Match Reaction v Swansea at home (15/16)

[Power n Glory]

I'm not sure how dropping a striker who is not scoring is going to help. Strikers need goals to get confidence, he's not going to score if he's not playing. He's not scoring anyway right now but it will come.

Giroud got his confidence back after coming off the bench to score goals. He's at his worst when he goes for an extended period without scoring.

Bad management of the bench meant we had no alternative other than Giroud. Someone else should have been coming off the bench to play as striker and if they find a hot streak it's much easier to bench Giroud. Instead, we're in a situation where all our strikers are cold.

[Niall_Quinn]

I'm not sure how dropping a striker who is not scoring is going to help. Strikers need goals to get confidence, he's not going to score if he's not playing. He's not scoring anyway right now but it will come.

Perversely it seems to work with Bif. He seems to show the most fight when he's fighting his way back into the team. But once he gets comfortable then he does that lamppost thing. That said, we didn't have Welbeck available nor Alexis so that left Theo. Theo is between contracts so you can't really play him.

[Letters]

Ospina is fine.

Not as good as Cech, obviously, but he's a good player in his own right.

It's not like we're throwing Almunia in.

I kinda agree he's fine, but he's no Cech and with our defence Cech has got us plenty of points this season we wouldn't have got otherwise.
I guess it doesn't matter any more, we're not going to win the CL or league anyway.

[Power n Glory]

Perversely it seems to work with Bif. He seems to show the most fight when he's fighting his way back into the team. But once he gets comfortable then he does that lamppost thing. That said, we didn't have Welbeck available nor Alexis so that left Theo. Theo is between contracts so you can't really play him.

Sanchez has been back since Chelsea and that's when Bif started to go off the boil.

As for Walcott, he should have been used exclusively as a striker off the bench coming on for Bif. No starts from the wing because he's been awful. There should have been some competition up front because it was keeping them both on their toes at the start of the season.

[Marc Overmars]

It's not like he has gone a couple games without scoring, I think it's now 10 games since he scored. It's fair to say these last 10 games have left our season on life support, how we could have done with just a few goals from him in that time. Not pointing the finger at him because everyone has been poor but if we're talking about dropping players then surely he is one of the logical candidates? I don't see the point in just persisting with him because "he'll come good", of course he'll score goals again but by the time that happens could it all be for nothing?

Besides I think Giroud has always reacted well to being dropped. To his credit he always comes back firing.

[Letters]

No, don't you see? Dropping him to the bench is much better for his confidence than showing faith in him.

Wenger was on the grassy knoll, you know...

[Niall_Quinn]

Sanchez has been back since Chelsea and that's when Bif started to go off the boil.

As for Walcott, he should have been used exclusively as a striker off the bench coming on for Bif. No starts from the wing because he's been awful. There should have been some competition up front because it was keeping them both on their toes at the start of the season.

Computer said no.

[Niall_Quinn]

Wenger was on the grassy knoll, you know...

You are exhibiting early signs of slipping back into the fantasy world you created where Arsenal wins titles.

[Kano]

It's not like he has gone a couple games without scoring, I think it's now 10 games since he scored. It's fair to say these last 10 games have left our season on life support, how we could have done with just a few goals from him in that time. Not pointing the finger at him because everyone has been poor but if we're talking about dropping players then surely he is one of the logical candidates? I don't see the point in just persisting with him because "he'll come good", of course he'll score goals again but by the time that happens could it all be for nothing?

Besides I think Giroud has always reacted well to being dropped. To his credit he always comes back firing.

Exactly. Just persisting with the same system that has ruined our season makes no sense at all. 10 games without a goal would see any other striker in the league dropped. Throw in Welbeck and try something different, or Sanchez even. Giroud was dropped at the start of the season and he responded very well.

[Marc Overmars]

Exactly. Just persisting with the same system that has ruined our season makes no sense at all. 10 games without a goal would see any other striker in the league dropped. Throw in Welbeck and try something different, or Sanchez even. Giroud was dropped at the start of the season and he responded very well.

You can clearly see his confidence is gone, what's the point in patting him on the back after every game and saying keep going son? The crowd shit on him every game, that's probably damaging his psyche a lot more than not finding the net. As far as I'm concerned it's poor management but persisting with underperformers and not taking them out of the firing line before it's too late is something Wenger has a habit of doing.