Yesterday's game can easily be split in two periods: the first sixty minutes and the last thirty. For the first hour there was only one team on the pitch. We dominated Galatasaray completely and could have been 6 or 7 up (pun absolutely intended) by the 60th minute. The we showed another side to our game: defensive resilience. And it was thrilling to watch. However, let's go step-by-step.
The squad
Did we go back to 4-2-3-1, at least for this game? Frankly, it's not that important. Of much greater interest was the attacking roster of players that started: Flamini, Cazorla, Ozil, Alexis, Oxlade and Welbeck. After all the criticism his way, I must admit I was impressed with Flamini's performance. His positioning may still be a bit suspect at times, but yesterday he has well and truly made up for it with his fighting spirit and his overall contribution.
Our attack looked lethal. Cazorla and Ozil centrally, the Ox and Sanchez out wide and Welbeck up top. All these players functioned like clockwork, interchanging passes and on-pitch positions for a greater effect.
I failed to mention the back four, but you can guess it without too much problem: Chambers, Mert, Kos and Gibbs. All performed brilliantly, nothing more, nothing less.
The first 60 minutes
It took us roughly 20 minutes to really click, but even inside this period we looked much more the part than Gala. Constantly in possession and constantly threatening, but not finishing just yet.
This changed in the 22nd minute. Sanchez (who was bullied every living second) played Welbeck through, the Englishman blocked the defender and poked the ball home between the keeper's legs.
8 minutes later Daniel grabbed a second. A mis-hit pass backwards fell to the Englishman, our centre-forward powered past Melo as if he wasn't there and slotted the ball into the far corner. 2-0.
10 minutes later the game was over as a contest. Sanchez got on the back of a beautiful pass from Ozil, stepped inside the defender and sent the ball into the same corner as Welbeck minutes earlier. We saw the first half out safely, but the show continued in the second.
Oxlade nearly set up Ozil, only for his cut back to be cleared, but it didn't matter, cause seven minutes into the second half Welbeck completed his hat-trick.
The Englishman started on the left, played the ball to Sanchez and the Chilean, in his turn, found Oxlade-Chamberlain. By the time Alex received the pass, Welbeck was ready to pounce. The Ox sliced apart Gala's defense to feed Welbeck and the Englishman's lob made it 4-0. The points were secured, but, suddenly, and quite unexpectedly, we had to work for them.
The last 30 minutes
Some carelessness in midfield saw Burak go one-on-one with Szczesny and the Pole was a fraction of a second late to clear the ball. Instead, he hacked off the Turk and saw red.
In the immediate aftermath of the foul I was furious with Szczesny's behaviour. How could have he been so stupid? Better 4-1 with 11 men, than a penalty (essentially, a goal) with 10 men. However, after watching the replays once more today I realised our keeper didn't hack the Turk down with his outstretched hands. Burak intentionally stumbled into Szczesny to try and get a pen. It was, in essence, a dive.
Ospina came on for Alexis and, though he couldn't save the spot-kick, the Colombian was instrumental in letting in only once. He pulled off at least three marvellous saves in these thirty minutes. Two point-blank (a header and a low shot) and one distance effort from Sneider. Ospina was also very good at claiming crosses.
We could have actually added two more after the sending off, but brilliant Welbeck was robbed at the last possible moment after an outstanding run and Cazorla's dink was too weak, allowing the defender to clear the ball off the line. 4-1 it ended.
The aftermath
After the game Arsene was, expectantly, full of praise for our hat-trick hero:
A couple of final notes. First, while Szczesny is not the sole culprit in this episode with the red, the boss may still want to explore the possibility of dropping the Pole. After all, it's not the first time Wojciech did that. Arsene needs to teach our number 1 right from wrong and omitting him against Chelsea may produce the desired effect. It worked in 2013, I see no reason why it shouldn't work now. And even if it doesn't, I'm more than happy with Ospina.
And finally, Turksih fans were disgusting. They've set the pitch on fire and lit something up in the stands. Outrageous behaviour. All of them were isolated after the game, 6 were arrested. It's high time UEFA punished Gala for such a thing. Fine them or, better still, ban their fans to watch the game from the stands in the remaining CL matches, Something definitely needs to be done.
That's it for now. Back soon with a preview of the Chelsea game.
Until then
Follow me on Twitter (@AlexBaguzin)
P.S. Melo's foul on Alexis was no less disgusting than the behaviour of his side's fans. How he got away with only a yellow for such a foul is beyond me.
