Borussia Dortmund-Arsenal Preview

By: jg | September 12th, 2011

stadiummm

Tomorrow, Arsenal start their European adventure, the one we’re all used to seeing, with a trip to Germany to take on Borussia Dortmund. Borussia, as we all know, won the Bundesliga last year, and were definitely the team to avoid in Pot 4 of the CL Draw. So naturally, we got them..

goetze

The thing about Dortmund is that they are, in many ways, the German Arsenal (circa 2009-2010)- a young, determined team with a central attacking midfielder as its’ playmaker and fulcrum. Talented wingers, a consistent center forward, and a ~~slightly~~ suspect defense. They have been hit hard so far this season with the loss of Nuri Sahin, to Real Madrid, and while they have snapped up a replacement in Ilkay Gunodgan, the level of play just hasn’t matched up.

Of course, that doesn’t mean Dortmund won’t be a threat. In Mario Goetze (heh), they have probably the most exciting prospect in German football and world football as a whole. We reportedly made a huge bid for him in the waning days of the transfer window, but it was sensibly rejected by both club and player. That being said, I think we’re definitely going to go for him in the near and not-so-near future, because his creativity, vision, and playmaking abilities make him the closest thing to a suitable Cesc replacement (if you squint really hard, he even looks at him…)

But, as always, it’s not just one player. Borussia are not just Goetze, they also have other talented and dangerous players. Shinji Kagawa rightly won the plaudits as the best player of the fall of the last Bundesliga season, and his ruthlessness in exploiting defensive lapses will be one to watch tomorrow. Kevin Grosskreutz is a pretty good winger capable of scoring goals, and in Lucas Barrios is probably the best Paraguayan playing in the big leagues right now. His stocky frame makes him a pretty decent striker, and he’ll be looking to get in the spaces left behind by our defenders.

Finally, although Dortmund’s supposed weakness is their defense, they’re not awful- Dortmund conceded the least number of goals last season in the Bundesliga. The CB partnership of Mats Hummels and Neven Subotic is one of the best around, and at least one of those guys should be playing at Arsenal in the future.

Back to the Arsenal. The team news is that Ramsey and Rosicky are out with small injuries. Ramsey has been pretty poor so far this season, so it wouldn’t surprise me if the cause of that malaise was that he was carrying an injury all along. Thankfully, Song and Gervinho will return from their suspensions- I’m really looking forward to see how Gervinho interacts with Arteta and their link-up play. Other than that, all of the guys who were available on Saturday will be able to play tomorrow. And of course, the long-termers- Vermaelen, Squillaci, Wilshere, and Diaby are out.

Based on the team news, here’s my predicted lineup for tomorrow:

Szczesny

Sagna Mertesacker Koscielny Santos

Song Frimpong

Walcott Arteta Gervinho

van Persie

Subs: Fabianski, Gibbs, Djourou, Arshavin, Benayoun, Park, Chamakh.

Wojo in the sticks. Sagna on the right, Mertescielny as our CB’s. The only change in our backline I predict will happen is the swap for Santos instead of Gibbs. Gibbs was pretty poor last Saturday, and Santos has had a couple of days of training with his new teammates to get match fit. Based on the magnitude of this tie, and based on his experience and ability, I think Santos gets the nod for this one. In midfield, with Song back and Ramsey out, we’ll probably see the Uncle Song and Frimmy start, with Arteta further upfield. However, Wenger might push Arteta to partner Song and not risk the innocent Frimpong in this kind of match. Of course, that means, with Rosicky out, Arshavin might finally get a chance to impress in the CAM role- knowing Wenger, though, Frimpong will likely start and so will Arteta, relegating Arshavin to the bench.

On the wings, it’s Walcott and the returning Gervinho, with Capt. Robin up front. That’s a pretty strong lineup if you ask me, and hopefully the team will start to click now that they’ll be playing with each other more often. Also, I like how we actually have some decent options on the bench- Arshavin is a great super-sub in my opinion, Benayoun brought some energy and athleticism we were missing on Saturday, and I’m itching to see what Park is capable of.

Dortmund will be tough to beat, especially in their intimidating home ground. In truth, a draw is likely, especially considering the team has yet to truly adapt to the post-Cesc era. Let’s hope the adapting starts now, because we’re ankle deep into the season, and some of the other teams have already hit the ground running. Here’s to 3 points and a Gervinho hat-trick. Just because.

Come on Arsenal!!

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Category: Champions League, Fixtures, Preview

« Arsenal 1-0 Swansea: Nu Arsenal Start with Shaky Win | Home | Liveblog: Arsenal @ Borussia Dortmund »

Soccer shop

good article
ggobs

I'm always happy to see Gervinho in the lineup. I really have high hopes for him to be a top notch winger for us. If we play a lot on the counter, I believe we'll be deadly with two super pacey on our wings.

