This is one of the many mysteries with Wenger. He'll experiment with a certain group of players but not for all. When we signed Reyes, a natural left footer, he'd play him down the left and I could never understand why he'd play a left footer on the left after we had players like Overmars and Pires operating so effectively as inverted wingers. Reyes had a few early games down the right or up front during the Invincible season, scored that belter against Chelsea but for the following season he never played up front or on the right again. I never understood that even though Wenger said his future was as a striker. Sound familiar? Reyes is a much better dribble than Theo as well. Henry was never great at scoring with his head, we've never been a team that relies on crossers, so I never understood why we'd have Reyes driving down the chalk side of the line to deliver out swinging crosses? He'd have been dangerous driving in, hitting shots or slipping in through balls to Henry.Originally Posted by Blink 1nce Quince 2wice
There are plenty of examples of Wenger being reluctant to play players a certain way. Wiltord was never happy playing on the right wing and wanted games up front with Henry. He only got a handful of games up front and I believe that was when his contract was running low. Sound familiar again? Vela would get games up front for the Carling Cup but when he featured in the league he'd always feature down the left wing where he really struggled to make any impact. He never once tried him on the opposite flank and now he's moved to Spain he operates on the right instead of the left and doing much better. It took Wenger an age to try Diaby as a central midfield player, Eduardo playing on the flanks instead of up front, Song getting games as a CB whilst Denilson is stinking up the joint as DM....Hleb used to play a silly amount of games on the right when we played a 4-4-2.
Rosicky is a very talented player and when fit he never played him in the middle with Cesc. On the left wing, he was okay but lacked that drive and aggression to go for goals. It was the same with Nasri. Playmakers that would be best suited in the middle. As soon as we signed him and I thought we'd switch to 4-3-3 but we switched years later and now that Cesc is gone, we're seeing Rosicky in the middle now. Abundance of energy and no slouch in the tackle. It would have been immense. As said, I can't understand Wenger sometimes and he can be very rigid.
I'm getting side tracked. Back to Theo and this also applies to Podolski. It's worth looking at their function on the flanks. Playing down that side hasn't helped their dribbling and ball carrying ability. Neither of them try to create space for themselves and are very dependent on one twos to get space. If played into space, they're either having to whip in a cross to a crowded box or go back on themselves to play in a fullback. When moving away from the chalk and playing closer inside, they'll play off the shoulder of the defender and won't get involved with the build up play that much, Theo especially. When struggling to create chances, they can both have some seriously quiet games. They have some fantastic numbers when it comes to assists and goals because they're class players and make do from a small number of chances. But I can't see the benefit of playing them like traditional wingers; not in the way we play as squad. If they drove the defenders back with tricky dribbling and opened space in the middle for crowed games, I'd understand. I can understand why he'd play Ox, Gnarby or even Ryo on the right for example. But if we're looking for them to get beyond the line of the defender like a traditional striker but out wide, then why would it be wrong to switch them to opposite flanks?
Pires was a different animal, a good ball player, fantastic feet but I'm not suggesting they could replicate that. As someone else mentioned, Theo won't always get played through because teams won't always play a highline. But isn't the same true now? Don't we struggle as much when teams sit deep? The little space we do get results in a ball crossed high or low to Giroud and the percentages for him winning the ball in the air when it's crowded out like that always favour against him. I'm not sure on the numbers but for accurate shooters like Podolski and Walcott, they don't get enough shots on goal and are lucky to get one good shooting opportunity a game.
