on a strange situation without manager Arsène Wenger… First of all, it was extremely strange not having the manager next to me because usually he is shouting in my ear: 'why did he do that?' and 'why didn't he do that?'. Did I like it? Not really, no. It has never been one of my ambitions to be the manager of a football club. It is very strange. It is too stressful for me.?on two positive results after a difficult start to the season… Very much so. It seems, especially the game on Saturday, it seemed to me personally that it was the start of our season. Because of the uncertainty as to whether players would leave us or whether they wouldn't. The players that we have acquired are very, very good players, contrary to what other people have said. I have no doubt that they will show it in the games to come.?on Per Mertesacker… Per, from my point of view, is a terrific player. The amount of games he has played for the German national side means he cannot be a bad player. It is impossible. He is showing that gradually with us. I thought he was terrific tonight alongside Laurent Koscielny and I can only see him getting better and better when he gets used to the Premier League.

Don't disagree with any of that bar the Kos thing

You don't think "he was terrific tonight alongside Laurent Koscielny"? What was it that Mertesacker did that meant he was not terrific?

[Özim]

Gervinho is a busy player but I have to say he totally lacks an end product, when well placed he messes up his chances time and time again, why is it we're constantly signing players with no end product in the final 3rd.

He's energetic but he's not going to score many goals based on what we've seen.

[selassie]

I thought whilst the workrate was commendable, we lacked quality last night.

We quite easily could have been 3 down in the opening quarter of an hour, defensively we were all over the place, Kos & Kieran Gibbs especially were getting caught out of position and incorrectly playing the offside trap.

Once we settled down we were still second best but grew into the game and began to defend quite well.

RVP took his goal very well and it came at a perfect time.

We improved second half and actually created a few chances, Defensively we played a very good game second half, special praise should go to Chesney who I thought was outstanding, Koscielny who was flawless 2nd half & Song who was immense.

Offensively we still lacked cutting edge and I felt we looked quite disjointed in Midfield too.

Overall it wasn't a bad result considering we were 2nd best for large chunks of the game, big improvement is needed though.

[AKBapologist]

Why are people still talking about getting Cahill in jan? We saw what a good CB looked like last night in Hummels and Subtovic, a class above tbh.

[LDG]

Defended badly in the first half. Defended excellently in the second half.

Did exactly what we should have done against a very good side, away, in Germany, and under all sorts of pressure of late.

Great point.

Feel sorry for 'em that we didn't get a bit of luck. Those goals always seem to fly in against us. you can't legislate for them.

Haven't got a clue what globalgunner is on about btw.

[IBK]

I think a point is OK in the circumstances, but I was gutted, absolutely gutted, that we conceded the late goal. Why do these wonder strikes always seem to happen to - and not for us??? I disagree with people who are intimating that we are basically shit now compared to last season. We are better going forwards than last night showed, but we are so lacking in confidence that it hurts. I've said before that we are the most vulnerable team in the league to a drop in confidence because of the way we are set up to play - and that's why I am so disappointed with their goal, because a win, even when we played ordinarily first half would have been a real confidence boost. A point not so much.

Happy with the effort and desire in defence. Koscielny - for his flaws is a brave defender, and I think he could thrive alongside Mertesacker. As usual - people are destroying Chamakh - and I can see the antipathy given his goal drought - but its so naive to expect a performance from any striker brought on for the last 10 mins against a team desperate to score and playign at home in front of 80000 fans it makes me smile.

[Flavs]

I am made up tbh, i thought we showed everything we didn't against Manyoo. Solid at the back and quite a threat when we got forward, Everyone except the useless Theo Walcott pressed and harried and the back four looked solid after a bit of a shaky start.

Arteta and Benayoun really impressed and to see to supposed "creative" midfielders winning headers and flying into 50/50's was brilliant.

I also thought after a shaky first 20 minutes or so Koscielny and Song were awesome, everything you could want them to be really.

Good result and Pat Rice for manager!