Arsenal’s trip to the Turk Telekom Arena was an important game for the Gunners after their depressing defeat at Stoke over the weekend.
Wenger in his pre-match conference stated that there wasn’t much at stake, but the boss needed a response from his players and the fans needed a reaction from their team. The French manager’s tenure has come under intense pressure over the past few days and the defeat at Stoke escalated major question marks.
The North London club produced the perfect response to silence their critics with a 4-1 Champions League win over Galatasaray in Istanbul. It only took two minutes for it to become clear, when Ramsey first picked the ball up in midfield to put a smart pass through to Lukas Podolski, who finished emphatically with his left foot.
It has been a difficult season for Ramsey, but he found his form again on Tuesday night as he scored two. The Welshman made it 2-0 on 11 minutes with a neat finish after a quick break from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. When Joel Campbell’s corner was half-cleared to Ramsey, he unleashed an unstoppable half-volley that flew past Bolat and into the top right-hand corner.
With Gedion Zelalem and Ainsley Maitland-Niles coming on, Arsenal were naturally less solid in the second half and even had some occasional pieces of defending to do. Wesley Sneijder beat Szczesny with a free kick into the top corner, but Arsenal had the last laugh as Podolski found the bottom corner with virtually the last kick of the game.
Put the banners away. The Arsenal crisis is over for another week.
PLAYER RATINGS
Szczesny | 7.0 : It was good to have him back. He made a couple of good saves, but had no chance of saving that Sneijder free kick.
Debuchy | 7.0 : He was very good in the opening 45 minutes but tired towards the end, which is expected considering that he has just returned from injury.
Mertesacker | 7.5 : Made a great block to prevent a possible goal and it was a much improved display from the big German, who had a forgettbale game against Stoke.
Chambers | 7.0 : Didn’t have much to do and as his partner it was a much better display.
Bellerin | 7.0 : Was somewhat comfortable and burst forward to help the attack when needed.
Flamini | 6 : Did what he needed to and was substituted at half time as a precautionary measure.
Ramsey | 9 : He was just superb and it seems he is getting back to his best. He needs to build on this performance in the coming games.
Chamberlain | 8 : Made some scintillating runs to trouble the opposition defence and created the second goal for Ramsey.
Campbell | 6 : It seemed he was trying too hard to impress and held on to the ball for too long.
Sanogo | 6 : He tried very hard but it was just not happening for the youngster.
Podolski | 8.5 : He was outstanding in front of goal and proved his worth to the manager. He definitely deserves more chances than he is getting now.
Substitutes
Zelalem | 6.5 : Played well in midfield after coming on and was very good with his passing.
Maitland-Niles | 7 : Came on for Flamini at the half-time and was very good for a player making his debut.
O’Connor | 5 : Was a bit nervous which is expected for a youngster making his first appearance.
Who was your Man of the Match?
