Who could be the answer to Giroud’s prolonged absence? by SE
Call it ‘bad luck’, destiny or whatever; Giroud’s injury couldn’t have come at a more inappropriate juncture for Arsenal and Wenger, who were, crucially, looking to see off Besiktas in their Champions League playoff tie, and march into the group stage of the competition.
The Frenchman had just scored an important goal against Everton, which gave Arsenal a crucial away point at the weekend. Moments later, a viciously struck ball caught Giroud on his ankle and, albeit it looked anything but serious, has dealt a huge body blow for Arsenal, who already have a catalogue of injuries to take care of. However, from Arsenal’s perspective: Who could be the answer to Giroud’s prolonged absence?
Arsenal’s squad boasts of a number of wingers – Podolski, Walcott, Sanchez, Cazorla, Rosicky and Campbell – who have to be used in a different mould, now, given the injury to Giroud. One’s loss is another’s gain, which is no different in Giroud’s case and someone like Campbell will hope to step up; make a name for himself, and, more importantly, benefit Arsenal in the process.
This is the kind of scenario where Sanchez’s versatility could come to Arsenal’s rescue. Sanchez played as a striker in the game against Everton, albeit ineffectively. But, the Chilean, midst all other options Wenger can ponder over, would be my bet to lead the line for Arsenal, during Giroud’s prolonged absence. It’s debatable as to whether Campbell can play up top, and Sanchez could be persisted with, as a winger. But, in whatever little I’ve seen of the Costa Rican – more notably, during his magnificent showing against Benfica in the Emirates cup – he could be better off playing as a winger who runs the channels and dribbles intelligently.
The same thing can be said about Sanchez, too, but the Chilean gives you that confidence of making an impact, while leading the line.
Also, with Giroud’s injury, Wenger might have to resort to playing his old system, 4-2-3-1, and hope to get the best out of his fit personnel. Ozil, subsequently, can play in his favored No.10 position, behind Sanchez.
Final thought
As much as Giroud’s injury spells ‘trouble’ for Arsenal’s season ambitions; it just might not be all that bad, after all. Yes, it is definitely a body blow for Arsenal, but this where a big squad comes to the rescue and, Arsenal’s squad should be able to cope with Giroud’s prolonged absence.
Suhith
After he scored the only goal yesterday, you’re saying he should be Arsenal’s no.9 yet you doubted him after a poor display in the Everton game. If he happens to be lousy in the game at Leicester, you will be calling for his head! Hypocrites…
Dont under estimate giroud. Dont insult that guy fans. He always gives 101% for arsenal. He is a gunner!
Giroud doesn’t give as much as Alexis. He was hunting down players last night, great to see. Still do not think we should be relying on Alexis to be our main striker for the majority of the season. Happy for him to play up front and think he will do well now that he has scored, but still think we need a clinical finisher that we have been lacking since Van Poopsie left…
Lol most of you cried out for a pacey mobile striker and now Sanchez isn’t a striker? Wenger said that he brought him to be a striker.
No. Falcao should be our number 9
Sanchez could end up like a bulldog version of Henry (something like Tevez), up front. Patience is what we need. But is it something we can afford? I’m stuck between betting half of our season on Sanogo, Sanchez, Podolski and Campbell, or buy a top top class striker in the likes of cavani..
BTW What is up with Wenger playing Özil on the winger; didn’t he see his performances for Germany during the world cup? On the left wing: Mediocre. Behind the striker: Dominating. Maybe he’s looking at playing Ramsey and Wilshere together in the future, and the best way to do that is to put Özil on the left wing. But right now, Özil is maybe THE best number 10 in the world and should be the one we build our team around, NOT the Ramsey/Wilshere duo. But then again, Arsene knows best.
Give it more time… Don’t jump to conclusions. And still, is Sanogo a reliable backup for half the season?
No he’s raw.
Remy is realistic. If Wenger gets Falcao or Cavani I will be shocked! After the game a reporter asked him what about Falcao, and he paused, smiled, said no and laughed so MAYBE Falcao is the player he MIGHT get.
One can hope
he smiled in knowing that its impossible. 350k is madness.
he said ” I brought Sanchez to be a striker”
He also bought Chambers as a right back.
No he said he saw chambers as a DM.
Chambers will be a utility player this season we could still get arbeloa for 2nd rb/3rd Lb (preferably on a season loan)
Sokratis would be a quality signing he benched Subotic once hummels regained fitness. Now they have signed Ginter I can’t see him joining to be 4th so they might accept the bid.
