Tag: Giroud

Nobody wants to play on the wing: Arsene should switch to 4-5-1!

TotalArsenal

Gervinho is injured and will soon depart for the ACN, Theo does not want to sign a new contract until he is promised he will be played centrally, Podolski wants to play centrally as well, and Ryo is on loan at Wigan. Arshavin is no longer in Arsene’s plans and prefers to play centrally too, as does The Ox.

Nobody is passionate about playing on the wing except Gervinho and youngster Gnabry, and yet we play a 4-3-3 system in which good, classical wing-play is essential for it to succeed.

I have not totally given up on our 4-3-3 system, but without adequate wing-play and our midfield regularly being overrun by the opposition, I reckon it is the major reason why Arsenal look so shapeless, and are unable to dominate games as much as we used to do.

Just like during big parts of last season, Arsenal are currently no longer looking like the Arsenal we became so used to over the years. Gone are the times of total dominance in midfield and control of the game, and of creating a large number of chances in a single game. Our defence, midfield and attack work like individual units, and we are struggling to play as a whole team: a cohesive group of players who know what is expected of them, and what to expect of the others.

Ever since Chamakh was replaced by the then fit again van Judas, back in January 2011, Arsenal have played in the current 4-4-3 4-3-3 system. Arsenal have never managed to get above the 2.0 goals per game average, whilst the traitorous Dutchman was our main striker.

During the first half of the 2010-2011 season, Arsenal knew how to dominate games and we scored about 2.4 goals per game. We played 4-5-1 with Chamakh as our ‘holding striker’. Often playing with his back towards the opposition’s goal; he would shield the ball well, and allow the midfielders to bounce the ball of him in order to come closer to the goal and have enough time to pick a deadly pass, or attempt to score themselves.

I was convinced that Arsene would go back to our previous 4-5-1 system after the traitor was sold. With Giroud, Arsene has bought a better version of Chamakh, and with an overabundance of capable midfielders, it seemed logical to me he would revert back to this highly successful formation.

As 4-3-3 is not working, I would love it if Arsene reverted back to 4-5-1. We could play Giroud alone up-front – I am sure he would love that – but we also have the Pod who could play in such a system.

In midfield: Jack, Arteta and Cazorla are automatic first choices in the centre of the 5, whilst on the edges Arsene could play the likes of Santos, Coquelin, Ox, Podolski, Theo, Ramsey, and Rosicky and Diaby (if they ever get fit again!). On top of that, we have talents like Gnabry and Eisfeld coming through quickly and they would have a better chance to fit into a 4-5-1 system than in the current, tactically demanding, 4-3-3 system.

It would allow us to start dominating games once more, and with that, find our identity again.

Our defence would benefit massively as they would get a lot more protection from the solid midfield in front of them; whilst the wing-backs can enjoy themselves again with surging forward runs and effective wing-play – Gibbs, Sagna and Jenkinson are ideal for this.

As a team we would score more and the goals would be shared between the forward(s) and midfielders; making us less dependent on the strikers, as is the case in the current 4-3-3 system.

It would not take much for Arsene and Steve to restructure the team into a 4-5-1 formation, and I am pretty sure it would suit the current squad of players really well.

Total Arsenal.

Jack is back – Bacary was never away – Mannone saves our day – Wingers rescue us

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Arsenal – QPR: Five conclusions after a much needed win

Jack made a big difference

How great was it to hear a collective cheer from the fans when Jack had his first touches of the ball?! He made a great difference from the start: our team had shape and purpose again. It was just so good to see him move through the middle, picking out through-balls and combining with other midfielders to make things happen in the centre of the park. He makes it look so simple, and yet what he adds to the team is invaluable.

As soon as he came off, we lost a bit of our shape, and that tells us all how important he/the lynchpin role is in our 4-3-3 system.