The squad
Did we go back to 4-2-3-1, at least for this game? Frankly, it's not that important. Of much greater interest was the attacking roster of players that started: Flamini, Cazorla, Ozil, Alexis, Oxlade and Welbeck. After all the criticism his way, I must admit I was impressed with Flamini's performance. His positioning may still be a bit suspect at times, but yesterday he has well and truly made up for it with his fighting spirit and his overall contribution.
Our attack looked lethal. Cazorla and Ozil centrally, the Ox and Sanchez out wide and Welbeck up top. All these players functioned like clockwork, interchanging passes and on-pitch positions for a greater effect.
I failed to mention the back four, but you can guess it without too much problem: Chambers, Mert, Kos and Gibbs. All performed brilliantly, nothing more, nothing less.
The first 60 minutes
It took us roughly 20 minutes to really click, but even inside this period we looked much more the part than Gala. Constantly in possession and constantly threatening, but not finishing just yet.
This changed in the 22nd minute. Sanchez (who was bullied every living second) played Welbeck through, the Englishman blocked the defender and poked the ball home between the keeper's legs.
8 minutes later Daniel grabbed a second. A mis-hit pass backwards fell to the Englishman, our centre-forward powered past Melo as if he wasn't there and slotted the ball into the far corner. 2-0.
10 minutes later the game was over as a contest. Sanchez got on the back of a beautiful pass from Ozil, stepped inside the defender and sent the ball into the same corner as Welbeck minutes earlier. We saw the first half out safely, but the show continued in the second.
Oxlade nearly set up Ozil, only for his cut back to be cleared, but it didn't matter, cause seven minutes into the second half Welbeck completed his hat-trick.
The Englishman started on the left, played the ball to Sanchez and the Chilean, in his turn, found Oxlade-Chamberlain. By the time Alex received the pass, Welbeck was ready to pounce. The Ox sliced apart Gala's defense to feed Welbeck and the Englishman's lob made it 4-0. The points were secured, but, suddenly, and quite unexpectedly, we had to work for them.
The last 30 minutes
Some carelessness in midfield saw Burak go one-on-one with Szczesny and the Pole was a fraction of a second late to clear the ball. Instead, he hacked off the Turk and saw red.
In the immediate aftermath of the foul I was furious with Szczesny's behaviour. How could have he been so stupid? Better 4-1 with 11 men, than a penalty (essentially, a goal) with 10 men. However, after watching the replays once more today I realised our keeper didn't hack the Turk down with his outstretched hands. Burak intentionally stumbled into Szczesny to try and get a pen. It was, in essence, a dive.
Ospina came on for Alexis and, though he couldn't save the spot-kick, the Colombian was instrumental in letting in only once. He pulled off at least three marvellous saves in these thirty minutes. Two point-blank (a header and a low shot) and one distance effort from Sneider. Ospina was also very good at claiming crosses.
We could have actually added two more after the sending off, but brilliant Welbeck was robbed at the last possible moment after an outstanding run and Cazorla's dink was too weak, allowing the defender to clear the ball off the line. 4-1 it ended.
The aftermath
After the game Arsene was, expectantly, full of praise for our hat-trick hero:
"He’s a good finisher. I believe that, technically, he’s very sound. That was a surprise that he’s technically clean and that he’s a good passer of the ball. I didn’t know he was so quick. Honestly, I knew he was quick but he can be electric when he starts - he has great pace."However, the team as a whole deserves the highest of marks. Everyone was great, even the subs which were designed to hold off the Turks. So fair play to everyone involved.
A couple of final notes. First, while Szczesny is not the sole culprit in this episode with the red, the boss may still want to explore the possibility of dropping the Pole. After all, it's not the first time Wojciech did that. Arsene needs to teach our number 1 right from wrong and omitting him against Chelsea may produce the desired effect. It worked in 2013, I see no reason why it shouldn't work now. And even if it doesn't, I'm more than happy with Ospina.
And finally, Turksih fans were disgusting. They've set the pitch on fire and lit something up in the stands. Outrageous behaviour. All of them were isolated after the game, 6 were arrested. It's high time UEFA punished Gala for such a thing. Fine them or, better still, ban their fans to watch the game from the stands in the remaining CL matches, Something definitely needs to be done.
That's it for now. Back soon with a preview of the Chelsea game.
Until then
Follow me on Twitter (@AlexBaguzin)
P.S. Melo's foul on Alexis was no less disgusting than the behaviour of his side's fans. How he got away with only a yellow for such a foul is beyond me.