If theirs time left we should go for a quality dm (carvalho,schnederlin….rabiot)
On deadline day we can focus on getting a striker to improve on what we already have. (Falqao?)
We would be spending roughly 35 -45m
Ozil needs to be behind the striker or else he’ll be pretty useless.
Why spend 42.5 million on a world class player and use him out of position?
So that you can play your adopted son Wilshere in the middle irrespective of how bad he plays.
Played WELL last night with Rambo out.
I said last week, Jack and Rambo do not work, with Ramsey out Jack has space to work and a different role that suits his play.
Flamini/ Arteta/ New DM- Ramsey/ Wilshere
With Ozil, Santi and Alexis in the squad, Wenger has a problem with selection.
Ozil is far from match-fit, that’s why wenger didn’t put him @10 position, but with him in the field he can produce chance any time, like the goal opportunity last night. Thus he was put in wing. Not the theory I like, but this might be the case.We might go for cambel, but untested for this huge match, or for poldi, but as well lact of match fit, but wenger chose ozil.
Thank God we made it cl group stage d best wenger can do is get a quality striker if only we hav any hope of competing with d elite
Mr. Wenger I have one word for you…CAVANI
Motion duly supported, Cavani
Watching the Besiktas game yesterday I’ve never been so nervous in my life!!
i was so nervous i couldnt even look at the score online
Imagine what Manure fans feel like watching their games from caves and under rocks!
Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha…
I understand it was an important game but I’m wondering when is Campbell going to get a good run of games… Kills me to see Ozil on the wings when he and Cazorla should be rotated as the #10 to keep them fresh… Interesting to see what Wenger will do now since we’ve secured CL football for another year…
exactly – ozil and cazorla should be used only in the middle. why is this so obvious to everyone except wenger?
sanchez, poldi are all great #9’s but are completely useless against those teams who defend deep, giroud will be missed for sure! we need a target man! time for yaya to step up or better yet we sign a new one ….
I now have 3 names on my mind. Cavani, Reus, and Carvalho. Lol I wish…
I have 8
Cavani and Falcao for strikers
Reus and Draxler for wingers
Carvalho and Khedira for DMs
Howedes and Hummels for CBs
Come one Wenger Spend the money!!!
You need reality check….
he needs an actual and rather large check if he wants to buy all those players.
Really??
how about Messi Ronaldo Suarez for strikers???
will that be good? or will you still moan??
Nah, Messi, Ronaldo, and Suarez are unrealistic targets. All the guys on his list are clearly realistic targets.
this late in the transfer window the only way we can get reus is if wenger makes that call again and give a blank cheque to dortmund.
To me Sanchez is a right forward. He adept at playing on the wing or down the middle, but his talents are best utilized in the space between the oppositions left back and the left CB. This is the type of positioning Barca use and what he was accustomed to playing. Messi, Neymar, and Pedro are also in a similar category. Even though Messi has been scoring goals for fun for such a long time, I still struggle with calling him a “striker” simply because he doesn’t operate purely in the middle and up top. Sanchez is very similar to him in that respect. All of this information is fine, but without an end product the positional analysis is pointless. Can Sanchez fill the gap left by Giroud? I think he can, but he isn’t going to be a straight swap clearly. I would argue that we should mould our style to fit Sanchez and/or Ozil because those players are world class, whereas Giroud is a good striker at best. Playing Ozil on the wing is criminal in my opinion, at least when it comes to our team. With Sanchez more involved in play through the middle it is a waste to have Ozil anywhere other than right behind him. The other players need to adapt a bit better I think. That’s not to say they aren’t adapting right now, I know these things take time, but we can’t expect the same hold up play with Sanchez as our striker. We can’t have too many crosses whipped in for someone to get a head on. Play the ball to Sanchez’ feet. Play Ozil in the middle to maximize the talent we have. I’m ranting now, but as it stands we have the capability to rotate at CAM, CM, and both wings without losing too much quality, but only as long as players aren’t played out of position.
Yeah, I have said before that we should be playing Walcott up front, but he has produced mixed results there. Why is that? Because Arsene puts him there and has the rest of the team play EXACTLY the same way as when Giroud is there. When Sanchez has lined up there we have tried to boot him the ball for him to hold. Why? He is good enough on the ball technically with enough strength to have moderate hold up play, but it will never be a feature of his game. He needs to be running onto passes over the top or in front of him on diagonal runs.