Santi was far more effective today then in recent games. Cazorla played a lot closer to Giroud today as Wilshere’s skills and vision allowed him to stay higher up the pitch during most of the game, and that’s where he can be most effective. I love the fact that Santi always tries to shoot, but let us hope he will improve on his accuracy!

Bacary was awesome and great to see him back

The Corporal has done a great job at RB for us, and we are very lucky to have two very good RB’s in our team. Bacary is one of my favourite Arsenal defenders and to see him back; full of purpose and super strong, is just fantastic. He is such a safe pair of hands in defence and he gave great support to Ramsey and others on the right wing today, with a few peaches of crosses that could easily have led to an assist today. It just looked like he had never been away: what a beast of a player!

Podholeski needs a rest and some maintenance

The combination of Podolski – Giroud – Ramsey; as a false right winger/extra midfielder, does not work. We lack depth, speed and become predictable in our 4-3-3. I can see scope for 4-4-2 with both Pod and Giroud up-front, but then we need to give them far better service into the box from the wings. I can also see Giroud being very effective in 4-5-1, but in 4-3-3 we need to play with at least one proper winger, if not two in order to get the best out of OG.

The Pod is a great signing, but he is struggling on the left wing at the moment, and could do with a rest. I really hope Gervinho’s injury is nothing serious, because we need him on the left wing in the next few games.

Mannone saved our day

We almost gave it away at the end, as we were not able to play the game out. QPR obviously changed tact as soon as they got behind, and it almost paid off for them, but our young Italian stallion was focussed and ready when it most mattered, and he made a few fantastic interventions late on.

The wingers gave us a much needed extra-dimension in attack

What a difference the late substitutions made. Theo and Gervinho/Arshavin brought an extra dimension and totally ruffled the QPR game plan. I will say it again: if we play Giroud in a 4-3-3 system we need to have wingers in our team; who can get into the box and to the by-line, and who cross the ball to our big target man. Giroud clearly revels in this role, and Santi loves to benefit from the scraps that fall to him as well.

Please Arsene, can you play Gervinho – OG – Theo against MU, with Santi behind OG, and Jack and Mikel behind Santi?!

All in all, a hard fought win and thoroughly deserved.

Some credit is due to QPR though: they played with discipline and purpose and made it really difficult for us until we brought our wingers on, and with a bit more luck they could have gained a point today.

Ooooh Arsenal, we love you!!

Total Arsenal.

Three urgently needed improvements for the Schalke 04 game

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Will Gnabry get a chance on the right wing?

More Support for Cazorla – Better on-field Leadership – Sort out the Wings.

Just because we have seen a rat swimming in the sea, it does not mean the ship is about to sink. Arsenal played so well in recent away games against Liverpool, Man City and West Ham that we have no reason to despair as yet, even though our performance in and against Norwich was woeful.

Having had time to analyse the game in a bit more detail, I believe there are three urgently needed improvements Arsenal have to make for our game against Schalke 04 on Wednesday.

