Summer Transfer Speculation and Shit.

[mastermind84]

Football has changed since Henry and Pires if that's your best example. If I went off those times we'd never have slight players like Cesc, Cazorla or Ozil in our midfield because the same arguments about needing to be physical in this leaue would apply.

this is a crazy statement.

All I said is that Henry isnt a battering ram yet could hold the ball. I don't even know what your statement means in this convo, lol.

Is Benzema a battering ram? Lewandowski? Suarez? The same point still applies.

Theo might not be capable of holding up the ball like a bigger player but has that stopped him scoring from that position or stopped Ozil and Cazorla from getting him the ball?

against teams that sit deeper, it hasn't.

Explain how's been able to get two hat tricks and was also involved with the goal that got Wenger his first win against Mourinho?

simple, Villa and Newcastle played high lines and attacked us.

West Brom quit the day we played them last season. (last match of season)

When teams sit deeper, Theo isnt as effective. Its been the story of his career, sadly.

[mastermind84]

But would we have won against Chelsea if we employed the same tactics that have have resulted in a loss or draw every time against Mourinho? We won at the end of the day and he helped set up the goal. You can't knock it. It might have been a tactic to not pin a team like that back and be open for the counter because it's how they've destroyed us before.

Santi played on the left for Malaga and would cut in.

no, Santi played all over the midfield.

He played half his games at CM and partnered with Ignacio Camacho in a 4-2-3-1. Isco played in front of that. Its similar to where he plays now. He played the rest of his matches on the right.

[Dein-machine]

Theo's problem is not composure.

Its that if you held a gun to his mom's head and said you would squeeze it if you don't hold this ball up and bring your midfielders into play, you would end up with Theo's mom's brain matter on you. And he will never learn how to do that because he is physically and technically incapable of that.

Agree with you on his link up play but you don't play Theo to be a link man. Link men are normally the bigger guys who are good with their backs to goal. We use Giroud for this, we tippy tappy up the field yard by yard until we lose it with a Ramsey flick that comes to nothing. This is the slow build up play that you see from us nowadays which is the only way we can play with Giroud, either that or become more direct. It also takes 50 moves like this to result in a goalscoring oppportunity & if it falls to Giroud another 50 before he'll score.
WIth Theo, he plays or should do on the shoulders of their centre halves. We play the tippy tappy in the middle of the pitch until BANG - Theo makes a pre-planned run into the channel & Ozil sends him clear. We have a one on one. If you do this effectively, with Sanchez also offering the pre-planned run, it would result in far better opportunities ie one on one's & at a quicker rate per game. Its sort of shows why why beat Villa & West Brom 4-0 at the end of last season as opposed to only 2 goals so far in our 2 games - but for god sake don't let Wenger know, I'm waiitng to see how long it is before he works it out.

[Power n Glory]

this is a crazy statement.

All I said is that Henry isnt a battering ram yet could hold the ball. I don't even know what your statement means in this convo, lol.

Is Benzema a battering ram? Lewandowski? Suarez? The same point still applies.


against teams that sit deeper, it hasn't.




simple, Villa and Newcastle played high lines and attacked us.

West Brom quit the day we played them last season. (last match of season)

When teams sit deeper, Theo isnt as effective. Its been the story of his career, sadly.

See Dean machines post.

It's not the story of Theo, it's the story of Arsenal and Wenger not being able to get the best of this tactic. When Ade was playing like a lazy sod we'd suffer. Chamakh was garbage and another that played with his back to goal too long and too concerned with short passes and one twos. We have the same problem with Giroud and it's not like he is that effective against teams sitting deep either. The flicks and bad touches cost us possession and Imo he is a plan b player like Kanu was.

Lack of movement and speed is what kills us up front and why you also see players like Pod and Welbeck look lost and ineffective against teams that sit deep. If Theo had a run of games up front and it was clear he was useless in these situations you'd be totally right but so far we have a handful of games and in 2 of those he has scored a hat trick.

[Power n Glory]

no, Santi played all over the midfield.

He played half his games at CM and partnered with Ignacio Camacho in a 4-2-3-1. Isco played in front of that. Its similar to where he plays now. He played the rest of his matches on the right.

