Despite Dortmund Defeat Arsenal Can Still Make a Champions League Impression

It was a result that had perhaps been a year in coming. For the second successive season Arsenal have been paired with Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League group stage, and on Tuesday night Jurgen Klopp’s side claimed the result they should have done first time round.

The Gunners came away from the Westfalenstadion with a 1-0 win last season, having spent much of the game being battered by the Germans. Nine months later Dortmund finally found a result to match their performance against Arsenal, clinching a comprehensive 2-0 win.

But we should stop short of writing Arsenal’s Champions League chances. In fact, Arsene Wenger’s side could find their best chance of success in Europe this season, despite their defeat at Dortmund.

Martin Meissner/Associated Press

That’s not to say that Wenger shouldn’t be concerned by his side’s display against the Bundesliga runners-up. In truth Dortmund could have been out of sight by the half-hour mark. The 2-0 scoreline almost flattered the visitors, so dominant were Borussia. 

Arsenal struggled to cope with Borussia Dortmund’s fluid front three all the way through the game, as Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang, Ciro Immobile and Henrikh Mkhitaryan interchanged and switched positions with slippery flexibility.

But in a game defined by the rapid pace brought by both sides it was a moment of suitably direct play that broke the deadlock, with Immobile driving the length of the Arsenal half with the ball at his feet to find the net.

The opener also illustrated the defensive issues Arsenal have to solve over the course of the season if they are to compete on both domestic and European fronts, with Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker shunning the responsibility of closing the opposition striker down.

The wastefulness of Danny Welbeck, who spurned the few chances he was afforded, also showed just how desperately Arsenal need Olivier Giroud to return from injury. Against such high-quality opposition they missed his instinctive finishing in the box.

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And yet there are still indications that Arsenal can go far in the Champions League. The age of "tiki-taka" dominance on the continent has passed, with fast and furious counter-attacking now the zeitgeist following Real Madrid’s Champions League triumph in May.

Taking this into account, Arsenal seem to have aligned themselves with this recent trend and could, as a result, make a run deep into the tournament.

Wenger’s side is arguably better suited to European football than it is to the Premier League. It has been that way for the best part of a decade now, but this Gunners side is at its strongest since they last made the Champions League final in 2006. 

Their midfield trio of Jack Wilshere, Mesut Ozil and Aaron Ramsey, anchored by Mikel Arteta, is an adaptable and distinctly European central engine. It affords Wenger a certain degree of tactical flexibility, the kind of which is needed in the Champions League.

Where Arsenal have to improve is in the intangibles of their mental resolution as a side. “The only problem with Arsenal is when they meet top teams,” Paul Scholes said, per ITV Sport. “They don’t seem to have the consistent level of mental strength to get through it.”

Martin Meissner/Associated Press

Of course, Arsenal cannot boast the kind of pedigree that the likes of Barcelona, Bayern Munich or Real Madrid can but they should still progress past the group stage and into the last 16 at the very least. That’s the benchmark.

From a tactical perspective Wenger must also prove that he still possesses the capacity to mastermind a win against top European opposition.

Against Dortmund the French coach’s strategy and formation verged on naivety, affording his defence little protection from midfield against a team, which possessed such obvious threat on the break.

However, it would be foolish to claim Arsenal won’t make an impression on the Champions League this season after just one game. There is plenty to suggest that Wenger’s side will recover.

Klopp once described his Dortmund side as heavy metal to Arsenal’s classical chorus. Having faced the trash music early on the strings will now start to be heard.