Hello everyone.
So, yesterday we faced Fenerbahce in the first leg of the qalifiying round and the result exceeded the expectations of even the most hardcore and optimistic fans: a 3-0 win. An away win. This basically allows us to rest a few tired legs in the return fixture and give the youngsters a chance to play. Though we mustn't overdo it.
The manager stuck with the squad, that lost a game to Villa on Saturday, with the only change being Cazorla for Oxlade-Chamberlain. This surprised me, I have to say. While our goalkeeping situation wasn't that obvious (and in the end, Wenger was right to start Szczesny), Podolski seemed a natural choice to me, when it came to filling in for the Ox. Cazorla is a great player, no doubt about it, and when fully fit, should start every game, but that's not the case right now. The Spaniard looked off the pace for the second game running, while fully fit Podolski with a thorough pre-season under his belt sat on the bench right up to coming on as a late sub for Giroud. I've started wondering, whether there's some kind of rift going on between Poldi and the manager. Let's see, how things pan out on Saturday in terms of who starts the game, but the situation is weird, to say the least.
The first half of the game was pretty quiet. Arsenal dominated throughout, but had little to offer in the final third. Only Giroud's header and Ramsey's low effort come to mind, but both shots were off target. Fenerbahce, meanwhile, created nothing. I mean it. Not one dangerous attack, to say nothing of the shots.
The highlight of the first half, a rather nasty one at that, was an injury Koscielny suffered. Webo hit the Frenchman in the head in one of the episodes, and Koscielny needed extensive treatment, after which he left the pitch, to be replaced by Jenkinson. There were troubling reports of Kos having to go to hospital after such a serious knock but, thankfully, the injury is not as bad as it looked, and our centre-back flew back to London with the rest of the team. He may even be able to play in the return fixture. Fingers crossed, that's the case.
In the second half, we stepped it up considerably, with Ramsey and Rosicky being at the heart of our attacks. In the 51st minute, Ramsey created some space inside the box for Walcott to exploit and the Englishman timed his run perfectly. He then produced a low pass for Gibbs, who was waiting at the far post to make it 1-0.
Thirteen minutes later, the second goal came, this time Ramsey himself doing the job. He received the ball on the left flank, ran towards the box, before producing a low and powerful shot into the bottom corner. Demirel probably could have saved it, but who cares? 2-0.
The Gunners weren't thinking of backing off and compounded Fenerbahce's misery further still, when Walcott was bundled over in the box, after receiving a beautiful long pass from Cazorla. The ref pointed to the spot, Giroud stepped up and coolly sent the ball into the top corner. I gotta say, I haven't seen an Arsenal man scoring from the spot in such style since van Persie. Giroud's calm and assured looks before he took the kick filled me with confidence, that he will put it away. It's nothing to do with statistics, it's all about the attitude of the penalty taker. Giroud seemed like a completely confident guy. Thumbs up for such a goal.
The Frenchman now has two goals in two games and, while it's a bit early to make any conclusions, based on just two games, I think he has become more clinical, when it comes to converting chances. He only had two clear-cut ones in two games and both have been put away. He didn't score more, because he didn't have a chance to do that. We seem unable to provide him with good service at the moment but he hasn't become useless even in such an environment. He falls back and helps our midfielders by letting them bounce the play off of him and it shows. Just look at his interaction with Rosicky against Villa or the bond, between the Frenchman and Walcott during yesterday's match. Even if buy another striker, he'll still have a role to play in this team, something different to offer.
After this third goal the game was essentially over. Though a special mention must go to Szczesny, who was twice our saviour, by palming away dangerous shots from Emenike and Kadlec (I think), which saw he go full-stretch. A very good performance overall by the younger Pole, let's hope he can find some consistency now and deliver such performances week in, week out. A right decision from the manger to stick with Wojciech.
All in all, we saw a very controlled performance from Arsenal, something acknowledged by the boss:
The manger also said his transfer window opens now, and, knowing his love for securing late deals, I don't think, we should be surprised by such a statement. We have 10 days, before the window closes, now let's get some work done.
Back tomorrow, when we start looking ahead to the Fulham's game
So, yesterday we faced Fenerbahce in the first leg of the qalifiying round and the result exceeded the expectations of even the most hardcore and optimistic fans: a 3-0 win. An away win. This basically allows us to rest a few tired legs in the return fixture and give the youngsters a chance to play. Though we mustn't overdo it.
