Quote Originally Posted by Blink 1nce Quince 2wice View Post
One of the latter questions on today's Arseblog extra was 'Does the amount of Chances Theo had against Stoke, prove that he is capable of being a forward'. I found the question interesting and even Arseblog who hates Theo found the evidence for compelling and at least thought provoking. I sometimes get the feeling that the argument against him shifts from 'oh he can't hold it up' to 'oh he couldn't finish his wife's dinner never mind a chance' as per the whim of his naysayers arguments. Which is it though? If he is missing so many chances then surely the first stand point of not being able to hold it up increasingly becomes moot?...after all...he's getting the chances and himself in the positions.

If it is about him holding the ball up....why is that such an issue if he himself is getting so many chances? If it is about his lack of finishing.....do we believe Giroud's is generally any better? How many honestly believe that Theo could or would go several games WITHOUT scoring as Giroud did last season (that is a wide spread of different teams to face)? If we don't believe he would then why shouldn't we allow him the run of games up front he has never had whilst we have the options we have and why are we so against it if the alternative leaves a lot to be desired when it most matters?

Some are almost arguing the case from the position of having a world class forward amongst our selection that we don't actually have? We didn't actually buy Benzema, but I'd swear some people think we did.

The only interesting deviation is the prospect of playing Sanchez at CF...... Wenger tried this very early on in Alexis' career here and Alexis wasn't his typical effective self, yet nobody completely wrote off his prospect of being able to do it, though some have with Theo. That was inspite of Wenger shortly moving Sanchez to the left which he then went on to flourish from. This is also almost moot point though because it is clear that Wenger is choosing from Giroud and Theo in that central position not from Theo, Giroud and Sanchez and even if he does use Sanchez.....we give ourselves a void to fill from wide.
Good points again. Someone made the point about him struggling to hold up the ball against an organised defence again today despite the fact that he just did that against Stoke of all teams. We dominated possession and kept the ball in their have for the majority of the game. Not only that, we created chances as well. There is nothing more frustrating then watching us have all that possession and create next to nothing and we've seen that in many games with Giroud struggling to get a chance on goal. There are positives to take away from this game and as seen against West Brom last season, Theo can be quite a menace when he has his shooting boots on.

Sanchez as CF is another interesting one. I recall him making the right runs but not receiving the ball. Nobody wrote him off of course, despite not being effective but it does take time for players to learn and adapt. Everyone in the team for that matter. The Arseblog article today was good and surprising considering the stance on Walcott. You'll see it here again today, a few people just blot out the positives. Not sure why people are so resistant to change in Theo's case but you're right, we haven't signed Benzema. I at least want to see Wenger exhaust all possible options rather than keep with the tried and tested which is only good enough to get us 3rd 4th in the league.