Jack Wilshere says Arsenal will treat next Wednesday’s Champions League qualifier second leg with Besiktas as a ‘cup final’ as they look to secure safe passage to the group stage for the 17th successive season.
Recognising that the prestige and financial reward of playing in Europe’s premiere competition can help lure the best players to the Emirates, the England international noted:
“We always want to be in the Champions League and to attract players who can be in the Champions League.
“We know how big a game it is, and we will treat it as a cup final.”
The Gunners laboured on a poor pitch against the backdrop of vociferous home support but ensured they escaped Istanbul with a vital clean sheet despite the late dismissal of Aaron Ramsey.
“It was a hostile atmosphere,” reflected the 23-year-old. “I think we battled well and showed a different side to our game, especially at the end when we went down to 10 men, it was tough, so we did well.
“They are not going to just turn up (at the Emirates Stadium) and throw all of their hard work away. It is not going to be an easy game and we can’t take it for granted.
“They are going to come full of confidence from their performance in the first game and we are going to have to start how they did and take the game to them.”
On a night when most of Arsenal’s starting XI failed to click into gear, young Calum Chambers again shone bright.
Making his European debut, the 19-year-old never looked overawed by his surroundings and kept a calm head to mute the effectiveness of Demba Ba.
Acknowledging a big night in his career, Chambers told Arsenal Player: “It’s a fantastic experience for me at a stadium like that and a crowd like that. All the boys put in such a good effort and I think we deserved a 0-0, if not more.
“You’ve just got to stay switched on the whole time and stay focused for 90 minutes. At anytime they [Besiktas] can create chances and score. It’s another good experience for me playing against players of such quality.”
Arseblog News can’t help but be impressed by Chambers’ assured start in an Arsenal shirt and it would appear you dear readers agree. You’ve voted him Man of the Match against Man City, Crystal Palace and again last night…not bad for a back-up right back with little game time to his name.
Naturally, you’re not a fickle bunch…so when he does eventually make a mistake befitting his inexperience and tender years you’ll no doubt give him a pat on the back and a few words of encouragement.
So far Calum Chambers is the best signing of the summer of any club.
The 1st half performance from him was quite simply sensational.
In fact, I was a bit confused as to how one player could dominate in the air, in tackles, interceptions and playing out of defence quite so well.
If that had been Kompany the pundits would be jizzing all over the place just like I was.
Maybe too soon, but based on his calmness, spirit, reading of the game and passing, I would not be too upset if we put him in as a DM now or in the future….
Fuck, I am so excited for the season!!
Man U spent pretty much spent the same on Rojo as Chambers.
Guarantee you that Chambers represent value in what we spent vs what United spent on Rojo.
Chambers looks like a beast in the making. Fabregas for me takes the best summer signing, as much as it pains me. I get why we didn’s sign him; we didn’t need him (We needed Alexis, who could easily out do any of the other signings come the end of the season). Unfortunately Chelsea very much did need Fabregas and why there wasn’t more of a clamour for him I have no idea. He cost the same as Luke Shaw ffs. Still, we have Mesut Ozil. Mesut Ozil. I am sure he will justify Arsene’s faith in him and prove… Read more »
I’m glad I put Chambers in my Sun Dream Team. I’m absolutely effing seething that Stevie Wonder who does the player ratings has given him a 5 in both the Palace and Besiktas games! Unbelievable.
Stevie must be related to John “Cunt” Terry!!!
Calum has really showed character on that pitch last night. Loved how he had Ba in his pocket that first half.
Definitely nervous about that 2nd leg. Arsenal isn’t playing with much form and I’ve noticed they haven’t really been too organized losing their shape consistently compared to last season.
COYG!!!
While I agree Young Collum was great I don’t think Ba was in anybody’s pocet in the first half, rather he was quite dangerous. But great game from Collum anyway
Callum. And yes, he played very well today.
It’s actually Calum with one “L”
True, Ba was very dangerous. Genuinely think he’s a quality striker, surely Mourinho’s ego is the only reason he didn’t stay at Chelsea. Suits their game way more than Torres and is just a far superior forward overall. Pace, strength, technique, anticipation, everything. I just really like him for some reason. That said, Calum did largely a good job of shackling him. May not have had him in his pocket, but it was an admirable job considering the circumstances (first European game, a high-stakes knockout tie, pressure-cooker stadium). I’m slightly scared about the return leg, but you have to think… Read more »
Let’s just say it: Arsenal are a hard watch and they have been for the past two seasons. No fluidity in the midfield. We desperately need a better holding midfielder.
Your cut-out-and-keep Chambers rant for his first mistake/less than perfect performance:
“He’s fucking useless! We haven’t had such a shit right back/centre back since Eboue/Lhuzny/Stepanovs/Squillaci/Cygan, why did Wenger ever let Sagna/Jenks/Vermaalen go, why didn’t we buy Samba/Ferdinand/Williams/Tutti-Frutti, they’re great on Football Manager/FIFA14!!!111!!1!!!!”
etc etc
TO FEW CAPS FOR A REAL RANT!!!!
leave the horse out of it
Tutti Fruitti does have 89 OVR though…
That last part, hmm, good luck with that!
