It's fairly well accepted that Arsenal need a new Striker. The first option is good: Giroud. Beyond that it's Gervinho. While Hernandez merely playing sends women into labour, Gervinho's first touch makes babies cry and men begin to lactate. A new striker in January will likely be a low-cost option - someone with little time remaining on their contract. The 3 main options seem to be: Ba Llorente Huntelaar All would be available for under 10m. Who would be your preference? And why? Or is there another option for a reasonable price who might prove better?
Llorente out of those three. Ba is injury prone and Huntelaar is overrated IMO. One striker I would have really liked to have, in addition to who we have already, is Berbatov but that will not happen. He is cheap, effective, can finish, and is a proven striker in this league having scored 20 goals not even two seasons ago. We don't sign players over 30 though..
I'm not convinced we need another striker. It would be a luxury of course, but I think our priority is a DM/BtB player and a possible change of formation. If we played with two up top, we'd have a choice of Podolski, Giroud, Walcott and Gervinho as strikers.
Adrian Lopez. Though I agree with PISKIE that striker is more of a luxury. Dm ought to take priority.
I'm not trying to make him sound like an attractive option, as I don't want to lose him, but he is not injury prone. He's been in the PL 2 years now, and has missed 3/4 games through injury.
There were reports when he was going to go to I think Stoke that he failed his medical. Then West Ham took him on. Now Newcastle have taken him, so he can't be too shoddy on the fitness front. Ba is proven in the PL, and scored a decent amount last year, and more this year. He seems a great physical specimen (disregarding his reported knee), and I'd like to see him in an Arsenal jersey come January.
I still think we also need at least one wide attacker. Walcott and Podolski are strikers, Gervinho can't go round anyone and has no strength, AOC seems to prefer playing centrally... we've got no wide players to stretch teams and get balls into the box. if we had someone like Bale on the left and could push Cazorla to the right we'd be awesome. Just anyone to play on the wing opposite to Cazorla (who should be moved out of attacking mid). Farfan? (in the summer) Griezmann?
What kindof striker are we looking for? Most of the players named are awfully similar to Giroud - strong, good in the air, hold up play. So unless we're gonna play 4-4-2 or a variation, I see no point in buying a player that's exactly the same. I would like to see a 4-4-2 with Giroud and Theo as the forwards. The classic big guy/little guy pairing, target man/poacher.
I think of the striker front we will definiteley not buy one in january, we have Podolski and Walcott who can play central. The main problem is our wide men. Arshavin and Gervinho need to go, specially the latter who i dont even consider a good squad player We need to start discussing "realistic" potential signings in january where i feel Wenger will definitely address (we have to or i think top four finish is a no go). If our only signing in the winter is Thierry i will cry. Realistically, i think Zaha could come in. But that comes down to whether we gain money from potential sales... Christ, i do hate this self sustaining financial bullsh** sometimes. Wheres the sugar daddy kingpins when you need them?
Couldn't agree more with everything in this post. Also DM is priority. If we create for Giroud, he will score.
You have to be crazy to think like that man, Sure we have the numbers but NOT the quality. Dont get me wrong Giroud and Gervinho are decent players but this is Arsenal. I've said it already a few times but an Arsene Wenger side without a 'World Class' striker is like an Italy side without a Top centreback. Consider we play a high line, all our midfielders get forward as do our fullbacks. If we dont have that sharpness up front then the system just does'nt work. We will always concede a fair few goals but the key to success playing this way lies in attack. RVP saved us last Season - this year our midfield has improved but it's upfront where we are coming up short.
At this moment, I do not think we have the CM's to play 4-4-2. Someone like Arteta does not have the energy or physical capabilities to play in a two man midfield. Also with Walcott and Giroud upfront, none of those are able to drop back and help the midfield like Rooney does for United.
I'm not sure the answer is to get a bunch of new players in, though a top quality striker is always welcome. At the end of the day, with the personnel we have at our disposal, we should be functioning a lot better. On paper our midfield is very good and should be creating plenty. They should also be retaining possession a lot better than they actually are doing. In my opinion, the whole team isn't performing. Before i could say that this area is weak or that area is weak and we need a new player. But out of the first 11 that played against Swansea, which player is weak? We don't have a keeping problem anymore. The team that played Swansea, we have 3 very good CBs. We have a very good RB and a good LB. We have 1 outstanding midfielder and 2 very good midfielders. We have 3 very good forwards. Unless I'm blind, i don't really see the weak link in personnel. The only problem i see is that they are off-form, not organised enough and they are missing something from the training ground.....
I don't think it's Arteta's fault. He was fantastic last season. It's more down to the collective failure of our midfield and team to retain possession. How did Swansea keep possession better than us? I can understand if we played Barca or Real.
I dont see why we can't get both Llorente & Huntelaar! To have a forward line that contained a 3 from Giroud, Walcott, Podolski, Llorente & Huntelaar would be the best the league and there has to be money to spend in January and I would imagine Chamakh will be on his way and Gervinho should also be on his way as he has no business in an arsenal shirt! This strike force would be one of the best in europe - but knowing arsenal we will just recall Bentdner and get Henry on loan again! Good times!
