http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/33051505 The man still wants to stay at the club. Truth be told, he doesn't really have a place for us. First of all, who does he get ahead of at the moment? Nobody. He's not ahead of Sanchez, Walcott, OXO, or our central attacking midfielders who can fill in the wing role when needed like Ozil, Cazorla, or even our striker/winger Welbeck. One could say he could play back up to Giroud, but then even for that position you'd rather have Welbeck, Sanchez, or Walcott filling that role should Giroud get injured or rested, and then not to mention we will probably be buying another striker this summer, so he goes even further down the pecking order if he's seen as a back up for the striker role....But more importantly, when it comes to playing as a striker, he isn't very good in that position. So where does he fit in? He will barely get to play on the wing, he isn't good enough to play in attack and will also never really have the opportunity, so he doesn't really fit in anywhere, while getting a hefty 90k a week? Another key problem with him is his defending and tracking, the way we play at the moment, we have become much more defensively aware as a team, our team finally realises if they want to get places, everybody has to put a shift in and defend, including the attacking players. You look at someone like Ozil and even he does the job now, and then you look at someone like Cazorla, he's a maestro and a great attacking midfielder, but he is top notch when it comes to doing the other job. Podolski when it comes to defending is not so good, and that's just going to cause trouble for us down the flanks when he doesn't feel like tracking back leaving Monreal or Gibbs all exposed alone....The 3-3 VS Anderlecht at home comes to mind when he Podolski didn't properly do his job in tracking back allowing them to run and cross for the goal. He does have an excellent left foot though, probably the best, and he's a great character off the pitch, and that's pretty much it in terms of positives. The negatives definitely outweigh the positives, Podolski has basically turned into another Arshavin, and I actually said long long ago during his honeymoon period when he was still new at the club, that he ran the risk of becoming the next Arshavin if he didn't work on his defensive side of the game and be more active-involved in the game.
It's a shame that Pod doesn't work a bit harder, because he could have been a great player. Basically he has that hammer left foot shot and not much else. To earn a place in the Arsenal team you need to offer a lot more to the team, i.e. make runs, open up space, offer support, track back, defend etc and Pod doesn't do much of the latter.
It's weird because you have to be pretty special to earn 124 caps for Germany, yet since he signed for us he seems to just consider that attacking position on the left is his, and all he needs is to be given the ball in space so he can shoot from distance. As such he doesn't want to track back, doesn't create space for others, and is a liability we can't afford, which is a shame.
I like the guy but we need to offload him asap. He will struggle to make the bench, let alone the first team. He had a mediocre season for us and and a pants one for Inter. I think that is proof enough that he needs to go. He is taking a spot in the squad and a hefty paycheck, money that can go to paying for a top strikers wages.
Thankfully, Pod doesn't seem the Adebaywhore type who will only stay with us because of the money....It makes sense as a footballer as to why he wants to be with Arsenal, first of all he has been with us and seen what a great club we are with facilities and how we look after players, he sees we are club going places, with lot's of world class talent, so obviously as a footballer he wants to be a part of that, it's not like he has any other teams that want him who can match up to that, any other club he goes to will be a step down and he knows it, so obviously he will want to stay with us.....
Or perhaps Inter not doing so well for Podolski considering the mind-numbing awful season they have had. Inter and AC have managed to make Liverpool's season look absolutely stunning by comparison!
I don't think it is, the guy made it clear he wasn't happy on the bench and so he left, he went to Inter and it didn't work out, and as they say, you usually realise how good you have it when you leave, and so he probably saw the situation at Inter with Arsenal, and realised how good it is with Arsenal with our facilities and how we look after the players, and plus our team looks like a team going places so obviously he'd want to be part of that, as it's highly likely he won't be if he leaves because no other major top club are probably going to sign him, more likely go to Cologne, which is something he always said he would like, to go back, but doubt he would want to do it this early. MLS could be a good opportunity for him.
I like Podolski, he seems a really nice guy, good for team spirit, a character. And on the pitch he had a couple of decent seasons for us. What a left foot he has! But he just isn't up to the same standard as the wide players we have now and I can't see how he would find a spot in the team. For his own sake I hope he gets a move back to Germany, or to a lesser European league where he can terrorise defenses without worrying about defending. I wish him all the best and have positive memories of him being at the club, so hope it ends on good terms. But I think it's probably the end of the line for podolski at Arsenal.
I have some positive memories of him, coupled with a lot of frustration because I think if he'd shown more work rate then he could have been awesome - particularly at arriving late on the edge of the box to crash home unstoppable shots. Instead, despite his obvious talent, he was almost always a liability when played, which is a big shame.
He never really showed his true ability for us. To be fair his best performances at Cologne were as a second striker. A position he never really had the chance to play at Arsenal.
