Gnabry has more prem experience than Sanogo, and he has shown some flashes of being really good. I just think bringing those 2 on for the last 10-12 minutes would have offered a lot more towards actually winning than bringing on Sanogo. But I get your point, there weren't exactly any great options to sub on.
Till we see him in full training and on the starting line/bench on the match day, we can't even take the clubs word seriously.
For those saying we still have a chance at the league: I like to take Jose Mourinho's snakey stance. The league is not ours to win. We depend on too many wishful results gift wrapped by Santa. Thats more of an inheritence. We had some heavy winds and bumpy roads. Too much blood dripping from my organ called pride. Also, if we're in a race, its not for the title but something called time. Mikel, Bacary, Tomas and some others have expiration dates. Olivier can improve but we need someone good now, not tommorow. I would love to see us win but we cant win something that we cant control.
Only improvement that would matter for OG is speed/quickness unless he's getting a speed transplant he is what he is. Not good enough
You can develop speed, but our physios and trainers have shown that they don't always know what they are doing.
If I'm not mistaken, the last few weeks of the league often depend on teams with more points than those below them, losing a match or two. Ergo, if there is still a mathematical possibility of my team winning the league, I hold on to that, and believe that it is still under our control, if we can fight to the end. Just waiting for TV confirmation before posting new matchday thread.
Seriously, for a strike or footballer in general, Giroud lacks pace and dribbling skills. I don't think he's ever scored a solo goal for us. He can't take anyone on and that's what we desperately need.
You guys are out of your minds if you think Giroud will improve. The guy is 27. This is probably the best he'll be and i doubt he'll pull a RVP and become a goal scoring machine. Giroud shows no promise.
So I saw John Cross' blog about Podolski and I asked: Why can't he play as a false 9? Have him attack from the left and, when he does, push someone out left to protect Gibbs/Monreal? Serious question.
NEW THREAD IS UP: https://www.bigsoccer.com/community/...nal-sunday-april-6th-matchday-thread.2002651/
Can work on technique and help him get an extra little bit of burst. No one's going to turn him into Walcott, but right now he's slower than Mertesacker.
Yeah, speed is partially genetic, but you can train the muscles so that you become quicker. It's what sprinters do. It's more muscle than anything else, and with the right workouts you can make serious bounds in your quickness and sprint speed. Giroud probably can't because he doesn't want to
He is not creative with the ball at his feet, and he's incredibly one-footed, meaning he could never cut in from the left. Maybe the right, but that would involve changing the rest of the attacking system too.
Clearly you can improve your quickness through repetition. Someone who has driven a car for thirty years hits the brakes more quickly in an emergency situation than someone who is just learning to drive. But there is a genetic limit to how quick they can become and Giroud should already have benefited from the effect that repetitive movements on a soccer field would have on his quickness. Mature professional sprinters, i.e. sprinters in their mid to late 20s (the same age as Giroud) are generally looking for improvements of less than two tenths of second in a 100 meter sprint. If you see improvements of more than two tenths of a second in a mature sprinter, they are probably on a steroid regimen. At a minimum, Giroud would need improvements of more than a second. The only way he might get there is to start taking steroids. So I will repeat, he is what he is. He isn't world class, in big games he isn't going to pick the team up and carry it on his shoulders, but with 18 goals in all competitions, he has contributed to Arsenal's success this year.