Regardless, he's not known as a CM. He played mainly on the flanks in Spain and would cut in. Even in our system he played a more advanced role in the middle so he's still learning the CM role for us and in our league.

[mastermind84]

Agree with you on his link up play but you don't play Theo to be a link man. Link men are normally the bigger guys who are good with their backs to goal. We use Giroud for this, we tippy tappy up the field yard by yard until we lose it with a Ramsey flick that comes to nothing. This is the slow build up play that you see from us nowadays which is the only way we can play with Giroud, either that or become more direct. It also takes 50 moves like this to result in a goalscoring oppportunity & if it falls to Giroud another 50 before he'll score.
WIth Theo, he plays or should do on the shoulders of their centre halves. We play the tippy tappy in the middle of the pitch until BANG - Theo makes a pre-planned run into the channel & Ozil sends him clear. We have a one on one. If you do this effectively, with Sanchez also offering the pre-planned run, it would result in far better opportunities ie one on one's & at a quicker rate per game. Its sort of shows why why beat Villa & West Brom 4-0 at the end of last season as opposed to only 2 goals so far in our 2 games - but for god sake don't let Wenger know, I'm waiitng to see how long it is before he works it out.

but with Theo, against most teams, the shoulder would end up being the goalkeeper.

West Brom checked out before that last match and Villa played a high line and attacked us. When Theo has space he kills. When there is no space, he is useless.

See Dean machines post.

It's not the story of Theo, it's the story of Arsenal and Wenger not being able to get the best of this tactic. When Ade was playing like a lazy sod we'd suffer. Chamakh was garbage and another that played with his back to goal too long and too concerned with short passes and one twos. We have the same problem with Giroud and it's not like he is that effective against teams sitting deep either. The flicks and bad touches cost us possession and Imo he is a plan b player like Kanu was.

Lack of movement and speed is what kills us up front and why you also see players like Pod and Welbeck look lost and ineffective against teams that sit deep. If Theo had a run of games up front and it was clear he was useless in these situations you'd be totally right but so far we have a handful of games and in 2 of those he has scored a hat trick.

so against teams that sit deep, Theo is effective? We play him on the wings and he isnt effective at all in those types of matches.


Theo would be our right sided forward if he would help the right back more. THats his issue.

And Theo isnt that dissimilar to the flaws Podolski and Welbeck have when playing against teams that are sitting deep and inviting the attack. Thats why he plays Giroud. Ideally our forward would have Giroud's size with some speed.

[Kano]

De Bruyne apparently agreeing personal terms with a fee in the region of £50m attached. Good on Wolfsburg for rinsing the shit out of Citeh.

[Niall_Quinn]

FFP sure put the brakes on them. One lawyer and Platini grabs the brown envelopeshits his pants. Hope he becomes FIFA president, we need his special kind of integrity at the heart of the game.

[Niall_Quinn]

I doubt the fact all our rivals are strengthening while we stand still will make much of a difference. Complacency has worked for us in the past and it can work for us again.

[Power n Glory]

but with Theo, against most teams, the shoulder would end up being the goalkeeper.

West Brom checked out before that last match and Villa played a high line and attacked us. When Theo has space he kills. When there is no space, he is useless.



so against teams that sit deep, Theo is effective? We play him on the wings and he isnt effective at all in those types of matches.


Theo would be our right sided forward if he would help the right back more. THats his issue.

And Theo isnt that dissimilar to the flaws Podolski and Welbeck have when playing against teams that are sitting deep and inviting the attack. Thats why he plays Giroud. Ideally our forward would have Giroud's size with some speed.

Can you name me a player that's been effective against teams that sit deep?

Theo's done better at coming into the box and getting poacher goals when teams sit deep because it's not as if Giroud scores a lot of goals with his head when people cross. It's difficult scoring goals from the right when your right foot is the strongest foot but Theo has done a real good job of getting those goals.

You only have to look at Theo's first ever goal to see how someone with pace can unlock a defence that's defending deep. Giroud can't do this. Wenger said he gets more goals with his first touch and because of that fact, he's unable to take a touch of the ball to lose a marker and open up space for himself to shoot. I've always said we should have had Theo playing down the left more like Henry or down the centre. He's more confident cutting in on his stonger foot and that's the case for most players. Except Cazorla of course.