One-off Season?

We looked better when Theo was there but he's been inconsistent and technically limited ever since he joined and he's showing why he's not the solution.

How many games did Theo play upfront brilliantly that you come to that judgement. In the end it wasnt Walcott that kept us into the title race, it was Giroud. And he also was key that we had the chance to play against Barca in the CL. People have short memories and write epic comments on this forum to suit their argument. Unfortunately it hasnt got to do with the reality.

Not many GT, due to injury or inconsistency. That's why I respect Giroud because when he's off form he still gives everything and does the dirty work.

comment by 8bit (U2653)
posted 2 minutes ago
Not many GT, due to injury or inconsistency. That's why I respect Giroud because when he's off form he still gives everything and does the dirty work.
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I know he is not an elite striker, 8bit.

What I cant stand is that everything that goes against us is blamed on the striker front. We know his limitations.

It's correct that we cant afford to have a striker that doesnt score for 10 games.

Analysing the games though it's also the fact that he wasnt at the end of most of the clear cut chances we somehow created. Add to that that he was unlucky in some situations. Why cant people rate or at least respect him for the different work he adds to the team?

comment by 8bit (U2653)
posted 18 hours, 1 minute ago
We've got better squads than Leicester and Spurs, why did we need new players to win the league. If our players were playing anywhere near top form we'd be clear at the top.
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Seriously 8bit??

""On paper" we needed to buy in a couple of players. There is genuinely no excuse here. Why on earth would anyone have looked out our team in the summer, looked at the last ten years and not have simply assumed they had to buy a couple of players, purely down to the fact that we would likely lose more than our fair share to injury?? "

Did you miss that part of my comment? Looking at our squad in the summer. The most conservative of estimations (say guessing we'd have at least 5 key injuries throughout the season) would still have mad it clear, we needed reinforcement. List the squad then to yourself. Then assuming we have to lose five throughout the season, it's apparent, quickly, that our roster was likely not sufficient. And that's guessing/wishing we'd had HALF as many injuries as previous seasons.

comment by Jenius99 (U4918)
posted 14 hours, 46 minutes ago
8bit the problem with Giroud and two fast players alongside is that their starting positions are deeper. Therefore they are battling a full back and a center back before they can get onto goal. The back line of the opposition does not need to drop back. Which is what you are trying to force them to do. Its no surprise that Welbeck created the goal against Spurs by running in behind their back line. That forced the Spurs back line to respect his pace and drop deeper creating space for Alexis/Ozil and as a result we took control of the game. Spurs could no longer press in our half because Ozil used the space as an out ball to counter attack Spurs at will. This why we didn't look in control for the first 30 mins but as soon as Welbeck made that run and created something they had to respect his pace.

In fact look at the number of wide attackers that Giroud has seen off. Arshavin, Gervinho, Podolski, Oxo, Theo, and now Alexis who is also having a rough time. Lack of pace in the striking does not only affect Ozil but our wide attackers.

There are other problems as well for example Coq's slow distribution and lack of pace in our defence. But this is just an example why players affect the form of their team mates. Its not in isolation. Football maybe a team game but the wrong individuals especially in the spine of the team can alter tactics you are trying to employ.
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Trying to explain to this lot how Theo being taken out of the middle has has an overall detrimental effect on all our other key players, is like beating your head against a brick wall mate. I know, I've been trying to say the same thing to people for 4/5 weeks. Nobody's hearing it. I could swear none of them watched the first half of the season the way most talk. It's as though nobody saw how the team played with a pacey stiker and nobody saw/posted any of the numerous comments and articles we saw at the time, talking about how different we looked as a team. For me it was clear the minute we lost Theo up top. With Giroud in, the whole team has to be "on song" AND he has to be scoring, for us to look like title contenders. We looked title contenders immediately with Walcott up top, even when he was missing 3 and four chances a game.

Our entire midfield is actually tailored for a pacey striker whom will make runs in behind. Alexis and Ozil in particular thrive on the space that affords them. It's little wonder that we struggle for results when trying to get the same from them with a slow striker whom can't make runs in behind.

Think of Arsenal like a Lamborghini. The striker is the engine. Giroud is an adequate, reliable 2.0L. engine. No matter what you do to the Lambo, that engine is just not big enough to power the car. Theo on the other hand, is a raging over-tweaked 5.0, fuel injected, turbo charged beast of and engine. Though unreliable, when you put him in the Lambo, results are somewhat comprehensive performance wise.

Welbeck is the same model of engine as Theo, only less tweaked, slightly slower but far more reliable all around. Here's hoping anyway.

In everyone's defence, I will say that Theo hasn't helped his/our case. I ranted for weeks for him to be started up top, claiming it would have the effect of us looking like the start of the season whether he scored or not. He got his start, I was convinced he at least make his usual runs, pulling defences apart. Sat to watch the match relishing the anticipation of him proving to everyone he should have gone straight back.

And what's he do? SSSSWEET F. A Didn't even run anywhere good. Sorry but he needed to grab that by the scruff of the neck and state his case "on the pitch" and he flopped. That's his bad and his bad only. Because he IS a "Big enough" player to influence the entire tide of a game. He needs to go "balls out" and start acting like one when he's playing.

comment by Pep The Final Straw!! (Formerly WB2) (U8276)
posted 4 hours, 1 minute ago
comment by 8bit (U2653)
posted 18 hours, 1 minute ago
We've got better squads than Leicester and Spurs, why did we need new players to win the league. If our players were playing anywhere near top form we'd be clear at the top.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Seriously 8bit??

