Has Wenger dropped a real clanger with this Arsenal striker?

Arsenal messed up with Podolski by DN

You will not find too many Arsenal fans out there who have taken the news that the Germany international Lukas Podolski has completed his transfer to the Turkish champions Galatasaray with anything more than a shrug of the shoulders.

It is a sad end to the Arsenal career of this striker that we were all so excited about signing three years ago. It is much more of a whimper than the bang the Podolski has enjoyed for most of his life on the football pitch. Do not forget that the 30-year old has amassed an amazing 125 international caps for one of the strongest sides in the world and that he is just two goals shy of the magical 50 mark.

So I cannot help but wonder what went wrong and, to be honest, I have a strong suspicion that a large part of the blame lies at the feet of Arsene Wenger. Although us fans are not too bothered about seeing him leave now, for most of his time at the Emirates we were left scratching our heads and wondering why the German was hardly getting any time on the pitch.

When he did play, Podolski often came up with one of his trademark left footed scorchers, but as Wenger continued to show no faith in the forward, his confidence and fitness ebbed away. I do not blame him in the slightest for moving on and I hope he finds success in Turkey but I think that Arsenal could have made so much more of this exceptional talent. Don´t you agree?

Tags Podolski

49 Comments

  1. Was a fan of Podolski since the 2006 world cup. Wish he came to Arsenal in 2007 rather than 2012. Would have helped his club career.

    1. K-ool

      That’s when I became a fan too he was hungry back then. Hed actually make good runs and had good movemeny but that was the last I saw of it

  2. I agree! Just take a look at what happened also to Arshavin, Gervinho, etc; etc; and the list goes on. Wenger our ‘great’ Manager has destroyed so many more than he has made them!
    I know a lot of you wont agree; but who cares eh?

    1. You’re making me all misty-eyed……if only Wenger had been nicer to these lads, it could have been so different for us. Gervinho and Podolski could have been the difference last year…….

  3. How many different ways is the Podolski question gonna be asked on here??? Jeezz this must be the 6th time this week.

  4. Podolski
    Ryo Chamakh
    Park Bendtner
    Girvinho Arshavin.
    A fantastic history of amazing strikers.
    Wenger has again assembled
    a crop of super star strikers
    Sanogo the new Henri,
    Campbell the new Maradona
    Wellbeck the new Ibrahimovic.
    Wenger certainly knows how
    to spot and nurture talent.
    Happy days 🙂

  5. I firmly believe Wenger could have played him more often, especially after his crucial champions league goals. Podolski SHOULD have started more games for Arsenal no doubt. However, I still don’t think he’s the archetypal Arsenal player. Wenger appears to prefer flexible energetic players who can play in more than one position. Podolski can really only play in one position.

    1. yeah sadly I think that if Romario o Baixinho has played under Wenger he would have suffered the same luck of Poldi and some others

          1. i meant that o Baixinho was a legend at Barza and a world cup winner…nbut he was famous for not showing to practice and being “lazy”. same as some label Poldi, Arsha etc

    2. @Twig: so why did he buy them? I thought he was the best Man on Earth in spotting and nurturing talents. There’s a few he’s thrown in the bin. His track for me is littered with overpaid youth whom he had brought into the club to eventually sell for nothing (RELEASED) at the end of their ‘adventure’ with Arsenal: A few names- Aliadaire, Quincy-Owusu, Manone, Stephanov, Francis Jeffers (£9M at the time) and the list goes on. With Arsene, if he doesn’t like you, you’ve had it! So my question is, why buy them and clog up our wage structure with moppets? I’m enjoying being marked down by Arsene CLOWNS. It tells me I’m really hitting raw nerves. He’s too old to handle these situations and must now make way for youth. You could point to Sir Alex, but I can tell you that man was a winner through and through. He was made of steel, NOT so our dear easily-provoked-but-without-metal-Arsene! Thank you and enjoy another day of hoping on a big signing but disappointed with getting another promising youth who is to be released in 3 years after a wage of £60k a week! Hahaha!!!

      1. Your comment is outdated mate, Wenger bought many unnecessary players for the ski of keeping us in top 4, but then again only haters would think we were capable of eating the likes of United and Chelsea with a squad of Djourou and Squillaci

  6. Simply put, podolski is a great finisher, but an average player.

    Arsenal have no need for average players!!!

      1. Although I dont like Giroud he has performed and scored goals when needed. His problem is consistency and cant perform in big games. We need to keep Giroud this season even if we buy top striker. Walcott and Sanchez are our 2 big game players now.

