The Arsenal at Wigan Athletic Pre-During-Post Matchday Thread [R]

When: Saturday December 22nd, 2012
Where: JJB Stadium
Time: 12:45 local (7:45 AM Eastern)
TV: USA - ESPN2
UK- Sky Sports 3

Another HUGE test in our quest for that top 4 TROPHY!

KILL!!!!!

What luck, match is on English TV when I am actually in England. First time in a while. Although last time watching Manchester City lose to Sunderland was fun.

Wow - that was quick, phishy.

Same lineup.

^^^^

This one has slip-up written all over it. I'd start Giroud, rest Ox, and put Theo out wide right. His 1v1 miss showed why he is not a CF.

I didn't see the game yesterday, but how many 1v1s has Giroud flubbed this season? Just sayin..

Yeah I'm gonna have to agree here. To me Podolski is the best candidate for CF, however if it's between Giroud and Theo, I'm going with Theo. Sure he missed a 1v1 but it was a classy save. Not to mention the goal he did score was silky smooth. I'm encouraged by his progress there. I say give him the start and give him a couple balls over the top or through for him to run on. Then bring a target striker in during the second half and allow the midfield to move up.

But do u see Giro setting up and finishing that Walcott goal?

I think that's a biased call there. He missed one 1 v 1. Like someone said Giroud has missed them time and time again. Not only that, but Walcott's runs are really good, and the pace of that front 3 is dangerous. I think both CF's have their strengths but agaisnt certain defences I like Walcott there. As someone else said as well. Another advantage of having Walcott there is we don't keep hoofing balls in the air to Giroud for nothing to come of it. Anyway, we will see what happens. I'm sure Wenger will start with Giroud up top but would like to see Walcott there again. And for sure Ox on the wing. He is strong and has nice wing play IMO.

0-1 to Wigan or 5-2 to us. WHO KNOWS?!

in giroud's defence, with the crosses we put in last night and giroud's usual positioning, i'm fairly certain if he had played the full match last night he would have very probably scored a couple.

None that I recall. Giroud doesn't do breakaways.

If we need to play Walcott at center forward to get him to sign his contract then we should do it. If it's a free choice, I'd say play Giroud. First of all, Giroud can't play on the wing and we need wingers.

Even besides that, I like Giroud better there anyway. Forget the breakaway, who on the team could have scored Podolski's goal yesterday? A few of them, but not Theo. And Luke had as much space as you could hope for in that position.

We'll do enough to win this one- need some rotation at the back, if possible.

1-2 to le arse.

I could well be wrong with this question but does Walcott have more goals scored than Giroud? At least in the prem? Doesnt that give us a good clue that he at least should be a consideration at CF? I'm not saying he is leagues better in that department than Giroud , jut that to me it's hard to say Giroud is the better option there. Especially when Walcott score those goals not in the CF spot(barring one).

This.

Theo starts up front, bring on Giroud if we need "something different" or another striker. Theo was not perfect, but did well enough to earn another start. Like you said, Giroud doesn't even get on that ball for a 1v1. What's funny is that all the goals except Theo's came from crosses into the box. Maybe with Theo in, the midfielders are seeing more opportunity to get into the box. I think Theo did a good job of managing the space up front (i.e. drawing CB's and opening up passing and running lanes). I was pleased and want to see more but will refrain from any judgement until he gets 5 or so games with some tough competition in there.

In all competitions, Walcott, to date, has 11 goals and 7 assists, while Giroud has 7 goals and 6 assists.

Just as long as Gervinho never starts another match again. Has Wenger ever tried to explain or rationalize why he had him playing CF?

the boys obviously got a sniff of blood last night and were attacking the goal pretty well. I'm hoping they recognize that they must do that going forward from now on. That conservative tippy tappy shit isn't working. This game will be interesting to say the least...do we come out blood thirsty or slip back to our square pass-back pass play, ad nauseam?

shame we can't play Reading every week..

Our main problem IMO is when the opposing team starts to attack and we get nervous. They really have to overcome that somehow.

My thoughts exactly.

Well let's be honest, to get Theo to sign his contract we need to give him the money that he's asking, the CF thing seems like somewhat of a mask for the public, which is not to say it's not an important factor, but money is clearly number one here.

I agree about Giroud, now that we're finally getting some good crosses in he can play to his potential. And Theo is always a good option on the right.