  1. More support for Cazorla in the centre of midfield. In our current system the lynchpin position is absolute key in terms of giving adequate support to Arteta – our more natural protector of the back four – and supporting Cazorla – our creative midfielder. Especially against teams who park the bus against us, we need a player who is good at defending, who can switch over to attack very quickly, can pick a good through-ball, and is confident with the ball in tight spaces. They need to be good passers and receivers of the ball and able to take on a player if possible. We have two very good players for this: Diaby and Jack, and two very decent players: Rosicky and Ramsey. All of them can also play in Cazorla’s position. If Jack is fit, we should play him against Schalke. If not, it will have to be Ramsey again. I thought he struggled against Norwich and he will have to step it up significantly if he is to make that role his own any time soon. Against Schalke he might get his last chance for a long while.
  2. On-field leadership needs to improve significantly. Some of you might recall my recent post about the perceived lack of leadership coming from Thomas Vermaelen. I reckon TV5 is struggling with the organisational and communicative tasks of leadership within the team. He leads well by example; although he often makes rash decisions – offensively as well as defensively – which put the rest of the team on edge, and in danger. I don’t think Thomas is a natural leader and he appears to be struggling with the new weight of responsibility on his shoulders. The sooner Arsene releases him of the captaincy responsibilities the better. I reckon Mertesacker would be a brilliant captain.
  3. Arsenal need to sort out the wings, if and when Giroud is being played in the middle. We need to stop being lop-sided towards the left, and have proper wing play on each side. It is either Giroud with proper wingers or no Giroud in our current system. Podolski is not a proper winger but a CF who can be positioned on the wing. In our ‘fluid-three’ system, Podolski does really well; especially when Gervinho is played in the middle and either one of The Ox, Theo or even Ramsey is played on the right. I prefer the fluid-three system at the moment, as it gives us far better movement up-front and it makes us a lot more unpredictable. But I would also like us to use Giroud more. However, playing Giroud with the Pod on the left and Gervinho on the right is not working at all, and I would be very surprised if Arsenal will use this combination again for a while. With the Ox probably out for Wednesday and Theo also a doubt, Arsene will be limited in his options. Podolski also appears to carry a knock and might be a doubt for Wednesday. Therefore, I would not be surprised – and also welcome it – if we were to start against Schalke with Gervinho on the left, Giroud in the middle and either Theo, The Ox, or Gnabry on the right – depending on who is fit enough to play.

I am sure the leadership thing will linger on for a while, as Arsene never seems to care that much about who is our captain. But the other two areas really need to be sorted out urgently in my opinion, if Arsenal want to return to winning ways.

Keep the faith fellow Gooners!

Total Arsenal.

Last 30 minutes for Wilshere, Giroud or fluid-three, Spuds or Chavs win?

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Aaaaaaaaaaah proper football is back again! And what a good weekend of football we can look forward to. The best possible news we could have had, is that little Jack the Giant Killer is fit again. He has arrived in Norwich tonight and with the rest of the first team squad.

Jack or Santi?

Will he play or won’t he, and could he even start tomorrow? It is unlikely that Jack will start, but it could well happen. Santi played almost the entire game against France on Tuesday and might need some rest. Wenger has to consider Cazorla’s fitness as he will definitely need him in Wednesday’s all important CL game against Schalke 04. That is a must-win game for us, as a loss or even a draw would give the others a chance to catch up on us, where a win would get us close to qualification for the next round. Norwich is of course also a must-win game, so Arsene has a difficult decision to make tomorrow.

I reckon Arteta and Ramsey are a given in the starting eleven against Norwich, and it will be either Coquelin or Santi to start. If the former starts then Ramsey will probably play in the ‘hole’ position. I reckon there is still between 10-20% chance Wenger might surprise us all and starts with JW10. I go for Santi to start and JW10 to come on for the last 30 minutes or so.

Giroud or fluid-three?

Will Arsene start with Giroud again, as he did against West Ham? The extra height of Giroud will be very welcome during set-pieces; when we are attacking, as well as when we are defending. I am so pleased OG scored that goal against Spain: it is exactly what he needed and I expect him to play with a lovely lightness of being tomorrow. He came on as a late substitute, so is very fresh and yet full of confidence, which bodes well for Arsenal.

On the basis of this, I would say Giroud will start. However, a fluid three of The Ox, Gervinho and Podolski is also a strong possibility. The latter is a lot harder to defend against for Norwich. Especially Gervinho and Podolski function really well in this system with already nine goals between them in all competitions.

The Ox looked really good against SM, and his confidence seems very high at the moment. I am not sure how fit Gervinho is, but travelling to, and playing in Africa must take a bit out of him. Therefore, I reckon he will start on the bench, as we will also really need him against Schalke midweek.

I will go for Giro, The Ox and The Pod up-front tomorrow. All three are full of confidence and only played a few minutes as late substitutes during the week.

