A clean sheet away from home in hostile Turkey can always be seen as a credible result, especially at this early stage of the season. Albeit a frustrating affair, The Gunners shouldn’t be too discouraged by their performance or the result this evening, as there are plenty of positives to take into the second leg next Wednesday.
Team selection this evening suggested that the Gunners wanted to build on their good fortune from Saturday’s result in the Barclays Premier League against Crystal Palace, by adding the presence of Olivier Giroud to the frontline in place of Yaya Sanogo. Nacho Monreal deputised for the yet again injured Kieran Gibbs at left back.
Player Ratings
Wojciech Szczesny - 7 – Arsenal’s number 1 was called into action within seconds of the kick off and pulled off a couple of good stops from Demba Ba in the first half. Wojciech was generally untroubled by balls into the box and covered well for balls over the top of the backline.
Mathieu Debuchy - 6 – Not afraid to throw himself into a tackle and a willing runner down the right flank for the whole game. Seamless replacement for Bacary Sagna and will endear himself to arsenal fans with his energy this season for sure. Will however need to be careful when venturing forward that he doesn’t get caught out too high up the pitch, as he did on a couple of occasions this evening.
Laurent Koscielny - 7 – Looked solid for the best part of the game, another player showing great energy chasing back and covering at every opportunity.
Callum Chambers - 7 – A very accomplished performance for Arsenal’s £16million man. Won the majority of his duels with the Besiktas forward line and dealt very well with crosses into the box. Looks a real find for someone who doesn’t turn 20 until January 2015.
Nacho Monreal - 6 – Quick to intercept ahead of the attackers, not something that can often be said of our second choice left back. Did well covering, again for Kieran Gibbs, and will have to try to keep up this type of performance if he is to do well over the coming weeks.
Mikel Arteta - 5 – Injury forced the Arsenal skipper off on the 50th minute. Not very effective in his brief display this evening, playing in a deeper role almost in line with the centre halves as the wing backs push on.
Jack Wilshere - 6 – Decent display from Jack, he turned sharply and tried to pick passes with Alexis and Giroud on more than one occasion. A pop shot forced a decent stop from Zengin.
Aaron Ramsey - 4 – An unconvincing display from Arsenal’s player of the 2013-14 season. Sloppy when getting forward and two petulant cards so Aaron pick up a red card with 10 minutes to go.
Santi Cazorla - 5 – Not much to say about the usually mercurial little Spaniard, took the ball forward with purpose in the first half but faded as the game began to get scrappy and bogged down in the second. Low free kick saved from the keeper as close as he came to making his mark.
Alexis Sanchez - 7 – A good performance from the Chilean. Drove with real determination and terrorised the left back for the majority of the first half. Would have provided an assist but for some rather resolute defending. Again as the game got scrappy his good work drew more fouls and wasn’t as effective seeing him replaced on 73 minutes.
Olivier Giroud - 5 – A frustrating night for the French target man as he didn’t hold up play particularly well but was unfortunate not to get a goal after some good work from Alexis, who saw his goal mouth scramble eventually cleared. Looked off the pace and ring rusty, needs more game time to get back to his best, which saw him, net 22 times for the Gunners last season.
Subs
Mathieu Flamini - 5 – booked within 5 minutes of his substitute appearance, haven’t come to expect much more from Mathieu since he re-signed last season. May see a bit more of him in the coming weeks dependant on the extent of Arteta’s injury.
Alex Oxlade Chamberlain - 6 – Direct as ever when he came on, some magic footwork forced the save of the night from the Besiktas keeper, tipping an effort onto the base of the post.
Tomas Rosicky - n/a – Super Tom didn’t have anything to do with his brief 5 minute cameo in this evenings draw.
Despite taking a credible draw and clean sheet away from Istanbul this evening, the gunners will feel this is a match they could have won had they been a bit more incisive in the final third and composed when in and around the box.
Another game where Joel Campbell hasn’t got off the bench, one can only assume due to the misfortune of others in the squad, picking up injuries forcing Mr Wenger’s hand with some of his substitutions.
A holding midfielder looks a necessity now with the injury to the skipper, but with the re-introduction of a certain Mezut Ozil in the coming weeks could prove pivotal to unlocking defences again.
Lord knows we need something in the return leg to ensure a 17th successive season in Europe’s biggest club competition.
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