No Giroud for the next 4 months, no Ramsey, no Arteta, no Gibbs, no matter. Those are four starters out but we had Ozil orchestrating creativity with no first leg excuse of a pitch dug up by gophers. The billiard table Emirates would be sizzling with a series of unwavering pings and smooth finishes. Except in large stretches, Arsenal looked like an awkward schoolboy groping their first date and hoping for a non-existent follow up. So far, this season has proven Herculean and the CL second leg against Besiktas was no exception.
Jack Wilshere gets lots of stick being stuck in a Waiting for Godot rut but in this match, he was superb in his give and go accounting for a lot of penetrating forays. He was guilty of his own finishing touch deserting him because Arsenal would have been a goal to the good early on. Arsenal survived a scare of their own at the other end when Motta fell over just as his leg was arched over the ball as Wilshere breathed down his neck. Was there contact enough for a penalty? Pedro Proenca, the referee didn’t think so. Sighs of relief rippled through although Wilshere later admitted getting away with one.
The frustration continued as Sanchez’s heavy first touch ended a nifty Wilshere outlet onto goal. The break came just before half time after a series of moves just outside the Beskitas box, Wilshere came up with the ball, flicking to the left finding Ozil who rolled the ball across with both Wilshere and Sanchez in a position to score. The Chilean to the outside was in a more advantageous position and angled the ball past the goalie. Wenger’s gamble using him at the head paid off in that instant. Hopefully, this will be the start of many more such goals. Because Arsenal are not going to get any relief from the transfer market, Wenger ruling out a striker. Sanchez is going to be that man.
“Can he play in that role for three or four months? He can play his whole month at centre-forward. I bought him to play as a striker, not to play only on the flanks.”
The second half started promisingly before Arsenal began a prolonged period of vacillation with Besiktas creeping into the game and testing the weaker left flank as a knackered Ozil and Monreal were regularly overrun by former Arsenal youth talent Oğuzhan Ozyakup. Just a goal advantage looked shaky as Arsenal were proving to be flaky at the back. Ba came close just failing to get his head on the end of a lashing cross. Arsenal’s prayers for a second were not being answered as Kos just whiffed on a superb Cazorla free kick and Debuchy’s following up on an acute angle found the side netting with his header. The Ox followed that “oh so close” theme shooting point blank into the Turkish goalie after Monreal’s raking pass found him plumb center three feet from goal.
All hell broke lost two minutes later as the referee decided to go diva pulling out a second yellow on Debuchy for an infinitesimal grab on Pektemek. Licking his lips, he proceeded to card Calum Chambers for sprinting onto the pitch before Ozil made his exit. Just when he looked like he was going to flash all sorts of cards from all sorts of orifices, the match came to an end and so did Slaven Bilic’s apoplectic bouts. Arsenal were through for the 17th time in the CL group stage. A bit frayed around the collar, sporting a couple of shiners, and walking a bit crooked. But through. Now for today’s draw to find out who we get to play.
Highlights here