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Exactly, goalscoring midfielders are rare anyway, you're better off looking to find a striker who scores goals (much more likely to find one that a midfielder), Ramsey was brilliant, whether he would have maintained it who knows, but even if he did having an additional goal threat wouldn't hurt and would give us another dimension.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marc Overmars
Cazorla does have a shot yeah, which is what I like about him, he looked like the only one likely to get a goal tonight.
I'd keep Rosicky as he does try and add pace to our play, if we added a winger with pace a DM and a pacey striker we could still accommodate him in a season.Quote:
Originally Posted by Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie
The likes of Wilshere, Diaby, Arteta and maybe even Flamini would be the ones I'd get rid of, we've got plenty of midfielders and if we add a specialist DM on top of what we have we should have plenty.
Top post.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gooner23
The lad didn't choose to be our main and only half decent striker. He certainly isn't the one who continues with a style of sluggish play which sees him in a congested area by the time the ball reaches the attacking 3rd.
Ffs even he was echoing the cry for us to get in a proper striker in the summer.
I promise you weve been saying this word for word for over a year. going into last years January window we all knew we were short a striker and everybody said there was nobody to buy. In that time, Sturridge, Negredo, Balotelli, Ba, Remy, Bony have all moved for sensible money and would all have comfortably improved our first team, and those are just the names my insular brain can muster, i'm sure theres plenty more across Europe.Quote:
Originally Posted by Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie
The players are out there, there is simply no excuse.
Anichebe would have done tonight. He'd have stuck one of those chances in. Any stop gap to take the pressure of Giroud. Plenty of barrels to scrape, there was Berbatov, some Greek bloke, plenty were on the move and any of them would have jumped at the chance to sign up. It would have been a bit embarrassing signing shite like that but we ate it up on players like Chamakh and Park. Is Park really so terrible he's not worth even giving 15mins? I mean WTF was the point of that signing?
I've seen fans baulk at the thought of signing many strikers because they deem them not good enough, but it really wouldn't take a 50m superstar. Competency is all that's required.
Keep him as second choice. There's no need to sell him unless we sign two CFs.
Even Chamakh has been decent for Palace :lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn
He's faster than Giroud.
Same aerial ability.
Wenger :doh:
I don't know if anyone has actually seen Sanogo play, but IMO unless he has improved dramatically during his long injury layoff, I'd say he was a looong way from being adequate for our needs.
Sanogo is like Bentdter without one leg. :lol:
Another player, Wenger has felt condemned to pay a salary towards ala Diaby.
I bet Sanogo will never score more than 1 goal for us in all competitions. Another failure from Wenger.
Sanogo was brought in as a future prospect, but what does Park do? Is he here to keep Diaby company?
What is adequate for our needs though?Quote:
Originally Posted by Fist of Lehmann
Ye saw him in the Under-somthing world cup last summer and i werent impressed and that really says it all, most youngsters who become something have always bossed the youth cups, like Pogba and a few others from the French side did.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fist of Lehmann
He's a good squad player but should never have been our first choice.
What's odd is that the manager admits he has the best finisher he has ever seen sitting on the bench yet he doesn't find a way to utilise him effectively in the striker role. You'd think that would be the first thing he'd do.
This is what he always does. He has his first 11 + 1 or 2 subs he trusts and that's it. He never manages to utilise his squad and keeps flogging things until he has no choice but to change it up. It took being knocked out of everything for him to play Koscielnly and Rosicky reguarly last year.
We definitely need a world-class, first-choice striker to come-in - that's been the case for a couple of years now, and it hasn't changed - but I wouldn't get rid of Giroud? He was doing really well at the start of the season, but the longer the season's gone on, and the more players have dropped around him (especially Ramsey and Walcott) the more he's started to flag - if you ask me, I think he needs a rest more than a P45, and someone to share the load with...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Letters
This. Giroud's performance (as it often is), was made worse by the fact that we have a gazillion (supposed) playmakers but rarely any runners for him to lay off to - and this was compounded last night by the fact that Giroud was surrounded by 5 players every time he had the ball. However, this does not excuse the fact that he is simply not reliable enough to bury the rare chances he gets. RVP showed that even world class strikers can miss gilt edged chances, but with Judas this is an aberration. With Giroud its par for the course.
However, I lay the blame for Giroud's profligacy firmly at Wenger's door. His bids for Suarez and Higuain show that he is well aware that a title challenging team needs a top striker - but he either won't make sure we get one - or his executive team are too inept to enable us to do so. Personally, I think its the former. He would rather throw the league (as long as he thinks he can get 4th) than pay a penny more than his own skewed valuation says a player is worth. Neither will he change the way his team plays and give us some fucking width to allow Giroud more room in the box.
Secondly - he's flogged Giroud to death, so that the player cannot even maximise his (competent rather than world class) potential.
