Before we kicked off yesterday, I predicted that if Mesut Özil started against Dortmund we would lose convincingly. As it happened, he did start and we lost convincingly. Unfortunately, he wasn’t the only reason we were convincingly beaten.

Worryingly, there were a few reasons why we were completely outplayed last night. Including:

Danny Welbeck’s Finishing:

Manchester United fans will no doubt be having a little chuckle to themselves today. In a game where it was obvious that Borussia Dortmund were going to attack us with relentless pace and running, it was a game where we needed to take our chances when they came, and we did have a massive chance to open the scoring in the first half.

A clever reverse pass from Aaron Ramsey completely cut open the Dortmund back line and Danny Welbeck was clean through with only the keeper to beat. It was a big chance which he really should have scored with but he managed to drag his shot wide of the far post.

And even in the second half, when Arsenal were 2-0 down he had a chance to get Arsenal back into the game, after using his pace and power to evade a couple of defenders and have a shot on goal, which unfortunately flew over the bar.

And even before the first chance, he had a tap in from 3 yards out when a cross came in and wasn’t dealt with properly by the Dortmund keeper. A bit more composure there could have got us the lead.

His finishing, of lack thereof, is the main criticism Manchester United fans (and their manager it seems) had of him and it would be easy to blame Welbeck for contributing to our defeat. But he is new to the club, still needs to settle into our style of play and it would be over the top to start criticising him now. We’ll get a better picture of his performances in the coming months, and it would be pointless to criticise a player who’s only been at the club for about a week.

Our Line Up & Formation:

Clearly Arsene now prefers the “more fluid” 4-3-3 formation (well, more of a 4-1-4-1 line up) with a sole target man with a creative and flowing midfield. The only positions that are set are the defensive midfield role (Arteta) and the centre forward (Welbeck) while the rest of the midfielder are free to fill in the gaps. Unfortunately, the personnel we have just don’t cater for that formation.

It’s almost too predictable to play against, and leaves us open to counter attacks over and over again. Instead of having Mikel Arteta left as the only defensive midfielder, we need to chance our formation so that he’s not left overrun time and time again.

We needed to play a more compact game with players who were willing to run for the team.

Mesut Özil should never have started, and Aaron Ramsey should have been rested as well. Ramsey seems tired (and would be a good option from the bench) and Özil’s form at the moment is poor. He’s just not doing it and it probably has something to do with the fact he played a full season in a new league, had to settle into a new country and played all summer with Germany at the World Cup. Give the guy a break and let him recharge his batteries.

And I don’t know why Tomas Rosicky and Santi Cazorla are so out of favour. Santi has been one of our most consistent performers and Tomas is a player we usually rely on for the big games – he sets the tone and his desire and determination rubs off on the other players. Last night we were extremely lackadaisical.

So here is how I would have lined up last night:

I would have had Arteta and Rosicky (or even Oxlade-Chamberlain) as the defensive midfielders, Wilshere as the Number 10 and Santi alongside him. Welbeck and Sanchez offer the pace and we have several midfielders in that lineup who are willing to work for the team and track back.

Arsenal almost have a embarrassment of riches when it comes to midfield selections, and Arsene Wenger needs to make sure he gets it right – otherwise we might see our season going downhill very quickly.

Arsenal kick off their Champions League campaign in Dortmund tonight, against a side that have lost their biggest players over the last few seasons but who are still a top top side. With Jurgen Klopp at the helm, they will always be a threat to any team and they will give us a lot of problems tonight.

Last season we travelled to Germany and with a goal from Aaron Ramsey, essentially nicked a result in Dortmund. That result and performance was based on defensive stability, something which we will struggle with tonight.

Mathieu Debuchy suffered a bad injury at the weekend, with reports saying he’ll be out for the next 2 or 3 months. Nacho Monreal is out with a back problem (but should be back for the weekend) and Calum Chambers, Debuchy’s natural replacement at right back, is 50/50 as he’s suffering from tonsillitis.

Fortunately, Gibbs is back but if Chambers can’t make it then it looks more and more likely that youngster Hector Bellerin will be thrown into the deep end. The kid looked lively in The Emirates Cup, but a Champions League game is a bit of an ask. He was on loan at Watford last season (where he made a handful of appearances) and is quicker than Theo Walcott. Apart from that, I don’t know much about him.

But whoever starts, and whether it is the young Spaniard, then we will just have to support him and hope he puts in a decent performance.

If Hector Bellerin does start (meaning that Chambers is not fit enough to play, and therefore the bench) then we will have a crisis if any one of our back line picks up an injury during the game.

And that brings me to my next point, Arsenal can’t afford to carry anyone tonight and that means Santi Cazorla needs to start instead of Mesut Özil.