What will be interesting is who gets to play central midfield. Song is an automatic. Arteta can play both up front or alongside Song in the 4-2-3-1. The question remains with Frimpong: Can the youngster keep his cool in defense while transitioning smoothly onto the attack against a formiddable opponent? I feel it is a risk. If AW doesn't feel safe with Frimpong, then he can go with Arteta next to Song which leaves the No. 10 role vacant.

Ramsey out, Wilshere out, Rosicky out. That leaves Arshavin. Arshavin probably has the skillset to play in that role, especially as sort of a free-roamer given that he's horrendous at tracking back to defend. The one caveat is that Arshavin's a shoot/score first, assist second type of player (or at least has been), and it'll be interesting to see if he can provide fluid distribution and movement of the ball on the attack.

I could see Benayoun being stuck there, or even Park, but I think, realisitically, they have not been in the team long enough to be able to take on such a key position.

A 4-4-2 is a possible alternative as well, given that Park is good on the ball both on his feet and with his head. He'd be more of the traditional no.9 striker while RVP plays a free roaming role behind and around him. Unlikely, at least in the short term, but it's definitely a viable option.
Erou

What channel is his going to be on? I saw fact has the other games listed
..
Jamiepatrik

4-5-1 or 4-3-3 (whatever you’d like to call it)

With an attacking 4 of Gervinho, Walcott, Arteta and Van Persie is a
good calibre of players and a perfect formation for an away trip in the
Champions League
Orion_saidwiseguy

Okay, so my knowledge of Dortmund is comprised of the fact that they're my team on Football Manager 2011 and that I followed them a bit last season, just to make that clear. They seem to be an Arsenal-lite; or what Arsenal should have been. They have a young bunch of players that have been playing together for quite a long time and manage to pull of results by playing fast, tiki taka football and using lightning-quick pace on the counter attack that makes slow defences blush. They blew the Bundesliga away last season, and they occupied top spot from October till the end of the season, so that's quite the domination of a top European League if you ask me.

In goal, Roman Weidenfeller is a very good goalie who excels in consistency. At the heart of Dortmund's defence they have Hummels and Subotic, who are two excellent defenders who have formed an excellent partnership together. In midfield, they have a strong Kehl, who's the captain and a very good defensive midfielder; Gundogan, who replaced Nuri Sahin; and the awesome Gotze. On wings they will have Shinji Kagawa and Kevin Grosskreutz and Lewandowski up front since Barrios has Copa America Hangover.

Basically, to win this, Arsenal need to work really hard. At the moment, Dortmund's attack is not clicking. But if they do tonight, I do fear that Mertesacker and Koscielny will not be able to stop their pacey wingers and the lightning-quick Lewandowski. Song and Frimpong are probably going to be used alongside Arteta, and the two will have quite a handful since bossing the midfield and marking Goetze out of the game will be obligatory tonight. Walcott and Gervinho must be our main hope, since their pace will cause Dortmund problems. Arteta and RvP need to combine with each other and with the wingers for Arsenal to get the result they need tonight.

Also, its interesting to note that Wenger is calling Arsenal "a new team" and this will be "a new experience" so I guess this is a beginning of another project that will culminate in Jack Wilshere lifting trophies for Arsenal. We wait and see. Up the Arsenal.
FredJacob

Check this video out -- Dortumumd vs Arsenal Pre-Match Press Conference http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
Sol

OMG, Santos is playing at Arsenal now?! That guy was Brazil's main weakness in our game against them.
Casimir

OMG! OH NOEZ!!
FredJacob

Check this video out -- Arsenal vs Cardiff Under 18's http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
FredJacob

Check this video out -- Arsene Exclusive http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
Chullalobo

Bayern fan here.

