Are Arsenal just one player away from greatness? by JH
A lot of fans are very disheartened after our loss to Barcelona, many people blaming AW once again, and I think they are wrong, but they are also right.
They are wrong as they have taken this loss as proof that Wenger is tactically inept. This is a false assumption, our tactics were perfect. We limited the best front 3 of all time to just a handful of chances. But we had chances ourselves, Oxlade-Chamberlain finding only the goalkeeper from 7 yards. Giroud was in when he tried a reverse pass for an absent Theo Walcott, Giroud saw a header brilliantly saved by Ter Stegen. Which brings me to why it is Wenger’s fault.
Olivier Giroud, often the poster boy for Arsenal’s failures recently, and while supporters of the Frenchman would say that his goal record speaks for itself, I agree, it is a testament to “quote” how many clear cut chances we make. I believe nearly every striker in the Premier League would have a good record for Arsenal, we create chances at an unmatched rate.
We have the best number 10 in world football. Mesut Ozil has created more chances so far this season than the much heralded former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard ever managed in his best full season or Ryan Giggs, in fact he is well on his way to having the most creative season the Premier League has ever seen. But therein lies my problem, in a season where Ozil has created over 100 chances, why have only 17 been converted?
Simply put, he plays behind some of the most wasteful players in the country, how many great chances has Theo Walcott missed this year? What about Giroud?
I am of the opinion that a good striker in front of Mesut Ozil should look for at least 25 goals, at least. Imagine if you will, if we had Lukaku instead of Giroud, how many would he score? He is already outscoring Giroud and he plays for Everton (not meaning to sound disrespectful) we make comfortably more chances than they do, imagine a share up top, he would be looking close to 30-40 league goals already, a Costa, a Higuain, an Aguero, a Lewandowski. Hell I even think a Charlie Austin would have more goals right now than Giroud. Now of course this is just my opinion and pure speculation, and I know most of the players I mentioned are unobtainable, but if we really set out to get Lukaku, shouldn’t we be able to get him? Sure Everton are not going to be willing sellers, but everyone has a price, and I don’t care what anyone says – we can afford him.
People will say we need a better defense to challenge, people will say we need a new RW too, but I think all we need is someone that is going to convert his chances, we need a finisher, I have said for 3 years now, why have a Mesut Ozil when you don’t have a finisher? Giroud is not sharp enough, clever enough, ruthless enough, simply put he’s not good enough.
This summer I expect Chelsea, Man City, Man United, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, maybe Barcelona and Juventus to spend more than £100 million this year. Players will be on the move, we have £250 million, surely we can find the assassin we need in front of goal to make us true challengers?
What do you guys think, will a true goal scorer make us challengers? Or do we need an overhaul of our squad? Let me know what you think we need in the comments.
Follow @jonnhirons on twitter for more arsenal opinion.
By Jonnhirons
Hi arsenal fans.Great news for you.
We are going to go on a long winning streak.
With danny welbeck improving his match fitness it is only a matter of time before we start banging in goals.
Walcott Sanchez Welbeck and Giroud our main goal sources
Campbell ramsey and ozil providing the creativity and passes
we shall kickstart with manure then swansea then tottenham and later on hull.
Rooney and kane will not be around which gives us a possible upper hand.
By the time we arrive at the campnou sanchez giroud welbeck and coquelin are in their best form. and we will be in better shape than the first tie then.
We overturn the tie around then proceed to the next tie while we are at the top of the table.
Well of course I am a deluded arsenal fan like yall.
But COYG
and oh gerrard pique is missing that match.
That also is a bonus with our powerful strikers having another day at the office
We are not a Player short…………… We are players + a manager short of Lifting this EPL!
@ goonthinker……. Barca missing gerrard pique in the replay isn’t an extra incentive
how many yellows did our guys bag in that match?….. We are just a few yellows short of a red….and that would be devastating when we hit camp nou
#SoOpa;
Right on, I just like to add that one Owner short of greatness. Wenger can’t do this alone. Owners(Just Kroenke) is the one who spends less charges the highest ticket price to make money.
