After the game manager Arsene Wenger refused to blame individuals for Arsenal’s poor display in Dortmund. “It’s very difficult to go into any individual assessment of any player because as a team we were not at the requested level,” added the Frenchman. Well Arsene, I blame you. What was very evident is that Arsenal are struggling defensively and it is going to take a lot to prevent this season from being a disastrous one. Once again I am amazed that this experienced & successful coach had let defender & ex-captain Tomas Vermalen leave the club before signing the replacements he needed. At that point we needed two more defenders. With the injuries happening this is even more critical. Missing defenders Nacho Monreal, Mathieu Debuchy and Calum Chambers, Arsenal fielded 19-year-old full-back Hector Bellerin, whose only previous senior outing was a 26-minute substitute appearance in a League Cup tie.

Arsenal clearly lost the midfield game as well and the runs from the middle from Dortmund were scary for this Arsenal fan to watch. We need a strong defensive midfielder or two to be added and if they don’t come by January, you can kiss the season goodbye.  And sell the players who spend more time on the injury list than on the pitch – we have too many of those.