The manager stuck with the squad, that lost a game to Villa on Saturday, with the only change being Cazorla for Oxlade-Chamberlain. This surprised me, I have to say. While our goalkeeping situation wasn't that obvious (and in the end, Wenger was right to start Szczesny), Podolski seemed a natural choice to me, when it came to filling in for the Ox. Cazorla is a great player, no doubt about it, and when fully fit, should start every game, but that's not the case right now. The Spaniard looked off the pace for the second game running, while fully fit Podolski with a thorough pre-season under his belt sat on the bench right up to coming on as a late sub for Giroud. I've started wondering, whether there's some kind of rift going on between Poldi and the manager. Let's see, how things pan out on Saturday in terms of who starts the game, but the situation is weird, to say the least.
The first half of the game was pretty quiet. Arsenal dominated throughout, but had little to offer in the final third. Only Giroud's header and Ramsey's low effort come to mind, but both shots were off target. Fenerbahce, meanwhile, created nothing. I mean it. Not one dangerous attack, to say nothing of the shots.
The highlight of the first half, a rather nasty one at that, was an injury Koscielny suffered. Webo hit the Frenchman in the head in one of the episodes, and Koscielny needed extensive treatment, after which he left the pitch, to be replaced by Jenkinson. There were troubling reports of Kos having to go to hospital after such a serious knock but, thankfully, the injury is not as bad as it looked, and our centre-back flew back to London with the rest of the team. He may even be able to play in the return fixture. Fingers crossed, that's the case.
In the second half, we stepped it up considerably, with Ramsey and Rosicky being at the heart of our attacks. In the 51st minute, Ramsey created some space inside the box for Walcott to exploit and the Englishman timed his run perfectly. He then produced a low pass for Gibbs, who was waiting at the far post to make it 1-0.
Thirteen minutes later, the second goal came, this time Ramsey himself doing the job. He received the ball on the left flank, ran towards the box, before producing a low and powerful shot into the bottom corner. Demirel probably could have saved it, but who cares? 2-0.
The Gunners weren't thinking of backing off and compounded Fenerbahce's misery further still, when Walcott was bundled over in the box, after receiving a beautiful long pass from Cazorla. The ref pointed to the spot, Giroud stepped up and coolly sent the ball into the top corner. I gotta say, I haven't seen an Arsenal man scoring from the spot in such style since van Persie. Giroud's calm and assured looks before he took the kick filled me with confidence, that he will put it away. It's nothing to do with statistics, it's all about the attitude of the penalty taker. Giroud seemed like a completely confident guy. Thumbs up for such a goal.
The Frenchman now has two goals in two games and, while it's a bit early to make any conclusions, based on just two games, I think he has become more clinical, when it comes to converting chances. He only had two clear-cut ones in two games and both have been put away. He didn't score more, because he didn't have a chance to do that. We seem unable to provide him with good service at the moment but he hasn't become useless even in such an environment. He falls back and helps our midfielders by letting them bounce the play off of him and it shows. Just look at his interaction with Rosicky against Villa or the bond, between the Frenchman and Walcott during yesterday's match. Even if buy another striker, he'll still have a role to play in this team, something different to offer.
After this third goal the game was essentially over. Though a special mention must go to Szczesny, who was twice our saviour, by palming away dangerous shots from Emenike and Kadlec (I think), which saw he go full-stretch. A very good performance overall by the younger Pole, let's hope he can find some consistency now and deliver such performances week in, week out. A right decision from the manger to stick with Wojciech.
All in all, we saw a very controlled performance from Arsenal, something acknowledged by the boss:
I believe we played in a very, very heated atmosphere against a good team but we had a proactive attitude from the first minute on and that was certainly was very important tonight. We did not come in shaking but came in resolute and determined and with a desire to take the game to them and overall we were in control. This team has shown a lot of mental strength.He was also quizzed about transfers (no surprise here) and confirmed, Suarez deal is dead. Truth be told, I'm more relieved about it, than anything else. He's a very good footballer, but for many reasons, it would be risky, having him on our team. Now we only need to assure we find a suitable replacement. There are names, like Di Maria and Benzema trown about, but until we get some clarification on this, it'll just remain speculation and we've had a lot of it this summer.
The manger also said his transfer window opens now, and, knowing his love for securing late deals, I don't think, we should be surprised by such a statement. We have 10 days, before the window closes, now let's get some work done.
Back tomorrow, when we start looking ahead to the Fulham's game
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