Arsenal 0 Fenerbahce 0
A point would be good.
A point against Manchester United would be good.
With a better goalkeeper, and a point against Man United, November might not be too bad.
Last night’s Matchday 4 encounter didn’t give us much to talk about. It didn’t give us much that was new. We’ve all seen Arsenal playing keep-ball with four inside forwards in midfield and missing chances. Van Persie missed three chances in the first half. Possession is tedious without penetration.
In Istanbul, Arsenal scored two early goals and won 5-2. Aragones feared that again, so he tightened up and sat back and he got lucky because Arsenal were without the pace of Walcott and Adebayor.
Still, Aaron Ramsey is a very good player and it was nice to see him playing well. Fabianski could swiftly become an accomplished goalkeeper and another clean against Manchester United could kick off his Arsenal career in a big way.
Toure played right back last night and charged forward with the ball until he lost it or shot wide. His big heart was more impressive than his technique.Djourou did well at centreback but got a yellow card in 22 for a two-footed tackle. Silvestre went off bleeding from a possibly broken nose. Semih Semturk smacked him in the face with his left elbow while making no attempt to jump for the ball. Semih deserves a retrospective red card from Uefa.
The Arsenal game was the only one of the eight Champions League games without a goal.
But they are still top of Group G by two points, and in the long term we’ll look back and see that Lukasz Fabianski kept a clean sheet and that it was a huge game for him. Fabianski could be Arsenal’s goalkeeper now if he gets a few games under his belt. I’m glad that Fabianski has the gloves at last. He will make a big difference, as I insisted yesterday.We were told that Almunia was “taken ill.”
A pity that van Persie and Bendtner also kept a clean sheet.
Verdict : powderpuff possession football made Fenerbahce look better than they are.
This week’s big game was always going to be Man United at 12.45 pm on Saturday.
Yesterday I thought Sir Alex would want to finish off Arsenal, so he only has two rivals to worry about. Yesterday I thought Arsenal might get stuffed 4-0 by Man United.
So I was going to preview Saturday’s game with three words : Berbatov Ronaldo Berbatov .
ARSENAL (4-4-2): Fabianski; Touré, Djourou, Silvestre (Song, 82), Clichy; Ramsey (Diaby, 59), Fabregas, Denilson, Nasri; Bendtner (Vela, 59 ), Van Persie. Subs not used: Mannone (gk), Sagna, Wilshere, Gibbs.
FENERBAHCE (4-4-1-1): Demirel; Gonul, Edu, Lugano, Carlos (Vederson, 69); Kazim-Richards (Bilgin, 58), Maldonado (Josico, 68), Sahin, Boral; Senturk; Guiza. Subs not used: Babacan (gk), Yilmaz, Cakmak, Deivid.
Referee: Roberto Rosetti (Italy)
Group G Results : Dynamo Kiev 1 Arsenal 1; Porto 3 Fenerbahce 1; Arsenal 4 Porto 0; Fenerbahce 0 Dynamo Kiev 0; Fenerbahce 2 Arsenal 5; Porto 0 Dynamo Kiev 1; Arsenal 0 Fenerbahce 0; Dynamo Kiev 1 Porto 2.