His first name is Lukas..........

Galatasaray 1 - 4 Arsenal

@CoulingKnows

10/12/2014

Another Tuesday night watching the champions league. Qualification already garuanteed just needed Dortmund to slip up to try and grab the top spot of the group. I unfortunately missed the first 15 minutes of the first half as my walk to pub took a lot longer than first anticipated. So i missed Podolski's opener and Ramsey's goal to double the score.

The line up was received with mixed emotions on my Twitter feed. Debuchy making his come back from injury with the impressive Chambers at centre back with Mertersaker and Hector Bellerin as left back. Midfield consisted of Ramsey, Chamberlain and Flamini and then the 3 forwards were Podolski, Sanogo and finally Joel Campbell with Szczesny in goal.

Podolski celebrating 

Its the sort of side we are used to seeing in the last game of the group stages in the champions league when qualification is already obtained. Fringe players and players looking to show their worth. You wouldn't believe my delight when i found out Podolski scored the opener. I rate the player so highly i am frustrated for him when he is benched for such a long time. You cannot have 100+ caps for Germany by being an "OK" player and feel Arsene Wenger has not managed to utilise him as much as he should. 

I could not believe how easy Arsenal had it when going forward against the Turkish side. The amount of space given to our forwards was embarrassing from a Galatasary point of view, Sanogo who is not the quickest on his feet was able to receive the ball turn and lay balls off to the wing men. This happened time and time again. Every opportunity Arsenal made they took with shots being made inside and outside the box. Although it was a very good performance it came very easy to Arsenal i think. 

After Podolski's opener he then rattled the cross bar with that hammer of a left he has and just looked like he was going to cause the Turkish sides defence a nightmare from start to finish. After a lot of pressure in the first half we had several corners and Joel Campbell who was taking them looked shattered after 40 minutes but that does happen when match time is not a regular for you. Campbell swung in a corner which was initially cleared but then Ramsey swung his left foot and smashed home a volley from about 30 yards. In other words it was an absolute blinder! I had to share the video as this was just superb.

From here on wards it was a very one sided affair. Wenger deciding to make a few changes at half

The exciting Gedion Zalalem 

introduced a few new faces in midfield with the high anticipated Zalelam being one of them. I have heard Mr Wenger praise this fella time and time again and to be playing at this level at his age im hoping this is a prodigy for the future. Maitland-Niles was the other replacement for Flamini in midfield. Another eager young player. Both good performances for the youngsters. You could tell there were a few times where they lost themselves when tracking back but overall thumbs up from me.

Maitland-Niles 

Wesley Sneijder is at the wrong club if you ask me. He scored a very good free kick towards the end of the game on 88 minutes to bring the score to 3 - 1 before Podolski muscled his way through the defence and slotted past the keeper for the last kick of the game and bring the final result to 4 -1. Overall a much better performance from a side without our superstars.

Unfortunately Dortmund didn't slip up and managed a draw with Anderlecht keeping Arsenal second in the group.

As we down the lovely Laarsens in Basingstoke (our main drinking ground) we had the Liverpool fans right at the back while we sit in the centre of the boozer. I kept glancing over during the 90 minutes and watched Basel hold them out for a draw even after Steven Gerrard scored a very good free kick. Seeing the Kop look all deflated after tumbling out of the champions league proves that they are no where near where they were last season. I know Luis Suarez was a great player and Sturridge as his striking partner was a deadly force but i think all those goals did was mask the problems they have everywhere else. 

I am a football fan as well as an Arsenal supporter, as i said before big difference when compared to just club fans. However i am not a football fan that hopes all the English teams qualify in European competitions. In fact i hope they do worse than everyone else in their groups. I cannot "hope" another team does well in the same competition as the team i support. I appreciate how they play and all the rest of it but i wish them no luck in the slightest.

I thought i would mention that as last season i came across a "die hard" Chelsea fan. Me and my mate were watching Arsenal and i didn't like this guy from the off. After putting him right about a few things we spoke about London teams. I was trying to explain that London teams would be considered rivals as they are from the same area. Whether its Crystal Palace, Leyton Orient, Millwall or Chelsea. If you support a London club you are not meant to want other teams from London to win anything at all. This is just my opinion but you will never catch me wishing Tottenham well. So seeing Liverpool fall short did put a smirk on my face.

All in all though very good result for the Gunners and nice to see a refreshed team. Ramsey scored 2 and Podolski matched his tally. Qualified for the next round and welcome Newcastle on Saturday with a spring in the step after a very good performance. 

Again please like, share, comment and let me know what you think. 

Next up is the Youtube channel and i will give you all notice as to when you get to see my horrible mug.

Look after yourselves and catch you next time.