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Who SHOULD be Arsenal’s main striker this season?

Wenger must look beyond Sanogo and Giroud for striking options by SE

It’s absolutely ludicrous on the part of Jamie Carragher to question Arsenal’s striking and goal-keeping options, ahead of the new season. In his interview to Daily Mail, in which he talks about the chances of various Premier League title contenders, the former Liverpool defender was quoted ‘cynical’ of Arsenal’s chances of winning the Premier League this season. Now, this article isn’t going to reflect on what the delusional Sky Sports pundit has had to say, but introspectively, shouldn’t Wenger be looking at other striking options beyond the French duo of Sanogo and Giroud?

Let’s face it: Wenger has brought in Sanchez for his versatility; And, in Walcott and Podolski, Wenger has two players who can be used as strikers. I also think that if Wenger wants to challenge for the Premier League title and other big honors during the season – he has to look at ways of using the trio of Podolski, Walcott and Sanchez as strikers – despite the presence of Sanogo and Giroud as primary striking options.

And mind you, Wenger looks all set to deploy the 4-3-3 system, as he showed in the FA Community Shield win over Man City last weekend. If he is to play 4-3-3, and he’s keen on wanting to play his best players in as many games as possible, using one of the aforementioned trio as a striker could be the only way to go about it. Walcott, once he returns from injury, can’t play alongside Ozil and Sanchez in Wenger’s 4-3-3 system if he is to play as a winger.

I am not saying Wenger should discard Giroud and Sanogo and straightaway opt for one of the aforementioned three, but he really has to give it a thought. Moreover, it’s Wenger’s squad rotation policy, along with consistent results that will win Arsenal the Premier League title.

Sanchez, for me, would be a straightforward candidate to lead the line for Arsenal, with Walcott and Ozil playing on his left and right-hand-side respectively.

Playing 4-3-3, as well as utilizing one of Podolski, Sanchez and Walcott as strikers, can only do Arsenal a whole lot of good, and Wenger needs to take it into consideration.

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Tags Giroud Sanchez Sanogo Walcott

88 Comments

  1. Strong links suggesting Khedira is definitely leaving and it is Chelsea or Arsenal who are the favourites to sign him. Lets be honest, we desperately need him or Carvalho since there is a huge hole in the middle of our midfield. I really hope we sign him and a CB.

    As for who should lead the line, give Giroud a few games, if he doesn’t perform then Walcott or Sanchez for me (if we don’t sign a striker btw).

          1. One thing about Anelka, he made an instant impact, not taking over 15 games to score his first goal.

            2. jdoge and jojo all i am gonna say that u both r biased nd narrow thinker..and i am sure you 2 were the 1st to say wengerout and ramseyout…but we all know what happened to those who wanted wenger out and ramsey to be sold..same ll happen with sonogo I am not saying he ll be world’s greatest striker but he ll come good decent enough to start before giroud

          2. LOL you actually think Sanogo is the striker to take this club forward?
            Serious delusions you are having there.

            1. i only asked a question why not sonogo..never claimed or ever stated in any of my post that sonogo ll take arsenal forward…i like him and he is certainly more talented than giroud..if u hv noticed his runs off the ball and the way he face the goal rather than showing his back and trying hold game he plays as outright striker…and walcot is injured so he cant play upfront for time being and abt alexis to be honest i hv not seen him play as a striker much…and as of now we hvnt sign a new striker.. so i just wanted to know why not sonogo upfront

              1. Let’s worry more about CB and DM. If Laurent was out we’d have had a headache at the back. Monreal I’m sorry to say is horrible.

    2. Podolski
      Sanchez—- —-Walcott
      Ozil
      Ramsey—–Arteta

      Gibbs–Kosc–Merts–Debuchy
      Schez

      My 11 when all is fit. Podolski with his sublime finishes and movements will definitely do us some good upfront. Just saying

      1. have you ever watched Podolski up front? I haven’t ever saw any sublime movement. or finishing when he’s played up top. he’s better out on the left and cutting into the middle just behind the striker

    3. Carvalho is too expensive and seems AW is busy negotiating something we all don’t expect……..Would love Carvalho as he is versatile but Sami is also top drawer.

    4. Idk if I would say there’s a “huge hole” in the middle. Arteta isn’t athletic enough for certain games, but last year was more down to us being so blunt in attack that teams could press us as high as they wanted. Ultimately it was too much to handle in the forms of City/Chelsea/L’pool.

      A bit more street smarts in the more dangerous games and we would easily compete with Arteta or even Flamini in there. Can it be upgraded? Sure. Gaping hole? Not really.