Defence

Although Big Per could probably do with a break tomorrow, I reckon Arsene will need to play him against Norwich. We need as much consistency as possible in defence at the moment, and especially in away games it is too dangerous to give the likes of Djourou – who also travelled a long way midweek – or Miquel a chance. The rest of the defence pick themselves at the moment.

My predicted formation for tomorrow is:

Manone

Jenkinson – Mertesacker – TV – Santos

Arteta – Ramsey

Cazorla (60 min) – JW10 (30)

The Ox – Giro – The Pod

Spuds or Chavs?

What is the best outcome for Arsenal? It is a no-brainer for me: Spuds to win. The gap with the Chavs is too big and we know our North-London neighbours are totally capable of giving away a lead again, however big that might be.

A lot of people believe the Chavs have a very strong team, but I am not convinced yet. It is definitely a good team, but they have not been properly tested as yet. Arsenal made it so easy for them by gifting two very soft goals at the start of each half, which meant it only became a proper game at the end of the second half. Fair enough, Chelsea did not allow us to dominate our midfield for most of the game and were able to punish us severely for our mistakes.

But Arsenal have a decent chance to do well in the PL this season and a win for us, whilst the Chavs get beaten, is just what we need tomorrow.

COYRRG!!

Total Arsenal.

Arsenal strikers v Man United strikers: who’ll score more goals this season?

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Much has been made about Arsenal selling their best striker by far – and last year’s PL top scorer – to our bitterest rival in recent years: the non-oil funded Mancs. Even the glass half-full Gooners felt we did not have enough strength in depth up-front, and almost everybody was convinced that MU had a far stronger strike-force than the mighty Arsenal.

As anticipated, the boredom of the interlull has fuelled some gossip going round currently, that Arsene has up to £35m to spend on a new striker, and some fancy names are being bandied about at the moment. I reckon it is highly unlikely Arsene will buy a superstar striker in the next transfer window, if ever. We might see a replacement being bought for Chamakh and/or Theo but don’t expect it to be an experienced, top quality striker.

Of course the season has only just started with just seven games played in the PL until now, but the first signs are showing that Arsenal’s strike-force will match or better that of MU.

Arsenal has been varying their formation this season; either playing with Giroud on top and two wingers on each side, or playing with three fluid strikers who interchange constantly with each other, and anybody can be our ‘mid-striker’ at any given time. Our strikers have done well; in fact they have done better than the MU strike-force until now.

Goals by Arsenal strike-force (all competitions):

Gervinho: 5

Podolski: 4

Theo: 4

Giroud: 2

Total = 15.

Goals by MU strike-force (all competitions):

Brave Sir Robin: 7

Hernandez: 1

Rooney: 0

Welbeck: 0

Total = 8.

So, until now our strike-force has scored nearly double as much as the highly rated, praised-into-heaven strike-force of the Mancs. Once again, it is early days and things can change in either direction, but we are still able to make a few observations:

  1. MU have taken over our previous disease of overreliance on the reliant, but always prone to long-term injury, Dutchman. A few midfielders have scored two goals for MU, and their defenders have been chipping in with the odd goal, but the ‘awesome’ strike-force of MU – not including the traitor – have managed a meagre one goal between the three of them until now. It is fair to say, Rooney has been injured for most of the start of the season, but his PL-experienced replacements have not been able to adequately fill the gap he left behind, and leaned heavily on the shoulders of the Dutch turncoat.
  2. Arsenal, on the other hand, have been able to share the goals between the strikers much better until now, whilst our midfielders and a couple of defenders have also been able to put their names of the score sheets with a goal (Santi two).
  3. Despite MU having an established strike-force with each player having either a lot, or plenty, of PL experience, they are showing a lack of form and sharpness, and the longer it will take for this to disappear the more vulnerable they will become to suspension or injury of brave sir Robin.
  4. Arsenal, however, have had very little adjustment problems by their strikers. Gervinho is now in his second season and has hit the ground running. Impressively, so has Podolski who has shown absolutely no PL-acclimatisation issues until now. And what about Theo: he must have the ‘least minutes between goals’ record in England, if not Europe, at the moment. Being only used as a late sub, he has hardly played but hit the net four times already this season.
  5. The only striker that has not hit top-form yet, in terms of scoring goals, is Giroud. OG has been super keen to make a mark straightaway and his over-eagerness has possibly been more of a hinder than a help. However, his recent goals against WH and Spain will have done him a world of good and will hopefully give him the confidence and inner calmness to further improve his goal scoring.