I am sure we will support this young lad through thick and thin. I can’t believe he wasn’t a regular starter in Saints side. Just shows that Wenger can see something special in players that others just can’t see.
campbell for striker
Even though he seemed to once again come under some criticism I thought Jack showed some signs of coming into some form. He played a couple of slick one-twos and put in a huge amount of effort throughout.He may even have had another or created another couple of chances if Giroud had of turned up. On a side note I hope we a change back to the 4-2-3-1 formation of last year now that the Germans are back. Though I like the additonal defensive cover of a deeper central midfield 3, I think players like Cazorla, Ramsey and Sanchez will… Read more »
I dont understand why Ba went to Besiktas. To good for that league imo. He never really got a chance at Chelsea, and only started 5 games and had some appearances off the bench as a sub, but still scored 5 goals which was way better goal per minute ratio than both Eto’o or Torres. He also scored alot for Newcastle in his first season, and in his last season for Newcastle he only had 19 games but scored 13 goals. Mourinho whined about not having a goalscorer all of last season, and yet he kept his most clinical and… Read more »
Completely agree Moxxi. Can only think that cuntface Maureenho just refused to entertain the idea of selling him to us. He’d rather take crappy money from Turkey than be shown to have been wrong by selling him to a PL team (for which he’d have been massively fired up to score a few against Chelski).
Oh, and did I mention that John Terry is a cunt?
Maybe it was the NOT scoring of those 3 big chances you mentioned which put people off…
He wanted playing time, and not everyone wants to play in the premier league despite all the money thrown their way. turkey is an awesome place for football.
Tell me again how Shaw recieved more plaudits than Chambers
I disagree that the return leg is a cup final, you can’t lose a cup final with a score draw, we CAN lose this with a score draw, one away goal could make this tie very very difficult indeed. We seemed incapable of breaking down their pretty average defence for most of the game, if they score early, we could be screwed!
I would like to see Ox, Poldi and Campbell get a start!
No worries we’ll smash em on a proper pitch with a proper ref.
A Wilshere article we’re all talking about Chambers. A measure of his excellent start.
Chambers was awesome. The Sun gave him a 5 in their ratings, so if you didn’t have a reason to think they were a joke before, you do now.
I read that, rediculous!
The Sun is a comic. No, wait that’s being unfair to the Beano.
Yes Chambers is great, but let’s not get carried away with the “best signing of any club” statements. I’m more excited about another signing of our own club, but of course Alexis hasn’t shown all his prowess yet. On that note (or is it irrelevant), I know I will get a lot of thumbs down but I still can’t get over the Fabregas in a Chelsea shirt thing. I’m hoping to wake up from a bad dream and that he’s come back to us. There is absolutely no way anybody can convince me that we shouldn’t have signed him. He… Read more »
It’s over. Time to move on.
Was over a few seasons ago when he left, to still harbor feelings now is just ridiculous
I’m not convinced that is the real Fabregas. I’m pretty sure judging by the receding hairline that perhaps Roman has engineered an evil Cesc clone in some unused Soviet laboratory from the cold war days that he acquired after the break up of the Soviet Union. After hearing about the Barca DNA stuff Roman was like sweet i’ve got lab that can clone that shit. Pique and Puyol probably feel like a right pair of cunts now that the real Cesc is being kept against his will in a Siberian Gulag because of them mouthing off about DNA all the… Read more »
hahah im picturing roman say “ive got lab” in this russian accent da.
I think the amount of thumbs down is a bit toppy. I know we didn’t want him back and all that but on an emotional level it does jar to see him in cuntish blue. Logically I can see we are more than well stocked in that department but even so………Tell you what though, the onus is really on Ozil now to show what he’s made of this season – or the press will have a field day slagging us off for not re-signing Fabregas.
I have a mixture of sadness and fear in seeing him in a Chelsea shirt. And I think any fan who says otherwise is kidding themselves.
Sadness for his soul, and fear of his ability.
Still, if I were a fan of some other, inevitably lesser, club i’d also fear Ozil.
Sometimes from the perspective of adoration this fact gets forgotten.
Lukaku should fit into Chambers’ pocket quite nicely on Saturday.
Chambers might not play. Per is back.
Chambers to sub for Arteta?
Chambers to fill in for Koscielny, more likely – Koscielny was limping after the match, too.
Chambers better then shaw!!!!
HA HA!
chambers better than cunt*terry
So javi Martinez is injured gor the best part of this season and they want a similar player. And Khedira happens to be available not to mention German. So they will go for him and if they do we got no chance.we have to move before them if we do want him
“similar player”
they both play football in the middle of the pitch somewhere
Lukaku has something he didnt last season. Pressure of expectation and price tag. Could work against him
let’s try not to go 2-0 down in the first 10 minutes of this one, eh? 😉
Chambers has been a revalation. Arsene really snagged a special kid here. Unbelievable composure for someone so inexperienced at CB. He gets better each game. The way he reads the game I can definitely see him at Dm upon the return of our BFG Treebeard Ent.
