Impressive Debuchy Will Be Missed For Dortmund Test
Match Review: Arsenal 1 Besiktas 0 - Champions League - 27.08.14
There were a lot of nervous people about before the game on Wednesday night. I, however, was perfectly calm and confident and I don’t know why more people weren’t. Besiktas, while a competent and well drilled side, shouldn’t really be terrifying us at home, we should be dominating and in the main we did that. The only thing missing were the goals to make it more comfortable. Despite that, we still weren’t at our best and at times were fortunate not to concede, but I don’t think anyone can say we didn’t deserve to go through across the two legs.
The big team news, that had been developing since the final whistle at Goodison, was the injury to Olivier Giroud. Wenger confirmed after the Besiktas game that the striker had indeed fractured his leg and had even undergone surgery earlier in the day. Giroud will now be missing for up to four months, maybe more knowing Arsenal’s injury luck. It’s seriously concerning given the indifferent performances of Sanogo and the lack of any other tall, powerful players in the midfield and attacking positions. As expected, Wenger has said that he will not be hurrying into the transfer market for backup, but will look to use current options in the squad. Whatever you think of Giroud (I’m a big fan of his), we have lost our main striker and a considerable source of goals and assists. I hope Wenger knows what he’s doing, because at the moment I think we look very one dimensional and lightweight upfront. Teams like City will be able to dominate our midfield and front line, especially with Wenger’s new 4-3-3. I’m praying that someone comes in to give us presence up front.
The starting line-up suggested a return to the 4-2-3-1 that has served us so well in the past, but as the game began it soon became clear that Özil had again been stuck out on the left with the midfield trio consisting of Flamini, Wilshere and Cazorla. Alexis was the lone striker with Chamberlain on the right. I’m disappointed to be honest, the 4-3-3 has worked in 2 of the 8 or so games its been used in and those two games were friendlies. We scraped a win against Palace, scraped draws against Besiktas and Everton and now edged through a home game against the Turkish side. It’s frustrating to watch: our build up play is slow and ponderous, our best player is being wasted out on the left, our striker is isolated and the midfield and attack might as well be in different post codes. I stress this is my opinion, not that of the most successful manager in Arsenal history, but I don’t think we have the squad for a 4-3-3, we’re putting square pegs in round holes. But let’s move on from the ranting into the game finally…
We started quite brightly, without really creating many chances. The same story as the last few games really, as we monopolised the ball but did very little with it. I’ve said my piece on 4-3-3, but suffice to say, it was not doing the job. The player that caught my eye the most to be honest was Debuchy. The right back stormed back and forth down the right hand side, getting forward well, but looking even better in defence. He won headers and tackles and at one point saved our skins with a last ditch tackle that Besiktas felt deserved a penalty, but replays indicated that Debuchy knocked the ball away. For me, he was our most impressive player of the half.
We were very lucky to survive another penalty shout though, as Jack Wilshere seemed to completely wipe out one of Besiktas’ players as he prepared to shoot after the ball had been cut back. My stomach dropped as soon as I saw the incident, it looked an absolutely stonewall penalty and with the shocking refereeing that we’d already observed, I couldn’t see how it wouldn’t be given. But miraculously the referee was unmoved. Replays showed that Wilshere slipped as he tried to track his man and the contact was less pronounced than I thought, but to be honest, I still think it was a penalty and we really got away with one, which was lucky, as with the last kick of the half, we took the lead.
The goal came after Debuchy once again got down the right and crossed the ball. It was partially cleared, but it found its way back to Wilshere. The England midfielder knocked the ball to Özil on the edge of the area and he played a glorious first time ball round the corner in to the path of Wilshere. Jack controlled but the ball fell more kindly for Alexis, who stole in and calmly side footed the ball past the keeper, in a manner not too dissimilar to his goal against Brazil at the World Cup. A well worked goal and the half time whistle blew almost as soon as Besiktas kicked off.
We remained in control in the second half and probably created more than in the first half, with Besiktas leaving more space for us to play and counter attack. Besiktas really didn’t threaten much and we carved them open a few times. Alexis and Chamberlain could have had a goal each, while other moves broke down just at the vital moment. But things flipped the other way as Besiktas broke away after we missed another glorious chance.
Debuchy was the man dashing back and cut out the counter attack with a gloriously executed sliding challenge that took all of the ball and barely any of the man. Unfortunately the referee seemed to completely forget the rules of the game and having booked Debuchy dubiously in the first half, he not only gave a free kick, but also sent the Frenchman off for his perfect tackle. Debuchy was rightly furious, as were the fans, at such a blatant refereeing cock up and had to be calmed and ushered off by similarly disgusted team mates. Further farce then ensued as Wenger brought on Chambers for Özil. Chambers was given the go ahead by the fourth official and sprinted on, only to be promptly booked for coming on without permission. I’ve never seen anything like it, if it’s anyone’s failure, it’s the fourth official’s, not the player’s. He gave permission and clearly wasn’t communicating with the ref resulting in us getting punished. Unbelievable.