I have no doubt that the MU strike-force will start performing a lot better sooner or later, but they have some catching up to do, and I am quietly confident that our strike-force will have outperformed theirs by the end of the season.

Now, wouldn’t that just be great and another proof of Arsene’s great ability to evolve his teams phenomenally well, given the means at his disposal?!

Total Arsenal.

To all readers:

Although some bloggers might appear very familiar and informal with each others, please never hesitate to comment if you feel like it. Bergkampesque welcomes any contributions as long as they are made in a sensible and respectful way.

Have a go and make a comment, and you will find you’ll get a warm welcome, and it makes blogging a lot more fun! 🙂

Arsenal – Chelsea: Three Selection Headaches for Arsene

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Hey Arsene, how many selection headaches are you facing on Saturday?

We always knew the start to the season was a tough one. Away games to Stoke, Liverpool and ManCity are not to be pooh-poohed at, and it will all come to an early seasonal crescendo on Saturday, when we play the current leaders, Chelsea, at the home of football.

Before the start of the season, I wrote a post for ArsenalArsenal.wordpress.com in which I stated that the tough start to the season was actually good for us: it would help us to focus, and to hit the ground running from the first match day.

Given the circumstances of having to integrate a Frenchman, Spaniard and a German into this season’s team, and having to learn to live without the services of the traitorous Dutchman, Arsenal has done really well until now. We remain unbeaten, have only conceded two goals, and the atmosphere and believe in our club has, thank goodness, transformed during this relatively short period.

However, a win in the next game against Chelsea, the last match in a fabulous September for Arsenal, could really catapult us towards the top. This will not be easy though, and we have to be careful not to underestimate the challenge we face on Saturday.

It remains to be seen what sort of Chelsea we will face at Ashburton Grove. Will it be last season’s park the bus formation/strategy or will Chelsea come to us with the full intention to have a go at us. The latter would be welcome, as it would provide us with a lot of space to attack them, if and when we regain possession. The former would be okay too, as compared to last season, Arsenal has more players who have the ability to deal with ‘parked buses’ now.

I reckon Chelsea will aim to attack Arsenal and we will have to face up to three creative/ attacking midfielders, with just Torres alone up-front and two holding midfielders behind them. This will be a big challenge for our midfield, our ‘back-five’, as well as our ability to defend as a team.

So, assuming Chelsea will come to play football on Saturday, Arsene has to make a decision about three selection challenges: each one of them a headache, or a so called ‘luxury problem’, as we are lucky to have a lot of fully fit players in various positions at the moment.

Selection Headache One: which two CB’s from TV, Koz and Mertesacker?

This must be causing Arsene a headache at the moment. TV is our captain and has had ten days rest, Mertesacker is playing his best football since joining Arsenal, and Koz had a tremendous second half against Citeh and is freshest of them all. I really don’t know who he will choose, but if I have to make a guess: Koz will end up on the bench again.

Selection Headache Two: Giroud to start or back to a fluent/interchanging three up-front: Podolski, Gervinho and either The Ox or Theo?

If Arsene opts for a typical 4-3-3 formation, I expect us to start with Giroud in the middle, and Podolski and Gervinho on the wings. This seems to be our plan-A this season and we can always change to plan-B (Gervinho-Podolski-Theo/The Ox) if we need to.

