Fenerbahce v. Arsenal 2-5 21/Oct/08

Arsenal cruised on a slow and dull Turkish side after several drops in game in Premier League. Even though the visit to Fenerbahce with stars such as Güiza, Roberto Carlos and Senturk the home squad failed to prove their difficult star among Europe's finest. The tough visit to Turkey was as struggling as any visit to any top flight team in Europe. Certainly the hostile crowd helped the Arsenal to bring their best. With Fenerbahce showing many international players who featured in the last EURO 2008, one would have expected at least a come-back, such as the Epic ones against Croatia, Germany and Switzerland.





Right at the beginning of the first half Arsenal showed resilence and above all will towards the three points. Adebayor's fine shot went over the bar at 5'. But misery fell rapidly over the shoulders of Volkan and the Turkish defense when the visiting side scored two goals in two minutes. By 12' the lead was on two for the Gunners. The first, created by Diaby, through a Cesc' pass, that Adebayor finished neatly on 10'. The second another Cesc pass to Walcott, who broke the offside trap and scored passed Volkan. The problem with the offside trap was that three defenders gave wide spaces bewteen them, thus enabling deep through-passes to overhaul the Turkish side. Two arrivals from Fenerbahce and a bummer from Nasri before the fifteem minute mark made this match completly dynamic. Even though the Arsenal was the visiting side, they played with such pace that the fact that they were visiting was in doubt. The pace of the game could not go faster when Güiza netted his first goal of the night in a rambling situation after an indirect free-kick by the Turkish side, at 19'. A minute and a half later Diaby went through a disastrous defense and gave the two-goal lead the Arsenal had at 20'. The defense missed him in position and when they tried to rectify it was too late. Four goals in twenty minutes.
Even with the lead Arsenal's defense showed a lack of form, both physical and technical. Song and Silvestre couple did play like they had never met each other. Boral, Turkish left back, was a complete disaster. By 35' the Arsenal began swaping the ball around the box, as usual, with no repercussion at all. Diaby pulled the strings of the team along with Cesc, and he grew confident after his goal. Near the end of the half, Güiza's shot went inches away from goal, showing several flaws in Arsenal's defense.





As the game advanced, second half looked promising for the Turkish prospects. But Alex Song gave the visiting side a three goal advantage after a freekick by Cesc, which was deflected on the Turkish defence, all that at 49'. The match went on with several dispossesssions by both teams with a struggling home side and a now tranquil visiting one. By 67' a rampage maneouver was made by Güiza on a through Semih pass, followed by several defelection-shots in the 5 yard box. Miraculously the Arsenal was saved from the second. Aaron Ramsey made his European debut at 73', replacing Diaby. Following his debut, he rapidly adapted the game, and in the remaining fifteen minutes each attacking play passed through his feet. Even the Welshman enjoyed more freedom in midfield than Cesc. At 79' Güiza narrowed the lead on offside trap that saw the spanish striker eluding his markers and scored on top of Almunia. Even with this goal and with all the wide spaces given by the visiting defense the game went calmly for Arsenal when Ramsey netted a crossed shot, in his debut at 93'. He showed abilities he is capable of. We hope that he keeps improving them.