Squad Analysis 2013/14: Page 42 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One More in the Tolly

Squad Analysis 2013/14

Alfonso

Volante wrote:
Hopefully that will motivate him to do better. Wenger's right, when Podolski is fully committed and focused he gives monster displays. Newcastle/WHU/Reading last season come to mind. He goes missing in big games though.

'He goes missing in big games'.

Not as much as the other summer signings last year.

Volante

Giroud never went missing, he just wasn't good enough. Cazorla was pretty rubbish against the big boys and in the CL. Won't happen now though, we have a proper #10.

MistaT

Its true however - easy to think of him simply as a clinical finisher, which I've done, but his game is strong enough that he should be contributing to build up play and assists. Saw it at the start of last season when he was assisting/scoring nearly every game.

Qwiss

Alfonso wrote:
Well it would help if Wenger played him in his best position.....

Where do you reckon that is? I reckon its number 10 but not in our system and theres about half a dozen players in the squad who are better there.

Volante

Podolski's best position is probably as a support striker in a 442.

MistaT

Have to agree with that - his finishing is world class, and he finds the most space/opportunities arriving on the chance instead of creating it.

Burnwinter

He's a late runner, a great finisher, a good combination player (ok, average by recent Arsenal standards) and he's a bit crap with his back to goal.

That said, I think he's very effective where we play him, at least when he's actually mobile and on song.

Qwiss

Yeah in our team, with our squad and system I quite like him on the left. I like that we can play different sorts of players wide now. If you play Ozil, Cazorla, Wilshere all the time people will figure it out a bit or they'll drop a level whatever. Nice to have Theo, Podolski, Ox to mix in there and upset defences with different styles.

y va marquer

That comment from Wenger constitutes a warning for Podolski I reckon.
He'd better heed it or he'll be off.

Qwiss

Biggus wrote:
Rex wrote:
Actually, he has been top class, with a blip or two, since he was reinstated.

I can't believe people were calling for Flappyhandski to keep his spot.

I know right. Some people. 😆

Claudius

how do we counter what we encountered yesterday, i.e., Dortmund's aggressive pressing for 90 minutes. they pressed all the way up to the top of our 18 yard box. who are the players we would need to field?

Timbob

The players we have did just fine. If we hadn't naively chased the win we would have got a point minimum. The team needs to get more cute and savvy, hopefully that will come the more they play (and win) together.

lorddulaarsenal

I'd still like us to add a hugely athletic midfielder to our squad

Sometimes we need more running power

Volante

Not beating Dortmund yesterday really limits what Wenger can do in terms of rotation for the away fixture. Had we won Wenger could have changed the team a bit before the United match.

Now I'm beginning to think it might be worth taking a risk and resting a couple of players for both Palace and Chelsea, specifically Giroud and Ramsey.

Claudius

Volante, we have to rest players for Palace. If a squad missing 3 to 4 players cannot beat Palace, then we have no right to be interested in the title

lorddulaarsenal

Yep. Give some time to gnabry and bendtner

Vermaelen and nacho too

marv3llous

I agree. Now is the time to rotate.

Claudius

exactly. Don't forget Monreal, who can do a job both at left back and left wide forward. Flamini can come in as well.
Let's see if this team can survive if we sit Ramsey, Gibbs and Giroud.

goon

You guys are insane, resting players for a league games sends out entirely the wrong message.

You rotate as much as possible without compromising quality significantly. That means we can rest the likes of Aaron, Jack and Gibbs but as far as Giroud goes then he must play.

Volante

If we want Giroud to last the season, he's got to get a rest now and then.

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