Selection Headache Three: four or three in midfield?

The inclusion of Ramsey in our ‘4-3-3’ against Citeh – which was effectively more like a 4-4-2 most of the times – was a great tactical move by Arsene last weekend. Chelsea play not that dissimilar to Citeh and my guess is Aaron will get another start ahead of Theo or the Ox. Ramsey played very well and, especially in the latter part of the second half, his drive and incredible engine made a big difference.

Selection headaches two and three are obviously interlinked and my gut feeling is that, in order to deal with Chelsea’s creative strength in midfield, we will start with Plan-B on Saturday.

So, based on the above deliberations, I reckon our starting 11 on Saturday will be:

Mannone – Jenkinson – Mertesacker – Vermaelen – Gibbs – Ramsey – Cazorla – Arteta – Diaby – Gervinho – Podolski.

Total Arsenal.

Giroud on fire, statement of intent by Theo and the Russian is back!

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Yesterday evening’s game against Coventry will have strengthened Arsene’s believe he does not need to buy another striker; well, at least not for the time being. With goals from Arshavin, Giroud, The Ox, and Walcott (x2) there was ample proof Arsenal have plenty of attacking options.

Okay, Coventry is currently not the strongest opposition and it was a home game as well, but Arsenal hitting 12 times the net in their last two home games is a good sign of our potential up-front. In the game against Southampton Gervinho scored twice, and Podolski and Walcott scored one each. In previous away games against Liverpool and ManCity, Podolski and Cazorla got important goals; so all of our key attacking players are off the mark, and three attackers have already been on the score sheet three times in all competitions this season (Gervinho, Podolski and Walcott).

Obviously, Giroud will be relieved to have scored his first goal for Arsenal, but the missed penalty will still stick in his throat. Missing a penalty in front of 60,000 supporters, almost all willing you to score, cannot have been good for his confidence. But I reckon Arsene will play him against Chelsea on Saturday, as the fact that Giroud has scored his first goal now – and he also produced another assist yesterday – will weigh more than the missed penalty, in my opinion.

Theo was on fire yesterday and the two goals he scored were a strong statement of intent by him. It is not just the fact that he scored two goals but the way in which he did it that will get Arsene thinking again. Both strikes were more than a little reminiscent of TH14(12) goals from inside the box: they were taken with cool and calculated precision and were preceded by strong, fast, confident runs from well outside the box.

Arsene said last night: “I’m not against it [playing Walcott as a striker], I’m not against it at all but we try and at the moment there is big competition up front, we have a different formula and the team is doing well,”. The ‘different formula’ bit in this quote is probably what I alluded to in my post yesterday: our Plan A is to play with a strong and multi-skilled ‘holding striker’ up-front, and Theo is far less suitable for this.

The almost forgotten man, Arshavin, showed us all once again what he is capable off still, with a goal and two assists – and he also made a big contribution to our first goal. He looked eager to impress and played again with a smile on his face. It will still be hard for him to get back to regular first team play with the current level of competition surroundig him, but he is the kind of impact player Arsenal need on the bench this season.

All in all, a good night for all our not-automatic-first-team-choice-strikers and a strong sign we do not have to worry about whether we will score enough goals this season.

Total Arsenal.

In a ‘fluid-three’ upfront Walcott could be a success in the middle

TotalArsenal

If Arsenal can play Gervinho centrally and win games, there is no reason why Theo could not be successful in the central striker position.

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I am not sure what to think of Theo. I have been one of his biggest supporters during the last few years, as I admire both his incredible skills (and I am not blind to his shortcomings) and his mental strength (that young man has a very thick skin which has continuously helped him to shrug of periods of doubt and criticism in his developing years).

