Arsenal: Szczesny, Debuchy, Chambers, Koscielny, Monreal, Arteta, Wilshere, Ramsey, Cazorla, Alexis, Giroud
Subs: Martinez, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Bellerin, Miquel, Campbell, Flamini, Rosicky
___
Arsenal secured a hard fought 0-0 against Besiktas in the first leg of their Champions League double-header in a scrappy game that peaked early and ended with a red card for Aaron Ramsey. Arsene Wenger’s men created few chances over the course of 90 minutes but will at least be proud of a clean sheet that stands them in good stead ahead of next week’s return game.
Pre-game
Nacho Monreal replaced Kieran Gibbs but aside from the Spaniard’s inclusion it was the same starting line-up that took to the Emirates pitch for Saturday’s win over Crystal Palace. Laurent Koscielny was deemed fit enough to start despite concerns over his Achilles.
First half
Slaven Bilic had promised his Besiktas side would take the tie to Arsenal from the off and it turned out he wasn’t lying. It took only four seconds for the Arsenal goal to come under threat as Demba Ba rattled the Gunners cross bar straight from kick-off with Wojciech Szczesny backtracking like a flailing 1995 David Seaman. Replays seemed to confirm the Pole got a hand on the ball but either way he was a lucky boy.
Buoyed by the early chance and vociferous support from a huge crowd the home side continued to dominate the early proceedings and ex-Chelsea man Ba threatened a second time on eight minutes with a flying volley that forced Szczesny into an acrobatic stop.
On a pitch more uneven than an acne-ridden teenage face, the Gunners struggled to string passes together in the centre of the pitch. They did though look dangerous playing a direct game. Olivier Giroud and Santi Cazorla each squandered good chances as Alexis forced the home side onto the back foot with his quick footwork and surging runs down the right wing.
In the Arsenal defence Calum Chambers enjoyed a tremendous opening 35 minutes repeatedly carrying the ball out of defence to make incisive passes and time after time getting the better of Ba who resorted to picking the ball up deep and running at the Gunners backline. The only blot on his copybook was a slip a minute before half time that freed Ba to run at goal; thankfully for the 19-year-old the striker could only screw his shot wide.
Seemingly more wary of the threat posed by Aaron Ramsey, Besiktas afforded Jack Wilshere lots of time on the ball in the centre of the park and as the half wore on the England international grew in confidence. After a period of smart possession he nearly grabbed himself a goal only for his curled effort to bend too close to Tolga in the Turks’ goal.
Just before the break Arsenal should have taken the lead. Ramsey dinked a superb pass over the home side’s defence and Giroud only needed to make the merest contact to guide the ball past the keeper. Somehow he totally fluffed his lines and the opportunity was lost.
Second half
The second half started as frantically as the first. Aaron Ramsey turned down an early opportunity to shoot from the edge of the Besiktas box and moments later Jack Wilshere took a frustratingly heavy touch just as he looked primed to fire at goal. The Turks responded with a swift break and Olcay Şahan looked destined to break the deadlock only for his shot to bend wide of Szczesny’s outstretched left hand and the post.
The ferocious pace was broken by an injury to Mikel Arteta who appeared to turn an ankle under a heavy challenge. He was replaced by Mathieu Flamini on 50 minutes. Ramon Motta and Aaron Ramsey were both booked in swift succession when play resumed and Flamini soon followed. The Frenchman really does have an insatiable appetite for yellow cards. On 65 minutes a lunge by Monreal ensured he too joined them in the book.
Ramsey and Alexis combined well to free Debuchy in the right channel but despite a half decent pull back by the right-back Giroud couldn’t find the space to trouble the keeper. It was Alexis’ last meaningful action before he was replaced by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on 72 minutes.
As the game edged towards its scrappy conclusion Arsenal made things even tougher for themselves by going down to ten men. With 10 minutes left Aaron Ramsey was turned in the centre of midfield by sprightly ex-Gunner Oğuzhan Özyakup and the Welshman instinctively pulled back his opponent. It looked a little soft but it wasn’t surprising to see the referee flash a second yellow. Our Welsh Jesus walked and he’ll miss next week’s second leg.
