It's worrying that we are struggling to score goals at the wrong time of the season. This is the 'Business' end of the season where the crucial games are coming thick and fast. Since the Liverpool game, we have only scored 6 (two in the FA cup against Burnley...) goals.6 goals in a month is poor if you are challenging for the title. Giroud hasn't scored in ages and his record against Man Utd (our next opponents) isn't the best. Sanchez hasn't had a great game in ages, Özil's assists have slowed down, Oxlade has not improved, Theo has struggled since returning, Ramsey is not performing and the others are injured. We have Welbeck back which is a positive. How many times have we won a league game after conceding first? I can only name two games and they were the two Leicester games from this season. And most importantly, how many times have we scored in the final 10 minutes to get a win or rescue a late draw? I can only think of the recent Leicester game. If we are going to win the league, we need fight, desire and the 'never say die' attitude. What happened to the great Arsenal that used to always comeback from losing positions and get wins? Why aren't we doing that now. Last time we were doing that consistently was in 2011/12 when RVP was here. We broke a record of winning 4 straight games after conceding first. Surely that shows a world class striker is needed in order for that mentality to return again?
Well let's see... Giroud is an average scorer, Alexis a good scorer, our right winger(any of them) are bad scorers, ozil is a bad scorer, and Ramsey......2 out of our 5 players can score on a given day with rare exceptions...that just won't cut it.
Again, if I were to rater our players for scoring ability... Giroud 7 Alexis 7.5 Ozil 5 Ramsey 5.5 Walcott 6 Ox 5 That doesn't cut it on a top team....Bayern, Madrid, barca, city have players with better ratings in these areas.
Its time to go with Welbeck, Theo, and Sanchez up top. I think we will probably create more chances with these three up top interchanging. *desperate*
Wenger should leave OX out of the first xi. Theo has been crap but atleast has a bit of confidence. Campbell despite his inconsistency is great at playmaking. Him and Theo should start.
Giroud is a target man 8n a fluid team. He's scored st a decent rate but always falls short against the better sides and defenders Like prince said, play those 3
I am encouraged by Danny W performance so far since his return. He should get the nod on the right wing with Giroud upfront and Alexis on the left. Giroud is still our top GS and a vital cog upfront. I would sit the Ox, JC, TW trio. At this point, they are totally not starting material. By the way, I am reading that WHU is plotting a 15 M move for Ox this summer. I would sell him, get an other 10 M for JC and go after top player for the RW. This team, particularly the forward line, whatever happens between now and the season end, need to be overhauled.
Totally agreed. The question however is why does Ox play so good sometimes? I think Wenger is trying to consistently start him to get that back out of him. However if Ox/JS/Walcott are sold and we can get a solid Right winger, I'm all for it.
I find it curious how every new thread this forum these days, ultimately turns into a transfers thread. How about this for a radical concept... Maybe Arsenal need to coach & train differently? Maybe they need to spend more time on shooting & goal scoring skills? Or if they are training this, maybe it could be done differently? Of course I have no great knowledge of what kind of exercises go on inside Colney. Does anyone? But I sure wonder if & how we teach goal scoring. Yesterday's point-blank miss by Ox was a case in point. Someone like Thomas Muller would've buried that, no question. Shoot, Anthony Martial who is 2 years younger, would've buried it. And why? Is it down to innate ability, instinct? Or is it something they learned through teaching & practice?
I don't know what is happening at Colney but I am pretty certain they have shooting drills in different situations. We may just have to accept that some players may not be good enough.
I can definitely accept that and frankly it would be the best cause, because honestly if it came down to coaching it don't matter who we bring it.
I honestly think it has everything to do with our coaching staff. We've been complaining about this passing it into the net thing for over a decade. Many players have come in and we see the same thing every single season. Sanchez is probably the player who shoots the most, but has seen his shooting lanes close because he sees 2 defenders staggered on him. Ramsey use to take shots but lately he looks like fits on any of the 32 NFL teams.
I bet it has everything to do with the philosophy here. Players that push alone to help us win get reprimanded. Look at alexis this season vs last .
OK but that doesn't explain Ox's blatant miss yesterday. Either he just sucks at that and will always suck. Or there's more hope for him, but he just doesn't practice enough. Or practice the right way. I'm not saying Ox is a born CF, but anyone who plays primarily as an attacker should be able to bury a sitter like that that 80-90% of the time, no?
I am not sure how much more practice a professional playing at the highest level of the sport need to bury a sitter or to take the right touch on a counter? The guy just sucks as simple as that. He will be 23 in August ffs....
Players do start making better decisions at 23-24. Ramsey got a lot better at 23. And Ox is getting into better positions.
granted he did score yesterday, but.... http://www.givemesport.com/717090-t...orror-miss-for-bayern-munich-against-juventus
It's not just about age. Martial is 20 at most and seems to have the knack, granted he may be an unusual talent. And Ramsey may have gotten better at 23 but then look where his goal scoring went at 24 & 25. Sadly Ox just doesn't show the kind of development in skills & judgment that we all had hoped for. And I was pretty bullish on him a while back. Giroud, Sanchez & possibly Welbeck are the only confident goal scorers we seem to have. And they aren't exactly elite level either. (A bit too early to say about the young guns getting into the squad like Iwobi)
they make better decisions, but you sure Ox is getting into better positions regularly? yesterday was the first time in a while i remember him even being in the penalty area for an opportunity like that.
I had the same thought at the time: "what the hell is OX doing in the CF position?" Because obviously his role has been to spend more time on the flank. Nevertheless for any attacker, they should be confident & trained to be able to put that one away. Ox has shown consistently for several years now, that he is not able to do that with anything close to consistency or reliability.