What I find very intriguing is the development of this new team. It looks as if we are doing things the other way round now. Wenger’s teams of the past have always clicked offensively. The continuous short passing work on the training ground has been replicated on the pitch but the stability defensively

The result in Germany is now behind us, we have all moved onto Blackburn Rovers at Ewood park and the game has been talked to death, as are all games after three days so I shall keep it simple. I didn’t want to have a Dortmund sized hole in the match thoughts on the site, so I will quickly fill that in.

Firstly I would just like to heap a little bit of praise on our opposition before we get to our own performance. The German champions are very watchable and very enjoyable. As I said in my pre match thoughts, they are the type of team that Wenger is trying to build. A technical, attacking side who fight for each other and defend on the front foot.

Borussia Dortmund allegedly turned down a €40m bid for 19 year old playmaker Mario Gotze which seemed like a massive amount of money for a player so young. I hadn’t seen him play at the time but when I watched on Tuesday, I quickly understood why. A natural, highly gifted attacking midfielder who would slot in seamlessly at Arsenal I would love to see Gotze floating around our attack, recieving passes between the lines from Wilshere and then flicking balls into the stride of van Persie or Gervinho, but that boat must have sailed now.

It is why we buy players at 16. We are set up to buy the best players in the world at 15-16. The best players in the world at 19-20 go to Real Madrid, Manchester City and anyone else who have a massive financial backing.

Mats Hummels was also very impressive for the home side. Tall, intelligent and good on the ball. At 22 years of age, he has plenty of scope for progress. I think I shall be keeping an eye on Dortmund when I can.

The home side were the better side and they controlled most of the game but you have to remember that we are talking about a team who have already gelled, have won the title together and know exactly what their team mates are going to do next.

I am looking forward to the return game when hopefully our new players will have bedded in and our combinations return. Our attacking game has yet to click so far this season but one thing is almost guaranteed, we will find that again. That is what Arsene Wenger knows, that is what he has built time and time again. You can point the finger at some of his side’s defensive short comings but offensively, he know’s what he is doing. I trust him to fix that side of our game.

Against Dortmund, we struggled to wriggle free of the home team’s pressing of the ball. It reminded me a little of what happened at the Camp Nou last season, although that still remains the greatest amount of collective pressing that I have ever witnessed.

Interestingly we have switched to a more direct attack, sacrificing the creative wide man for two quick strikers. Robert Pires, Alex Hleb, Tomas Rosicky and Samir Nasri would have given us another passing option as they would have dropped into midfield areas more often. They would have kept possession better than both Theo and Gervinho on the night also. It is clearly a delicate balancing act between moves breaking down or over passing and not having enough movement away from the ball in the final third.

Laurent Koscielny’s performance on the night seems to be a little obscured in some people’s eyes due to his misplaced passes at times during the 90 minutes. Usually a very assured passer found it difficult with the home side’s applaudable work in closing down but defensively he was amazing. I watch Koscielny play and I am amazed that he is still doubted in some quarters.

Alex Song had a similar performance in that he lost the ball in vital areas, either by holding onto the ball for too long or misplacing his passes but defensively he was a rock. I call him the visible wall. He has an uncanny knack of positioning himself in front of a player, blocking off his angles and then making the tackle. Time and time again he won the ball when a break was on for the home side.

If the team that faced Manchester United had played in Germany then we would have suffered another heavy defeat.

What I find very intriguing is the development of this new team. It looks as if we are doing things the other way round now. Wenger’s teams of the past have always clicked offensively. The continuous short passing work on the training ground has been replicated on the pitch but the stability defensively has often needed special work, needed extra attention.

Even without our new additions the work on the training ground has been evident. We looked solid and secure at St James Park, shut out Liverpool with relative ease until our red card and it took a striker with special movement to score in Italy against Udinese. The result at Old Trafford was a freak. We were losing 3-1 until the 68th minute. I doubt that Manchester United will be as clinical as they were for the rest of the season.

That awful afternoon aside, we have been very strong defensively this season and I hope we can keep that focus and commitment for the whole season. Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal appear to have flipped the script. We are building from the back and looking like a tough nut to crack even without one of our best defenders in Thomas Vermaelen. Jack Wilshere is also missed defensively, not because of his tough tackling or any physical strength but because of his pressing and energy levels when we do not have the ball. Jack will not let his opponent settle. Walcott, Arshavin and a few others should take a leaf out of his book.

Defensively we have already seen a difference in our team and when the team click going forward and start creating chances again then we should have a very good team on our hands.