        1. This makes no sense. If he isn’t consistent and can’t perform when he’s needed how is he scoring when we need him to?

        2. Say what you will about Giroud’s tendency to choke in big games shot-wise, but even when he’s under-performing up front, he’s still working hard in his link-up play and the runs he makes. When Podolski’s not performing well, he plain disappears from the pitch, which creates major headaches when part of a winger’s responsibilities involve defensive duties.

        3. Can’t perform in big games ??? He scored agains man city, man u, liverpool last season … Giroud gives us a physical presence, he’s a strong player that gets us some big goals, and we can’t only have 5 ft 5 sanchezes. I think he definitely has a role to play at arsenal, maybe not a starter but as a sub. I was always impressed by him as a sub, usually looked fresh and regularly scored, and his slow speed wasn’t as noticeable later on in games.

      2. Every article you post the same effluent. Giroud, Giroud, Giroud..blah, blah, blah. Geez guy, you are one dimensional.
        Try another topic.

        1. Yes because I was used to watching Thierry Henry, RVP and Adebayor at their prime and even when they were developing were still better players to watch. So I am understandably frustrated from the past 3 seasons. No other players frustrate that much.

          1. So you just came to football. Listen, I have seen Pele play, I watched Eusebio. I laced up my togs, put on my shin pads for 5 years and played. I cannot understand why a fan would berate a member of a team he supposedly supports. Are you an Arsenal fan or just miserable?
            While Giroud is a Gunner I will support him 100%. There is no one in England is good as Giroud going near post. Now you may not not have understood what I just wrote, so go back and watch Giroud’s goals. Watch very close that touch he has on the near post. Perhaps you do not understand how much technique it takes to do that.
            Please do no get depressing as the weeping willows at LeGrove.

            1. Fine, so you’re kind of old and that’s a fact but Giroud still is an average player and that is another fact.
              I support Arsenal not Oliver Giroud and what is better for Arsenal is a world class striker not Giroud. Arsenal comes before Giroud. Players come and go, but Arsenal remains. Some players are made at Arsenal that I can support until the end like Walcott, Ramsey and Wilshere etc. Giroud was brought here to be great but he has failed to come through.
              Peter Crouch also has a fantastic at the near post I am sure. I am sure tons of professional strikers rather than school boy in football like yourself do that in their sleep. What is special about having a good touch near post? Is it just another excuse to scoring goals like hold-up play? He doesn’t do anything an average player can’t do. It doesn’t make him Zlatan Ibrahimovic or world class.
              What else can Giroud do? Can he dribble? Can he beat a man 1 on 1? Does he know how to sort his feet? Is he quick? Does he take long shots? Does he make effective, penetrative off-the-ball runs? Does he take set pieces? Is he an expert finisher?
              I bet you you’re going like no, no, no, no, no, no, no….exactly.
              .

              1. Your problem is that you THINK your OPINION is FACT.

                There is a name for that. Look it up.

          2. Do you rememebr Henry NOT scoring in our two European finals ..that wanst K ool but we stood behind him right?

  7. Podolski’s main problem is he cant play on the wing or of his own as CF. He performs playing
    4-4-2 formation. Arsenal play with 4-5-1 or 4-3-3 these days. Good player scored 31 goals
    but not good enough for us and also on 100k pw. Good decision to sell him and sign top striker.

  8. Part of being a professional footballer involves demonstrating the willingness to develop their game as their manager see fit. Don’t get me wrong– I like Pod and, at least on his social media postings, he seemed t have a fantastic attitude– but it pains me that in the end he (and the Bendtners and Gervinhos and Arshavins others pointed to) seemed more comfortable carping about why he wasn’t playing as a center forward and complaining about his lack of first-team football opportunities than he was trying to develop the traits and on-field work habits Wenger demanded of them.

    Yeah, I know I’m going to get a lot of thumbs-down for this, but it’s the truth.

