Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker (c), Koscielny, Gibbs, Wilshere, Ramsey, Rosicky, Cazorla, Walcott, Giroud
Subs: Fabianski, Monreal, Podolski, Sanogo, Frimpong, Gnabry, Jenkinson
Arsenal took a huge step towards securing Champions League football with an impressive 3-0 away win against Fenerbahce. Kieran Gibbs, Aaron Ramsey and Olivier Giroud, from the penalty spot, did the damage in the second half as the Gunners skewered their Turkish hosts like a (Yohan) kebab.
The Gunners – unusually pairing blue shorts with red shirts – started confidently, seemingly unfazed by Saturday’s defeat to Aston Villa. Our passing was crisp and controlled and despite the onslaught of the home crowd’s much-anticipated jeers and whistles we controlled play in the first 20 minutes. Ramsey, Wilshere and Rosicky dominated the midfield, Cazorla looked back to his impish self and Theo Walcott was a dangerous outlet on the right.
Alas, for all the intricate play, chances were few and far between only Olivier Giroud and Aaron Ramsey coming close, both with efforts which drifted wide of the Fenerbahce right post.
Play was halted rather dramatically on the half hour mark when Laurent Koscielny took a horrible kick to the head from Pierre Webo (GIF here) and was forced off with blood pouring from his face and a suspected concussion. As was the case at the weekend when Kieran Gibbs was forced off, Arsene Wenger had little choice but to shuffle his defensive pack. Bacary Sagna, who’d started at right-back, moved into the centre alongside Per Mertesacker and Carl Jenkinson came on.
If there was a criticism of the performance it was the lack of urgency in the final third. Too often we worked our way into decent positions down the channels only for moves to break down due to a dearth of bodies in the box and poor final balls. When we did flood the box, four minutes before the break, we somehow contrived not to test the keeper on three separate occasions, the last a Giroud effort which flew high and wide. It was Arsenal doing their very best Arsenal impression.
At half-time it was hard to complain about the performance (our opponents hadn’t had a shot in anger), but at the same time you sensed we needed to make more of our domination. The best that could be said about the home side was that Raul Meireles looked like an extra from Mad Max.
The hosts came out with a bit more bite in the second half, ex-Liverpool man Dirk Kuyt firing just over Szczesny’s bar after Ramsey was closed down.
Finally though we broke the deadlock. Fantastic build-up play from Ramsey, toying with Fenerbahce on the edge of their box, was topped off by a lovely ball to Walcott who slid the ball across the six-yard box to Gibbs who scored from a yard out into the roof of the net. 1-0.
It was lovely. A goal made in Britain and football at its purest.
It was football at its rawest moments later when Webo effectively stood on Szczesny’s face while chasing a through ball. Thankfully unlike Koscielny, the Pole was able to continue.
Well in control of the game we continued to break up play in the midfield. Wilshere, who improved as the game went on, danced his way through a couple of challenges, exchanged passes with Walcott before firing straight at keeper Volkan Demirel. Thankfully, Aaron Ramsey, the standout player of the match went one better.
Time after time the Welshman had taken the game by the scruff of the neck and having helped set up the first he went ahead and doubled the lead all on his own. Driving towards the Fenerbahce box the midfielder unleashed a low drive which crept inside the post. It was like a slightly crap version of Cesc’s in the San Siro.
2-0 and nothing less than we deserved.
Substitute Emmanuel Emenike nearly made an instant impact for Fenerbahce and Moussa Sow, three times, also came close but with 15 minutes to go the crowd were comparatively sedate. Szczesny sensing the upped tempo received a yellow for time-wasting.
Out of nothing a lovely long ball was brought down by Walcott in the box. He was clumsily bundled over by Kadlec and the fifth official, of all people, told the ref to point to the spot. Olivier Giroud confidently swiped the ball into the top corner and it was 3-0.
With ten minutes left Giroud was replaced by Podolski, Szczesny made tidy saves from Kadlecand Emenike, before Nacho Monreal took over from the impressive Walcott to add further defensive stability.
