marv3llous wrote:

Always felt the situation in Madrid is not doing him any good. Was evident from the start. If he comes here to be the "main man" like he was in Lyon he will get his groove back. Everything about this would make perfect sense 'cept the partnetship with Giroud. Would the players be intrested in this kind of competition?

Na he never lived up to his early promise at Lyon. United were keen but then there intrest faded over the years because he didn't preform often enough or show enough desire. He should be twice the player he is. Doubt he ever will live up to the early promise he had everything bar the desire to make it to the top.

Benzema was arguably the best centre forward in Europe during the 11/12 season. He's had some very good form for them, just never as consistent as he could be. Quietly having a very good season now despite a poor start.

Ancelotti seems to have finally decided on a system, and Benzema is arguably the most integral piece. He's the only player who provides creativity in the front 3.

The problem with Benzema is that the Madrid faithful prefers to see Morata as the CF over him. And he is quite a confidence player.

Don't think that having two French strikers (in a 1 striker system) in a world cup year would be good for Giroud or Benzema.

Sell Giroud then.

So bench him instead and then sell him a year later when he's completely out of shape. I don't really care. This supposed difficulty they will have to coexist in the same squad is not a reason to not go for Benzema.

It's been obvious for a long time that Wenger is a fan of Benzema too. He'd go for him in a heartbeat if he became available.

Or Wenger could learn to rotate properly and not completely freeze out the #2 striker while running the #1 into the ground.

I think the necessity of rotation is overstated because Giroud has poor stamina. He looks like he's been playing 50 games already when in reality he's played 15. Guys like Sagna, Ramsey and Koscielny have played all season too and don't look half as tired.

The simple truth, though, is that all top clubs start their best players as often as they possibly can. It's not much of an issue when they are good enough to begin with.

Can't see Madrid offloading Benzema in January. Best we can hope for is probably Pato or someone like Ba on loan if Chelsea are willing (doubt it if the league is still tight by then).

Klaus wrote:

I think the necessity of rotation is overstated because Giroud has poor stamina. He looks like he's been playing 50 games already when in reality he's played 15. Guys like Sagna, Ramsey and Koscielny have played all season too and don't look half as tired.

The simple truth, though, is that all top clubs start their best players as often as they possibly can. It's not much of an issue when they are good enough to begin with.

Yup. This simple truth is why Messi and Ronaldo are able to score 100 goals a season. Good point, Klausie

Messi's body is finally beginning to break down.

Volante wrote:

Messi's body is finally beginning to break down.

Since Pep left...

Only suffered 1 injury under pep. Suffered 7 before he was manager, and has had 5 since Guardiola left. Coincidence?

could it be that it is because of Pep he is breaking down. he made Barca over-reliant on the doped up midget

Been playing a lot of games from a very young age and it might be catching up with him. Also he was on HGH when he was younger so don't know if that has had an effect on things.

I think Barca just need to make sure he is fully healed rather than rushing him back like they did last season, it just causes further complications and issues. Against PSG you could clearly tell he was struggling but they were so reliant on him it was silly. Far too good a player to have his career wasted by injuries.

Think we should be making move for serge aurier from Toulouse. Loves arsenal plays RCB in a back three or RWB, and is really strong defensive RB. We need cover for sagna and need to prepare from his A) Decline or B) Departure, Jenkinson frankly isn't up to the task.

We should also be on the Hunt for a loan striker who can offer something different to Giroud and Podolksi as I see those two are our CF for the rest of the season.

Really hope we can just break the bank with Suarez in the summer, total game changer whatever you think of him as a person. Will sign off Arsene's time as a manger as league dominants and possible Cl winners, that is worth every penny.