Despite being down to ten men Arsene Wenger’s men continued to attack and Oxlade-Chamberlain nearly grabbed a very late winner. Jinking in off the right side of the box the substitute found space to smash a left foot shot goalwards which Tolga Zengin palmed onto the post.
The Gunners saw out four minutes of injury-time, notable only for Slaven Bilic being sent to the stands, to secure a creditable draw on a tough night in Istanbul.
NIL NIL? Nine days without a trophy?
WENGER OUT!
(warning: post may contain sarcasm)
No Rambo? Oh no. I suppose Ozil will just have to do
shouldn’t those be square brackets? :]
No.
[Yes]
Ok! Ok! Ok!
Come to the emirates!
Come to a better pitch!
Hats off to our defence!
And ramsey you silly boy, hope you score a double at the weekend to make up for your err!
“Why did you do that” – Wenger!
I still don’t like giroud leading the line
there is no need to gloss over this, Giroud leading the line this season will be our downfall. Compare him with Ba last nite and d difference was stark. Any average striker will score loads of goals in this team with a bit more directness and mobility. Eah time he gets the ball he looks for cute 1/2s with his back to goal. That wont cut it this season and am sick of making excuses for him. starting campbell there will help my blood pressure come down a bit. And yes, thumb me down all u want but let me… Read more »
Hmmm….i wonder what will have happened if the difference between Giroud and Ba was Tangaryen….or Lannister…(anything but poor house STARK….they keep/kept losing their heads)
Yeah, I mean, he only got a goal and an assist in ~160 minutes on the field in the world cup, plus 13 goals and 5 assists in 33 games last year. Obviously he’s a total scrub. Of course, you’re the type of individual who can’t be bothered to type out “the”, so we’ll take your contribution for what it’s worth.
Terrible performance in midfield and up-front. Arteta is a concern for me, he looks like he’s lost an extra yard of pace and stamina.
I agree, Arteta was almost invisible from 50th minute on. Özil the whole match.
Hmmm. Strong the sarcasm, in this one is.
Please I have been asking this question to the very optimistic fans
What has Arsenal done this season to prevent another 6-0 trashing by Chelsea?
Meanwhile,Chelsea now has Fabrepass to make it 8-0
Giroud is no answer to Arsenal’s scoring woes
Why is No one on Arsenal board seeing this ?
We have not really brought anyone in reinforcements this season, apart from Sanchez. we just replaced equally good players we had.
Tell me one good reason why this won’t be the worst Arsenal season in 9 years!? Where is Fatgooner to back me up
Sometimes it’s honestly appalling how upset some people get and decide that everything is going down the tube. You honestly think this year is worse than 2010?
No, please, no!! Almunia vs Birmingham, aarrrgghhh!!!
Jyst going to hijack this comment for anyone reading tomorrow. Stop scrolling, go make yourself a cuppa and pass the time with something else.
What lies beneath is embarrassing.
But now I’m intrigued as to what is so embarrassing.
The 13 year old’s mentality of now slagging the players, especially the favorite targets for abuse, picking up where the trolls left off before the FA cup win.
It’s a good thing Ozil didn’t play this match.
It is simply pathetic. Self proclaimed supporters being worse than ‘pundits’ and opposition supporters.
I Should’ve taken your advice Unnecessarily. But it is like footage of an accident.
Scrolled out of curiosity Unnecessarilystupid – will trust your wisdom in future ! . . .
OK, add one more who now regrets taking the advice and diving into that cesspool.
I just don’t get how little comment there is about the impact of that utterly shit pitch on a side set up to play one-touch football on the ground.
The number of times I saw a pass bobble off the surface, or slow down unexpectedly, it seems to have been done to disrupt the way we play. Yet despite that and everything else, they still couldn’t beat us at home.
Genuinely can believe how good Chambers is.
I also don’t understand how we managed to find that out.. considering he hardly played for Southampton last season..
We must of sent scouts round to his house to watch him playing football in his garden or something.
Calum Chambers. Fucking. Amazing.
Chambers in DM when the BFG comes back!!
That man… 19? Ledge.
