US Edition Aaron Ramsey issued a public apology for Arsenal’s dreadful performance in Dortmund, with a bleak evening compounded by a fresh injury scare to Jack Wilshere.
Graeme Souness had accused Arsenal of playing “without a midfield” and, after seeing Borussia Dortmund dominate throughout, Arsène Wenger agreed that his team had failed to meet the required standard.
With Mathieu Flamini, Yaya Sanogo, Mathieu Debuchy and Nacho Monreal all absent through injury, Wenger is also anxiously awaiting an assessment on Wilshere’s ankle. Although Wilshere does not regard the problem as serious, Wenger still wants further reassurance, particularly as it was to the same right ankle that previously required surgery.
“Wilshere has turned his ankle – it’s difficult to say how bad it is,” Wenger said. “I’m a bit cautious because of his history. Normally it’s not too bad. They were very strong in midfield, stronger than us. On the night it is difficult to go into individual assessment of any player because as a team we were not at the required level. They had a higher level of energy than us.”
Dortmund finished the match with 30 shots at goal compared to six from Arsenal. Ramsey, who was consistently wasteful in possession, agreed with his manager’s blunt assessment. “That wasn’t good enough tonight, sorry to all the fans and thank you for your support,” Ramsey said.
Wenger was especially unhappy about the first goal, with his team caught on the counter-attack from their own throw-in. “We were still three against one at the back and it’s difficult to understand how we conceded the goal. We lost the ball 80 metres from our goal but there were enough people to stop the goal.”
Wenger brought off both Ramsey and his record signing, Mesut Ozil, after 62 minutes but confirmed that neither player was injured. “Congratulations to Dortmund, they were the better team,” said Wenger. “We had a disappointing performance and overall the result is normal.
Still the paradox of the night is that we had very good chances to score first. We were caught on two counter-attacks. It was very difficult.”
Danny Welbeck missed Arsenal’s best chance of the night, skewing a one-on-one wide with Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller when the games was goalless. It followed a similar missed opportunity against Manchester City last Saturday but Wenger is urging fans to remain patient with his new £16 million signing.
“He will improve – I don’t think we have to make a problem of that,” said Wenger. “He had a lively first half, two or three good chances; one obvious one. We have to be a bit patient maybe.”