Football
ESPN staffStephan Uersfeld 10y

'Woeful' Arsenal slammed for 'soft centre' in Dortmund - media

Arsenal came in for heavy criticism from the British media after their 2-0 loss to Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League on Tuesday night.

- Player Ratings: Gunners listless against raging Dortmund
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- Three Points: Borussia Dortmund vs. Arsenal
- Uersfeld: Dortmund get off to perfect start
- Immobile relieved to get first goal

"Dor mats" was the headline in The Sun after goals from Ciro Immobile and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang secured Dortmund an opening win in Group D against the "woeful Gunners."

The Times lambasted the Gunners' "soft centre" while highlighting Dortmund's willingness to "put in the hard yards" compared to their opponents.

Oliver Kay, the newspaper's chief football correspondent, wrote: "Arsenal were not so much outplayed or outthought as overrun, unable to live with the intensity, speed and energy of a Dortmund team who typified an approach that [Jurgen] Klopp likens to 'heavy metal.'"

Arsene Wenger's side were "torn apart" and paid the price for "sloppy errors," according to the back page of The Daily Mail.

Martin Samuel wrote: "Arsenal have no business sitting beside the champions of Europe and the Goliaths of the strongest European leagues right now."

John Cross of the Mirror, meanwhile, commented on a "worrying surrender" as "Dortmund outclassed Arsenal in every respect as their pace, movement and power was far too much for Wenger's men to handle."

In the Daily Telegraph, football correspondent Henry Winter wrote: "For such an experienced manager, Wenger has some blind spots."

The Guardian's Daniel Taylor concluded: "A miserable night was compounded by another injury scare for Wilshere, who twisted his ankle in the final moments."

In Germany, meanwhile, the media was full of praise for the home side, who were without a host of key players including Marco Reus, Ilkay Gundogan, Mats Hummels and Nuri Sahin.

The majority of publications drew attention to the fact Dortmund had excelled in spite of the absentees, with Suddeutsche Zeitung calling it a "glittering evening" while Der Spiegel ran with the headline: "Klopp's playground football."

FAZ, writing under the headline "Dortmund's finest hour right at the beginning," noted that "in the end, Dortmund did not even need to activate all their reserves to secure the highly deserved success."

Local paper Ruhr Nachrichten said "the guests got away lightly with the 2-0," and that "everybody had done everything right on this perfect evening"

Die Welt was one of several papers to draw attention to a disappointing performance from Germany international Mesut Ozil.

"With high-speed football, Dortmund ran their opponents over," the paper said. "Arsenal's midfield, including Ozil, was nowhere to be seen."

Suddeutsche Zeitung added: "Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger substituted the disappointing Mesut Ozil after 61 minutes, and in Alex-Oxlade-Chamberlain another fast attacker appeared. The Londoners then gained more control."

Bild awarded Ozil the lowest possible rating, while Der Spiegel praised BVB for their tactic of pressurising the opposition and exposing the World Cup winner's failure to protect his full-back.

"Whenever BVB won balls through their 'Gegenpressing' -- and that was the case every minute or so -- they aimed for one zone of the pitch: the upper left. Or, to put it another way. the area behind Mesut Ozil. His deficiencies tracking back were exposed, even more so because the young Hector Bellerin was his cover."

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