Indeed, he was immense tonight. In complete contrast to Giroud, who probably had his worst game in an Arsenal shirt. I was hoping Wenger might bring him off and give Sanchez a go upfront, he surely would have done better. Cazorla’s also been ineffective recently in that wide role. Could be due to a lack of fitness or an immobile Giroud, but surely he should be playing as a no. 10, at least while Ozil isn’t ready. Also feel Ramsey is better when playing deeper in a 4-2-3-1 rather than a 4-1-4-1 as he can run onto goal unmarked. Would… Read more »
One fucking substitution when we were 0-0 and looked more like conceding than scoring. I honestly dont know what goes in Wenger’s mind sometimes. Ramsey looked sluggish right from the start of the second half. No wonder he made an error of judgement. When you are tired, you do silly things. We could have easily got Rozza and Campbell for Ramsey and Cazorla respectively between 60-70 mins.
And I suppose you were wanting Ramsey to be subbed in the game on the weekend as well?
Hindsight..
Giroud is fuck and shit
A bit slow maybe, but definitely not fuck and shit.
correction – your post is.
Just think hes not close to match fitness.
Allow me to translate:
Giroud had a mare by any standards. He’s clearly not fit but it’s hard not to be frustrated with him at times especially when he loses his head and spends more time focusing on his battle with the CB than the ball. And regardless of the fact that we’ve spent well, Giroud is a good player and there’s fuck all out there, it’s hard not to pine for a world class striker.
Was his first start. He did hold it up a few times.
What does Campbell need to do to get a game?
And why wait til the last minute to bring on Rosicky. Santi was again ineffective along with a few others.
Why not change it sooner, especially when we have someone like Rosicky on the bench??
His is the one gripe I can get on board with. I’d have done that sub as soon as Ramsey went, if not far sooner.
Exactly. It was clear what we were doing wasn’t working and Wenger should have made 2 subs at 60-65 mins. Chambo, who made an instant impact, or Campbell should have been brought on early to replace an ineffective Cazorla and give us some pace on that wing. While it was also clear that Giroud was having a shocker, so he should have been subbed with Sanchez/Campbell given a go upfront.
I partly disagree. He’s definitely not shit, but he is fuck
-ing handsome.
-ing handsome maidens in hotelrooms.
you need to understand that for a person who likes one touch flicks and passes the pitch just do him any favors. It is hard to play on such a lousy pitch. Makes you wonder if arsenal should train in lousier pitches before such matches..
Didnt do*
Yup… You can polish a turd all you want… it’s still a turd.
How many tries til you figured that one out? :0
Less tries than it takes Giroud to score and it took you to come up with that gem.
Stop polishing Windy, I’m sure you’re a gem too.
Eh… Could have been worse…
Yeah ‘n’ on your laptop could have become Netflix instead of news.arseblog.com, doing my fucking head in
Really? You thought it was that bad?
1. Didn’t lose.
2. Deciding leg at home.
3. Didn’t lose
Did I mention we didn’t lose, and Ox almost stole the win for us in Turkey without key players on a shite pitch with the return leg at home?
If you think it couldn’t get worse you might consider some relaxation therapy.
Giroud is useless, wtf! Giroud did it again. Get lost
Wilshere was pretty poor…fuck it they were all bad and somehow we didn’t lose. Can only go up from here.
Ah fuck off, what do you expect, 5-0 every match? Big effort on a shit pitch, hostile conditions and a cunt ref. #COYG
We played poorly but it wasn’t for a lack of want…we are just missing some match sharpness especially Giroud.
I actually thought he had a better game than most tonight. Definitely an improvement on the Palace game.
Giroud was as poor as i’ve seen him shame Sanogo was injured as his energy and work rate would have perhaps helped in the last 20 mins. Taking into account the intimidating atmosphere plus the pitch acting as a massive leveller i’m pretty happy. Nothing they did is going to cause me any sleepless nights between now and next wednesday oh and ze Germans are back. Been so impressed with Chambers he might be an option for games against teams with pacy strikers. I love BFG and he’s obviously still number one but this kids a great option to have… Read more »
Sanchez used to cross to messi and co now he’s crossing to a bambi on ice.
