Podolski cannot play as a lone striker.
This has been tried before and it doesn't work.
Podolski cannot play as a lone striker.
This has been tried before and it doesn't work.
I'm at pains to agree. Podolski up top is absolutely awful and I don't want to keep hearing he hasn't had a proper go there. He's played there several times since being with us and been awful almost every time.
I have to agree and think he's been terrible there. Even more anonymous and doesn't work to touch the ball and his movement is poor. I wouldn't start him up front but I'd at least use him as a sub there just to see if he improves things and to give Giroud a rest.Originally Posted by Blink 1nce Quince 2wice
I am dumbfounded at the fact he didn't get on in the last game. When he was signed Wenger gave us the spiel about being a German international with a gazillion caps and a lethal strike and we all lapped it up because we shared his view. He was made the top earner then even though he came from Cologne in Germany and now we won't even bring him on when we are supposedly desperate for a goal in a game we simply had to win.
He may as well be Sun Ji Park at this rate for all Wenger trusts the bloke.
Even if he is anonymous he's at least a possible goal threat, Giroud is anonymous and not a goal threat at all.
As far as I'm concerned he's never got a chance up front, a run of games wouldn't hurt, he scored goals for Cologne was he not up front for them? Giroud is awful and we don't have any real options so why not play him.
I can't stand watching Giroud play anymore, it's torture.
Last edited by Özim; 15-02-2014 at 01:20 PM.
If he is anonymous for the next few games that could well put us into 5th because by that point our tough league run would have arrived. Far more preferable to play Podolski wide left.
Giroud was a goal threat in the last game (in fact he could have scored a hat trick)....he just didn't take his chances. Admittedly it isn't enough to simply be a goal threat, you have to score the goals, but he does have a few in the league. Podolski up front is genuinely some of the most truly anonymous displays at CF I've seen from a player of his level of ability. Truly lost at sea....
Better to play him left, where the marking of the full back is a lot less focused and more lax and he can ghost in far more undetected.
Giroud misses chance after chance, he won't get goals and he's largely anonymous. Podoslki will get goals because he takes his chances even if he doesn't head it backwards and sideways every 10 minutes.
Podolski is a forward at the end of the day, I'm not convinced on his effectiveness on the left. The alternative it to play Bendtner and Podolski up front and switch to 4 in midfield (drop Wilshere), with Ozil, Cazorla, Rosicky and Flamini or Arteta.
I don't think he is often truly anonymous and whilst you say he won't get goals he still has 10 league goals this season. Nothing to scream about but it's not like he has never scored. Podolski won't even get the chances but he has scored a fair amount having been played from the left. In the end he is not first team in either position really but if he has to play, I'd rather it was from the left or as a sub up front.
10 isn't great, but in the last 2 months he has been truly awful largely missing chances. I don't see how you can say Podolski won't get chances when he never plays up front, he hasn't been given a run up front since we signed him and yet he's done ok goalscoring wise.
Giroud has to be dropped for me, he has been awful
It's not just Giroud's finishing that has let him down, his play in general is awful. We were singing his praises for his link up play earlier in the season but that's gone down the toilet too. Only about a third of his flicks and touches finds the target and a lot of the time he chooses the wrong option anyway. We might as well be playing with a giant sack of spuds up top, although that would probably have a better chance of scoring than Giroud.
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