      I would be happier seeing the cash spent on a guy I know will produce the goals in the big games. Got a lot of time for Giroud, but he is no Cavani. We scored 30 less goals than the top two last year which is the obvious comparative flaw. And cue the “we have Theo, Sanchez, Campbell, Podolski” jibes….well none have the body or the back for playing the lone striker role despite the preseason fantasy ideas we all come up with. So it’s currently Giroud or Sanogo up top. I’d like some star power added there if possible.

    5. We have a striker in Gironde! Let’s give him our support to boost his confidence. Show the the guy some love and faith.

    6. I would go for a front 3 of
      sanchez – Cavani – reus
      if we manage to complete both deals, but if not tomorrow I would start with

      Sanchez – giroud – chamberlain (but I think wenger will go with cazorla here instead)

      When Walcott is fit I think he will come in with either giroud or sanchez stepping down depending on the opposition.

      Podolski, campbell, sanogo and chamberlain will be the main back up to those already mentioned.

      2. Podolski on the left , Sanchez on the right (the only man I feel will do an equal or better-due to his defensive and all round work rate ) , and Walcott leading the line( like his last game against spuds. ) Happy days . That line up has everything except height. Can bring on giroud if needs be.

  4. Who needs Cavani when we have OG. This season; Played = 45 minutes, Goals scored = 1 beautiful sublime effort! Games to Goal Ratio = 200%. Getting really serious this season, our own OG. Give Giroud a few games!

        1. im sorry did u say bub? is that like bud or bro?
          my nephew called me fam-a-lam an now this…danny glovers getting too old for this sh*t

          1. This was half sarcasm and half a vain hope that OG truly performs. This was for the fans to support the striker we are stuck with. AW not getting a striker and will be using OG often, so get used to it and stop dreaming for anybody else!

  6. For the first game of the season i would live to see a front three of sanogo campbell and chamberlain with arteta ramsey and wilshere in midfield. but over the season the burden can be shared mainly by theo,sanchez,and giroud keep the defences always guessing and we can have the likes of campbell,ox,cazorla poldi etc on the wings supporting them

  7. No one should be our main striker bec, no one is good enough to claim that poz for himself alone. When the season was over i was expecting Arsenal to make early business in finding us a new Striker and a new Dm. No the season is already over and we yet haven’t fixed those main poz which is making Arsenal finish 4th.

    Arsenal main problem are 2 things. Lack of fire power and Arsenal quality without playing the ball.

    Giroud, Walcott, Sanzchez, Poldi, are all good strikers ( but they are more assisting then main). And Arsenal simple needs a world class striker.

    Teams beat us bec we have trouble-ties to win the ball of the team which we are playing against. When Arsenal plays against smaller teams, we somehow manage to win the ball back, but playing against biger teams we play like basketball, leting the enemy attack and hope that they dont succeed in scoring, rather then us winning the ball back.

    Beside Koscienly, there is not a single player at Arsenal who can beat his men to the ball. No one.

    1. Excellent analysis KS

      So true against the lesser teams as our class eventually prevails..
      And you’re right, we don’t have a killer striker that’s a cavani or costa type.. Banging in 20-30’league goals.. We have assisters..
      That’s not my concern though, the problem lies in CDM and in defence.
      Chelsea have and always will be strong defensively (boring if you like) yet they are solid and their problem last season was scoring goals.. So mourhino buys fabregas to assist costa and brings back drogba..
      We scored plenty of goals last season and have signed Sanchez and brought back Campbell.. Our problem was in the middle and defensive naivity against the better teams..
      Worryingly Wenger has sold loaned out 4 defensive players and bought only 2 (so far) .. I’m not questioning Wengers ability here or whether he’s still got it in the transfer market, it’s that we seem to address the problems that aren’t there in the first place and neglect the ones that are..
      City won the league yet strengthen their defence because they want to make it even harder for teams to beat them they know they can score goals themselves..they spent £30 odd million on a defender.. ( to me that’s what we should be doing… Getting the solid defenders to allow our flair players freedom and less pressure)
      We can score goals but unless we sort out the strong central defensive midfielder and a couple of defenders……
      ..With vermalen now gone, we are 1 or 2 injuries away from losing out on the top 4 instead of being 1 or 2 players away from winning the premiership..
      I only hope Wenger doesn’t leave it too late to sign a few players or too late all together..!!!!!

      1. with Sanchez we are slightly stronger, but Arsenal fans forget that our rivals are doing also good if not even better.

        City can field 2 teams capable to win the league. and do not have any kind of weakness.
        Chelsea has also no weakness and a C#nt as a Manager who knows hot to get his shet done.
        Manure will be back. Not for the trophy but they will be on the top, consider that they also have no other competitions worth fighting for.
        Liverpool is not a team to take lightly.
        To be honest we The Arsenal are the 3rd best team in the league, we are not fav but that doesnt mean that we can not win. Atletico madrit proved a point.