In last seasons away game against Borussia Dortmund, it was almost a “backs against the wall” performance where we withstood a lot of Dortmund pressure and nicked a goal on the break. The tactic worked perfectly (and showed that Arsene can play a conservative game, although he didn’t do it enough last season) but was dependent on every single player running themselves into the ground.

Alexis Sanchez is a player you know will give absolutely everything, offensively and defensively, and the same goes for Danny Welbeck, Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere. You can also say the same about Santi Cazorla, but you can’t say the same about Mesut Özil.

Clearly, he’s struggling for form at this moment in time but tonight is not for Arsenal to carry a player who doesn’t offer anything defensively. Dortmund are a quick, dynamic team and they will attack us (with pace) at every opportunity. That means that every Arsenal player needs to be switched on and needs to track back when needed. How did Coleman score against Arsenal a few weeks ago? When Özil failed to track his man and gave the Everton full back a free header.

Simply put, things like that just cannot happen against a top side like Dortmund, otherwise they’ll score 4 or 5 against us.

So Arsene Wenger needs to be brave, and drop Mesut Özil tonight and think about the team as a whole.

I want to like Özil, I really do.

Actually, that’s a lie, I want to love Özil.

But it’s just so damn hard.

He’s been at Arsenal for over a season now and for whatever reason, he’s just not doing it. He’s not performing like a £42.3 million player should.

I am not completely ignorant and understand the talent he has, the big question is – is Mesut Özil an Arsenal player? Is he suited to the Premier League?

Alexis Sanchez, Calum Chambers and Mathieu Debuchy have all hit the ground running. They’ve settled in, and their high-energy performances have pleased the fans. Özil however just doesn’t seem to be doing it.

People argue that it’s because he’s being played out of position, or that he’s shattered after playing all summer. But for me, there is a more fundamental problem with him – he’s just not what Arsenal need.

The main problem is there are better players in his position. Santi Cazorla already fulfils that role well and with Tomas Rosicky as backup, the role is well catered for. Another problem is that he needs to play alongside certain types of players – rapid warriors such as Cristiano Ronaldo who can latch onto his intelligent balls – and for whatever reason the other Arsenal players aren’t on the same wavelength.

That’s not a criticism of Mesut Özil or the other Arsenal forwards – everyone has their own style of player – but is a clear indicator that Özil is not what we need.

We had a chance to bring Cescy back for around £28 million (depending on the reports you believe) this summer and after having a conversation with the Arsenal manager, Cesc revealed that Arsene said he already had Özil in his position. At the time I thought Wenger was better off selling Özil, banking the spare money and bringing Fabregas back to The Emirates – he desperately wanted to come back to Arsenal, he wouldn’t need time settling in and knows the club inside and out. And most importantly, doesn’t need to adapt to Premier League football.

And you see how he’s performing for Chelsea now – he is the focal point of their team, suppling the bullets for Diego Costa to fire Chelsea to the Premier League title it seems.

If we brought Cesc back, we’d have one hell of a chance to win the title, and do special things in the Champions League.

You also wonder how much Arsene Wenger wanted Mesut Özil in the first place. He was only made available on the last day of the transfer window last summer and if you ask me, it was a case of having a world class player available and taking a chance on him. I don’t believe that Arsene wanted Özil all along, and I genuinely believe that if Karim Benzema or Gonzalo Higuain were made available on the last day then they could have easily arrived at Arsenal as well.

I think Özil’s availability was too much of a good opportunity to miss and we took it. But over 12 months on it looks like a big mistake.

Our performances improved as a team once Özil arrived, but his influence quickly wore off. He put in some good shifts and scored a few goals, but went off the boil. We won the FA Cup but he contributed very little to that success. In games he’s ended up being a liability.

Arsene Wenger is finding himself trying to justify Özil’s place in the team. With the massive price tag, dropping him is not an option even though it would be the best thing to do. Santi Cazorla should have played against Manchester City at the weekend and he does a lot more in terms of tracking back. With the energy and running of Sanchez, Cazorla, Ramsey and Wilshere Manchester City would never have equalised in the last 10 minutes. Having Özil on the pitch is a liability.

There are Arsenal and Germany supporters who are critical of Özil for varying reasons, the main one being his work rate is poor. Defenders of him will point to his statistics, saying his passing figures are exemplary. But the problem is for all the short passes (which offer no real penetration in most games) he is on the whole ineffective.

If you look at the positives this season, has he really contributed? Did he help in the late comeback against Everton? Did he contribute in the two Arsenal goals against Manchester City?

The problem we have is that we now have a player which such a big price tag that we can’t drop him. And it seems clear that Arsene Wenger doesn’t know what to do with him either. Whereas Cesc Fabregas was nurtured in Arsene’s methodology and would have made a massive impact on this team.

