Gunners gain first leg advantage

Fenerbache 0-3 Arsenal

 

 

 

Arsenal bounced back from their disappointing defeat at home to Aston Villa with a resounding victory away to Fenerbache last night. With the club having been engulfed in an atmosphere of negativity and pessimism following the defeat to Paul Lambert’s side, the Gunners must take great credit for their performance at one of Europe’s most intimidating stadiums.

Turkish hostilities began the night before the big game; with the Arsenal squad prevented from enjoying a good night’s sleep as Fenerbache fans surrounded the team’s hotel, chanting and setting off fireworks throughout the night. Yet Arsene Wenger’s side, which has so often been ridiculed for being a soft touch, rose to the challenge with consummate ease. They were not overwhelmed by the great atmosphere inside the stadium as they expertly controlled the game from start to finish.

The midfield triumvirate of Wilshere, Rosicky and Ramsey were excellent throughout, interchanging beautifully, as they took the game to their hosts. While Wilshere still seems to be slightly short of match sharpness and has not been at his very best during the first two games of the season, the same cannot be said of Rosicky and Ramsey. Both players have also had to endure the great frustration of being side-lined through injury in recent years, but so far this season, they appear to be at the top of their game. Rosicky is a wonderful player to watch in full flow as he glides past challenges and surges on goal. The Czech international has also added a tougher edge to his game in recent seasons and often wins possession back for his side thanks to a strong, robust tackle.

The star of Arsenal’s pre-season however, was undoubtedly Aaron Ramsey. The young Welshman has had to endure a long road to recovery, following that horrendous leg breaking challenge by Stoke’s Ryan Shawcross which kept him out of the game for almost 9 months. Upon his return, Ramsey struggled to regain the form he had displayed before his injury and early last season, his confidence was clearly affected by being forced to play out of position, on the wing. However, having switched back to his favoured role in the middle of the park, Ramsey’s performances steadily improved during the second of half of the season, with the Welshman building upon that so far this campaign. Last night Ramsey was excellent, pulling the strings from the deeper lying role usually occupied by Mikel Arteta. He linked the play from defence to midfield extremely well and was the foundation upon which Arsenal built most of their attacks.

Although the Gunners controlled the game, they struggled to create goal scoring opportunities in the first half, mustering only half chances, with Walcott almost being sent through on two occasions. During the second half however, Arsenal began to pick holes in the Fenerbache defence and only six minutes into the second period, the Gunners took the lead their dominance warranted. The goal owed much to the superb vision of Aaron Ramsey as he swivelled and turned on the edge of the box, seemingly unable to escape the clutches of the Fenerbache defence. Yet the Welshman was able to pick out Theo Walcott in the penalty area, with a perfectly weighted and exquisite through pass and the Englishman displayed great composure in front goal to square the ball to Kieran Gibbs at the far post, for the Arsenal left back to fire into an empty net.

Thirteen minutes later and Ramsey was at the centre of the action again as the Gunners doubled their lead. On this occasion the Arsenal number 16 displayed great confidence as he picked up possession and drove at the Fenerbache defence, who backed off. Given the space afforded to him, Ramsey did not think twice about taking a shot from all of 25 yards, which nestled into the bottom corner of the net, following some poor goalkeeping from Volkan in the home goal.

With the advantage of two crucial away goals, the Gunners would have been forgiven if they had decided to sit back and preserve their lead. Yet Wenger’s side continued to press forward in search of a third goal and were duly rewarded in the 77^th minute. Theo Walcott displayed wonderful skill to control a clipped ball over the top of the Fenerbache defence, before placing his body across the defender, leaving him with little option but to bring Walcott down for a penalty. Up stepped Oliver Giroud to successfully dispatch the spot kick, the first of his Arsenal career, sending Volkan the wrong way, and capping off a wonderful night for the Gunners.

At the final whistle, Wenger could take great pride and satisfaction from a job well done against a side who had several former Premier League stars amongst their ranks and had spent £20 million in the summer transfer window. The Gunners must now consolidate this victory with another strong performance on Tuesday night to secure passage to the group stage of the Champions League. Although this result should not be allowed to paper over the cracks, it does highlight the fact that things are not as bad as they have been portrayed over the last few days. Of course Arsenal must still strengthen a defence which last night had to be desperately reorganised once again following a horrible injury to Laurent Koscielny. Despite their near total dominance yesterday, Arsenal’s defence still allowed Fenerbache to create a number of goal scoring opportunities which on another night they may well have taken. As well as at least one new defensive recruit, the shortage of midfield and attacking options must also be addressed in the final few days of the transfer window. The BBC has today strongly linked the Gunners with a double move for Real Madrid’s Karem Benzema and Angel Di Maria, both of whom would be wonderful additions to this squad. However this has so far been a summer of great frustration in terms of transfer activity at the Emirates and Arsenal fans will be forgiven for taking such rumours with a pinch of salt at this stage.