This article is well written on all areas except when it comes to Wenger tactics. He subs Le Coq with no reason to bring in Flamini and the first touch he aimed at Mesi’s leg and give away penalty. Why not Campbell or El Neny ? Is it because they are not French!!!!!
Strikers to utilize Ozil passes are all in 50+ M range and Wenger is be dead to pay that high. Suarez is great testimony of that, Shame and Shame.
Hahaha and I would like to add that we are a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic! ???
Looks as if we’re going to have to walk home… ?
As we are also two-bob short of our bus fare! ??
Soopa, those yellows won’t effect the Barca match, it only comes into effect if we manage to go through to next round. Last thing in the world that’s on my mind is who might miss the next qualifier ..lol.
Nice article but actually we are not..
Ozil is a good player but as an attacking midfielder Arsenal could definitely do better .. Attacking midfielder is about goals, assists & passion .. Unfortunately all he does is pass, pass & pass sum more.. If he could only shoot Giroud wouldn’t always have 3 to 4 defenders on him everytym, just think of it , wld defenders stay back nd wait if we had a pogba, erisken or countinho wid de ball abt 25 yards from goal ???????
Sanchez has all the qualities to become a Worldclass player but unfortunately he doesn’t have a good coach to guide him, All a defender has to do is stop him from cutting in on his right to shoot & hez useless going forward though he still tracks back to defend. But if he could adapt de element of being able to dribble to his left nd mke cut back crosses for ozil or giroud Arsenal would be supreme..
Just think of it , is all we want frm our attacking midfielder is assist & can’t sanchez adapt a more unpredictable game style ????
Flamini just has to go
Chamberlain needs to be loaned (he doubts his own abilities)
Welbeck looks passionate & confident …
Wenger is ambitionless..
Giroud is not a consistent scorer, misses too many chances, no pace or movements but hey he puts in a “shift” every game so he is all right bruv! Shift is more important than goals…too many deluded fools here!
shift is more important then goals for a center forward, really? busting your arse for 90″ and netting 1 goal per 3 matches is more valuable to a squad then one goal per game by a striker?
Right, the deluded fans are the ones who try to make the best out of what we’ve got and support our players.
Meanwhile I keep reading “we just need a striker like Aguero… we just need someone like Lewandowski.” Like Arsene can just go to his garden and pick a world class striker from his Aguero tree.
In the summer I will join in moaning for a new striker (Im still hoping for Aubameyang) but until then, we have giroud and hopefully danny can make a big return. Let’s support the team, rather than cry about new strikers after any poor result.
So now let us start improving our counter attacking prowess and use wisely the stamina and pace of sanchez welbeck and ramsey
We have average strikers at best, you cannot deny that and you don’t need an article to prove that … While Giroud and Walcott are not Arsenal standard and will never be, Only hopes in Welbeck …
But the stubborn one will never change …
We are 1 world-class and a couple of talented players away from greatness
I like Giroud but as in impact sub when we where using as that earlier in the season he was scoring…
I honestly would like a player similar to Giroud but better in the main aspects (Finishing, Pace, Attacking awareness) This is why my only choice is Alvaro Morata, he is on the bench at Juv and his not happy, Real Madrid are considering calling him back to sell him off (around £30-£35 million mark I guess)..He has proven he can get goals and can play in big matches (scored in the CPL final last season)..Him with the pace of Sanchez and the vison of Ozil qould make a good striking force..
Juventus own Morata, they bought two seasons ago now. He chose Juventus over the PL and we were said to have bid for him but he said Italian football always peaked interested.
Yeah i am not sure how Real will do it or the arrangement in the contract but it seems they want to get him back to sell him… either if Real get him back and we do a loan to buy or Just buy from Juv..
He was interested in Italian football but now does not even start for the team..he is back in the same position he was at Real..We can once again approach him…The PL is different form 2 season ago more high profile players are looking to come also with the TV deal it means we have extra Funds to use to attract more…
No harm in trying again
Alvaro Morato, 2015-16 season, appearances 24, goals 3, 2014-15 season, appearances 29, goals 8. Are you really sure you want this person to replace Giroud?
