I'm well aware that he's a decent centreforward. van Persie is not a traditional centreforward however. The role he's asked to play is not a traditional centreforward role. You don't see Andy Carroll or Demba Ba drop that deep to bring others into play.

Does he play it by design or personality though?

Bit of both probably. Wenger loves that type of player. I don't think it's a coincidence that he really wanted a young Ibrahimovic who possesses similar qualities to Robin. The way he's playing at Milan is probably the closest thing to van Persie that's out there at the moment too.

I have my reservations about his attitude, but he's a cracking player. I'd have him up top with RVP just behind, would be a right handful imo.

Klaus wrote:

I'm well aware that he's a decent centreforward. van Persie is not a traditional centreforward however. The role he's asked to play is not a traditional centreforward role. You don't see Andy Carroll or Demba Ba drop that deep to bring others into play.

Sturridge isn't Demba Ba or Andy Carroll though. And he's not van Persie either, and wouldn't be as creative, but he has the touch and technique to play the role similar to van Persie, whilst perhaps offering a bit more mobility and power in more advanced areas. He wouldn't do a bad impersonation of Robin, in my opinion.

Demba Ba drops deep a lot and bring others in to play. He's pretty creative and skillful and will definitely play in the hole behind Cisse when they're both up and running.

With Ba's strength and finishing ability, I think that's a waste of his talents. Get him as close to the goal as possible and let defenders try to stop him in the box or when he's playing on the their shoulder.

Well, maybe. My point really was that throwing him in to the same catagory as a lump like Carroll does him a huge disservice. Ba's athleticism is a bonus, not something he really relies on. He's a very well rounded centre forward with the ability to play a number of different roles, and for Newcastle this season he's led the line, but also dropped off quite a bit and done plenty of play making, bringing team mates in to play, or turning and carrying the ball at defences.

Tim wrote:

Demba Ba drops deep a lot and bring others in to play.

Aye, he wasn't the best example. I feel that he's mainly been used as a target forward in Premier League but he played that way in Germany at least. On technical ability I think van Persie and Rooney are the only ones who better him. I'd much rather have him than Sturridge up front.

Sturridge is a top class talent. We should definitely snatch him from them if he wants to come

The point with a player like Sturridge is of course that he can play both on the flank and through the middle to a level that is, at least to me, good enough for Arsenal.

I am 100 per cent convinced that he would be a better option through the middle than anyone we have bar RVP, and IMO he isn´t worse than Walcott, Gervinho or AOC on the wing. Buying him gets you a versatile player who can truly play all across our forward line.

He doesn't want to play wide though. I would have thought that if we get him he'll either be RVP's permanent replacement or we'll be going with 2 up top.

If we had someone like him Wenger wouldn´t feel he has to play RVP as much as he currently is. Can you believe that RVP has already featured in 33 games this season? That seems too much for a player with his injury record. With a player like Sturridge there would be plenty of games both through the middle and on the flank.

I don't subscribe to that theory Rex. Vaguely remember Wenger's thoughts on why he plays players so much and it has little to do with a lack of quality back-up.

RVP is playing on borrowed time already. We all know that deep down anyway. There will be plenty of opportunities here for anybody who is number 2 behind RVP. Bonus here being that Sturridge is actually not bad playing on the flank either.

Well, we may sell him in the summer anyway so let's not worry about it too much.

Captain wrote:

I don't subscribe to that theory Rex.

I don't subsribe to it either. Good players always play a lot. Our problem is that Robin is the only regular player we have who usually makes a difference. If we signed a few better starters instead we wouldn't rely on van Persie so much and the team wouldn't struggle to score every time he's out.

Klaus wrote:
Tim wrote:

Demba Ba drops deep a lot and bring others in to play.

Aye, he wasn't the best example. I feel that he's mainly been used as a target forward in Premier League but he played that way in Germany at least. On technical ability I think van Persie and Rooney are the only ones who better him. I'd much rather have him than Sturridge up front.

Yep. Demba Ba is a brilliant striker, with a bit of everything in his game. Such a shame we didn't gamble on him last summer.

You just know that if we gambled on him, his knees would be blown out now and we'd all be crying that we should have signed a proper striker.