Giroud can be so frustrating his teammates might leave the club just to play behind a proper striker…
I think you are confusing having something to say with having to say something.
Honestly, what a brainless comment.
hahaha definately gona be saying that all week.
Giroud´s not good enough. Never has been. Could never win the league or CL with him up front. Be realistic Gooners.
Ref was horrific today. Ramsey won the ball on the edge of their box without touching anyone and ref gives a foul. Was never a 2nd yellow in a million years too.
Yeah. He was pretty bad
But given that the whole team had a stinker I don’t think it made that much of a difference to the result
We were shit as well 🙂
Hear hear!
And then that thug who kneed our Welsh Jesus in the nuts. No card, nothing! What kind of refereeing is that???
It’s called playing to the crowd 😉
The most telling thing for me was less than a minute later Jack gets taken down, with no card.
You can see him mouthing on the video, arguing it was exactly the same thing as what just got Ramsey sent off; and was right.
I know everyone’s gonna have a go at him, and that usually means that a load of others will defend him, but Giroud was so, so bad tonight. Probably his worst performance for us, and that really is saying something.
I thought Cazorla was far worse. At least Giroud was stood where he was meant to be stood even if he was messing everything up. Cazorla couldn’t even do that. I don’t often say this but I would have rather we played with 10.
Agreed. Not sure why Alexis was first subbed off, he looked the most dangerous. Should have been Santi instead
Cazorla was useless. Giroud was a donkey. Worrying.
Chambers and Alexis were our outstanding players today.
Alexis was gassed and was being saved for injury. What we have we hold, more or less. But yeah, I’d have subbed Santi off earlier. Bad day at the office.
Anyone regretting not selling Cazorla and signing Cesc?
I really hope its not a decision that comes back to bite this season…
God almighty, do stop reading the Daily Mail.
You plan on playing Cesc on the left side, then?
Jeez, enough with the DM word, there’s no need to swear…
His cross to Sanchez was literally the only half decent thing he did all game. We could really use a half decent replacement for him when he’s having these off-days.
Giroud had some real stinkers last season. I’m waiting for him to get his match fitness back, but it’s games like this that make you lose patience.
Am not a big fan of Giroud and I know he isnt fit yet. But I believe that even when fit he’s still shit. He will score a brace against Westham then resume his shit status against any notable opponent. What I don’t get is how people are impressed by his rubbing his arse on other players in the name of hold up play then making useless flicks that will only work thrice a season. If no striker comes in, I have a feeling either Campbell or Sanogo will dislodge him from the team by January. Hate Sanogo all you… Read more »
Remember this post. Barring injury, You will be wrong.
You can make all the assertions you like, but here are the facts: in 2012-13 in the league, CL, FA Cup, and league cup, Giroud made 47 appearances, 15 of them as a sub. He scored 17 goals and passed for 10 assists. That’s NPG+A per game rate of 0.57, which is good. in the 2013-14 EPL he got 15 non-penalty goals and 8 assists in 36 starts, plus there were 3 goals and one assist in 1 start and 4 substitute appearances in the FA cup. So when you say he’s “shit” it is clear that you are mistaken.… Read more »
The Welsh Jesus he might be but even Ramsey was frustrating tonight. Seemed to take one too many touches when he got the ball and tried to take too much on, especially early in the second half when he had the goal in front of him and could have just belted it.
Ramsey became effective when he simplified his game. Now with everything coming off, he has started complicating matters again. When a simple pass out is available he takes an extra touch and gets caught. Even in front of the goal he should have let one fly. Instead tried dribbling yesterday. Not a good sign. I am sure someone will point this out. He is young will surely learn. A lot will depend on his form. So he better sort things out quickly.
That sir is the most accurate description of what Ramsey is upto. If he means his apology he will simplify it again, if not, a lot of people are going to be unpleasantly surprised by his performances this season.
0-0 result not a disaster, especially having to go play in Turkey, but ugh that was hard to watch. Pretty obvious to see why Sanogo started last Saturday. Everybody seemed a little off today. Curious as to why AW didn’t use final sub a little earlier seeing as we were a man down, but maybe that’s just me. And what a beautiful dive for Ramsey’s second yellow. On to Everton this Saturday, keep the faith and COYG!