All in all, you couldn’t have asked for a better performance. A clean sheet and three goals suggest only a monumental collapse at the Emirates in six days time will deny us a fifteenth consecutive season in the group stage of Europe’s premiere competition.
Perhaps Arsene might now be able to persuade a few top names that we’re a side worth joining after all. We’re not dead and buried just yet ladies and gents…
Great win, just what the team needed, but the question on everyone’s mind is:
Which celebrity is going to die?
Piers Morgan I hope.
Who?
Piers Morgan is a sorry excuse for a celebrity
Another complete cunt . now another prick has joined there gang
The legend that is Smith , the greatest forward Arsenal have ever had .
Merson, Nichols , Smith, groves. all are cunts .
Take my emails from Arseblog . i will say it to there fucking faces .
Without Sky , there will be in the gutter today , so what ever the filth of the sun think , they are there to champion it ,
fucking piles of dirty whores .
Ha ha .. Thats harsh on the idiot but I have to tip my hat at that one.
Yes I wear a hat.
Piers Morgan is more of an Arsenal fan than any of us.
Hi Piers!
More of a fucking idiot than most of us, though not all.
Two questions. Who are you? and why the fuck are you here?
Willian overheard at WHL today….’what, we play on Thursdays?’
how sad that you choose to fill your few days on this planet by moaning about arsenal to get some attention. take a step back and stop being such a knob. we could all go on spurs sites and trash the club but i’d rather shit live wasps. new balls please
Wish I could like this more^^^
Plus Blogs, the penalty was not “out of nothing”… that was the pass of the season so far thank you.
Piers pegging I mean – get down cunt
from your mouth to gods ears
If we all cross our fingers and pray, maybe Piers Morgan will commit suicide. He’s a sorry excuse for a Gooner.
Justin Bieber’s first on my list..
That’s unfair. It’s not right to pick on girls. Especially the pretty ones.
Fenerbahce are totally shit, they don’t deserve to be anywhere near the Champions League. As I expected, Arsenal will breeze through to the group stages.
We are however only making up the numbers in this competition. A spanking awaits us down the line as always.
Not you again. Do fuck off, sir.
If you can’t enjoy this result for what it is then you shouldn’t bother at all.
You must think we have just won a thophy !
Is that the Champions League Qualifying throphy ??
He is right, celebrating is only for when you win trophies. At no other time are you allowed to be happy. Ever.
Sir Balls is a bit special.
I really hope you are happy today, because you certainly will have lots of unhappy days in the next 9 months.
All fans learn to enjoy the good moments when they come, otherwise they become bitter and twisted and oh……
balls by name balls by nature
enjoy thursday night , our favorite spud fan
Nameless, is that you?
Your mum says she has a spanking for you right now,Balls. No need to wait.
HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! Well played.
Yes lets hope its complete cunts like Merson and charlie Nichols , what a bunch of pricks .
COKE HEAD, PISSED OUT OF THIS NUT, LOST ALL THIS EARNING GAMBLING.
FUCKING BASTARDS.
just what the doctor ordered
Great win, great team effort, nobody really had a bad game. Kudos to all the players, Jack you fully have my support.
Now that the game is over… SPEND SOME FUCKING MONEY
stop moaning.
Fuck off, only a spud could fail to see that we need to spend money now.
Wouldn’t say the same about our Kit choice though.. Kit Man OUT!!
It’s because of one of a mountain of silly UEFA laws, this is the one that that says “the home team and away team shorts must be a different colour so that officials can distinguish between mehmehmeh etc.”
If the kit have something to do with the win, then I don’t care how ugly the kit is. Haha.. But it doesn’t does it…
Dirk wore white socks!
Dirk is special, and has the medical records to prove it.
according to fox soccer we are in form too… they wouldn’t have said that if we lost
On a roll of One Win. They’ll write Sagas about this.
FANFUCKINGTASTIC!
