Lukas Podolski advised to leave Arsenal

It seems obvious to most Arsenal fans that Arsene Wenger does not like Lukas Podolski as a player, because no matter how many injuries the Gunners have, or how out of form his selections are, as he still refuses to play the German winger.

Podolski himself said the other day that he need to talk to Wenger about his continuing presence on the Arsenal bench, and now the German manager Joachim Low has also publicly stated that Podolski needs to sort out his his position, or risk losing his international career.

Talking ahead of Germany’s game against Gibraltar, Low said: “It’s in my plans that Podolski will play from the start,

“I’m aware he doesn’t play a lot right now for Arsenal. He needs to play competitive games. Sometimes he lacks the physical condition to play the full 90 minutes.

“He has to think about his situation. I’m still convinced about his abilities, but he needs high intensity.”

Podolski was recently given a cameo performance when Wenger used him for the dying minutes of Arsenal’s late win over Anderlecht, and even scored the winner. Le Prof even gave him high praise after the game. “Podolski we know can always score you a goal. He is frustrated and I can understand that but he is important,” Wenger said.

“He needs to get back to a good physical level and now he is nearly there,”

“He was never close to leaving the club in the summer. He has 115 caps for Germany – that is not a coincidence. He is a guy you want to have in the box because his shot accuracy is great. I know when he comes on that he can score a goal.”

Since then Podolski has only played 9 more minutes in the return leg against Anderlecht, and the German must be seriously wondering what he has to do to gt more game time under Wenger. Even when we were losing to Swansea, Wenger chose to put Sanogo on instead of the man Wenger says can “always score a goal.”

How can he get match fit if he is never used in matches?

Tags Germany Low Podolski Wenger

47 Comments

  1. Chileans hate arsenal and want Alexis out of the team, Germans are also starting to hate Arsenal. You see Per, Ozil and Podolski all dipped in form after joining Arsenal. Czechs more than hate Arsenal. How, in real sense, do we stop their captain and legend Rosicky from moving to greener pastures then benches him as if he is part of the medical staff?? The whole world will soon hate Arsenal 🙁 🙁 Then National teams coaches like Low will advice their star players to move from Arsenal 🙁 🙁 🙁 then Arsenal will have no star world class players 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁
    I am ready to see podolski leave 🙁

      1. i like the way your talking like you know the psyche of an entire nation-
        “czechs more than hate arsenal” lol, man i doubt they give a monkeys that 34 yr old tomas is on the bench.
        will miss poldi tho bionic left foot, great personality,

        1. I read papers and blogs of many countries. Try it out and you’ll always have a big picture of everything

          1. most media/bloggers don’t know nor care what the people think fyi, what makes you so sure reading gives you an objective image of what they think of (for instance) Rozza at Arsenal? I highly doubt most Czechs remotely follow Arsenal other than watching highlights.

  2. Still not over the fact that we should’ve won the league last season. This rumour is the least of my worries

    1. 10 million pound would have won us the league last year (50 for suarez instead of 40)-
      thanks to wengers tight fisted nature we lost the league

      even with cdm problem, everyone was shaky last year it was ours to win easily

  3. People who think Wenger will get sacked are idiots. Gazidis recently said that Wenger is the one in charge of the club. He runs it, he is the boss. Therefore, The board (who only care about profit) cannot sack Wenger. Kronke wont because he only cares about the cash. Also the 2 cups we recently added will only reassure Kronke things are going smoothly. Only Wenger can sack Wenger.

    1. yep that right there sounds like common sense.

      no one is sacking wenger- you try an tell alan sugar – your fired- lols all round

  4. Wenger needs to give him a few consecutive games on the wing, not anywhere else and let’s see how it goes. Podolski is quite a well rounded player, he can cross, pass well, and has a hell of a shot. He might not be the quickest, but he gets himself into good positions.

    My concern though is that we have Chamberlain who is playing really well, we have Theo back from injury looking fired up, Sanchez player of the BPL so far, and Welbeck who must play as we need him to just get some more confidence in front of the posts. Giroud is also returning so what does that leave for Podolski? Perhaps having Dolski LW, Welbeck CF, Walcott RW and Sanchez just behind Welbeck would be the best suited formation right now. That left flank has been grossly underused and we need to start using it more often add extra width and more dimension to our play. The real question is – is Podolski willing to track back and help defend? This is why I think Wenger is not playing him – he is not disciplined enough in this manner.

