"If we want to play Giroud then we must play at least TWO direct wide players "

This is key. Giroud is like a very high playmaker rather than a poacher.

Yes, he can be of some use if the right players are around him, but I'd much rather every player in our starting XI be able to contribute in their own right and not rely on others to cover for their deficiencies.

Cereal

Exact point I'm trying to make it's really down to Wenger to get the best out of our CF if he opts to play him and avoid making him a passenger.

With the right players around him he's more than a high playmaker, he's actually a decent striker

And we tried playing with 2 direct wide players when we had van Persie, it didn't really work on a consistent basis because we lost out a little creatively without that extra player to link up with the no.10. The balance was a little bit off.

From the outside looking in Giroud gets too much grief. In a similar way Ozil has and I really feel that having pace wide, as you mention, running in behind will make a massive difference to to both players I've mentioned.

I think Arsenal will do well this season if they can keep the pace in their side fit but I still think Wenger needs another striker. Perhaps that will come in the next couple of windows??

Yes, he can be of some use if the right players are around him, but I'd much rather every player in our starting XI be able to contribute in their own right and not rely on others to cover for their deficiencies.
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Unfortunately that is the way it is. We have adapted our ways to benefit from Mertesacker's qualities and he's become integral.

And we tried playing with 2 direct wide players when we had van Persie, it didn't really work on a consistent basis because we lost out a little creatively without that extra player to link up with the no.10. The balance was a little bit off.
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That season Arteta sat too deep, Ramsey was woeful and Song became our most advanced creative player . Our better performances came that season when Rosicky was in the team and Oxlade burst on the scene.

That was more to do with our general lack of creativity in the middle rather than opting to play 2 direct wide players. We also missed Wilshere that year who was a big part of our plans following his breakthrough year.

Completely agree, our main problem last season going forward was a lack of pace however we seem to have fixed this problem.

Giroud isn't the 30+ goal striker we'd all love to have but i think with his link up play he could bring out the best in the likes of Walcott and Sanchez and could see both of them hitting 20-25 goals this season.

I think Arsenal will do well this season if they can keep the pace in their side fit but I still think Wenger needs another striker. Perhaps that will come in the next couple of windows??
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It would be nice to have an alternative to Giroud or an all round better player of course but I can understand the lack of urgency on this front because as I mentioned in the post we have those options from within (Theo, Alexis, Campbell).

Wenger just needs to use them accordingly which I fear he won't. He just loves to fit in as many creative midfielders as he can and go from there but we all have eyes and see how slow our play becomes when that's the case with Giroud ahead of them.

Having too much pace up front will mean our high line being exposed again. The best example of this was the second half vs City away last season.

Which is why I think we really need more mobile midfielders than Arteta and Flamini in order to allow us to push up the pitch without exposing Mertesecker.

Giroud does miss too many though. I'd actually say that Bendtner (without all the baggage) would contribute a lot more to the team than Giroud does.

Rusky

Giroud misses many but with him you can always tell which route his whole game will go towards from the first 20mins. If he isn't involved much (usually happens when we play all our possession based players) then he'll bottle that vital chance that comes to in because he's bad under pressure.

When he has those players that compliment him he usually grows as the game progresses and scores but I agree, in the big games you have to be able to take those few chances because it's usually the difference.

He shouldn't play any big games if the team isn't balanced for him that's certain!

This Geroud "thing" should not and cannot be an issue if we want to significantly progress from last season. He would be a good squad player but we NEED a top class goalscorer starting for Arsenal F.C. as well as a top drawer DM before the transfer deadline closes to give us a better chance of that happening.

There is just no point in just "making do" if we are serious about winning the top trophies. I hope Sanchez is not just another token signing by Wenger as we need more quality players like hime in more positions if we want to win those competitions !

100% agree with you

I posted the following comment on another article where the OP asked whether Ozil could play down the left, but what I say here is also true for playing the likes of Cazorla, Wilshere, and even to some degree, Podolski down the flanks.
It doesn't 100% pertain to Giroud, but I think it's another point worth making regarding the use of relatively slow, indirect players down the flanks:

'There are two main problems I have with playing players like Ozil and Cazorla out in the wide-positions:
1) They don't have the sort of speed or directness to launch a counter-attack. I've lost count of the amount of times the opposition has us penned back, and a left-sided Cazorla has no ability to drive into the space left-behind the oppositon, instead he usually ends up coming inside with the ball - into a very crowded space - and attempting to switch play. This congests our play, and with a lack of threat down the left-hand side, the opposition defence can shift along to narrow the space on our right, nullifying the threat we have down either flank.
Ozil's not actually slow, but I don't think I've ever seen him just pick the ball up and fly past the opposition full-back in the way more pragmatic widemen tend to do.

2) When we switch the ball quickly to the other flank, they're unable to really exploit the space by isolating and beating their opposite full-back.
Look at how effective players like Hazard, Ribery, Robben, or even players like our very own Chamberlain are at driving beyond their opposite number when they get them one-on-one. If you take a defender out of the game, it forces another defender to cover, which creates space which another defender has to cover....an so on. The ability to go beyond a man is an invaluable tool and can really help destabilise the opposition.
To be fair, Cazorla does have very quick feet and can, on occasion, get beyond his man in a tight space. But most of the time, I find he comes back inside with the ball, which, again, can congest our play and allow the opposition to reshape.
Ozil's a great player, and actually has very good dribbling skills to wriggle out of tight situations. But very rarely does he actively seek to run at and drive beyond his man. The majority of the time I've seen him receive the ball in a wide position, he generally just holds onto it until he has someone he can pass it on to. '

I can appreciate the benefits of having creative players who can drop in-between the lines, but when we have players like Sanchez, Chamberlain, and even Gnabry who can provide pace down the flanks like a more orthodox wideman, as well as having the intelligence and technical skill to come inside when needed, I don't see why we should ever look to play someone like Cazorla down the wings again.

renoog makes a good point that we struggled the last time we played with two direct players down the flanks, but as you rightly say, that season we were bereft of any sort of creativity in the centre of the park, and I also think having two reasonably profligate players (in terms of keeping possession) in Gervinho and Walcott (he's improved a lot in recent years) exacerbated this.
With the players we have at our disposal now, I don't see why this can't work.