It is both a courageous and dangerous strategy by Theo to request a more central role at Arsenal when he is in his last year of his current contract. He says that money is not overly important to him and I tend to believe him. It seems that football itself is the main driver in his life, and his strong inner conviction that he should be a central striker at Arsenal appears to be overriding every other sentiment. I think this is courageous, and I applaud him for it.

However, it looks like he is unable to convince Arsene to play him more centrally and yet he is, apparently, making this a key condition for signing a new contract. This would be a very dangerous move by him.

Of all the top managers in the world, I have no doubt that Arsene is one of the most open-minded/democratic ones: always willing to listen to his players and consider new ideas. If Arsene is not convinced as yet, he definitely will not bow to the (indirect) threat of a player not signing a new contract for not getting the central striker position.

Let’s face it: bigger and better players have been allowed/forced to leave once Arsene realised they did not fit into his philosophy of football anymore, or simply were not singing from the same hymn sheet any longer.

When you are only 23.5 years old, it can be really hard to find the right balance between the inner passion/ the conviction about who you should be and what you should do, and the judgement and advice of wise old men (and women). I have been there myself around that period in my life and maybe that’s why I have some sympathy for him.

But let’s have a look at whether Theo in the middle could work at Arsenal.

For me, for a big part, this all centres on Arsene’s style of football and his preferred formation for Arsenal this season. Will Arsenal play with a central striker around whom we pivot our forward play, or will we play more and more with a ‘fluid-three’ up-front?

From the moment Arsenal announced we bought Giroud, I was convinced we would go back to the first half of the 2010-2011 season, when Brave Sir Robin was injured, and Chamakh played centrally; as a holding striker, which allowed the midfielders to both set up attacks better and score plenty of goals. During that period, Arsenal scored about 2.4 goals per game, compared to 1.95 goals per game since the traitorous Dutchman displaced the Moroccan (for the rest of that season and the following season).

I reckon Giroud is a better, more all-round striker than Chamakh and I could see us playing 4-5-1 football this season. Even when we play 4-3-3 there is a strong tendency now for our ‘wingers’ Gervinho and Podolski to sit deeper; often supporting their FB’s and the  three midfielders to make us more compact which allows for better pressing and passing around of the ball.

Giroud, although not properly used yet in this capacity, is the perfect pivot up front; the ideal ‘holding striker’, who can hold on to the ball and allow the midfield to both ‘bounce the ball off’ and come forward a bit more, in order to create the next attacking move and/or come close enough to the opponent’s box to score a goal themselves. He is also great in the air and with his feet, although we still have to witness his deadliness in front of goal, which I am sure will come soon.

I still believe this will be our plan-A and I don’t think Theo will have a chance in this sort of formation. In case of injury to Giroud, the likes of Podolski and Chamakh are better options.

However, if we were to opt more regularly for a fluid front three, I can really see Theo do well. In a fluid front three all players interchange with each other: one moment they are on the left or right wing, the other moment they are in front of goal or on the other wing. The attackers, or let’s call them multi-disciplined strikers, need to work closely together, and the longer they play like this together the better they become as an attacking machine.

With a ‘fluid-three’ up front we would not play with a typical pivot in the centre of attack, and therefore, different qualities are required of our multi-disciplined strikers. Gervinho and Podolski have already proven this season they have the versatility for it, and I reckon Theo would suit this as well. He can do wing-play, especially if space is not at a premium, he has a good first touch, he is a predator and finishes well in front of goal, and he has a great engine.

I don’t think this would suit Giroud very well, just as it didn’t/ doesn’t suit RvP very well. The man from Montpellier is a typical central striker, good at holding on to the ball, winning battles in the air and on the ground, laying off balls and finishing off chances himself.

So, let’s see what will become Arsenal’s Plan-A formation and whether there will be a future for Theo in the central striker position. Maybe we will get a strong indication if there is a future for Theo as a central striker by him starting in that position tonight. I hope he does, so he can show us all what he is capable off, and take his last chance to save his career at Arsenal.

Total Arsenal.