I must admit the other day on twitter I mentioned Cabaye being a better version of Ramsey, well I think the young Welshman must have heard me, he was awesome tonight with JW10 behind him. There were signs of a younger Lampard in that performance tonight. ( I like Lampard, considering he’s surrounded by so many absolute cunts at club and international level he’s done well not to be infected by their cuntishness, and he’s a midfielder with 200+ gls to his name)
Well done Aaron, I proudly stand corrected
Speaking of international level, I’m not the most fanatical England fan, but part of me is beginning to wish Aaron could have been born say 50 miles further East.
It never stopped Ryan Giggs playing for Wales ( SAF did though)
It never stopped Michael Owen playing for England either (injury proneness did , though don’t say it to him, he reckons he was never injured)
Great result. Rambo MOTM. COYG
who gave the long pass to walcott that won the penalty//
Cazorla
aha……. back to his best so soon…….. there seems to be an element of toughness of attitude and mental strenght about this crop of players that has been lacking for some years now……
Yeah so much for him not having the energy to start … amateurs I don’t know!
He looked tasty tonight our Santi.
here in india, the match started at 00:15 am and ended 02:15 pm, and even though i have to go to college in a few hours, this was totally worth it…… especially watching my favurite player be the star of the match…..
14hours!!!!!!!!
He watches on the Sell-You-Your-Own-Granny TV channel. 10 minutes of commercials for every 1 minute of the game.
yeah, this is the year of the ram.
Actually Gibbs was fucking excellent all night long
Lucky old excellent. I hope he brings her to the next game.
Who else have egg on their face for doubting Rambo? I certainly do.
Ramsey had a great game, but he is still shit.
How many great games does it take for a player to be good, or at least, not shit?
I judge a player over the last 12 months, not 90 mins.
12 months is a long time in football, a more appropriate timescale would be 3-6 months over which time Aaron Ramsey has been excellent. I bet you think Bale is the greatest ever even though he’s only been any good for the past 6 months.
Bale is a special player, he is young, extremely fast, and scores many goals. I would compare him to Ronaldo.
By the way, Wenger had the chance to buy Bale from Southampton, but decided not to.
Don’t feed the troll
Fuck. Off.
you talking about Real Madrid bench warmer, Ronaldo-lite Gareth Fail…i’m mean Bale?….trust me, when their respective careers are over, Ramsey will be considered the greatest Welsh player of them all….the Madrid move is a pocket-filler, but a career killer!!
Could people stop talking about Ramsey as if he was Messi, He seems like a good guy. He had an ok game, he’s not shite but is certainly not capable of lifting us to the next level, don’t forget we were playing against shite, has beens. He is on the ball so often and does fuck all with it 9 times out of ten. Any pub team goalie would have saved his goal, Hope he improves and becomes world class, can’t see it though. He certainly would not make the starting 11 on any of the top teams we are… Read more »
Out of the way you Racist cheats.. Ramsey take a fucking bow
And Spuds, its 1-1 in newcastle
Ramsey, the boy who never tires! The media keep going on about Wilshere as if he’s our most influential player but at this moment, Ramsey is clearly better. That being said, it’s obvious to see Jacky isn’t entirely fit.
They will both keep improving though 🙂
Bring on the signings!
COYG
Rambo was excellent, took him a while to get back to this level, but t was worth the wait.
Cat wait for when Jack’s back to his best, it’ll be a sight to behold.
Has anyone else noticed we seem to be much better away from home than at the Emirates, we didnt win a single pre-season game at home (although we only played 2)
I guess what im trying to say is we need some signings 😉
Ramsey was 50-50 the first half, but in the second he shined. Wilshere needs to go back to the basics, he’s looking like Ramsey circa October 2012. Hopefully he will come good, just as Ramsey has.
Better, much better
It is better. The players worked really hard tonight to all but ensure our qualification, and it will be a complete disgrace if the club doesn’t support their effort by bringing in the quality to take all of them over the hurdles ahead.
At least some players might want to join us now that we don’t look like we’re in free fall anymore.