Now I am not here to troll or anything but I wanted to come check out your guy's expectations.
First of all, it is VERY unlikely that Goetze, Subotic or Hummels would go to Arsenal, so I wouldn't get my hopes up about that... they wouldn't move in at least a year or two and whatever club is VERY attractive by then will have one of those players and to be honest Arsenal is still building a team and they still need a couple of years to achieve success. Second, Goetze was not being saved for the Arsenal match when they played Hertha Berlin but he was suspended for trying to kick this guy on the balls a couple of weeks ago (lol); Barrios isn't going to play either since he's been injured since the Copa America basically, but Lewandowski is going to play and I frankly find Lewandowski a VERY scary player to play against, he is fast and with a great technique (He has previously owned Mertesacker due to his incredible pace). Kagawa is also a player that Song is going to have to watch out for). And Grosskreutz had a good season last year but has not been nearly as good this year, therefore I think that Juergen Klopp will use Ivan Perisic, who is another player fast as lightning. Back in the Bayern blog we've said before that Dortmund's attack is like a group of long distance runners, they will run the entire game and tire Arsenal. They also don't like to give possession away at times, but if the other team controls the ball, they will park the bus and counter attack INCREDIBLY fast. Now since Sahin left, they've used Gundogan in Center midfield, but he hasn't been nearly as effective, specially on the defensive side, therefore Klopp has put Mats Hummels on a more advanced role which makes him responsible for some of the creativeness of the team, but then their defense loses a lot of concentration (that is what Arsenal need to exploit). But it will be incredibly hard for Arsenal to get through Dortmund's Defense: Hummels will take care of bussiness along with Subotic (although Hummels is the best at it) and Schmelzer will also be hard to go through. Arsenal's best chance will be through Walcott's Speed and I think that he will be Arsenal's key player. Now the most important factor is that the match is in Dortmund's stadium, their stadium is just Electrifying, and the Arsenal players will be scared when they stand in the pitch so I would expect a lot of misplaced passes, you will see how intense the atmosphere is and it will only be intimidating. Finally I wouldn't get my hopes up on a win, I would be very satisfied with a draw, because Dortmund are five times better when playing at home.
Casimir

My only knock (well maybe two) on my boy Lewy is that he can be wasteful with clear cut chances at Dortmund and though he has good technique, his first touch needs a lot of work. He has made the more difficult shots but when he gets an easy opportunity it tends to go by. His first touch recently has been borderline Bendtner-ish (at least when playing with the Polish NT recently).
quaazi

Adding to the Bayern fans that give their own two cents, I think that left flank of Arsenal's is going to just destroyed. Santos, I admit, I've seen only in an international level, but he's been very defensively suspect (by suspect I mean bloody awful) there. And Koscielny doesn't have the class to deal with Kagawa-Götze, and Mertesacker isn't mobile enough to back him up. Sagna-Grosskreutz is a more balanced matching, but on a good day even Captain Mullet-turn-Captain Skinhead can leave Sagna red-faced.

It's all about outscoring the opponent this time, Arsenal can pull it off. Dortmund look really vulnerable to counters, because due to Gündogan not fitting into the playmaker role Klopp's told Hummels to play a lot higher because of his skills on the ball, which leaves them rather thin at the back, exactly like Chulla said.
Chullalobo

Hey Quazzi!
Mike Howells

Against Swansea Theo was fed the ball in stride for the first time in what seemed like ages. Hopefully he can be used to punish Dortmund on the counter..
Homey_Mills

Thanks for the input. Not a troll at all. I agree that it would be a terrific result if we got a draw tomorrow.
Chullalobo

thanks!
Perry S.

We've got a very strong lineup tomorrow, no reason not to expect a W. Come on you Gunners!
Homey_Mills

The biggest reason not to expect a W tomorrow is that we're playing a really tough team in a tough environment. I'd be happy with a 1-1 or something.
woodfaus

walcott should start from the bench, he has become too predictable with his play. he hardly cuts through like what AOC did to earn the England u21 penalty. his crosses are abysmal and lacks creativity. all he does is run run and run only to end up loosing the ball to his opponent. for all these years i guess he should have improved. i will love to see what park brings to the game.
Gigi_man

This is a reply to Homey, Disqusito!

Someone told me about Goetze too, but I dont think we re that lucky (or Goetze's replacement will be like when Iker replaced Cesar and history was made!)
Homey_Mills

Sorry, I wasn't clear with my statement. I was saying that I read Goetze was suspended for their match on Saturday, but not for this Tuesday. That was contrary to what I read elsewhere that he was merely being rested by the manager on purpose.
Gigi_man

No harm done, I would either way say a draw will be a god result. As pointed by several people, Dortmund are good with and without Gotze, so...no harm done
Gigi_man

I agree, I agree!! hahaha
Now evreybody is going to love me :)
I am nervous...me all over again
Ooops I am hated again.

No but seriously, if we pull a good game I will be happy, of course a win would be the best, but facts are facts: we are the visitors, they are a great team, we have a new good team. I hope they go in with that attitude from Sat's 1st half though.
Homey_Mills

During the live blog on Saturday, I think someone said that both Goetze and Barrios were being rested during Dortmund's match on Saturday, in order to prepare for the match on Tuesday. However, I read yesterday that Goetze was serving out a suspension, and Barrios has a slight injury and might not return to play Arsenal. Not sure the truth in that, but just passing along what I read.