        1. exactly what im thinking ks- brutally honest-but on the money

          but u will get a sh*t load of thumbs down-

          1. Debuchy is maybe an improvement on Sagna. Chambers is a good find, and may end up somewhere on the back line. I really like Bellerin and I think we will see him as a RB choice over Chambers on a number of occasions this year (a replacement for Jenks). As for replacing the Verminator, we might see someone like Alderweireld. Overall, I predict that we will have a slightly improved defence.

            1. Maybe an improvement on Sagna.. He maybe..?
              Chambers is definetly a great prospect.. Mert is good but slow and if koscienly is injured I’d say we would struggle …?
              I’d just like to see Wenger address the defensive side of things and get a rock in the heart of defence and an enforcer in midfield..
              My personal opinion if we want to challenge for this league..

              1. I agree. AW will pick up either a CB or DM, but not both, and probably not the “big” signing that the media is saying is still out there. Or again, maybe he shocks us all and gets a CB that will start ahead of the current two.
                On Debuchy… better or not? I think they are pretty even, and either could have been starting for France.

        3. City showed weakness the other day with 6 injuries so that kinda proves your theory incorrect. Chelsea lost to Fernabache or some Turkish team the other day. so they have a weakness.

          1. City had 6 injuries yes but it wasn’t their staring 11 ( it was ours barring ozil and mert.. ) city won the league and beat us 6-3 yet have strengthened.. I won’t mention what Chelsea did to us last season..
            It’s a new season and things can change agree.. But the weak soft centre we have always seemed to have had for the past 9 years is still there..

        4. I am enjoying the fact that ManU only have 2 starting defenders that are healthy for Saturday.
          I think the current Arsenal team can make 2nd, but the window isn’t closed yet.

          1. It’s brilliant but I’d still get my mortgage on them thrashing Swansea and pushing until the end for the title..

      2. phil-thompsons-nose,
        Correct.
        Still need a Striker though. Sanchez and Walcott are our best goal threats but ultimately prevail more from the wings. We don’t have strikers of the quality that Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Man utd possess. Plus if we added a top quality striker, Sanchez and Theo could situate comfortably on the wings with Mesut Ozil taking his natural cam position with the pace of the top quality striker, sanchez and Theo an asset for his game.
        Ideally, for this to work we would need an imposing defensive midfielder (NOT Arteta, to allow ramsey more room to join the attack without leaving the team defensively weak and vulnerable to counter attacks) and a very good centre back to partner Koscielny.

        I think an excellent example is the balance and quality of Chelsea’s current team: Matic (top DM), allowing fabregas some freedom. Diego Costa (top quality striker) with guys like Hazard, Willian, Schurrle on the wings who can also score a good amount of goals and assist. They also have a solid centre back pairing that is not vulnerable like the Mertersacker and Koscielny pairing to the better teams. Man City are also a good example also and Liverpool to a lesser extent (because they don’t really have imposing midfielder like Chelsea and Man City do).
        Basically, we are missing a Diego costa, Matic and need a better partner for Koscielny to have a realistic, firm shout to say without doubt that we have a legitimate chance at winning the title.

        1. Spot on
          We don’t really need anymore offensive players as Ramsey/ozil/ox etc theo,Sanchez, rosicky Cazorla and poldi are capable of throwing their hat into the ring for a goal or 2 and are without doubt the best midfielders in the league..(although cavani would be awesome)
          The defensive aspect of our game is the ONLY thing stopping us winning the title..

    2. Where the f*ck you from mate??? Are you a total alien or just pissed or been smoking real crap shit???? F*ck off back to spuds………………………….

        2. Never angry only if my Arsenal lose!!! Maybe we been a bit spoilt with transfers so far and I want another top signing…..NOW!!! We getting to business end of window, let’s see what AW pulls out of hat!

      2. I am come from a facking place where a thing like Spurs fans does not exist. Instead of acting like a betch, tell me with what you disagree with, bec in the end of the day, its only an personal opinion.

  8. Sanchez only if we have someone to replace him on LW like Reus, otherwise see how Giroud does.

    One of the main criticisms of Giroud was that he didn’t score against top teams and big matches. Well, he has started the season with a wonderful goal against Manchester City in the Community Shield. Let’s see if he has a great season

    If not and Sanogo plays better then we can always make him the main striker, but lets not get carried away with Sanogo’s great game a fee weeks ago. At the moment Giroud has still performed better scoring 22 goals last year and 40 goals total for us so far. We can’t just ignore that.

    If neither of them play well we will need to turn Sanchez into a striker.

    I prefer to either bring in a new top striker OR bring in a top winger and turn Sanchez or Walcott into a striker.