And credit due to Arsene for getting his players motivated after what was a very depressing start to the season.
Now, onwards and upwards. Let’s get the those players in and really kick on.
THE QUADRUPLE IS ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:o)
Put down that glass and take a deep breath, you silly boy
And…….. Breathe.
Take a bow Ramsey! Earlier today I said that the only score line that would make me happy is a 3-0 because of everything us fans have been through. Still need to sign players though, but I’m happy.
Aaron Ramsey is an absolute BAWS in the middle of the park. Played a fantastic game.
Or if you want to be old-school, a BAMF in the middle of the park.
Great result. Now please sort out our business for the rest of the window.
Not sure what Podolski’s deal is but he looks to be Arshavining.. Minimal effort and doesn’t look interested
I was thinking about the same thing when I was watching the match.. Would be a shame thou if Poldi was Arshavined.. I love Poldi.. Aha!!!
…i have to admit i still have a soft spot for Arshavin. He can still conjure magic.
Unfortunately, Andrei had a few soft spots as well; which was part of the problem….
I’ll get me coat.
Yea wtf was that.. Maybe he was pissed for not starting.. But thats not the way to react! Fuck him if he thinks he’s something more..
Ramsey gave it everything, love him
He played 20 minutes when we were 3-0 up, he came on to slow the game down, not to up the anti
It was closer to 10 minutes that 20 but I take your point.
Just seems odd that he hasn’t been starting lately. In recent seasons that usually only means one thing… boss doesn’t rate him.
That brightens the mood a little! Ramsay and Chesney were great today! Still not totally happy but i wont be as grumpy tomorrow!
On behalf of the team, I’m giving a little bit the middle finger to any Tottering Coldspurts trolls who appear on this thread.
Go fuck ypurselves, turkeys.
We shall not, we shall not be moved!
Podolski is the new Arshavin
Crisis??? What crisis??. 😉
A much needed bit of Turkish Delight that.
Lovely.
Fener-bitch-slapped
Great result for the Arsenal. Now we are through to the ECL group stage lets get that wold class striker world class DM and CB in.
Something is very wrong with Podolski, he looked awfully lacklustre.
Sell the cunt
Whoa lets calm down there it’s his first real game time of the new season for us, he’ll come good.
That kind of attitude from the fans should surely get him all fired and motivated..right?
I did notice this on Sat. against Villa. Guess the guy is not happy. Did the pre-season fully, yet Carzola was preferred on the left; even when not fully fit. He had little pre-season match training.
He played … what, 10 minutes tops?
So is Jenk’s only going to play when someone’s head gets split open?
Great game. Great result. No one should be terribly shocked at the result. We need players but its not like the ones we got are crap.
Seems to happen every game…
Something that Blogs said, Ramsey dictating shit. No for Wilshere to do the same please.
Now*
wouldnt it be hilarious if we wrap this up next tuesday, and then 10 minutes later, after we are officially a team in the champions league, that it turns out we have triggered the suarez release clause with our £1
Good job lads.
Hope the energy levels stay up for Saturday. COYG!
This is why I absolutely madly love this team.
Hah.. A lil’ while ago people were moaning on and on when we drew Fenerbache and I commented who give’s a shit and I got lots of thumbs for it..
Well – Don’t mean to gloat but – I told you so..
P.s. Rosicky and Ramsey – MOTM.
Hell yeah!! Great fucking work!
Well… Now we can start our season. Thanks guys.
Your speed amazes me blogs! I wish you would teach Wenger a thing or two. This win oughtta exorcise some demons but we still need reinforcements
What a way to shut the journos up. These positve results = less media scrutiny = ease in conducting our transfer business.
Ladies and gentleman, Aaron Fuckin’ Ramsey!
I was quite fond of the Fun Lovin’ Criminals at their zenith. So, imagine my surprise when I saw them all playing for Fenerbahce.
This might explain why Fener were so poor, especially second half. With the amount of puff the Fun Lovin’ Criminals would have taken in at the break, there’s no way they could keep up with our midfield.
