Borussia Dortmund 0 - 1 Arsenal: Not quite a symphony, but still a great song

Wilson37 wrote:and Mertsacker..
i was never his fan and was a critic.. just because i am a Verminator fan and i thought that he doesnt have the technical quality and pace to play Arsenal game.. we used to see in his first season that his passing was poor and how he used to get outmuscled.. i just wanted to see Verm and Kos relentless aggression and attack..
but full credits to him.. he has adapted and improved massively.. and has formed a great partnership with Koscielny..
i havent seen a defender like him who uses his intelligence more than his body to defend.. and how often he fouls others ? difficult to find another CB with such a clean game..
RESPECT....

Wilson getting past his Merte-hate! Oh. My. God.

No, seriously, I am glad you are finally acknowledging what I have been saying since the day we signed Mert.

Love Mert. I've never seen a CB do so many " Get that Sh*t out of here" simple leg pokes as him and just completely haults an attack that looks like its going to turn into something dangerous.

So often it looks like hes just been easily beaten, but he just makes that one precise move at the last second and clears the ball. He looks like he's not really even trying but it seems as if he's two steps ahead of everyone in his mind, He knows what defenders are going to do even before they do some times..its quite amazing.

srigooner wrote:Wilson getting past his Merte-hate! Oh. My. God.

No, seriously, I am glad you are finally acknowledging what I have been saying since the day we signed Mert.

Me, Sri, and MJ always believing in the BFG

Am I missing anyone?

Perdinho

and people still fancy their strikers having field day beating Per for fun all day https://2img.net/r/ihimizer/img96/5076/trolldolski.gif

GoonerJay29 wrote:I love smash and grabs. There's much enjoyment to be had in dismantling your opponents and sticking many goals past them, but there's something strangely satisfying about being on the back foot for most of the game but still coming away with a win. You know you've gotten away with it, but you can't bring yourself to care.

Saying that Arsenal got away with may be doing them a disservice, but I really feel that we did. Dortmund were the more dangerous of the two sides, they penned us back into our half and they created opportunities that they should have buried. Before our goal, we hadn't managed a single shot. The first chance we create, we score.

I guess I cant comment on that because I missed the first half. I thought we did deserve the win based on the second half though. Created quite few chances to add a second and mostly defended comfortable, and should have had a penalty when the goalie tried to knock koscielney off the planet

Eman wrote:

srigooner wrote:Wilson getting past his Merte-hate! Oh. My. God.

No, seriously, I am glad you are finally acknowledging what I have been saying since the day we signed Mert.

Me, Sri, and MJ always believing in the BFG

Am I missing anyone?

*cough* *cough*

We were pretty good in the 2nd half DWT but 1st half was very similar to the barca away game few years back. But Dortmund being not clinical

It's all ifs and buts now, but the game would have wildly different had Dortmund converted one of their first half chances. This team is strong mentally, but even they would have found it difficult to come back from behind in that game.

Anyway, I like this picture:

srigooner wrote:

Wilson37 wrote:and Mertsacker..
i was never his fan and was a critic.. just because i am a Verminator fan and i thought that he doesnt have the technical quality and pace to play Arsenal game.. we used to see in his first season that his passing was poor and how he used to get outmuscled.. i just wanted to see Verm and Kos relentless aggression and attack..
but full credits to him.. he has adapted and improved massively.. and has formed a great partnership with Koscielny..
i havent seen a defender like him who uses his intelligence more than his body to defend.. and how often he fouls others ? difficult to find another CB with such a clean game..
RESPECT....

Wilson getting past his Merte-hate! Oh. My. God.

No, seriously, I am glad you are finally acknowledging what I have been saying since the day we signed Mert.

everytime i used to fear that he will get exposed whenever we play teams with good fast and technical strikers.. feared the same for Liverpool and Dortmund.. but it never happened.. can only remember just a few occasions in the past 1 year, when he was left alone isolated 1 on 1 against a player.. but even then he manages to win 90% of the time with his long legs and positioning..
as many said it id true that he defends using his intelligence more than his body.. rare to see such a clean CB.. he has also adapted to the physical challenges of PL.. nowadays we dont see him getting outmuscled by others.. and he understands how we play and has now improved his passing massively.. and has been the main threat in our attack from set pieces.. he has been scoring more frequently than Kos now..
but for such a player, it is important to have a partner who complements him and understands his game.. here Kos has made the big step and has formed a good understanding with him.. before we used to see Vermelen and Kos attacking more and going forward for interceptions and tackles.. nowadays Metskr moves forward more and Kos stays back to sweep.. the other 3 of Sagna, Gibbs and Kos are quick enough to cover for his lack of pace.. Jenko needs to learn to play with him..
as for now.. no more fear when we play big teams.. this partnership is now time proven..

GoonerJay29 wrote:It's all ifs and buts now, but the game would have wildly different had Dortmund converted one of their first half chances. This team is strong mentally, but even they would have found it difficult to come back from behind in that game.

I agree but that can be said of a lot of our close matches this season. We're just getting by with some resolute defending, clinical finishing and a bit of fortune. The three things any winner needs.

Don't really buy into the idea that we were dominated, we simply had a gameplan that worked.

Take into the consideration that Arsenal had played a much tougher game than Dortmund, and had less time to recover and had to travel, we had no other choice than to bide and hit them. Furthermore, those who follow Arsenal should take stock from the Schalke game a year ago. We raced ahead, and pressed too hard we were spent.

This year the team put in a brutal display on how to win in Europe, Arsenal also turned the game on it's head. They had chances to bury it.

And what is the point of the 5th official, it's a pathetic introduction, worse than UEFA's stance on racism, two penalties should have been awarded, and Lewandowski shouldn't have been off twice in both games. Elbow against Koscielny and that ridiculous dive against Arteta. Should have been more comfortable than the media and other football connoisseurs have made out.