The tie isn’t dead yet but we will have to give much better performance next week to beat the Turkish side. Ramsey’s red card wasn’t helpful either. Here are the ratings from last nights goal-less draw in Istanbul.
Wojciech Szczesny | 7.0: Did well whenever he was called upon. Was focused to deal with unexpected Ba’s attempt at the very beginning.
Mathieu Debuchy | 7.0: Improved his game a lot in the second half and was our most active player in attack. Still, the best chance for the hosts in the second half came due to his absence on the right side of the defence.
Calum Chambers | 7.25 (MoTM): Made a slip that could have been fatal but didn’t go into panic mode afterwards. Is there a chance his first name is misspelled? I mean, Calm Chambers seems fit for him!
Laurent Koscielny | 7.0: The Frenchman was a doubt before the match but managed to go through the whole game.
Nacho Monreal | 7.0: Earned a booking in the second half but also earned a free-kick just outside the Bešiktaš box. Could have been used more in the attacking play, perhaps he would profit from Alexis’ switch onto the left wing.
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Mikel Arteta | 6.5: Went out due to injury caused by Ba’s tackle and it didn’t look nice. His performance was neither bad nor excellent and the awful pitch didn’t help. Arteta’s injury might make Wenger to look for a defensive midfielder. Kim Kallstrom time?
Aaron Ramsey | 5.5: It wasn’t his night. Made a clever pass for Giroud in the first half but the Frenchman denied him an assist. It only got worse for the Welshman in the second half. First he made a wrong decision (he tried to dribble instead of shooting from a promising position), then he got a knee in his nuts and finally he earned two yellow cards in a short space of time which means he will miss the second leg.
Alexis Sánchez | 6.5: Looked our only real threat in the first half, suffered a decline at the beginning of the second half before he started to look dangerous again. After one of his dangerous attacks Wenger replaced him with Chamberlain. His best days may come when we get more balance in attack and pace on both wings. Bilić marked him tightly in the second half, there was a moment when Alexis received the ball and three Turkish players were around him.
Santi Cazorla | 5.5: There was a long period of time in the second half when I asked myself if Cazorla was sent off for something he had done in the tunnel during the break. Another subdue performance from the Spaniard should reinstate Özil in the starting eleven against Everton immediately. Had a good free-kick saved by Zengin.
Jack Wilshere | 6.0: He fought hard and all that but sometimes his decisions were Gervinho-esque.
Olivier Giroud | 5.0: Had a terrible miss in the first half when he should have buried the ball into the net and looked off the pace as usual but he did work his socks off again and created a semi-chance for Ramsey from the counter-attack that was ruined by the Welshman’s poor decision.
Substitutes:
Mathieu Flamini | 6.5: Earned a booking soon after replacing Arteta. Made the back-line look more solid.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain | 6.5: Had a short cameo but came close to scoring after a wonderful solo-effort. Lost the ball in the next attack and nearly gave Bešiktaš a serious chance to score. I’d like to see Chambo down the right wing and Alexis down the left until Theo Walcott returns.
Tomas Rosicky | N/A: Didn’t get enough time to get rated tonight. Underplayed in the opening matches of the season.
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