I don't think Giroud is world-class, and in an ideal world, we'd have improved this area of the side but until we are able to do so, I think the team, and Giroud in particular, would benefit from pace and directness either side of him.

We played amazing football for the first third of last season with Giroud up front. His link play and technical ability is underrated, he's slow but if we put pace either side of him then it doesn't matter. Overall he's a good striker, don't get the obsession with him.

This Geroud "thing" should not and cannot be an issue if we want to significantly progress from last season. He would be a good squad player but we NEED a top class goalscorer starting for Arsenal F.C. as well as a top drawer DM before the transfer deadline closes to give us a better chance of that happening.
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But we may already have that player from within maybe in Walcott or Sanchez but Giroud is also an option regardless and it's important that the coach balances the team correctly.

It's also not so easy just buying a CF because he has to suit our philosophy this is why we've always liked forwards that can link up play amongst other things.

Bringing in a Falcao or Cavani for example would certainly be an upgrade in Giroud but could also tinker with our system a tiny bit, Ramsey's play for example could suffer with those type of forwards.

Benzema is probably the perfect top striker we should go for if we ever wanted one. Aguero/Suarez type would be great and that's why I think Sanchez could be the answer there.

A DM is essential though I agree

DaStuDogg



I do understand Wenger's addiction in squeezing all those creative players into the team via wide positions, they're beautiful players to watch on their day but with Giroud we give ourselves a massive problem.

I think shoehorning those players in to the team would be more justified if we used a more direct forward however which we have within

renoog.

Good to read your stuff m8. Please post more. I have missed our discussions.

"I do understand Wenger's addiction in squeezing all those creative players into the team via wide positions, they're beautiful players to watch on their day but with Giroud we give ourselves a massive problem."

Exactly
And I think it's part of the reason why Ozil and Cazorla had such poor seasons - by their standards - as well. With no runners in-behind, there's absolutely no-one for these two to thread through.
Because of this, I think Sanchez will be a brilliant signing, not just for what he brings to the team, but the effect his pace and movement will have on players like Giroud, Ozil, and Cazorla.

We need a team that can win trophies like the Champions league and the Premier League. We do not have the quality in depth in our squad required to win the Premier League title.

We still do not have a manager with the tactical nouse to win the Champions League with the squad we currently have, for Wenger to win the very first european competition of his career, we require a team that has a lot more quality in the starting line up to give us a fighting chance.

We don't seem to be a team "full of goal scoring potential" and we don't seem to be a team who can "batten down the hatches" against top opposition.

We only seem to be a balanced team for 4th place but not much more than that at the moment. We need more quality !

comment by The GOONER (U4256)
posted 1 minute ago
We need a team that can win trophies like the Champions league and the Premier League. We do not have the quality in depth in our squad required to win the Premier League title.

We still do not have a manager with the tactical nouse to win the Champions League with the squad we currently have, for Wenger to win the very first european competition of his career, we require a team that has a lot more quality in the starting line up to give us a fighting chance.

We don't seem to be a team "full of goal scoring potential" and we don't seem to be a team who can "batten down the hatches" against top opposition.

We only seem to be a balanced team for 4th place but not much more than that at the moment. We need more quality !
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Depressing stuff. Is that you Castor?

I just don't understand the obsession in trying to turn 9 outfield players (valued more than Giroud) inside out trying to fit him into the team.

What did Giroud cost? What value does he have? Even in this thread those defending Giroud start of with predication, I don't mind someone better than Giroud, but while he is here.......?

Surely a simpler solution is to sell Giroud and buy someone more suited to our system. Wenger has been hinting a lot that Alexis will be our main striker. OK I think that can work. Why not buy a backup similar to Alexis so that if he is injured or rested we can rotate and not change the style suited to the midfield players? Not very complicated. And if a big man is needed we can use someone who actually uses his physical strength and power to help the team like Sanogo?

Whatever system we may hypothesise to better suit Giroud is not going to happen. He has been here for 2 years now. Wenger knows his strengths and weaknesses and still continues to play the system that unfortunately shows that he is nothing more than an average striker. Arsenal is not an average club to put up with average players.

Not depressing, just a bad situation to be avoided if we actually do some scouting and the club puts it's preverbal hands in it's pre verbally deep pocket's. We have time to sort this before the season starts !

All our current strikers are 1000x times better than Julio Baptista

The only way we might get away with giroud for the whole season is if ox, Theo and akexis stay fit

I have written a fair few Giroud articles, short and to the point. A summary of my opinion is that we need to buy a recognised striker and that with Giroud as the main focal point, fourth place will be an achievement. Since making that judgement I have seen the possibility that Sanogo, Campbell and Akpom could possibly do the job.

The brutal truth about Giroud is that he shouldn't be allowed to get anywhere near an Arsenal shirt.