Talking Tactics: The Dortmund press that undid Arsenal's slick passing

Arsenal suffered their first defeat in this year’s UEFA Champions League competition yesterday when they went down 1-2 to Borussia Dortmund, last year’s beaten finalists.

Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp may have watched from the stands, but there was no questioning the clear and well thought out game plan that the German team had come prepared with as events unfolded on the pitch.

In executing their game plan to perfection, Dortmund managed to seize the initiative early which helped put Arsenal off their game.

Here’s a look at the major tactical ploys that were employed yesterday and how they panned out.

The Dortmund press and the masterclass of Sahin and Bender

If there is one thing that Dortmund, under Juergen Klopp, have become famous for, its their high-pressing game. This tactic of their pays off as they give their opponents very little time on the ball and against a free flowing side like Arsenal who like to play their way out, it worked wonders.

The two deep-lying midfielders in Sven Bender and Nuri Sahin did their jobs to perfection. Bender and Sahin worked magnificently together with Bender breaking up the play and Sahin recycling the loose ball and feeding it to the forwards. Ilkay Gundogan is missing long-term and one can only imagine how much stronger Dortmund will get in this area of the pitch when he returns.

Sahin is an excellent ball player, and his out-balls from broken up play hurt Arsenal big time last night. Sahin is good with the long ball as well and he employed it to good effect to pick out Robert Lewandowski in particular as well as the runs of Marco Reus and Jakub ‘Kuba’ Blaszczykowski.

The press worked so well that it disrupted Arsenal’s passing rhythm and also enabled the two Dortmund centre-backs – Neven Subotic and Mats Hummels to station themselves at the halfway line almost and join in on the attacks.

Reus, Kuba and Lewandowski all did their fair share of tracking back as well, ensuring that at no area of the pitch were Arsenal ever comfortable when in possession of the ball.

They also did not allow Arsenal to play their way out from defence, something which Wenger’s side love doing. In doing so, they cut the play out at the source and thus it took Arsenal a while longer to get into their passing game.