Was Wenger Right In Not Signing A Striker For Arsenal? by AT
Having led his side to a promising position at the halfway point in the season, the Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has defended his decision not to sign a striker in the summer. Despite being urged by many of the club’s supporters to add more firepower to the Gunners’ frontline, the Frenchman decided not to go into the market, a move that seems to have paid off, at least until this point.
As quoted by the Daily Mirror, Wenger said: “I could not understand the frustration of the fans. We had Giroud, but we also had Theo Walcott who I believe is a world-class striker, we had Alexis Sanchez who is a world-class striker, and we had Danny Welbeck who is a world-class striker.”
Okay Giroud scored 19 goals last season (all comps), and 15 so far this campaign, definitely a good haul. Walcott scored 7 and 5, hardly world class finishing. Alexis’ tally is 25 and 9, not too bad. But Welbeck scored 8 last term and hasn’t played this season. Definitely NOT world-class…
Wenger continued… “You have to spend a huge amount of money to improve on that four. Giroud has the confidence. I have said that many times. He has the mental stature to play in this position.”
To be honest, I do not completely agree with what the boss has to say. With all due respect, I really do not think Walcott and Welbeck are world-class strikers, well at least not yet! When it comes to Alexis, no one can deny that he is world-class, but the Chilean isn’t really an out-and-out striker, is he? After seeing him lead the line for a short spell last season, I’m sure we can all agree that his best position is on the left wing.
If you’d ask me, I still believe the squad could do with an out-and-out striker. Olivier Giroud is the only one of those we have at the moment and while the Frenchman has been in excellent form so far this this campaign, it remains to be seen if he can effectively lead the line for the rest of the campaign. For me, the main problem here is a lack of alternatives for the Giroud, as both Walcott and Welbeck are both injury prone!
But with the team flying high and having no problems scoring goals, we Arsenal fans can’t really complain too much about Wenger not signing a striker in the summer. However, it will be interesting to see whether Le Prof can actually have the same words to say at the end of the campaign.
Anurag