The Arsenal Thread XXIII

I think people are being too hard on Welbeck. He has a place in a specific system or set up. If he can do a job as a sort of workhorse/utility man then its fine imo but ideally we should be upgrading on both.

I wasnt on about his hair. His stubble is the best I've seen. I'm ****ing jealous of his facial hair

Fair play, thought it was the entire top division not just since it became the premier. Even without that, so far he has 42 goals in 99 games, that's pretty damn close to a 1 in 2 record with an poor first season weighting it down. That'd make him the best 2nd option striker behind Bony (possibly even better than Bony) if we were to sign a top top striker

I think he has worked very hard for many years to get to that level of stubble.


Germany and Spain have such skillful and cool players. We're stuck with... Rooney.

Better than Rooney these days tbf

Welbeck is better than Rooney these days...

Welbeck is better than Rooney these days...

Benteke is better than them both

Dem offside goals


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Honestly the idea that we can't win the league with Giroud is wrong. We only really need him to give effective and consistent performances as a target man especially in big matches eg holding up the ball, bringing others into play and showing 110% workrate. In terms of goals he only really needs to hit at least 18 in the league which is only 2 more than last season, it should easily be accomplishable for him at this stage. Beyond that Alexis will give 12+

The players we should be demanding to make up the goal deficit required for a proper title challenge is Theo, Santi, Ox, Welbeck and Ozil. We only got 21 goals from those 5 players last season. It needs to be alot more realistically.

Theo was out for most of last season I think that makes people tend to discount his contribution for the season ahead, he should be getting 12+ goals. Danny will get 10+ imo and Ramsey needs to be aiming for 10+ too. Ozil, Santi and Ox needs to score at least 7+ non penalty goals in the league. I think if Ox is serious enough he can get 10+

But that's the problem - Giroud isn't consistent enough. You saw last season against Monaco at home and that spell where he went like 8/9 games without scoring. That ain't good enough. I think he's decent but he shouldn't be our main striker - no way. It's embarrassing honestly.

A quality striker will bank on himself to fire and not need his midfield to chip in goals.

The Chelsea games as well Giroud has been absolutely shocking in them.

It is a shame because he is actually quite easy to mark for top level defenders. Problem with him is that he is not enough of a pest, and does not present himself as a nuisance to the opposition. In such big games he is incapable of creating that extra yard for himself and others. Even if you don't score the goals that ability to be involved in the game and to make others around you play better is so very important.

His lack of pace and aggressiveness does hinder him, however the real problem is his finishing when he does get into space.

His lack of finishing will always be there, but the guy has to think about what would benefit the team in these big games. And it is not standing around like some pretty totem pole. When he is isolated up front doing nothing we are pretty much down to 10 men. I want to see him putting some sly elbows into the opposition and creating space, dragging the opposition defence out of position. If he ain't gonna score the goals in these games, that is what he has to do. So what I'm basically describing is... Costa.

If you're going to the Liverpool game then try come up to the back of block 26, Clock End lower. There's a group of lads who stand and sing all game so try and jump in even if your ticket isn't for that section and make some much needed noise in the Emirates.