""On paper" we needed to buy in a couple of players. There is genuinely no excuse here. Why on earth would anyone have looked out our team in the summer, looked at the last ten years and not have simply assumed they had to buy a couple of players, purely down to the fact that we would likely lose more than our fair share to injury?? "

Did you miss that part of my comment? Looking at our squad in the summer. The most conservative of estimations (say guessing we'd have at least 5 key injuries throughout the season) would still have mad it clear, we needed reinforcement. List the squad then to yourself. Then assuming we have to lose five throughout the season, it's apparent, quickly, that our roster was likely not sufficient. And that's guessing/wishing we'd had HALF as many injuries as previous seasons.

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Our worst form has come when we don't have many injuries. Not saying we couldn't do with more players but we could have easily won the league with the squad we have. Do you think we're getting the most out of the players we have, or that if Alexis, Ozil, Giroud, Walcott, Ox, Ramsey, were playing to full potential it wouldn't get us extra points?

comment by Pep The Final Straw!! (Formerly WB2) (U8276)
posted 1 hour, 27 minutes ago
comment by Jenius99 (U4918)
posted 14 hours, 46 minutes ago
8bit the problem with Giroud and two fast players alongside is that their starting positions are deeper. Therefore they are battling a full back and a center back before they can get onto goal. The back line of the opposition does not need to drop back. Which is what you are trying to force them to do. Its no surprise that Welbeck created the goal against Spurs by running in behind their back line. That forced the Spurs back line to respect his pace and drop deeper creating space for Alexis/Ozil and as a result we took control of the game. Spurs could no longer press in our half because Ozil used the space as an out ball to counter attack Spurs at will. This why we didn't look in control for the first 30 mins but as soon as Welbeck made that run and created something they had to respect his pace.

In fact look at the number of wide attackers that Giroud has seen off. Arshavin, Gervinho, Podolski, Oxo, Theo, and now Alexis who is also having a rough time. Lack of pace in the striking does not only affect Ozil but our wide attackers.

There are other problems as well for example Coq's slow distribution and lack of pace in our defence. But this is just an example why players affect the form of their team mates. Its not in isolation. Football maybe a team game but the wrong individuals especially in the spine of the team can alter tactics you are trying to employ.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Trying to explain to this lot how Theo being taken out of the middle has has an overall detrimental effect on all our other key players, is like beating your head against a brick wall mate. I know, I've been trying to say the same thing to people for 4/5 weeks. Nobody's hearing it. I could swear none of them watched the first half of the season the way most talk. It's as though nobody saw how the team played with a pacey stiker and nobody saw/posted any of the numerous comments and articles we saw at the time, talking about how different we looked as a team. For me it was clear the minute we lost Theo up top. With Giroud in, the whole team has to be "on song" AND he has to be scoring, for us to look like title contenders. We looked title contenders immediately with Walcott up top, even when he was missing 3 and four chances a game.

Our entire midfield is actually tailored for a pacey striker whom will make runs in behind. Alexis and Ozil in particular thrive on the space that affords them. It's little wonder that we struggle for results when trying to get the same from them with a slow striker whom can't make runs in behind.

Think of Arsenal like a Lamborghini. The striker is the engine. Giroud is an adequate, reliable 2.0L. engine. No matter what you do to the Lambo, that engine is just not big enough to power the car. Theo on the other hand, is a raging over-tweaked 5.0, fuel injected, turbo charged beast of and engine. Though unreliable, when you put him in the Lambo, results are somewhat comprehensive performance wise.

Welbeck is the same model of engine as Theo, only less tweaked, slightly slower but far more reliable all around. Here's hoping anyway.
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Theo in top form yes... Theo in this form is useless and nothing more than a sprinter and when he's off form he disappears and hides too. Giroud still contributes things when he's off form.

and articles we saw at the time, talking about how different we looked as a team. For me it was clear the minute we lost Theo up top. With Giroud in, the whole team has to be "on song" AND he has to be scoring, for us to look like title contenders. We looked title contenders immediately with Walcott up top, even when he was missing 3 and four chances a game.

Our entire midfield is actually tailored for a pacey striker whom will make runs in behind. Alexis and Ozil in particular thrive on the space that affords them. It's little wonder that we struggle for results when trying to get the same from them with a slow striker whom can't make runs in behind.


Only want to make comment on this part, WB2. You're completely wrong when you're stating that our midfield is tailored for a pacey striker. It hasnt got to do with pace. Pace alone dont wins you games. You need a midfield to pass with accurancy. Theo is not that kind of striker that can outplay a defender. He runs alongside to defender and actually beat them with pace. Therefore he needs that pass from midfield. The same our wingers. That is not happen at the moment because our set up in midfield has absolute no one who can do that.

Who is saying that you cant play on counter and pace with Giroud. We did that against Barcelona and in games in PL as well. I think at Palace for example.

If you want to replace Giroud for the sake of it then you need a new striker in the mould of Suarez who can actually outplay a defender and get behind the defense in general. Theo and I think Welbs are not that kind of striker.