Arsenal Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2015

Mr Blobby · 11-03-2015 06:55PM

Honestly Giroud would be my first name on the team sheet for Monaco. For the return leg i'm certain the Monaco will just sit deep. A front 3 of Sanchez,Welbeck and Walcott is pretty easy to defend against if you just sit deep.

Welbeck and Walcott are not very good when forced to hold up the ball and play in tight spaces. Giroud on the other hand specializes in just that. His flick passes and poacher instinct is something we'll really need.

Skylinehead · 11-03-2015 07:04PM

Agreed with the above. Pace is going to pretty useless in the game, so Giroud is an absolute must.

11-03-2015 07:19PM

I've never understood the 'other team is deep therefore pace is useless' argument. Pacy players will still find the gaps..

Spanish Johnny · 11-03-2015 07:26PM

gosplan wrote: »

We don't score many with Giroud in the team, that's all.

How many doubles has he gotten?

I really dont understand this? Our win percentage with Giroud in the team is miles higher than without.

What was the worst part of Arsenal's season? I would say when we dropped a load of points from August to December. Coincidentally Giroud was missing for 3 months with a broken foot after our 2nd league game.

Am...who has scored more doubles than Giroud? And secondly...what? Why is that even a stat?? And we score more goals with Giroud in the team than when he is not??

Don't mean to be a dick but most of what you have said is just completely wrong or inconsequential.

Spanish Johnny · 11-03-2015 07:29PM

AdamD wrote: »

I've never understood the 'other team is deep therefore pace is useless' argument. Pacy players will still find the gaps..

Pacy players with excellent close control and skill to make it count. Walcott and Welbeck can be frustrating in that regard. I would start Walcott as he is a goalscorer and we need that. But Giroud is critical to us for goals, build up, smart play, aerial threat and long ball which it may come too against a packed defence.

gosplan · 11-03-2015 07:29PM

Still respectfully disagree.

Giroud does not score early goals. He spends about an hour in a physical battle with the CB's and then scores.

That is very common across his last two seasons. All you have to do is get tight on him and he won't get the time he needs to finish, or just compete for ball in the air and put him off.

IMO stick Sanchez in the middle and get the ball to him. Much better chance of scoring early.

Pace is absolutely of use here. There'll be plenty of small 5-10 yards gaps between defenders and we need players who can pop up there.

efb · 11-03-2015 07:31PM

Or we just forget about it

gosplan · 11-03-2015 07:36PM

Spanish Johnny wrote: »

I really dont understand this? Our win percentage with Giroud in the team is miles higher than without.

What was the worst part of Arsenal's season? I would say when we dropped a load of points from August to December. Coincidentally Giroud was missing for 3 months with a broken foot after our 2nd league game.

Am...who has scored more doubles than Giroud? And secondly...what? Why is that even a stat?? And we score more goals with Giroud in the team than when he is not??

Don't mean to be a dick but most of what you have said is just completely wrong or inconsequential.

Maybe it is. We rarely score more than twice these days. That's kind of my point.

Spanish Johnny · 11-03-2015 07:39PM

gosplan wrote: »

Still respectfully disagree.

Giroud does not score early goals. He spends about an hour in a physical battle with the CB's and then scores.

That is very common across his last two seasons. All you have to do is get tight on him and he won't get the time he needs to finish, or just compete for ball in the air and put him off.

IMO stick Sanchez in the middle and get the ball to him. Much better chance of scoring early.

Pace is absolutely of use here. There'll be plenty of small 5-10 yards gaps between defenders and we need players who can pop up there.

Ok...for the record...in his last 5 starts for Arsenal, Giroud has scored the 1st goal three times in those 5 games...and another one of his 5 goals in those games came in the 1st half.

He also scored 1st against Villa a couple of games before that run too. And a double against Boro.

Spanish Johnny · 11-03-2015 07:43PM

gosplan wrote: »

Maybe it is. We rarely score more than twice these days. That's kind of my point.

And that's the fault of the guy who has scored the majority of them goals and something like 11 in 15 starts?? Incredible.

Also...do you remember some of the games where we did play Sanchez through the middle btw??

L'prof · 11-03-2015 07:47PM

Spanish Johnny wrote: »

I really dont understand this? Our win percentage with Giroud in the team is miles higher than without.

What was the worst part of Arsenal's season? I would say when we dropped a load of points from August to December. Coincidentally Giroud was missing for 3 months with a broken foot after our 2nd league game.

