Arsenal v Swansea

Mario Leontiou wrote:

Elisabeth Studentschnig wrote:

beat me to it, i was just gonna say the same thing about theo. it's ridiculous how he behaves like he fuckin owns the place, yet completely disregarded his responisbilites and left sagna to cover 2 positions at the same time for most of the game. i do agree that he's not a bad player and that losing him would be anything but ideal, but i don't want his indecisiveness to affect our transfer business (heh). if he wanted to stay he would've signed by now, so i'd rather we spent money on a suitable replacement right now and let him rot on the bench for the remainder of the season. too drastic?

Well it's worrying that we're still talking about looking to tie down current players before looking outside for reinforcements because we need to add on top of what we have whether we keep Theo or not! And his position, forward/wide areas, is one of the key areas we need strengthening. We have so many tough games this month and the later we leave it the less chance we have of bringing anyone in for those games. But I think we already know what's going to happen...

And I also doubt he will sign. All this 'he wants to play up front' is just an excuse. He wants to get very highly paid first and foremost. Very annoying how we've come to this again.

yeah, we won't sign anyone, rosicky, diaby and coquelin coming back will be like 2 new signings and the will be gone by the end of the season. fun times! in all seriousness though, i really, really hope we sign some decent players regardless of what theo does/doesn't do- facing the likes of man city, chelsea, swansea and liverpool one after another with our currents squad doesn't really bear thinking about. it's gonna be a long month...

Chris Chan wrote:The issue isn't with Theo leaving, it is with the complete lack of faith in signing a decent replacement. This has been the problem for a long time, we've needed to add to the squad and instead we have only replaced and in many cases with worse players.

Pretty much, yeah. At least we're not going to be signing Henry which would have been pointless, however much we love him.

Mario Leontiou wrote:

Chris Chan wrote:The issue isn't with Theo leaving, it is with the complete lack of faith in signing a decent replacement. This has been the problem for a long time, we've needed to add to the squad and instead we have only replaced and in many cases with worse players.

Pretty much, yeah. At least we're not going to be signing Henry which would have been pointless, however much we love him.

Yup, didn't see any upside in signing Henry. We do however need someone who can nick us that all important goal when were are up against it. I don't know what to expect this window, we will only be able to plug gaps instead of really kicking on. We also have the problem of so much garbage in this squad that also needs to be replaced that we might need something like 11 incomings (and a lot of deadwood departures) in the next two windows to even post anything remotely like a challenge next season (as defeatist as it sounds I think this season is pretty much written off now).

Mario Leontiou wrote:And just want to say I'm glad Podolski showed his worth. He is way too up and down, extremely too there's no real middle ground, but he's our most important and best finisher in the squad.

He's not feasting in the League Cup or scoring the 'icing on the cake' goals in the 5-2's/6-1's or consolation goals in defeat. His goals are quite often the first or 2nd goal and they are usually his only shots on goal in the game. The problem is he doesn't get in front of goal enough.

His goals this season:

First in 2-0 win vs Liverpool
2nd in 6-1 win vs Southampton
Equaliser in 2-1 win vs Montpellier
Put us 2-1 up in a 3-1 win vs Olympiakos
Put us 2-0 up in 3-3 draw vs Fulham
Put us 2-1 up in the 5-2 vs Tottenham
2nd in 2-0 win vs Montpellier
1st goal in 5-2 win vs Reading
Put us 3-2 up in the 7-3 vs Newcastle
... and today

I don't think Podolski is comfortable with playing on the left side, and I can't really understand why he has not been given enough of a chance to prove himself as a central striker, considering that is his natural playing position..

Aseem Bajpai wrote:

Mario Leontiou wrote:And just want to say I'm glad Podolski showed his worth. He is way too up and down, extremely too there's no real middle ground, but he's our most important and best finisher in the squad.

He's not feasting in the League Cup or scoring the 'icing on the cake' goals in the 5-2's/6-1's or consolation goals in defeat. His goals are quite often the first or 2nd goal and they are usually his only shots on goal in the game. The problem is he doesn't get in front of goal enough.

His goals this season:

First in 2-0 win vs Liverpool
2nd in 6-1 win vs Southampton
Equaliser in 2-1 win vs Montpellier
Put us 2-1 up in a 3-1 win vs Olympiakos
Put us 2-0 up in 3-3 draw vs Fulham
Put us 2-1 up in the 5-2 vs Tottenham
2nd in 2-0 win vs Montpellier
1st goal in 5-2 win vs Reading
Put us 3-2 up in the 7-3 vs Newcastle
... and today

I don't think Podolski is comfortable with playing on the left side, and I can't really understand why he has not been given enough of a chance to prove himself as a central striker, considering that is his natural playing position..

I haven't seen enough of him upfront as a single striker to know if he'll be good there or not but he is a great finisher. Though I quite like him on the left. He plays there for Germany so he is no stranger to it, he seems to have a decent understanding with Gibbs cutting in when Gibbs bombs forward and also tracks back well to help out (a nice relief after Arshavin's stint there) and like Mario says he still scores important goals. He has said before his best position is central but he is also comfortable on the left.

My worry is that with one main central striker and Podolski cutting in from the left we need a proper winger on the right, in the mould of Jesus Navas who can dribble along the line and deliver great crosses, otherwise we have three fowards all wanting to go central and it leaves no width. If a defence plays narrow and crowds out the box then this makes it extremely difficult for us. Theo has decided himself he doesn't like the right hand side anymore and either wants to play as the striker or drifts about from his right hand position.

Replay Jan 16th

Mario Leontiou wrote:Theo Walcott.

I prefer him being confident and trying to take responsibility over the little boy who went hiding way too often. Everyone is happy about his goals. But he thinks he's Thierry Henry and his arrogance and selfishness imo is shining through. I've noticed it since the Coventry COC game but felt I was being too harsh or nitpicking. But the way he just left the right hand side completely open today because he wants to drift all over the place and take every set piece or go for dribbles when there's players open; it's hurting us.

Personally, I hope he signs because I don't want to lose him for free and nor can we afford to lose another first teamer, especially one who scores goals and whose performances should only be getting better. And he's not a bad player. But the fact we've been reduced to telling Theo to 'sign da ting' and possibly making him our highest paid player in the whole squad speaks volumes about the way our standards have dropped.

Fucking annoying. Also watching him taking every single free kick makes me so angry, he is so shit and better leave them for Arteta or Cazorla.

Direct free kicks he needs to tone down. Or learn how to get them over the wall at least. As for indirects and corners I don't have a problem with him taking because we seem to have a knack of scoring off his set pieces.

Replay in the FA Cup where both sides are likely to rest players more expensive than the League tie we played earlier in the season... go figure