Arsenal only know how to play one way and in a way the game panned out how you would have expected – giving 110% going forward but leaving gaps at the back.

Arsenal gave everything going forward, with Jack Wilshere and Alexis Sanchez in particular lighting up The Emirates Stadium. Wilshere looks like a real player now after several seasons with in and out of the team and looks confident. And Sanchez, is fantastic going forward but gives Arsenal so much defensively as well, always tracking back and showing a phenomenal amount of energy.

But Mesut Özil again had a poor performance.

Once Arsenal went 2-1 up against Manchester City with 15 minutes to go, it was obvious that the visitors would be throwing everything forward and with our defensive frailties, you almost expected Arsenal to concede. And only a few minutes after Sanchez’s fantastic volley, Manchester City equalised.

We’ve conceded 4 headed goals already this season and from set-pieces we look vulnerable. We’ve been defensively sound over the last couple of seasons and you wonder if the absence of Kieran Gibbs (who is a better defender than Monreal) and Bacary Sagna (who we all know was very strong in the air) is a factor in all this.

Mathieu Debuchy is a very good defender but Bacary had an excellent jump and how many times did we see Szczesny aim goal kicks towards Bac during matches?

With 15 minutes to go and with Arsenal leading 2-1, Mesut Özil had to come off. He was poor during the game (with Wilshere and Ramsey doing most of the creating) and was completely outshines by Alexis Sanchez, who looks like a real star. Even Danny Welbeck put in a very good performance, and was unlucky not to put Arsenal in the lead when his chipped effort hit the post.

Once Sanchez’s effort flew past Joe Hart my very first thought was “Özil needs to come off now”. We were leading against the Premier League champions and that is something that needed to be protected. Defensively, Özil is a big liability and the bottom line is he is costing Arsenal football matches. He has talents but is badly out of form and when you’ve got a slender lead and have your backs against the wall, he’s not a player you can count on.

And before you get defensive and think I’m wrong, think about Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid. Love him or hate him, he is a top class manager who wins trophies and even he, a manager who used to sing Özil’s praises time and time again, would substitute Özil towards the end of games, usually with 15 minutes to go. If you’ve got yourself into a winning position then you need to see it out.

There is no doubt that when he is on song, Özil is a good player but to leave him on when he is obviously struggling for form and we’ve got a lead to defend, it really beggars belief.

Arsene needs to have a major rethink and not feel obliged to leave on his record signing just because he arrived with a massive price tag.

It got so bad and depressing that I tried to cancel BT Sport.

Last summer, with BT Sport sharing the Premier League rights with Sky Sports, I took the plunge and subscribed to the channel that had Michael Owen in their ranks. Despite his deadpan demeanour, I felt good about subscribing to BT Sport. Arsenal were to be shown on there quite a lot and obviously I make sure I watch every possible Arsenal match, so happy days. And obviously I paid extra to have it in HD, you just have to don’t you?

Unfortunately, the happy feeling wouldn’t last long at all as time after time, game after game, Arsenal got well and truly f*cked in the arse. If you’re going to go with the pornography analogy, it was like being sodomised by several well endowed blokes repeatedly – it was not nice at all, was completely embarassing and made me feel sick afterwards.

Lunchtime kick offs and BT Sport are not a good combination. At Manchester City we lost 6-3, at Chelsea we lost 6-0 and against Liverpool we lost 5-1. Capitulations of the highest order and after that, I tried to cancel BT Sport.

To be fair to them, when I tried to cancel they wouldn’t have it, and they even joked with me when I told them why I was cancelling. I told them that I wasn’t paying extra money for a cursed channel where my beloved Arsenal were getting absolutely slaughtered time and time again. My reasoning for cancelling was why the hell would I pay to watch this?

The guy I was speaking to gave an sympathetic ear and ended up giving me BT Sport free for 6 months and then half price for another 6 months. So obviously I ended up staying with them.

The big question though is can Arsenal break the lunchtime / BT Sport hoodoo?

Do Arsenal struggle with early games? Do the players have late night FIFA tournaments which mean they’re still half asleep at midday? Does the position of the sun and the moon at that particular time bring bad luck to Arsenal? Who knows.

But tomorrow they have a chance to make things right. An advantage is that we’re playing at home, and even with Arsenal’s ability to surprise us, we shouldn’t get battered. But it wouldn’t be outside the realms of possibility – crazier things have happened like the 6-3-, 6-0 and 5-1 score lines like last season, I don’t think any Arsenal fan would have predicted  that!

So what do you think? Can Arsenal stay unbeaten and get a good result against Manchester City? Can we break the hoodoo?

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