    1. What unfair comment,How many times Ozil,Wilshere,Chambo,Cazorla,Ramsey were in fault for no tracking,how many poor performance they had but Wenger would still stick with them.
      The injustice of the Arsenal regime based on favouritism is equal only by the blind bias of the AKB toward Wenger.

      1. Yet if Wenger had no stuck by Ramsey after his injury, he wouldn’t have become the type of player he is today and saved our hides last season. Wenger has faith in certain players for a reason. You speak as if you have been a manager for 30 years…do us all a favour and quit like you know more than Wenger

        1. Man,the reproach done to Wenger is favouritism,good for Ramsey that he became good but in in the same time others players were not given the chance.
          I remember of Frimpong when he was on loan at Bolton he was maybe their best man before injury struck him,he was never given the chance by Wenger.
          It s true Wenger has many years of managing,he is 65 years old now we can feel it,maybe it is time for a deserved retirement and pass the torch to a younger in order to obtain glory.
          I say it often i only knew and became an Arsenal supporter because of him and the french players contingent in his time.It pain me to see how ineffective he became and all of you who wish him to stay,he will just lower himself more and more in the eyes of the supporters until they hate him.,why because he cannot compete no more with the best coachs out there.,don t tell me they have better team no one force him to stick with the Arteta,Flamini,Merteskr,wilshere ,giroud and co.

    2. Just read that back to yourself.
      “he [Podolski] is not disciplined enough in this manner”
      So what is a manager for?
      Should a good manager not be saying you do this or I will stick my boot up your ass!

      You make excuses for Wenger in every post, if a player does not do what he is supposed to do that is the fault of the manager or if the player didn’t do what he was told that player he would be sold the next window, plain and simple logic.

      1. I think you just answered your own question whilst restating exactly what I said. Podolski might not be disciplined enough defensively, and that is why Wenger might not be playing him. What part of that are you struggling with?

    3. Podolski now is not playing (getting enough minutes as a factor), so how well we defend on our left side? How good we defend overall (I know who our back 4 are, still). Is our left hand side more solid and concede less than before?

      Attacking-wise, do we score more goals? Our game play is now a lot more fluid, cohesive than when Poldi was playing? Are we playing much attractive football?

      One thing is sure, we are missing the goals.

  5. And the whole world will soon hate Arsenal!!
    Really?
    What a bunch of fickle fans we have here!
    Do u ever ask yourself why teams that lose often and struggle to remain in top flight have fans?

    1. alot of these fans became fans in the invincible era-
      recently met a fan at the emirates who thought rioch was a type of trainer (reebok)

  6. If i was podolski or campbell i’d leave. Campbell came here so happy, i remember his posts where he stated “going to fight for my dreams”. But he didnt realise that he would be in competition with sanogo upfront and CAM’s playing on the wing. Feel sorry for the guy.

    1. see i understand if campbell isnt ready. but then postman pat sogogo gets to play- why?
      cos he guarantees next day delivery?

      comparing those two , campbell not playing is a joke ,

      1. The confusing thing is, Sanogo got the nod ahead of Campbell even tho he was injured for months. That would have been like a sledgehammer to the balls for Campbell. No one can blame him if he goes, although we would love for him to stay, careers are short so he should make the most of it.

    2. Wenger is one of the deadly virus affecting Arsenal FC only a pill called sack can flush it out from Arsenal’s system but as long as d virus remains Arsenal will keep falling apart….

  7. I also second Low’s advice to Poldi rather than see him waste away on the bench. I think he will fit in well and be a big hit at West-Harm United or Aston-Villa. They are physical and balanced this time around despite a lack in world class players to push them higher.

  8. If Wenger could have signed one WC striker (say X) , retained Vela instead of signing Welback (ans spending 16mil there) and got rid of Sanogo, we could have a team of X, Giroud,Podolski, Vela (i fancy Campbell more on the wings). I am not saying Welback was a bad signing , but the business could have been done better. Look at the team of strikers. All different kinds giving us plan a , b , c. But again multilple plans make sense only if Wenger knew how to rotate and change tactics depending on the games and situation. If only. We do not lack variety, resources and options. We lack a person who knows how to utilize those with maximum efficiency and ouput.