Most striking shots for me were of their keeper and a couple of their defenders just before half time. They looked tired, and a little scared.
That was when I knew we had it.
The left back looked terrified of Theo in the second half, especially after the penalty. Theo, Cazorla and Wilshere (on his day) are probably the three players we have that defenders actually dread facing…
That’s what iv missed the last 3 months
Fantastic result! Being able to rest a view for the home leg is a potentially vital bonus
Nice. Hopefully that should help with bringing in some fresh players as well
3-0 to the Arsenal. That’s the Arsenal we know and love. More of this please lads!
regardless of the goal and the world-class (virtual) assist, it was rambo’s energy that was mindblowing about this performance – he was still sprinting down and challenging in the 93rd minute. That says something about his attitude. Keep it up Aaron!
Great. Loved ramsey and walcott!
Solid Giroud penalty. Him and Arteta should always be first choice for them.
Solid Giroud penalty. Him and Arteta should always be first choice for them.
Fenerbahce the worst team ive seen. I now wholly believe that arsenal will never do anything but languish in medocrity with walcott, giourd and podolski. Replacing these three now is a priority even over centre back and midfielder
how can people thumb this down and complain that we’re not competing for honors. no self respecting title aspiring team would consider any of those three as starters for a season campaign. walcott was anonymous in first half and was little better in a game where he should have been rampant causing all sorts of problems. a bench player is as good as it should get for him. the other two not worth mentioning. Lets buy proper class and raise the bar at arsenal
We’re not (at least I didn’t).
Thumbs down for putting out the tired idea that if we win it has to be because the other team is shit.
Its saying things like the player who got the assist for the first goal, and won the penalty for the third isn’t worth playing that loses you any credibility.
Its also the same thing that has left a bunch of our fans with egg on their faces for saying similar things about Aaron last year.
HAHAHAHAHAHAH
Walcott: 20+ goals
Giroud: 10+ goals
Podolski 10+ goals
No team in their right minds would consider three players chipping in for 50 goals in a campaign.
As a striker or winger you should always, ALWAYS score at least 30 goals per campaign.
Blogs, I don’t know what I’d do without you… followed the game live in class in Boston… if only our professor knew the whole class joined in and didn’t hear a word of what he said!
Good work!
As the saying goes; ‘A live blog is a terrible thing to waste’.
Thank you, Jeebus.
Yeah boy, nice to watch.
We are The Arsenal!
We are The Arsenal!
To all those ‘fans’ wanting us to lose tonight, where’s your fucking voice gone now. If you want to support a team that always loses I suggest you all get together and support my Saturday team.
Good win tonight, yes fenerbache were woeful, but we stayed calm. Job done
Jack looked better and better. Walcott’s First Touch is magnificent now.
And well, Ramsey -> Absolute class.
Too bad Gnabry and Sanogo didn’t see some injury time minutes.
probably the best full ninety minutes from the midfield of Wilshire, Ramsey, and rosicky have had together.
So far……….
It was great because they’d obviously been told that at least one of them had to stay back and cover the defence at all times. They switched, swapped, rotated and combined, and still kept us reasonably solid at the back. A vast improvement on Villa and very encouraging.
Great result and fair play to the boys for responding after Saturday.
Taking nothing away but was generally
surprised (and delighted) how shit Fenerbache were.
Two things occurred to me during the game –
1) The difference between Villa hustling and closing us down and Fenerbache dropping off us was massive and let us play. We need to learn to play against teams pressing us.
2) Unbelievably Dirk Kuyt has got uglier since leaving Liverpool.
Come on you reds! (Now spend some money!).
Those people who keep telling us we won because the opposition were shit should consider that making the other team look shit is part of what a good team does. Arsenal take the credit for making them look worse than they are.
3). (without disagreeing with 1 and 2 — especially 2). When we got fouled (like Kuyt treading on Jack’s ankle), the ref actually blew his whistle.