Ramsey back to human. Trying too much
Way too much. Cazorla too I felt.
Ozil is one of those players you really miss in games like this. Would have just kept things simple and made the right passes.
Should’ve easily had an assist, which would have been a decent outcome for a rare average performance..
That dink to Giroud was fantastic, his miss to connect to it was appalling.
Did giroud connect a pass?
I saw a 1-2 with Wilshere in the first half and an underhit one to Ramsey when a decent ball would have been a goal in the second half. Anyone see any others.
Did Jack? Did Santi? Did anyone?
Chambers is the bees knees – bossed Demba Ba no end.
Kos and Chambers both competing for whose pocket Ba would end up in. Chambers old head on young shoulders!
Santi went missing. Wilshere went missing. Sanchez is shit. Possession in final third is ridiculous
Sanchez was the only one making anything happen in the final third for most of the match. Support play for him was atrocious though.
Not sure which Sanchez you’re talking about, because Alexis is pretty fucking amazing.
The team is struggling…. I mean the opposition finished third in Turkey. I feel we are a bit light. We need a proven goal scorer and a central defender more than that DM
Olivier Giroud so poor,I sincerely believe we need another top quality striker to our attack.
Frustrating match… But considering that we were quite frankly piss poor on the second half and lacked a large amount of match fitness and that it’s an away game, I’ll take the 0-0. Need to get our shit together for this weekend and let’s just hope that Arteta’s injury isn’t too long term cause we quite frankly can’t afford to be losing so many players to injury 1 week into the season… Oh and what can I say about Chambers? Dare I say his signing has overshadowed both Alexis and Debuchy. Incredibly composed for a 19 year old who isn’t/wasn’t… Read more »
Things I learned tonight.
. 0-0 isnt the worst result in the world.
. Were not match fit for shit
. Giroud is not clinical
. Cazorla is defo not ready
. The ox Is a beast and deserving of a starting spot
. We need another big midfielder
Oh and 3 games in and were now missing Gibbs, Arteta, and Diaby. Like fuck is our squad gonna stay fit. I think I need to stop watching every game, get so frustrated watching our build up play. Cmon arsenal, you got this!!
Before we all go mad, that was a good result and we should win easily at home.
And Giroud is not shit. He didn’t have his best game but he is a decent player. We need to stop doing a ” Ramsey” on him. He has his limitations but does a good job. Should probably have gone off tonight though.
COYG
It wasn’t a good result, we were horrendous, had ten men and we still drew, that is how bad Besiktas are.
Wait, having ten men is a disadvantage isn’t it? It’s not easy to win in Turkey.
That’s my point. We had ten men and we still drew. This shows how bad Besiktas are, they’re only in this round because Fenerbahce got themselves banned. Anything but a win is a bad result.
The comparison to Ramsey isn’t correct. Ramsey was coming back from a horrific injury. Giroud is also turning 28 soon.
Doing a ‘Ramsey’ is moaning about a player who was once awesome with a bright future. What is happening with Giroud is people getting tired of ‘hold up play and flicks’ and expecting a striker to score goals, which he can’t do against a real football team. His 22 goals last season were majorly against bottom table teams. He should up hos game or better still get sold to Burnely. He is Bendtner/Chamakh with French nationality.
Giroud cant score cant keep the ball cant dribble cant pass. He can only moan and fall down. Let him rot at the bench. Buy new striker or play campbell!
I bet he can use apostrophes and commas though.
Giroud is simply useless, can’t finsh, can’t run, can’t dribble, can’t head, can’t pass, can’t push off defenders
every single time the ball went to his feet we lost possesion
He’s not useless. But unfortunately he’s not good enough to be our first choice striker. Would be ideal as a second choice but we lack the genuine quality we’ve been blessed with in this position over the years. Should be a priority! One injury to Sanogo tonight showed our lack of depth in this position too.
Ox to start at everton?
Remember the Emirates cup when Ox, Campbell and Sanogo played?? Pace!!! Sweet, glorious pace!!!
Apart from Alexis, it looked like we were wading through shit at times tonight in attack. Santi looks worryingly slow lately. Reminded me of Freddie Ljungberg in his last season with us. Hope it’s just lack of fitness.
