Our first guest contributor on The Gun Show is my good friend Louis. I had to sit this one out after failing to get out of working last night and managed to arrive in the pub just in time for the final whistle - In the parlance of our times, #FML. Over to you Louis:
Hello Gooners! This is my first report for the Gun Show… sadly not a happy one.
Last night wasn’t great. I went into this game being pretty smug as we sit top of the Premier League and honestly thought we have the skill and pace to beat Borussia Dortmund - I was wrong.
There was real buzz and sense of optimism around N5 as all the fans converged in local pubs and towards the stadium hopeful of a great night of European football between two of Europe's most exciting teams. The first thing I noticed was the terrific noise coming from the away stand. Dortmund fans were jumping and singing loudly - I also noticed that every song they sang was basically a rip off of English football chants from the 90’s. Just saying.
We started pretty shakily - we looked nervous and Jurgen Klopp looked like a tramp in a suit (I’m not bitter). He was serving the second of a two match touchline ban, sat up in the rafters eating prawn sandwiches. The midfield was missing a key figure, Mathieu Flamini, who was ruled out with concussion after going tête-à-tête with Tettey on the weekend. He’s proven to be a key signing for us this year.
16 minutes in, our strong defence, doing their job correctly scuffle for the ball and Ramsey made a classic mistake of over-playing on the edge of his own box. He was tackled and Dortmund pounced to take the lead. A moment of overconfidence from the best Welsh footballer on the planet.
A few minutes later Giroud made an exceptional run down the right wing, barging off a strong challenge from one defender and striding forward only to be completely taken out by Mats Hummels right on the edge of the box. Wilshere then landed awkwardly in the Dortmund box and stayed down for a good 5 minutes… why Wenger kept him on is beyond me.
As the half wore on we began to see some real fight from our boys - we were attacking hard and 40 minutes into the game we got our reward as Sagna (who wasn’t having a great game thus far) crossed a superb ball into the danger zone. Our big French striker Olivier Giroud frightened the Dortmund goalkeeper, the ball bounced high and Giroud struck a close range volley into an empty goal. There was fist pumping at the Clock end as the Emirates erupted in celebration, shutting those noisy Dortmund fans up in the process.
We started the second half looking stronger. With the perk of Dortmund manager Klopp, being unable to address his team in the dressing room in the half-time break, this game was ours to win.
There was a moment of controversy as Lewandowski elbowed Koscileny fully in the face conceding a free kick, the referee ran over shaking his head but only issues a yellow card. Maybe this referee needs to consult his rule book , as a deliberate elbow to the face is a sending off offence.
Nearing 70 minutes, Santi struck an unbelievable ball that beats the keeper but sadly caught the corner of the crossbar. We started to hound Dortmund relentlessly and looked the more likely to find a winner but when you have everyone forward, it leaves big gaping holes at the back and Dortmund are as good as any team on the counter attack.
Kevin Grosskreutz's cross found Lewandowski, with Sagna miles behind play for a perfect sidefoot finish that Wojciech Szczęsny could never stop. With just eight minutes left, Dortmund held up the ball at every opportunity and a frustrated Mesut Ozil picked up his first yellow card as a Gunner.
Not what poor old Arsène expected on his birthday, but as he said "We put ourselves on the back foot with the first goal and were naive for the second... We can only look at ourselves as not being mature enough in those situations. If you can't win the game, don't lose it."
It’s not all doom and gloom for us Gooners though as we go into our next match against Crystal Palace, which should be a walk in the park. I’m not worried about the Champions League, as we remain joint top of our group, albeit with some very tough away games at Dortmund and in Naples to come. Lessons were hopefully, learnt.
Man of the Match: Tomas Rosicky
Last night wasn’t great. I went into this game being pretty smug as we sit top of the Premier League and honestly thought we have the skill and pace to beat Borussia Dortmund - I was wrong.
There was real buzz and sense of optimism around N5 as all the fans converged in local pubs and towards the stadium hopeful of a great night of European football between two of Europe's most exciting teams. The first thing I noticed was the terrific noise coming from the away stand. Dortmund fans were jumping and singing loudly - I also noticed that every song they sang was basically a rip off of English football chants from the 90’s. Just saying.
We started pretty shakily - we looked nervous and Jurgen Klopp looked like a tramp in a suit (I’m not bitter). He was serving the second of a two match touchline ban, sat up in the rafters eating prawn sandwiches. The midfield was missing a key figure, Mathieu Flamini, who was ruled out with concussion after going tête-à-tête with Tettey on the weekend. He’s proven to be a key signing for us this year.
16 minutes in, our strong defence, doing their job correctly scuffle for the ball and Ramsey made a classic mistake of over-playing on the edge of his own box. He was tackled and Dortmund pounced to take the lead. A moment of overconfidence from the best Welsh footballer on the planet.
A few minutes later Giroud made an exceptional run down the right wing, barging off a strong challenge from one defender and striding forward only to be completely taken out by Mats Hummels right on the edge of the box. Wilshere then landed awkwardly in the Dortmund box and stayed down for a good 5 minutes… why Wenger kept him on is beyond me.
As the half wore on we began to see some real fight from our boys - we were attacking hard and 40 minutes into the game we got our reward as Sagna (who wasn’t having a great game thus far) crossed a superb ball into the danger zone. Our big French striker Olivier Giroud frightened the Dortmund goalkeeper, the ball bounced high and Giroud struck a close range volley into an empty goal. There was fist pumping at the Clock end as the Emirates erupted in celebration, shutting those noisy Dortmund fans up in the process.
We started the second half looking stronger. With the perk of Dortmund manager Klopp, being unable to address his team in the dressing room in the half-time break, this game was ours to win.
There was a moment of controversy as Lewandowski elbowed Koscileny fully in the face conceding a free kick, the referee ran over shaking his head but only issues a yellow card. Maybe this referee needs to consult his rule book , as a deliberate elbow to the face is a sending off offence.
Nearing 70 minutes, Santi struck an unbelievable ball that beats the keeper but sadly caught the corner of the crossbar. We started to hound Dortmund relentlessly and looked the more likely to find a winner but when you have everyone forward, it leaves big gaping holes at the back and Dortmund are as good as any team on the counter attack.
Kevin Grosskreutz's cross found Lewandowski, with Sagna miles behind play for a perfect sidefoot finish that Wojciech Szczęsny could never stop. With just eight minutes left, Dortmund held up the ball at every opportunity and a frustrated Mesut Ozil picked up his first yellow card as a Gunner.
Not what poor old Arsène expected on his birthday, but as he said "We put ourselves on the back foot with the first goal and were naive for the second... We can only look at ourselves as not being mature enough in those situations. If you can't win the game, don't lose it."
It’s not all doom and gloom for us Gooners though as we go into our next match against Crystal Palace, which should be a walk in the park. I’m not worried about the Champions League, as we remain joint top of our group, albeit with some very tough away games at Dortmund and in Naples to come. Lessons were hopefully, learnt.
Man of the Match: Tomas Rosicky
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