    1. Exactly vela is a lot better in every department and 4x cheaper now he will go for 20m+

      Java martinez would be the perfect signing for us but when does he recover from his injury? Plus with lahm/alonso ahead of him for dm he could be perfect As a dm/cb

  9. honestly, we only love Podolski because we fancy his left foot. When he shoots, it brings us joy. Other than that, he brings nothing to the game, and I understand why he always remain a sub. People want him to be sub in sooner than 70′ but they forget that our opponent while winning will only gather back to defense in the last minutes, and that is when Podolski has chances to shoot. Early after halftime, we still need players that can deliver ball from mid to final third.

    1. It’s the formation employed which kills Poldi’s game. He is really dangerous in a 4-1-4-1 or 4-4-2 formation. Right now we don’t have a formation home or away. We playing what i term as frantic or ‘anything-can-do’ football formation which seem not to confuse Poldi alone but a number of players including Ozil.

  10. Podolski was also given a cameo in the last anderlecht game and stood like a statue instead of closing the player down before the tying goal. Look, I agree he should be used more but when he gets an opportunity he has to use it, every time and on both sides of the ball.

    The guy I feel really sorry for is Campbell, – every time he gets an opportunity he seems to use it but that seems makes no difference to Wenger. Meanwhile all Sanogo seems to have to do is get declared fit and he’s in the running.

    1. @Trudeau-You said it well when you say cameo roll. Are you aware that the more time you spent on the bench the more you become disorientated and consequently poor? But the more you play the more you improve in your sharpness?

      It’s obvious to all and sundry that Wenger favors certain players ahead of others despite them being off form. He cares less about you/me and has the panache of causing player distraught by his sick tactical pride.

  11. Just sell poldi and campbell and let them play elsewhere, this time reinvest the money gained! Can see a formation soon of walcott rw, sanchez cm, welbeck lw, giroud str. Giroud laying of the ball to the 3 fast boys 🙂

  12. Podolski must realise he is a bit part player at arsenal and must move on if he wishes continue playing at a high standard.
    Yes he is the best finisher in the EPL, and the sub bench has taken away his enthusiasm, i feel his skill set is more suited as a secondary striker who plays behind the main man, however Podolski lacks the defensive discipline to play in the arsenal system and arsenal truly can not afford luxury players, especially when arsenal as a poor defensive attitude.

    Rosicky is one more player i think needs to leave also, not because he is lacking commitment, far from it, its because he still has so much to offer a team. He is a far better player than ramsay and wilshere, but due to favoritism is not in the final 11 team.

    Campbell is an outstanding young player and watching costa rica last night i felt he was quite good going forward and quite good defensively, for what i have seen campbell can play the ramsay or wilshere role quite easily. i think he will become our greatest lost if we allow him to go. I am hoping he remains calm and does not leave because we are going to need him

    1. I agree mostly what you said, but when criticizing Poldi’s defensive ability and willingness (he has a striker mind), how week Cazorla, Ramsey, Jack, Ox are defending? Many times this season the above mentioned players bombarded forward and never look back (check the 2nd Anderlacht game).
      I agree, Poldi is lack of defensive mind, and not quite willing to track back, but he is the only player that got punished for that. We have quite a number of players on the team not willing to track back, not helping out defense enough but still starting week in and week out.
      This is the problem.

  13. 4-4-2 with (pod/welbz) would be unstoppable for many teams. Instead of the overplayed cazorla how about giving rosicky a run? This is not rocket science, it’s about knowing your player’s psyche and knowing when to put or pull someone out of the rotation.

    4-2-3-1 against weaker opposition is fine but against terry/cahill or the likes of kompany/demis we need to have 2 strikers that they need to worry about and having Pod on the bench who’s a clinical finisher if given an inch is mind-boggling. I understand you may have a preference here or there for someone over another that’s human nature Le Prof is a vastly experienced manager and should know who to use at which point.

  14. Poldi deserve some game time in giroud absent. Welbeck plays good every 3 games and it must be frustrating for poldi. He would make a great signing for Wolfsburg who are an up and coming team in Germany.

    If we sell him then pedro will be an excellent replacement. He is quick,agile,technical,hard working,goal scorer.

    If Rosicky goes in January there are players that we are targeting like ;tulisca, grenier, personally I would try and swap podolski for de bruyne who has been excellent this season.

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