This really doesn’t work well unless you have either a true striker for him to play off of or else at least one other forward player that makes the same type of runs. Walcott can provide that. Campbell can provide that. Sanogo can provide that. Ox, perhaps, but I am not sold on him as a forward.
I still feel like Walcott and Campbell are better suited to be in the middle, but Alexis should do well there as well if given the opportunity and if the tactics are shaped around it.
I still stand by one glaring issue. Our midfield, for all the talent there, is still being beaten by most other midfields. If we can’t win supposedly our best area of the field against Besiktas, why should we even expect to be able to play with the best teams in the league? I feel like much of it is down to tactics however because in the last couple years it seems Arsene is encouraging more one on one dribbling and taking several touches. This is fine in space, but when teams pack the midfield as they usually do against us, we have to be able to bring out the quick one-and-two-touch style that usually ends up creating most of our chances.
Ozil is fine. If you guys cared to watch him much in that game you would realize that he is not match fit, but even so he was one of our better players. He tracked back well and often, and half of his poor passes were town to being tired after long runs. He got the assist and created most of our good chances. Some people on here have already decided he is a flop and will not be convinced unless he scores 20 goals. Some players do not affect the game as clearly as others, but stats do not lie, and even last season he was one of the top midfielders in Europe in chances created.
I still cannot figure out this one thing: Looking at our midfield we have Ozil, Cazorla, Ramsey, Wilshere, Rosicky, Podolski, Sanchez, Ox, Walcott. It is just completely beyond me how this group of players, brought together under Arsene’s tutelage, has ZERO creativity. Can someone please explain that to me?
Spot on mate. You should be Arsenal manager!
Is there a way to make Wenger aware of this site so that he can read the frustration of fans.
We have a better squad than most EPL clubs at the moment but we lack creativity just because players are played out of positions. It is time to stop. You need to play players in their best and most comfortable position to get the best out of them or just don’t buy them. What is the point of paying all that money for Ozil then waste him on the wing? Bonkers!!!
ZONAL MARKING,UUUUGH.
Hold up play!!
Sanchez may be able to fill the void left by Giroud but would take some time as he needs to blend better with the team. I suggest Wenger gets Bony or Remy. Proven goal scorers with EPL experience, A solid DM (in carvalho) and a CB…..then we can be real title contenders.
Ushited now want Carvalho, Wenger now we have CL we better move fast………. If you don’t want another striker at least get him as he can also play CB and bring us something different! 4 days Arsene…….and counting!!!!
Never the less, great scrappy win last night.
now Carvalho can play centre back……..not suprise someone will say he can play gk tooo
Do we need to buy players? Absolutely at least one, but preferably two and ideally three. Do i see that happening? Hell no. I would say maybe one player on the last day/hour of the window. Most probably a versatile defender like Aldrweild or if we are very lucky Carvalho. And if some miracle happens we will also get Remy(on loan) and thats about it. This is Arsene we are talking about he got Sanchez and that is his one major signing, he will not make another. His idea of competing and most other people’s is not the same.
Having said all this, if and this is a BiiiiiiiiiiiiiG IF the team can stay healthy(including Diaby) we actually do have a good squad. We have some amazingly talented players such as Ozil and Sanchez and Theo and Cazorla, and Ramsey and Koscielny. We also have talented youngsters such as OX, Campbell, and Gnabry. We have Jack and Diaby who both have it all to prove this season and if they stay healthy they are quality. We have little Mozartwho can change any game with one incisive drive. So this is a good bunch of players. IF they stay healthy, IF they play with the right tactics, If they are well coached and IF they are rested, I believe they can compete for top honors.
Scez-Ospina-Martinez
Debuchy-Bellerin Koscielny-Miquel Per-Chambers Gibbs-Monreal
Diaby-Arteta-Flamini-Coquelin Ramsey-Wilshire-Zelalem
Ozil-Cazorla-Rosicky
Theo-Gnabry -Campbell Sanchez-Sanogo-Akpom Poldi-Ox-Ryo
This is the team we have at the moment, with youngsters and Hoping for healthy players. It is not a bad squad. Its the best we had for a while. There is definitely quality back-up needed in CD and a good DM instead of the bunch of mediocre ones we have and a WC striker or a WC LW would all make a difference. But this is a team that if well coached and playing with fire and hunger can actually be as good as Liverpool was last year. Yes, I think we will still fall short, like Pool did but the only way i see us actually winning it all is with a great striker and a destroyer in midfield and a quick footed back-up/replacement to Per. Good luck with that.
Is Falcao in price range? Wenger smiles: “No”
wenger : “Alex Song will not come back.”