Rant over and it is 4.42am good night guys
folks, all we need to remember is that tonight’s opposition was led by a bloke who cheated Laurent Blanc out of a home World Cup final appearance.
Amidst all the doom and gloom, let’s take a minute to appreciate Sanchez. He was really good.
I wonder how much he appreciates he fellow teammate in CF though?
He must be in the locker room thinking how Fabregas was trolling him having advised him to come to Arsenal.
Indeed, he had many moments of brilliance. He just lacked options and movements from the rest of the team. He’s just left a team with Messi up front and Neymar on the wing running into space compared to an immobile Giroud and Cazorla.
Referee was abysmal – proper bollocks. Literally flabberghasted about how poor he was.
Giroud looked disinterested, that’s a worry, but still willing to give him time. Not quite sure why Campbell wasn’t given a shot there, though – HFB just looked awful tonight.
Still, given the hostile nature and the fact we’re a few men down, I’d say 0-0 isn’t that bad a result. We need to give them a hiding when they come to us, though.
I hate the world cup. No preseason for half our first team is showing. Wilshere didn’t do anything wrong but he did not offer anything going forward. Sanchez improved in the second half. Debuchy and chambers are solid signings. If chambers plays DM then its going to be awesome.
Chelsea and Real Madrid didn’t have any of these post world cup problems though
even their Germans started in the official games
The ox needs to play from the start. Well done lads.
Well put without the whinging. Cheers!
Sanchez played quite well I thought – all our best plays were channeled through Sanchez over on the right hand side.
Ramsey and Wilshere playing together in the same midfield at this point in time however, seems like a recipe for disaster!
They both want to rage forward, but I also wonder the same about Wilshere and Santi. They seem to get clotted up a lot.
Things getting thick, but am so sure we’re winning the home tie.
Ooooh, and even though am happy for Oghuzan for making it big, I hate him right now.
Thought most people who commented here have sense. Just seen someone write Sanchez is shit. Oh dear.
Yes, Giroud was poor tonight though. Would’ve liked to have seen Campbell given a run out tonight
Giroud didn’t seem interested at all. Instead of Sanches, he should have been subbed.
Unlucky for the Ox to hit the post in the end. The whole game had a feeling that we were out of match practice. Too many fouls committed, a silly red card for Ramsey and quite a few wasted chances.
The defending was too deep, IMO and we let them dominate the middle for quite sometime.
No worries, we should be easily through in the second leg, with the Germans coming back.
at least Chambers was a beast (again)
probably one of the so few positives from the game
Well the only good thing was not getting beaten – did not enjoy that match much!!! Glimmers of good play from Sanchez, chambers and ox… beginning to wonder if jack will ever step up and yes we need three players to compete – defender, defensive mid and a class striker
Jack needs to stop running directly into a mob of five defenders trying to replay the glory of the Norwich goal every time he gets the ball and play it to space.
Simplify, but vary the game, Jack! He’ll find his potential then.
Team seems to struggle to click consistently, hopefully this will get better as more players come back and as fitness in the squad gets better. I still have nagging worries about the bedding in of the new players, but at this point all that matters is results and a 0-0 away with ten men is not a bad result.
Worried about new signings bedding in? You are kidding, right? Chambers, Alexis and Debuchy were easily the best players on the pitch today!
Yes but I’m looking at how they gel with the team as a whole, they’re playing well (and I am glad for it) but the team as a whole lacks cohesion. I recall Wenger saying once that he was wary of introducing too many new players too quickly because it can affect team chemistry. Chambers looks a real prospect, Alexis is tireless running, and Debuchy looks an upgrade on Sagna, but as a team were still struggling for fluidity. I’m hoping this is just down to early season rustiness and not the symptoms of some deeper malaise.
Debuchy was solid for the full 90. Jack and Ox started to show glimpses of good things to come too. Chambers looks so comfortable at centre half – master signing.
Haven’t seen Arsenal play this flat with the ball in back-to-back games in a long time.