  9. Why do people think The Ö… will perform well-on a consistent basis-out on the wings.He needs that freedom to dictate and explore the proceedings in the final third,not to be restricted on 1 side of the pitch.He can play there but only occassionally not constantly

  10. our own c/f’s will do there best am sure we will just have to hope they both chip in with there weight in goals its i think the likes of walcott and sanchez are the big game scorers they will score our super important goals (city man united chelsea games) and sanogo and g-rod will keep us ticking over with the other goals

    (side note- there is nobody out there for a good price atm realistically)

  11. I am not expecting Great things from Giroud or Sonogo. The players i am expecting more is Jack and Chambo, they need to gear their game up so we can win something big this year.

  12. Imagine if we signed Cavani? A front three consisting of:

    Walcott(Right) Cavani(Striker) Sanchez(left)

    We’d have the other teams in the league running scared! Doubt it’ll happen though, if it’s true that Cavani is on 300k per week then that’s a big no no!

    2. Cavani if he fits the wage structure, and if there is room in the team (sale or loan may be required). The speculation of acquiring Alderweireld looks interesting.

  14. It should be Sanogo. I have no doubt if Wenger gives him a solid run of games he will easily surpass Giroud. Alexis is best on the wings still in my opinion.

  17. Jack really needs to step up this season. He has been lagging behind for some while and hasn’t shown any improvement for many a year. Let’s hope this is his time and we can fire with him Rambo, Ozi and upfront Electric Sanchez, Theo, OG and Pod….. Just still a bit suspect in front of back 4…..DM on way or will Callum be our man?

  18. So Wenger used 4-3-3 in one game in pre-season, so does that really mean he’ll use it all season? No it doesn’t. Although I think it will be a good idea for tough matches where we need another strong central midfielder to crowd the center or to rest certain players. This formation sacrifices Özil’s best position, as a CAM. He is not a natural winger. When he is back and fit, he will play. Also, his season should be a lot better with the pace we have.

    As for our ‘main striker’ … Giroud will probably start. Wenger will want to show faith/trust in him. But as soon as he doesn’t perform or acts like a prick- Sanogo is in. Whoever is performing better in training and the pitch will start more. Wenger will have to be ruthless with his striking options. But I also think he will play with two strikers a lot more this season, teaming Giroud up with Sanogo opened up the FA cup final.

    Alexis- Giroud/Sanogo, campbell can play through the centre or probably just behind the striker. Some good options that NEED exploring!

  19. One striker scoring 30 goals per season is the same as 5 midfielder scoring 6 goals each. Ramsey, Carzola, Ox, Cambell, Ozil?, Wilshire will probably do this excluding the goals Sanogo, Giroud, Sanchez and Walcott will score so i think we good. I just want a DM/CB and BANG!

    1. exactly. i dont see why people think we need a 30+ goal striker, when all our midfielders, and wingers are capable of scoring bundles of goals (maybe except Ozil and Rosicky are the only non-goal scorers). Having the right balance in our team will help us more in big matches rather than a world class striker. We cannot afford to get ripped apart by the big boys anymore. If Wenger improves his tactics in big matches, and we get a better midfield anchor, we can beat the big boys again. Sanogo, Giroud, Sanchez can handle the load upfront for sure because the players around them are all quality as well, so lets focus on defending.

      1. It would certainly improve our title chances if we had all our goal scoring midfielders as well as a 30+ goal scoring striker

  21. Don’t have a main striker – should be buying one – if we don’t, Giroud will continue to waste a lot of the good work done by our very talented midfield.

  22. I choose Giroud, Sanogo plays better but OG scores better. Sanches works better let him be at d RW, Sanches, Ramsey, Carsola are d team worker, while OG n Sanogo hold up, Ramsey, Sanches, Walcot, Carsola, OG score d goals. OZIL king of killer n True pass. Ramsey n Arteta the markers, Theo the team runner. etc

  23. Pulis gone..

    I’d say..3pts in the bag.. No manager no pressure big blow for them..

    Come on lads kill them early..

    1. I think I would prefer both Campbell and Cazorla over Ox, but any combination with Alexis, Theo, and one of several players works for me. Campbell I like for the fluidity the attack could have. All 3 can play all across the front and all 3 are good goal scorers. Ox has good movements, but hasn’t proven to me that he can score well. Cazorla works well if we want to have more creativity and ball control in the midfield. I also think teams can’t pressure him as much if both Walcott and Sanchez are up front to keep defenses honest.

      If Ox learns to shoot well, then you have 4 guys in Ox, Walcott, Sanchez, and Campbell that are good scorers and can play across the front line. The attacking options are just endless with those guys alone, much less when you add in Cazorla, Podolski, Sanogo, and Giroud.

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