Match date: 16 September 2014

The two sides have met in the Champions League three times in the last four campaigns. The year they didn’t play one another, Dortmund went on to play Bayern Munich in the final.

Arsenal have done well when playing in Germany against Dortmund and having just played a 2-2 draw against Manchester City in the last match of the English Premier League, they’d feel relatively good about their chances. There were a few changes to the side that played Manchester City, with Arteta coming in for Flamini, Gibbs for Monreal, and Bellerin for Debuchy.

Dortmund were without the likes of Hummels, Reus, and Gündoğan and have a much different look to the side that made it to the 2012-2013 Champions League final with just five players from that starting XI in the starting XI for Dortmund on the night.

4-4-2 v 4-1-4-1, Mkhitaryan’s Runs

The formation aspect of the tactical battle was a good one. Dortmund lined up in a 4-4-2, with a flat midfield four rather than the midfield diamond that they used in the Bundesliga this season. Bender and Kehl played as the two central midfielders, with Grosskreutz and Mkhitaryan on the outsides. The latter of the two had the ability to roam, as will be discussed later.

Arsenal played with a similar shape to the one they played against Manchester City, with Mikel Arteta behind jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey while Sanchez and Özil played in the wide areas. The difference was that Özil played on the right rather than the left as he did against Manchester City, as Wenger continues to look to a spot for the German international in the team.

There were two big differences in the two sides. One was the ability for Immobile and Aubameyang to match up in 1v1 and 2v2 opportunities against Mertesacker and Koscielny, which was really what happened for both of Dortmund’s goals. Both were individual goals, where they had space to dribble at one of the centre backs and engage them in a 1v1.

The second difference, and the one that opened up Arsenal numerous times was Mkhitaryan’s ability to find space. With Kehl and Bender in central midfield, they matched up against Ramsey and Wilshere, while Arteta was either free to mark zonally or had to mark either Aubameyang or Immobile, both of whom would drop deep at different times to get involved. This allowed Mkhitaryan space to run into relatively unmarked. Below is a good example of Dortmund on a break. You can see both Arteta and Mertesacker engaged Grosskreutz, as Ozil failed to track back, which allowed space to open up for Mkhitaryan, with Wilshere reacting late to the run.

The Armenian was able to find plenty of space as he came in off the right hand side of Dortmund’s midfield and created three chances for him teammates, but was largely wasteful with the chances that came from his ability to find space and break into the space with his pace. He had three shots, of which none were on target, had another chance, where he would have scored had he not taken a dive, and a chance late on where an extra touch allowed Mertesacker to get a tackle in.

Dortmund Press, Arsenal Passive

In Arsenal’s match against Manchester CIty just a few days before, Arsenal pressed very well, winning the ball back high up the pitch very effectively, winning 11 of their 13 attempted tackles in Manchester City’s half. Against Dortmund, who are one of the best pressing sides in the world, Arsenal were on the receiving end of an effective press. Much of the game was dominated by Dortmund, as the two goals suggest, and it was largely because of their good pressing. Both Dortmund goals came from them winning the ball back deep within their own half. The first goal was a clearance that fell to Immobile at the half way line that he took the rest of the way and the second consisted of three passes starting from the top of Dortmund’s penalty area.

In a preview to one of their Champions League matches against Arsenal, he described his side as heavy metal and Arsenal as a symphony. Dortmund’s play is all about high energy. They are still arguably one of the best sides in positive transition because they get good numbers around the ball efficiently and effectively. Below are two good examples. The first shows Arsenal, in particular Jack Wilshere, with the ball and support players around him, but Dortmund’s sheer number of players around the ball put pressure on the ball carrier and cut off most of the passing lanes.

The next shows Arsenal, and again Jack Wilshere, trying to attack Dortmund on a counter, but the number of Dortmund players that get around the ball, including Immobile, forces Wilshere to lose the ball. Notice the scoreline and time in the top right hand corner of the screen, yet the urgency to win the ball back rather than simply get behind it and stop the break.

So while Dortmund’s pressing was generally very good, Arsenal were much more passive in their pursuit to win back the ball. Unlike their performance against Manchester City, they opted to sit back and allow Dortmund possession of the ball and slow down the speed of the game. It is an effective tactic against a side like Dortmund, who like to play quick, high energy football, but Dortmund are still very comfortable with the ball for extended periods as was the case for much of the first half.  Below, you can see the attempted and successful tackles by both sides. Notice how many more Dortmund attempted in Arsenal’s half compared to the Gunners in Dortmund’s half.

Changes

Wenger used all three substitutions and changed the team’s shape in attempt to come back from 2-0 down. His first change was to bring on Oxlade-Chamberlain for Özil and Cazorla for Ramsey. The shape changed to a 4-2-3-1, with Wilshere and Arteta holding and Cazorla in front of them, behind Welbeck. Later, Podolski came on for Arteta, which moved Oxlade-Chamberlain to a holding position with Wilshere. Overall, however, the substitutions had little influence on the match with Dortmund dealing with the personnel and system changes easily.

Conclusion

Klopp and Dortmund finally beat Arsenal in Germany and they beat them well. Dortmund were much the better side and their excellent pressing helped lead to their dominance in the match.

It was another frustrating match for Özil, who played on the right rather than the left, like he did in the Manchester City match. He was one of the two that Wenger subbed off first and his place in the side, unless deployed properly, should no longer be a guarantee. Sanchez, while perhaps Arsenal’s best performer in the match against Manchester City, was far too inconsistent in the match. At times he turned his defenders well and was able to dribble at the Dortmund defense, but at other times he looked well off the pace of the match.

Dortmund really could have won this game by more, but the overall finishing of Mkhitaryan and Aubameyang, in particular, was lacking and kept the score to just 2-0.