Need to wake up at Everton. Thank goodness our defense and keeper has been solid.
giroud was just a tad better than useless
lets be honest.. Giroud was just as bad as Santi and everyone else in that midfleid tbh… we will do them at home though… Ox to start please?
Santi was not bad… he wasnt great either! Debuchy/Sanchez were good and debuchy was very solid motm.. chambers and koscielny were tidy. Giroud held us back by loosing posesiion everytime we attacked and gave him the ball. WE NEED A NEW STRIKER URGENTLY. And Sanogo is not the answer!
But with a better pitch at the Emirates we will win the second leg. So calm down people. We are the Arsenal!
Watch it again and see how many times Santi, Jack, Ramsey, and Alexis gave the ball away before you try to pin it all on Giroud.
That said, I thought Giroud was not at his best, and Alexis was easily one of our best on the pitch.
Monreal best player today followed by chmabers.
Dont want to sound pessimistic but this performance against Everton and we are done for. I am sure its because Ozil is not there. It is overlooked but he holds the attack togethdr
Decent result, should polish them off next week. However I think the last two gnaws have shown that we need a new striker. Giroud and Sanago are simply not up to it.
Yes Walcott is back soon but expecting Alexi to play up front is dicey. We need a Def Mid, it’s been said to death but we are still physically lacking and shirt. City have Toure, Fernando and Fernandinho and Chelsea have Matic and Ramires,,,,we have hobbits!
Decent result tonight, Everton is a tough game on Saturday.
BTW – Chambers looked mustard
I think we need to give Sánchez more time through the middle, Giroud is clearly still not ready, and then play The Ox on the wings.
Debuchy was poor. Usually teams target Monreal, but a lot of Besiktas’s best attcks came down our right: in the first half when Ba cut inside Koscielny, and early in the second when some cunt had a curling shot that just went wide.
Besides his slip, Chambers was very good again. Probably my man of the match
They attacked our right because that is the only side we pushed forward on leaving space behind. Monreal stayed back, and they were avoiding Kos. Their plan was to attack that side knowing we are horribly right sided right now, especially without Gibbs pushing up.
With Ozil back I see him and Alexis interchanging a lot. If Cazorla is also on, then we have a totally fluid creative attacking trio. If Walcott or Ox is on, speed kills.
Wtf was this? Poor, poor performance. Giroud still on holiday? And Santi… no comment.
Also the ref was clearly influenced by the partisan crowd. Never seen so much whistling over an away team completing 3 passes. Will be interesting to see how much energy besiktas can summon when they play at our place…
Can’t help but think that some of our rivals would have totally bossed that game :-/
Also watch tomorrow’s headlines tell us how much better cesc is to Ramsey again. Fuel for their witch hunt fires….
There was a moment in the second half when Sanchez found some space outside the box and passed it to Giroud who was being pressed. I knew before it reached him that he could do nothing with the ball to create his own space. He didn’t and it just sums Giroud up. Games like this dont suit him as a striker because you have to create your own space and he can’t do it. Open space teams like Norwich are fine for Giroud but he isn’t good for anyone else. We need another striker for the big games and Giroud… Read more »
Woah we got a draw away from home with 10 men in the champions league, what’s with all the negativity! Think some rotation required for everton santi and a few others dont look fit yet. We should be fine at home and with ozil BFG and podolski we will start to look like ourselves again soon. COYG
Oh yeah santi sucked for the second game in a row!!! Was glad to see rosicky just hope he plays Saturday
Man, that guy kneeing Ramsey in the family jewels… lovely team, Besiktas.
Given we went down a man, 0-0 is a decent result. Given that Besiktas are obviously shit, save for Ba, one might have hoped for better.
But we’ll do them in London.
A few minutes later Debuchy returned the favor.
I don’t condone the nasty side of the game, But, having another player that takes no shit is ok by me. Instead of the Bac whiny face he makes his statement.
I dont see how sanchez will play as a stricker in future. Wenger has always preferred tall strikers. Giroud Sanogo Van Pudding Adebitch and King Henry. See any pattern
At this rate, if Arteta is out injured for long, Chambers @ defensive midfield sounds like a mouth watering prospect…
Carvalho/Khedira sounds much better
Khedira isnt a dm and have you actually seen carvahlo play?