No surprise that Arsenal were beaten in Borussia Dortmund.
The whole world seems to know that Arsene Wenger needs a high-quality holding midfielder but for some reason he chooses to ignore that inadequacy in his squad.
Mikel Arteta is a nice footballer and does his best in an unfamiliar role but he is not a defensive midfielder.
Arsenal need more quality defenders, too. Especially given that Wenger encourages his full-backs to play so high up the pitch. It puts extra pressure on the centre-backs and Per Mertesacker in particular.
I do wonder how much Arsenal look at videos of the opposition in their preparation for games like the one they played on Tuesday. Watching the match it seemed like they hadn’t given Dortmund much more than a moment’s consideration. All Wenger and Arsenal appear to think about is how they are going to approach the game and how they will play. Which is fine if you win all the time but not if - like Arsenal - you haven’t made it out of the Champions League’s last 16 for the previous four seasons.
Unfortunately for Wenger he was up against a very well-organised attacking team that probed Arsenal’s weaknesses. This was not West Brom on a Saturday afternoon at the Emirates. This was a very dangerous opponent.
I felt for Danny Welbeck, who had chances to score. I rate him as a player but I have said before that he is a 10-15 goals a season striker, rather than a 25 goals a season man. He needs to practise his finishing more. As a striker you really do suffer for missing chances.
I admired Mesut Ozil as a player at Real Madrid but it is no use playing him wide. He is not interested in defending and he needs to be in the centre, among good quality players who get the best out of him. He has that languid style which makes it look like he isn’t trying. I am sure that isn’t the case but he is struggling to find his form and he is too good a player to waste.
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