French media claims that arsenal & 3 other clubs have bid for Adrien Rabiot.
Wenger has no excuses left….if besiktas had scored in last few minutes no one would have said it was undeserved as they matched us over both legs…the two league performances resulted in four points could have easily been 1 …. So after 4 competitive games we can see the makings of a squad that can’t compete for EPL or cl … Bringing in rotation players won’t change the equation as we already have too many mediocre performers…if we bring in quality DM and attacker I think we can have a first team to match the best and hope fitness and injuries aren’t against us…otherwise it’s another underperforming season ahead
After the win last night, a few of Arsenal players decide to go out on the town to celebrate. Upon arrival at the nearest club, club policy each person is searched before entering. After searching Laurent Koscielny, security find what seems to be a dark blunt object in one of his pockets. They question him about it, and he replies “It’s only Demba Ba.”
Q: Zigic’s agent says you’re interested in him. Wenger: ‘Who?’ Q: It’s ZIGIC. Wenger: ‘Zigic? No’
Arsenal bid for Rabiot is £10m. Midfielder’s mother/agent will meet with Wenger tomorrow in London
rumors that we will meet with falcao’s agent 2day
Arsenal will play Southampton in the Capital One Cup at home.
We rejected Fabregas because Özil already had his position. Now we’re playing Özil out wide and are bidding 15m € on Rabiot? hope we get get carvalho as well
No. Actually, the impression I got yesterday was how badly we needed a tall, physically strong player upfront. Sanchez played well yesterday, but can he win the physical contest against Kompany, Cahill and Shawcross? Week in, Week out? Playing with Sanchez only will severely limit our play to ground balls. Besides, his tendency to drop wide often left us without a player in the box. Demba Ba will be so PERFECT for us! He may not have scored over the 2 legs, but my estimation of him as a player increased over those 2 games.
Really. Look, we shouldn’t expect him to compete with strength against most defenders. That is not and never will be his game. The strikers that YOU and others want similarly cannot match up with the better defenders on strength. Cavani is a twig (no pun intended).
I see no issue playing without a traditional striker, however, it has to be with the right tactics. If Arsene keeps trying to play Sanchez, Campbell, Walcott, or whoever plays through the middle the same way he uses Giroud, we are going to have issues.
The issue with him moving out wide should not be an issue, because if one player moves into a different position, another player should be taking his place. Cazorla and Wilshere were the midfielders behind Alexis, either they or Ox should have been running into the box in those situations, but it wasn’t happening. Alexis is just a completely different type of player that requires a different set of tactics if he is to play through the middle. Surely Arsene realizes this, and hopefully he will not be too stubborn to adjust.
We were average yesterday we don’t look like title winners or champions league winners.
And I notice the usual it’s the refs fault for us not winning brigade are quiet after last nights game…………….
Sanchez isn’t a striker he would get eaten up by better defences.
He works hard good to see him get his goal but he’s not as good as Giroud up there.
If we don’t add anything to this current squad top 4 at best for me no trophies.
Drogba out….Costa is out for 2 months….Chelsea is in the hunt for strikers tooo
Only Sanogo is close to Giroud style in our squad, Sanches can strike against some teams but not all games. Most team park bus against us that’s why we need physically strong tall striker. Ozil impact was clear in yestday game just that he misplaced some passes. a world class striker is okay for us
Özil got an assist, and he was horrendous? Which match were some people watching? He tracked back a lot, and made some tackles. His baby facial expression may be deceptive… Not denying he’s got to improve.
Alexis looked totally spent after the match. There’s a long way to go. Might be a good time to give him this weekend off before little things start adding up.
Sanchez can play where the hell he likes, as long as he gives that kind of energy and tenacity to win.
I think he is going to be an amazing player for us, but we DO have to rest him now and again, and not flog him to exhaustion. The way to do that, is have more than a couple of star names. So buy, buy buy Wenger!!
Ziggy Stardust is our number 9
Will here can play with rambo, he is just slowly getting back to form. .oil can’t play on the wings he is wasted there.
I love sanchez incredible work rate, all the arsenal players should take a leaf out of his book, his hunting down was a sight to behold, imagine having his chilean team mate Vidal next to rambo no stopping us.
The ideal last week of the transfer window
Cb/rb Alderwield on loan. Free
Dm rabiot 10m
St falqao on loan 20m fee plus 25 more to make it permanent next year.
Outgoing
Gnabry,ryo on loan
Coqulan sold 2m
28m net spent