Patrick Barclay: Arsenal must cut the cards to prosper in the Champions League

Yes, Besiktas proved difficult opponents in the Champions League qualifiers, and Arsenal’s relief at avoiding the fate of Celtic was clear. But Arsene Wenger’s men must cut out a tendency to indiscipline that could jeopardise their chances of making further progress.

It cost them Aaron Ramsey last night and Mathieu Debuchy, also issued a second yellow card against the Turkish club, will miss the first group match for bundling Mustafa Pektemek off the ball at the Emirates.

Arsenal have now sustained four red cards on their last five Champions League outings and Wenger, though he might fume at referees (while happily accepting their favours in terms of penalty decisions), must recognise this as a sign of weakness in his team.

Arsenal should be subduing mid-range sides like Besiktas, not scuffling with them like Ramsey did in Istanbul and Debuchy in London and becoming forced into defensive positions, as was the case in the nervous last quarter of an hour after the Frenchman’s departure.

A season that dawned full of hope has, at this early stage, produced little to suggest that the FA Cup will prove the foundation of another era of success. The red cards testify not to excessive vigour but to inadequacies in the matters of poise and control that remain key to Wenger’s philosophy. They add up, in short, to a mask.

Promising though Jack Wilshere’s display was in the Ramsey role — especially the link with Alexis Sanchez that proved decisive in getting Arsenal through — there was a general lack of the characteristic rhythm, which has been seen only in a fool’s-gold Community Shield match against Manchester City reserves.

And so to Leicester on Sunday. With much to address in the meantime, including the Champions League draw and — more important, given Olivier Giroud’s injury, the closure of the transfer window. If I were Wenger, I’d be tempted to go for Manchester United’s Danny Welbeck. He’s just the centre-forward Arsenal need.