It doesn’t really matter to me whether chambers has a bad game soon. He just needs to stay mentally strong enough to forget about it and put in composed performances a majority of the time. I think the best qualities of koscielny and mertesacker are that they can both stink the place out one game and come back the next and rectify their mistakes. Look at the players that didn’t do so well at arsenal and i cant say the same thing.
I wasn’t really that worried about our qualification until all these rumors about “going big” for a signing if we make it to the CL started floating around by those who are supposed to know (but probably don’t know more than us mortals).
Silly season really is the worst kind of drug. You hate it, you don’t want it, it makes you feel bad, but you just can’t stay way from it.
I didn’t watch the game but I hear some asshole throw something at our Professor. I’d love to throw rock back at them but I’d be dead by now.
The dreaded away 0-0, always leaves you slightly in limbo going into the second leg. Hopefully playing on a pitch that didn’t host a monster-truck rally the night before should be the difference for us.
@wizardofozil, actually, according to the stats, the home team wins the tie 63% of the time when they play 0-0 away in european qualifyers. So I would’nt really call it a dreaded result
I hope that long term he plays centre back. The composure and reading of the game he already shows is special. In those respects he is way ahead of, say, Rio Ferdinand at his age, and even Mr Arsenal.
As a young player, he will have his moments, weaknesses will be exposed over time, and maybe for whatever reason he won’t hit the heights. But right now he has got “it” in spades, and he has potential to be truly world class.
Loved the last para.. couldn’t agree more !
There was one move in the game where Wilshere won the ball back deep in our own half (thought he was one of our better players on the night along with Chambers) and we played it around a bit and Jack gave a pass to Chambers that most CB’s would have just hoofed out for a throw in or straight to the opposing CB but he controlled it and played the perfect ball straight back to Jack 30 yards away through two Besiktas players from the edge of his own box, the composure and assurance he has is ridiculous for… Read more »
Way to put off pressure.
Fuck giroud he is absolute garbage
Agree Chambers is our signing of the season so far and possibly the best PL signing this year as well. Could definitely see him excelling in the DM role as well once BFG is back (so we MIGHT get away without signing a Khedira or Carvhalo). One thing we cannot afford to do is not to sign a top class CF. If we stick with Giroud and Sanogo the best we can hope for is another top 4 and a decent domestic cup run. No chance at all of PL or CL. To think we recently had the pleasure of… Read more »
Wenger said that we won’t sign another forward this summer even though I agree we desperately need a CF
Besiktas were much better than I thought they’d be last night, thankfully their finishing was as bad as ours (except the Ox who brought out a great save from their keeper). The second leg will be tough but I’m hoping ze germans will hit the ground running with the added swagger of being world champions, especially Özil who I’m really hoping will put in tremendous and consistent performances that’ll make me forget that Cesc is with those cunts cos I watched their match and even though it was against Burnley, he looked fucking awesome. The backline looked pretty good, especially… Read more »
I hope Ozil is hungry to play. Fans are going to compare him with Fabregas this season and I hope he wins that battle. Of course he will need pace upfront and runners in midfield like chelsea. Ramsey, ox, Sanchez and sanogo (he was more encouraging than Giroud) should start.
Note sure why the facile press wants to compare Ramsey with Fabregas.
We have both Ramsey AND Ozil and last I check, when Ozil came to us, he led La Liga in assists where Fabregas flattered to deceive.
We need a Cback despite Chambers good showing.
Manolas rumoured is good value for money.
Also could benefit from another striker but seems unlikely. would love us to grab Falcao should his ‘move’ to Madrid fall through.
Finally no need for DM. Arteta is gold standard. What we need is to move Chambers into midfield an audition for this role. Maybe we may pick up Rabiot as well, no harm with a bit of extra height and a good set up for Arteta’s impending retirement over the next season.
The things out of our control last night. The terrible state of the pitch. Two very harsh yellow cards on Rambo. Arteta getting injured. The things we could control. Our perfomance. Lot’s of huff but not much puff. As much as I love the HFB a world class striker would have buried some of those chances and we would have been going home 1:0 maybe 2:0 up. I hope we win the return leg. We will need better finishing on the night. Why not try Alexis up top for a change or is he only going to be used on… Read more »
Off topic maybe but now that we may be without Arteta for the Everton match, how about deploying Calum at DM while the BFG slots in at CB? We could do with proper shielding of our back four by a proper defensive minded midfielder as they’ll definitely be knackered after the trip to Turkey. Just my 2 cts worth…
We need a dm. Simple as that. We won’t get anywhere close to winning the league without one. If we manage to sign manolas, then the cb issue is sorted. He and chambers could make a great pairing. Watched chelsea’s match and cesc bossed the game. Chelshit is looking scary…they now have a better mid than we do with the addition of cesc. If we can buy a world class dm, them we might be able to go toe to toe with them. No need asking for a striker cos wenger is not signing one; besides cavani is the only… Read more »