Controversial, but Giroud is probably one of the worst strikers we’ve had leading our line. Right now, he’s playing the sort of football that had everyone berating Chamakh and Bendy. It’s that bad. A poor touch, missing loads of chances whilst remaining immobile and not getting inside the box. It’s like a fusion of both Chamakh and Bendy to create this lump of shit on our pitch. It drives me mental to see him constantly coming towards the ball instead of making runs into the box. He always comes short but what makes him worse than Chamakh is that he’s always coming in with a heavy and clumsy touch. He loses possession a lot when he tries to come short. He’s dispossessed easily and his passing statistics aren’t good enough for him to keep coming deep. We’re talking 50/60% pass completion. We don’t need him coming short all the time just to flick it to the opposition. It’s not intelligent play. He needs a bench.
He's had two terrible games in a row, highlighting the obvious point we are a top striker short of winning something this season.
But he's not even close to the shit levels Chamakh dropped to.
Giroud doesn't score enough and is fairly limited but he's better than Chakma.
Which isn't exactly a ringing endorsement I know.
I'd rather have Chamakh to be fair. Faster, and the same aerial threat. He was on a great run early on before Wenger dropped him for RVC.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gooner23
:haha: FFS Wenger, what's it coming to now ?!??
I hated Chamakh with a passion but he's very close to Chamakh's level because he can't retain possession of the ball and keep our play ticking. Chamakh was more than capable of doing that but he was a blunt knife. Was too afraid to shoot. Giroud's touch is really heavy at the moment so he's not helping us hold possession high up the pitch. The best thing he has going for him is his strength and work rate.
Balotelli - Psycopath, can't behave himself no matter who he plays forQuote:
Originally Posted by BOBN
BA - I don't see how he's good enough, i don't see how he would add what we need (pace up front)
Remy - Not convinced he's good enough either
Bony - Not been impressed by what i've seen, he's done ok for Swansea but nothing convinces me he could actually improve us.
Again what i mean is that making those kind of signings in January is impossible, it's not defending Wenger because he should have bought the striker we needed in the Summer and it should have been Higuain he was tailor made for us but we let him go to Napoli because of our absurd pipe dream of signing Suarez
I don't see how that's controversial, in the past twenty years we have had Bergkamp, Wright, Henry, Van Persie leading our line.....that Giroud compares to any of those is patently non sensical. It's not really his fault, i think the pressure of expectation is getting to him and he's not putting away makable opportunites....you can't really say he's being lazy or doesn't care but we are bashing our heads against a brick wall with himQuote:
Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory
They'd be an improvement over Giroud. His current form is killing us. Immobile, terrible touch and missing chances.Quote:
Originally Posted by Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie
I don't agree that they would, it's not about current form...Giroud simply does not have the ability to do what we are asking of him.....we have no pace on the wing so when he's holding the ball up he's holding it up for the congested cluster of central midfielders where invariably the ball will be cut out by a deep lying defence.
Remy has a nice burst of pace but considering none of our midfield has he would not be much benefit to us on the counter attack as it will fizzle out by the time it gets to him as he doesn't have the strength or ability to take multitudes of players on the way a Higuain or Suarez could.
Balotelli is a very average striker for someone who would cause us so much trouble and completley destroy any dressing room harmony that we had. Bony and Ba we'd have the same problem as Giroud, both would be starved off service left holding up the ball in a congested midfield....and nothing to prove that they have the finesse to kill off the chances against the top sides any more than Giroud has.
I'm not defending Giroud i'm really not, but the names you are mentioning would not leave us any better off....we bought Giroud because he was avaliable and had a good season with Montpellier there was no consideration about how he would fit into our side anymore than there was with Podolski.
In the mean time expect Wenger to drown our squad with a plethora of central midfielders who play exactly the same way in the summer...Draxler etc
Oh and buying strikers like Mandzukic who will offer us nothing more than Giroud in terms of pace
Yep me too, I am pretty certain it's Wenger, his valuations and his lack of flexibility in regards to the teams tactics.Quote:
Originally Posted by IBK
I don't think anyone can really defend Wenger when it comes to his neglect of our forward line, it's borderline criminal. It's not a new trait either, he neglected central midfield and central defence before.
Chamakh was a different level of crapness. With him starting you literally had zero threat up front. With Chamakh we were basically playing 4-5-0. At least with Giroud you have the smallest, remote possibility of a goal because he actually shoots (even if it flies over the bar). Chamakh didn't shoot.