Greatness? ha ha ha 🙂 🙂 🙂
On Paper Chelsea and Citeh
have magnificent squads yet
both are struggling in the League.
Man U spent trillions and are awful.
Leicester has a team of nobodies and
are kicking it in the league.
MSN beat us but only M scored.
There are no guarantees.
Arsenal could be one player away from greatness
or ten players away..how would you know?
I’ll take the title of a weak EPL.
Greatness can wait.
city are indeed struggling but are also just 4 points behind us with an easier run in …so lets be honest and acknowledge we are struggling too and in the weakest epl on record … we need a clear out of 6-8 of existing squad with 5 new quality players brought in …non under the age of 19..net spend in the 100m range
We are two players short. We lack a truly world class central midfielder and a striker. It’s inexcusable that we failed in both bids for Higuain and Suarez at a time when both players were obtainable. Something is definitely wrong somewhere.
Higuain could be scoring a goal every game in the Italian league right now but it took him two seasons to get to that level. He scored 17 and 18 in his first two seasons, while Giroud scored 16 and 14 over the same period. At that time they were basically in the same category, I do not even think any Napoli supporter thought Higuain would be scoring a goal every other match this season.
If I really think about it I simply cannot understand why Wenger hasn’t brought in another striker by now. I know he really wanted Higuain same with Suarez no matter what people might say. I’m sure he asked and wanted Aubemayang too, this is more like it, these are the ones we need. Not Lukaku or some of those others you mentioned. The reason why is because Giroud is better than those players but the thing is ..Arsenal is a different kind of expectation than at Eve or QPR. The pressure is a fine line between winning the absolute maximum to having a complete failure. You think those lesser strikers you rounded off would just come in and score much more than Oli simply because they already score similar rate, if only things worked like that, but they don’t ..not at the top. At the top you need players who can handle criticism, and are so full of themselves that they believe the hype. Simply you need the best strikers who have proved that they are deserving of being called one of the best. All others need not apply.
2 players away plus couple more like El Neny would have made us real contenders and challengers in UCL..stubbornness in believing what we got is enough is hampering the goal.If we have simply spent 60 millions in winter with Aubemayang ” pace, fire and stamina” and Carvalho ( we ensure young top quality ) this investment would have for sure saved us lot money when summer comes and also give us a grip in few of the targets left outside there as Utd, Cleshit and City will spend more than 150 millions each BUT WE KNOW OUR COACH COMES EVERY YEAR WITH THE LAME EXCUSE AS THERE IS NOBODY OUTSIDE THERE BETTER THAN OG , THEO AND CO..I fancy someone fresh like SIMEONE , SAMPAOLI OR BIELSA to change our faith and get those 2 players we badly miss.
I honestly prefer a match fit Theo upfront than OG for most games, only the games against rugby teams do I prefer OG… So Tony Pulis sides 😛
Theo has missed a few chances this season but lets be fair to the guy, OG is the main man and Theo covered on the left for Alexis during his injury, Theo can not do the left hand side for more than 5 mins or so to allow the left attacker to get into the middle.
At the beginning of the season I said Arsenal do not need a CF but need to replace Theo on the right, get a player who will run to the byline and whip in a cross, a player to keep the pitch wide. With Alexis cutting in on the left, I do feel we need a right sided attacker who will stay on the touchline a bit more.
Anyone who watched us lose to Barca will not be upset, I watched us and I am proud of our performance, we caused them some problems and we could of pinched a goal or 2 with a bit of luck.
At the same time, anyone who watched that game would see Barcas width and get jealous, I mean they don’t trip each other up by all trying to be in the same place!
Alexis likes to cut in.
Ox likes to cut in.
Ramsey likes to bomb forward.
OG isn’t the most agile CF to drag CBs out of pos.
Where is Ozil suppose to play when everyone is jumping into his role?
Best thing Arsenal can do is to teach Ramsey to stay back a bit more and to also have the desire to get back and defend as quick as his desire gets him forward.
Get a wide right player or teach one of our many players to stick to the edge of the pitch a bit more.
When those 2 factors come together then Ozil doesn’t assist as much and we have trouble scoring, this isn’t just in my head, go through our games and look at the evidence we now have with hindsight.