    1. True but also you can use that argument to ask why hasn’t Giroud developed his game for 3 years now. He still cannot dribble, he still cannot run, doesn’t take long shots or free kicks and he still cannot score enough. There is nothing Giroud has done for the past 3 seasons like link-up and hold-up play that world class strikers don’t do better. The difference is that in addition to that they add magic, skills and score goals. No one notices Ibrahimovic’s hold-up play…it doesn’t mean he doesn’t do it or do it better.
      Before Santiago Cazorla…Arsenal had been buying average players like Giroud and Arteta who have no potential for improvement and playing them a lot or buying players like Gervinho, Arsharvin etc and wasting their talent. It hasn’t really taken us anywhere. We have been 4th for the past 10 years on average.
      Now we have bought Ozil, Sanchez…players of proven quality and potential for improvement and the results are showing. There is some improvement in the past 2 years but we still are not capable of winning the EPL and CL until we buy a striker of proven quality with potential for improvement at a team like Arsenal. I can think of many strikers that would work well with the creative force Arsenal has….Cavani, Benzema, Lukaku, Remy, Lewandowski etc would improve Arsenal massively. They will score with service. We play ground football most of the time like Barcelona. We need a striker with good feet, quick, magic and dribbling skills. Which is why Benzema or Lewandowski would be fantastic for Arsenal. Giroud is for Westham or old school Stoke City.

      1. oh my God dude…Giroud wasnt even mentioned in that comment…give it a break hahahaha

      2. Now tell me three strikers better than Giroud available in the market now..and don’t say Higuain coz he is utter BS..saw him in the Copa final and Giroud is waaaaay better than him

  9. this is one of the problem of arsenal in the past ten years, trying to keep faith to under performing players that one day they will boom, when ever pold is on the pitch he goes missing we only see him when he score, he is good finisher no doubt but he contribut less to the team, sellin him was the best, we need young and vibrant player defender will be afraid of dat is if we really need to win epl or ucl

  10. I have to be honest giroud is not what arsenal need to win the prem. We have had some great forwards but Giroud is not one. He should be warming the bench. Theo is a winger and not a cf let’s be real. He does not have the strength or finishing to be cf. He is a good winger but definitely no cf. We need to buy a world class cf in order to challenge. We need a cf more than any position right now. 20 prem goals from a cf will win us the league. Forget Fa cup and carling these are tea cups. We all want prem and CL so let’s encourage each other and get the player we need and that is either cavani or benzema or even benzene

  11. @ko-,oil
    Giroud has improved his game . Doesn’t shoot from range ? How about that goal against united? How about the one against city in the community shield? Doesn’t take free kicks ? I haven’t seen benzema or. Cavani take one recently .doesn’t favour our short passing game ? How come in the first leg against everton we weren’t flowing till he came on as Alexis led the line .did you see he’s assist for Wilshere agaisn Norwich ? I doubt that’s the touch of a man uncomfortable with the ball .
    I know he’s not the best out there but bar lewandowski,messi,ronaldo, not many out there offer a lot more than he does . Most of them are just big names/price tags/ media darlings or plain old goal poachers with everyone working for them .
    Giroud might not be a big name like those out there .but he does match them for end product .

    1. Giroud allows us to play some of the most beautiful football I’ve ever seen, I don’t recall RVP relying on teamwork like he does

  12. I believe if we sign Pedro we don’t need a striker. Giroud and Walcott rotating CF depending on the team, both will be massively effective coming off the bench anyway. If we had Sanchez and Pedro on the wings they would score loads of goals that would perhaps make up for the few Giroud misses. We can have ox as an understudy for the RW, most of our wingers can play on both sides anyway.

    I would like to sign a striker but there aren’t many, if any, who represent value for money or that are even realistic targets to start with. I would love to see Lacazette at Arsenal, I know he’s played in France and you can argue the league is far weaker but the boy has serious talent. He would be something different to what we have and Wenger could make him world class, I would hate to see him at another club in a year or two and setting the world alight.
    He’s the only viable option I think, unless things change of course! I doubt we will sign a striker though, I’m not holding my breath.

  13. you can whine and cry all you want about Giroud, but i’m sorry your opinion can’t stop him being an Arsenal player. average or world class, he scores, against the big or small teams, he scores…..i’ve read so many of your comments bashing and hating on him. if you like Falcao, Chelsea is the team for you, u like RVP I think you know where he’s headed, is it Aguero? City is a good team to fan. i’m just sick of your comments about Giroud on every article.

  14. Hahaha if you giroud will win you the prem you going to keep dreaming until wenger contract runs out because our new manager will surely no where to send giroud. And that’s a first class train to Burnley football club

  15. There is a reason Poldi was not played more often and anyone watching him could tell you it. He’s not a winger. He is also not a lone striker. We don’t play with our number 10 as a second striker therefore, the position Poldi plays is not used at Arsenal. He was bought to be a number 9 and score goals and be a striker but on working with him he did not really fit the role Wenger was asking of him while Giroud was. Similarly we tried to use him wide and he was not making the forward or backward runs necessary. His end product has never been doubted but his willingness (or ability) to play another position has cost him his place at Arsenal. It’s not like playing elsewhere has helped him any!

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