It’s madness and goes back to what Blink mentioned in a previous post, there seems to be no forward thinking with these transfers. I have no idea why Wenger is going for these slow and bulky centre forwards who struggle to lose their markers over quick, nimble and mobile strikers. We play quick, short pass and move football. Why buy someone with a dodgy first touch, slow acceleration and poor movement to play up front? I think Remy would be a good shout but it’s not going to happen. The way Ozil and Cazorla were carving out chances is the way to go. Pace, players interchanging and confusing the opposition.Quote:
Originally Posted by Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie
Mate, I often agree with you, but this time I think you are missing the relevant point, I really do. This is not a defence of Giroud's limited ability, nor overlooking Wenger's scandalous and inexplicable failure to provide his team with an even semi competitive front line.Quote:
Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory
But Giroud is a perfect example of the problem with Wenger's entire approach to the game. The manager knew damn well that he wasn't buying a modern striker - able to make runs into the box, and score from there, or from outside it. The reason he bought Giroud, IMHO was because of his obsession with playing the game from MF. In Wenger's mind, Giroud was a player who would bring his attacking MF's into the game by holding the ball up and laying it off - and if he scored himself it would be as part of a mobile triangle - if he happened to be on the end of a move. Any other goals he scored would be a bonus rather than the main event.
And when we had the mental and physical wherewithal, and the confidence to play in the manner that Wenger is obsessed with, to the exclusion of everything else, the system worked, and so did Giroud - which is why he is still 7th highest goalscorer, and 7th joint assister in the league.
The problem with Giroud (in addition to not being good enough as our main striker), is the problem with Wenger's system. I've said it before, but Wenger's short, passing, give and go game requires players to be 100% on form physically, mentally - and in particular confidence wise. If they are not on top form as a team (for example short of confidence as we are ATM), and there is no individually brilliant performance to hide our blushes then we struggle attacking-wise. And we cannot expect a player of Giroud's nature and ability suddenly to become the individual goalscorer that we all know our team needs so much.
We are flatlining ATM - Giroud along with several other players - and while its easy to point the finger at Giroud for what he is not. This is a systemic failure - both in terms of method and playing personnel as much as it is Giroud's. Wenger is also seeing even Giroud's undoubted ability to hold the ball up suffer due to him being chronically overplayed (I've heard that this is partially because although he feels Bendtner could deputise, the manager is reluctant to expose Bendtner to the abuse that he is likely to get from fans - which if true is staggering!).
It is interesting to note that Chamakh was a player in a similar mode to Giroud - a give and go merchant rather than a player with a true instinct for goal. He is not as good a forward as Giroud - but he does possess pace - which is why he would for me be a better option for us than Giroud, were he still here. Also, Chamakh was never intended to be our first choice striker - and with Wenger's comical pursuit of Suarez and Higuain, its easy to say the same about Giroud. The astonishing thing is why Wenger has settled for Giroud as basically all we have - and there can be no clearer indication that the manager's ambition lies no higher than 4th in the league.
:gp: Sums up the frustration I have with the manager and player.Quote:
Originally Posted by IBK
Well, this is my honest amateurs opinion.Quote:
Originally Posted by McNamara That Ghost...
Given his attributes Sanogo's role would bear similarities to that of Giroud or Bendtner.
To play that role he needs to:
1) Possession
Receive the ball (usually under heavy pressure), lay it off accurately, and win a decent percentage of aerial duels.
2) Shape
Make intelligent attacking runs/take up dangerous positions, show for the forward pass and close down centrebacks.
3) Goal Threat
Take shots/headers and get them on target.
From that it seems clear why we need a better striker and why Walcott and Podolski are only used there in extremis.
Walcott is strong in 3, decent in aspects of 2 and has the great advantage of pace, however his 1 is poor.
Podolski is also strong in 3, has decent touch and link up for 1, but his 2 is weak.
Giroud doesn't do enough of 3, but is brave, extremely hard working, and takes up smart defensive positions at set pieces.
Of the three he could be regarded as just about adequate for our needs.
Sanogo, based on what I have seen of him last summer, is still something of a callow youth - too slight to hold his own against aggressive Premiership CBs, an erratic first touch, and without real speed or little bit burst, he is unlikely to outskill, outpace or overpower any half decent CB.
Of course, he is young, and young guys can develop physically and improve technically very quickly. If he is to be any use to use this season, he will have needed to do that substantially from the summer.
Giroud shoul be back up to a proper striker. If our number 9 is having a bad game Giroud can come in and cause havock with his strength and aerial ability. However, right now one of the reasons we are soe asy to defend against is because he is playing. He doesnt have pace, a good turn or even a decent shot so his best hope of a goal is when cross come in or in set pieces. As a team, we are frustraingly boring and slow and any half organised team can stifle us.
If we dont sign a striker in the summer then the manager simply has to go because its pure neglect on his part.
I still don't get why wenger has more trust in Giroud than in Poldi.:shrug:
Giroud has become a disaster as a striker, and now he's also in the trash papers...:flash:
Sub, in your opinion, had we managed to sign a CF for £42m instead of signing Ozil, would that have been any clearer sign of ambition than what we actually did?Quote:
Originally Posted by IBK
You wrote good :good:Quote:
Originally Posted by Fist of Lehmann
If RVP wasn't such a complete cunt, we would have had the exact player we needed!
Rvp couldn't stay tbf. He didn't like the direction the club was going and he had a little boy up inside him.Quote:
Originally Posted by LDG