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“One more loss to a major team. One more attempt at silverware gone begging. One more year.” – This was the common refrain among many Arsenal fans after the defeat against Chelsea in the Capital One Cup last Tuesday. A sense of despondency had gripped Arsenal supporters despite a glittering start to their season. The fear was that the team would begin to unravel against stronger teams. Two defeats in quick succession against Borussia Dortmund and Chelsea had exposed the lack of bench strength and defensive frailties.
Now, two successive victories against Liverpool and Dortmund have all but obliterated that sense of despondency. The fall of the yellow wall seen in the context of the awesome away form of Arsenal this year has given the message that the youth team of the past few years might finally be attaining maturity – what with the likes of Aaron Ramsey starting to flower.
Borussia Dortmund began the match with the style opponents now expect- a lot of energy and intensity on display, charging at the Arsenal defence with vigour and speed. Expectedly, they were the first to create chances including one near miss from playmaker Henrik Mkhitaryan, whose shot flew wide off the bar. Arsenal, in the absence of wingers Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, has been forced to launch mainly vertical attacks. But, the going was tough as the sea of yellow shirts crowding the midfield cut off potential attempts. Certainly, Dortmund was winning the battle in the midfield. Seeing their moves being thwarted, Arsenal tried to break the intensity and fluidity of the Dortmund players. In this, they succeeded to a larger extent as not many attempts at goal were created in the first half.
Dortmund’s ferocious horizontal attacks gathered pace with the onset of the 2nd half. The Arsenal defenders were starting to look helpless in the face of sustained pressure. Definitely, it was only a matter of time before Dortmund scored. That was until the 62nd minute. Rosicky brought the ball to Ozil near the Dortmund defence. Ozil lofted a beautifully accurate chip shot to Giroud, who headed it to Ramsey. Having broken in at the nick of time, Ramsey headed the ball past Roman Weidenfeller into the goal. The players on the pitch, the coaching staff in the dugout and the three and a half thousand Gunner fans in the stands celebrated. This might after all turn out to be Arsenal’s night, they thought. Aaron Ramsey had once more intervened in match-winning fashion.
The change Ramsey’s goal brought about in the proceedings was equally incredible. Dortmund now found it’s moves being scuttled even as Arsenal became more incisive, more sure-footed in their passing- thereby creating a couple of goal scoring opportunities. Marco Reus and Robert Lewandowski came close to scoring in the dying minutes but Arsenal’s defense was resolute enough to deny Dortmund an equaliser. Previously, the Gunners have shown that they could employ the creativity in their midfield to look beautiful. This night they demonstrated that they could- relying on team spirit, determination and organisation- win without being spectacular, which surely is a sign of tactical maturity.
It remains to be seen whether this win will dawn a new era for Arsenal. Can the Gunners end their title drought? Only time will tell. There are still glaring deficiencies in the Arsenal line-up. The backup for the striker’s position is non-existent. Similarly, the bench strength in defense is weak. The team’s ability to win the ball back remains inadequate. But for the fans, all those questions can wait for another day, another time. Now is the moment to celebrate a remarkable achievement, a peak not scaled by any other English team – that of beating Dortmund in their own den. This result has added more lustre to a season in which Arsenal continue to grow in stature. Now is the occasion to enjoy that even though the season is still not halfway through and a long distance remains to be covered. For tomorrow never dies, but today too will not remain forever.