Am...who has scored more doubles than Giroud? And secondly...what? Why is that even a stat?? And we score more goals with Giroud in the team than when he is not??

Don't mean to be a dick but most of what you have said is just completely wrong or inconsequential.

Not arguing or agreeing with your overall point and you're probably right in what you say here but is this a stat you've seen somewhere or is it along the lines of, "Our win percentage is far higher when Monreal has had a poached eggs for breakfast and Giroud has spent a minimum of 2 hours styling his hair while Wilshere puffs on his 13th fag of the day."?

Mr Blobby · 11-03-2015 07:48PM

gosplan wrote: »

Still respectfully disagree.

Giroud does not score early goals. He spends about an hour in a physical battle with the CB's and then scores.

That is very common across his last two seasons. All you have to do is get tight on him and he won't get the time he needs to finish, or just compete for ball in the air and put him off.

IMO stick Sanchez in the middle and get the ball to him. Much better chance of scoring early.

Pace is absolutely of use here. There'll be plenty of small 5-10 yards gaps between defenders and we need players who can pop up there.

Don't agree.
Giroud has shown time and time again that he can twist away from his marker and score inside the box. If anything i'd say he's an expert at it. Pretty much all of his goals have come from pulling away from his marker and slotting home.

Putting Sanchez up top forces us to play in behind their defence since we'd have zero hold up play.

Yes pace is useful.. But only when its partnered with something to play off.

Spanish Johnny · 11-03-2015 07:52PM

L'prof wrote: »

Not arguing or agreeing with your overall point and you're probably right in what you say here but is this a stat you've seen somewhere or is it along the lines of, "Our win percentage is far higher when Monreal has had a poached eggs for breakfast and Giroud has spent a minimum of 2 hours styling his hair while Wilshere puffs on his 13th fag of the day."?

Yip...not a big fan of those stats actually and they can be used but Giroud in our team is a remarkably different impact in terms of our results and goals scored despite the point to the contrary.

Lookin back in more detail now it's incredible tje impact (bar Monaco) he has had for us with big goals and first goals. Just noticed as well we didn't start him against Leicester either..had Sanchez up front. Not a fondly remembered performance where pace was not very useful that night and a home game.

gosplan · 11-03-2015 07:56PM

Spanish Johnny wrote: »

Ok...for the record...in his last 5 starts for Arsenal, Giroud has scored the 1st goal three times in those 5 games...and another one of his 5 goals in those games came in the 1st half.

He also scored 1st against Villa a couple of games before that run too. And a double against Boro.

OK I'm going to leave it at this. I appreciate the opinion of everyone and accept that I'm probably wrong. I like this thread and the way we go about our disagreements though, respectfully that is.

Anyway. Our gpg has been decreasing steadily for a few years but our ppg has gone up. For me this is because the stereotypical Arsenal win now involves a decent physical contest, some good defending, very often a scoreless halftime, and then a slender victory for us by one or maybe two goals.

An early goal is massive tomorrow I feel we have to change things to make it more likely. Walcott and Sanchez have to start because they can score with a defender in front of them and exploit small spaces. Ozil and Caz have to start as we need passing precision.

efb · 11-03-2015 08:02PM

L'prof wrote: »

Not arguing or agreeing with your overall point and you're probably right in what you say here but is this a stat you've seen somewhere or is it along the lines of, "Our win percentage is far higher when Monreal has had a poached eggs for breakfast and Giroud has spent a minimum of 2 hours styling his hair while Wilshere puffs on his 13th fag of the day."?

Giroud playing is related- the others are not. Bad example

Spanish Johnny · 11-03-2015 08:10PM

Agreed Gosplan, and I believe I have argued the point respectfully with regards to Giroud and some of the stats that back him up.

I do also agree with you about having Walcott on the field. And the attacking options you have mentioned....can we accommodate them all...I think we can in a 4-2-3-1 but for me Giroud must be the focal point and we undoubtedly need a big physical option against these guys sitting deep. There will be loads of crosses...loads...given the nature of the defense they will play. Imagine how easy it will be to defend Sanchez, Walcott and Ozil in the air?

Mr Blobby · 11-03-2015 08:11PM

gosplan wrote: »

OK I'm going to leave it at this. I appreciate the opinion of everyone and accept that I'm probably wrong. I like this thread and the way we go about our disagreements though, respectfully that is.

