Kevin Whitcher
In the history of Arsenal’s Champions League qualifiers, the tie with Besiktas is probably the nearest they have come to elimination. The Udinese matches in 2011 were also fairly tense, although in the end a Robin van Persie away goal in the second leg made the final half hour a lot less stressful that last night’s closing stages. Ironically, Udinese had just sold their best player to Barcelona before meeting Arsenal, a certain Alexis Sanchez.
Last night rarely saw too much in the way of flowing watchable football. It was a tactical battle with high stakes, the tension carrying the evening as entertainment. At times in the second half, the home crowd became particularly vocal and the stadium positively hummed. Everyone knew the significance of this game. To fail would have meant the club’s targets for the season would be on a par with Tottenham and Everton. Whether or not it makes a blind bit of difference to the purchase plan before the transfer window shuts we cannot know. However, the club had around £65 million to play with before last night. Now, they can afford £100 million.
Other clubs know this and can hold Arsenal to ransom. My suspicion is that old habits will die hard, and parsimony will dictate only a small portion of the money is spent, and on one player. Let’s hope I have that completely wrong. Certainly, the manager’s public line is that there will be no replacement for Giroud. He sees Alexis as primarily a central striker. In the formation he plays, he only needs one, and so that’s covered in terms of his first choice. Giroud, presumably, was always meant to be the back up this season, hence his not starting at Everton. With Walcott to return and both Cazorla and Ozil options on the left side of attack, you can understand his logic if Sanchez is the centre forward. On that note, Ozil remained as the left-sided attacker last night, with Cazorla playing behind Alexis alongside Jack Wilshere. Arsenal’s central midfield is very flexible, but when they have the ball, they definitely have a pair of players in the hole supporting the front man, or sometimes not supporting him when things aren’t really clicking.
The first half saw some decent Arsenal chances before the goal in injury time. At the stadium, they did not show replays of Cazorla’s appalling miss with the keeper stranded, but that really should have been a goal. Alexis was creating problems and getting more joy than he did in the first half at Goodison Park, in spite of Besiktas’ resilience. The visitors would have accepted 0-0 after extra time and penalties before the game started, and played like it, often leaving eight men back when they broke. They were taking no chances as long as it was scoreless.
Fortunately, the pressure was relieved with Alexis’ goal, a case of the right man in the right place as a one-two between Wilshere and Ozil was mis-controlled by Jack, but ran on to his colleague.
Defensively, the Gunners performed well. The visitors enjoyed few chances, although at 1-0, there were always going to be ‘what if?’ moments and the second half predictably had some. There were isolated moments of sloppiness, with the likes of Wilshere and Cazorla giving the ball away cheaply in their own half, but the danger was snuffed out by colleagues. Alexis worked tirelessly and showed real spirit, and is quickly becoming a crowd favourite because of his attitude, which is exemplary. Contrast that with Mesut Ozil, who too often looks like he really doesn’t fancy a tackle.
If Arsenal had been eliminated by an away goal, they would have had only themselves to blame, given the chances they enjoyed as the game wore on and the Turkish side had to take more risks. The Ox’s miss was the worset, although Alexis had at least two very decent chances to score. What could have been a comfortable conclusion to proceedings turned into a test of nerves, as Debuchy was sent off for what seemed like a good tackle, allowing Besiktas a spare man as they pushed forward. It was end to end stuff, and Demba Ba could have spoiled the party on a couple of occasions, but Arsenal rode their luck. Their inability to take advantage of counter attacks when outnumbering their opponents needs a long hard look. Calum Chambers did well at right back entering the fray (and ludicrously getting booked for doing so early) once Debuchy was dismissed. Fans were slagging off the referee, although there were a couple of possible penalty shouts for Besiktas which he waved away, so he may have been questionable, but I wouldn’t say he was biased.
In terms of spirit and application, it was probably the best 90 minutes we have seen from Arsenal so far this campaign. They certainly have not hit their stride yet, and assuming Alexis now starts every game as the focal point of attack, there is a lot of work to do in training. The team are not fully clicking yet, but you cannot argue with the results. Four points from two matches in the League, and the Golden Goose of the Champions League group stage achieved again. And there were a lot more chances created last night, which is encouraging. There is no doubt £100 million could improve the squad, but the manager has conditioned the fans not to expect all resources to be used. Let’s hope he surprises us and the Gunners have a real go for it this season. Cash in the bank is not going to help Arsenal win trophies.
I am now on Twitter@KevinWhitcher01.
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Further Reading
A sequel to Arsènal – The Making of a Modern Superclub and entitled Arsène and Arsenal The Quest to Rediscover Past Glories has been written by myself and co-author Alex Fynn. It takes up the story of the club from the last update of the previous book, and can be bought online here.
