Agree prince. City are dumb. They win the league when they give him a free role And do badly when using g him as a holding mid And 4 4 2 doesn't work. U cannot have that system with so many 4 5 1 formation varients around
It's what you do within the formation that matters more than the actual formation. In any case, formations are more a description of defensive shape than attacking play.
Maybe this is slightly odd to post about a player who has been so far away from our XI these first 2 months, or a player who's appreciation thread hasn't been touched in 18 mos! Hmm... but... I've been finding myself wondering lately if OG is likely to find a place back in our XI, as he had so prominently in the past few seasons. I have my doubts. First of all there's been this mysterious fitness/injury issue with him. Then there seems to be an implied cloud of conflict hanging over him, as if he's fallen out of good graces with the manager. But more importantly, when you watch the way our attack has been playing lately... with Sanchez, Walcott, Iwobi & Ozil interchanging in a sort of semi-total-football. It doesn't seem to be the best recipe for Giroud to fit into. Then there is the newly signed Perez, and maybe even a "new" Welbeck by Februrary. Makes me think that Olivier's best Arsenal days may be behind him. But on the flip-side of things there's always the likelihood of future injuries which tend to dog our team, and that could play a big role in whether or not OG can push his way back in. But my overriding feeling is that we're started to move on from Olivier Giroud.
We absolutely need him this year, as Plan B, when things are not going right and we need tactical changes. Unless Akpom develops like iwobi.
I think you may just be right. Either because of challenges we may face with injuries/depth, or because Wenger wants to deploy alternate tactics using Giroud. ATM I'd say it's not quite clear about the "absolutely" needing him part. But your labeling him as "Plan B" is more like what I'm thinking. He used to be Plan A. Now we've moved on to a new Plan A, and he's been demoted to Plan B.
Btw, he's pissed because he gets no respect. I think he knows he s not bemzema but he gets no love. Not from France, not from Arsenal fans. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Against Burnley, Giroud would have been the difference between a comfortable 2-0 victory and that last second 'goal' we produced.
He could've helped. It would have been my substitution. But let's not pretend that we've not faced teams like this before and OG missed chances, etc. City have always played Aguero regardless of packed box or not. City also cross the ball into Aguero. There are ways to play that are manager refuse to adopt. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
At Burnley, I'm not so sure it was OG that we were mostly lacking, but the execution of a Plan B, i.e. old fashioned wide runs towards the byline with crosses into the box. For his size, Sanchez is a fine header of the ball. And Theo showed against Basel that he ain't too shabby either. And who knows about Xhaka. Anyway, there's really no reason I can see that would've made that particular Plan B ineffective or not worth trying at least.
It's not Alexis' size, but the fact that he provides no target for the crosses because he isn't in the penalty area. There is a popular thing on Arsenal internet that Alexis playing false 9, but you can see he isn't because he is not drawing centerbacks out.
To be specific, my 2-0 scoreline was if OG started. I know the toe is an issue and he couldn't have. This is more a consideration for future games on what Giroud could have brought. Adding an aerial dimension to our attack was part of the reasoning for my statement, but not just for that. Burnley played a compact and organized game. Here - our team passing game was not getting us through. We needed a 'moment of individual brilliance' to break them down (or pure good-fortune as the case ended up being). The players we rely on for that are Ozil and Alexis. Ozil was simply poo and could not be counted on to maintain possession, let alone get us through the lines. Turning to Alexis, he couldn't isolate anyone to create space because he was surrounded. OG at the 9 moves Alexis wide and creates more opportunities for him to isolate and defeat his marker. Making things happen. Also, if Alexis can pick Walcott out amongst three 6 foot+ defenders, he would likely find Giroud at least a couple times in the match. But more than just headers and giving Alexis space, he creates a really great Wall for runners. Nice one-twos that add yet another problem for Burnley. Alexis does this well, too but arguably not as well as Giroud and Sanchez can't be in two places at once. Them being so compact, our pace wasn't as useful. And maybe minor - but Giroud *does* help with defending a fair amount. Burnley managed to get their heads on more crosses than I was comfortable with. I feel Giroud would have helped the defenders settle a bit more.
So if you bring Giroud back next game, and if you're sticking with 4-2-3-1, then who do you drop? Iwobi? Theo? (can't see him dropping Alexis because of current form, X-factor, etc... and Ozil, although form-wise he might deserve a little rest, I'm not sure Wenger quite has the balls to that) This may be one of those hard decisions that coaches like to have I guess.
Sorry about the awful formatting on my post. The 'paragraphs' looked a lot larger on my s6. It's a tough call and one I'm happy I don't have to make, but an option I'm glad Arsene has available to him. Against Burnley, I would have dropped Iwobi (Alexis - Giroud - Walcott) and observed. If the pace was working, Perez comes on for Giroud. If the quick-interlinks are working, Iwobi comes on for Giroud and Alexis moves to the middle. Otherwise, stay the course, take the lead and have Elneny sub out Santi to close out the game. Armchair management at it's finest!
IMO the perfect team for giroud does not have Ozil in it. .........giroud Sanchez........Theo .......Ramsey...xhaka .............cazorla
no, it essentially is how cazorla/coquelin works. coquelin chases while cazorla nominally sits deep and brings the ball out or distribute.
Depends on the match up. Against teams that defend deep, Ozil w/ Giroud works, so long as you don't play Alexis. Giroud's holdup play is effective and allows him to bring Alexis in. Ozil w/ Alexis is worse for Ozil because Alexis ends up going into the same space that Ozil likes to use, and this forces Ozil into the wing.
not alone, no, although i think ramsey is better athlete than he is given credit for. but, with 2 of them, that cuts down the area of chase down to 1/2 and i think it is doable.