I disagree..

gosplan · 11-03-2015 08:11PM

Spanish Johnny wrote: »

And that's the fault of the guy who has scored the majority of them goals and something like 11 in 15 starts?? Incredible.

Also...do you remember some of the games where we did play Sanchez through the middle btw??

Change formation.

4-3-3

Giroud is a huge asset to this club.

But not as huge when you need to score three goals away.

Bring him on when they tire.

Spanish Johnny · 11-03-2015 08:16PM

gosplan wrote: »

Change formation.

4-3-3

Giroud is a huge asset to this club.

But not as huge when you need to score three goals away.

Bring him on when they tire.

I can't agree with leavin out our best centre forward who is bang in form and offers little off the bench ever as he is the player who tires out the opposition from the start.

And as mentioned...Sanchez through the middle and Walcott right against Leicester was hardly awe inspiring. We couldn't break them down at all through creative play. We scored from a corner and a rebound, hung on and were offensively dire overall.

Agreed that 4-1-4-1 won't work in Monaco.

gosplan · 11-03-2015 08:17PM

Spanish Johnny wrote: »

Agreed Gosplan, and I believe I have argued the point respectfully with regards to Giroud and some of the stats that back him up.

I do also agree with you about having Walcott on the field. And the attacking options you have mentioned....can we accommodate them all...I think we can in a 4-2-3-1 but for me Giroud must be the focal point and we undoubtedly need a big physical option against these guys sitting deep. There will be loads of crosses...loads...given the nature of the defense they will play. Imagine how easy it will be to defend Sanchez, Walcott and Ozil in the air?

I'd be arguing to keep the ball on the ground all game.

Go back to trying to play like Barca.

We lost more but we occasionally thumped teams.

efb · 11-03-2015 08:20PM

gosplan wrote: »

I'd be arguing to keep the ball on the ground all game.

Go back to trying to play like Barca.

We lost more but we occasionally thumped teams.

Monaco don't get thumped

bad2dabone · 11-03-2015 08:24PM

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh still basking

brianregan09 · 11-03-2015 08:33PM

As good as Monaco are defensively I still reckon we can score 3 its at the back I'm worried about with us attacking there's going to be a lot of gaps

Roddy23 · 11-03-2015 08:38PM

gosplan wrote: »

OK I'm going to leave it at this. I appreciate the opinion of everyone and accept that I'm probably wrong. I like this thread and the way we go about our disagreements though, respectfully that is.

Anyway. Our gpg has been decreasing steadily for a few years but our ppg has gone up. For me this is because the stereotypical Arsenal win now involves a decent physical contest, some good defending, very often a scoreless halftime, and then a slender victory for us by one or maybe two goals.

An early goal is massive tomorrow I feel we have to change things to make it more likely. Walcott and Sanchez have to start because they can score with a defender in front of them and exploit small spaces. Ozil and Caz have to start as we need passing precision.

What match is on tomorrow? Don't think we're playing Monaco till Paddys Day?

batistuta9 · 11-03-2015 09:00PM

actually a game that would suit wilshere. you could get away with sanchez up top with rosicky & ozil wide, santi + jack in the middle

gosplan · 11-03-2015 09:06PM

Roddy23 wrote: »

What match is on tomorrow? Don't think we're playing Monaco till Paddys Day?

Obv yeah, my mistake

emmetlego · 11-03-2015 09:30PM

efb wrote: »

Or we just forget about it

In the spirit of things, I'll respectfully disagree!

I know where you're coming from, and I understand why you say it. But for me, as someone who coached at a very high level in other (near pro standard) sports, the habit of winning is a hard one to break, and to go out there and even beat Monaco on the night, is a crucial one in my opinion. It has further effects than just an exit from the UCL. And I know a "moral victory" does nothing for our league position if taken in that sole context, but a win over in Monaco, will restore some pride after that shocking night at the Emirates. I think psychologically, it's a huge one.

By the way…. Still smiling!

Bobby Baccala · 11-03-2015 10:30PM

efb wrote: »

Monaco don't get thumped

Yeah and we don't win in old Trafford

efb · 11-03-2015 10:41PM

P4DDY2K11 wrote: »

Yeah and we don't win in old Trafford

Lightening strike twice?

Pierce_1991 · 11-03-2015 11:14PM

Great night this, Chelsea heading out and I just got me two tickets for the Liverpool game sorted

Arsenal Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2015

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