@Piskie - thats the real problem with him. When he is playing regularly he is a very talented player who does very well both defensively and attacking. Unfortunately when he doesn't play regularly he gets unfit very quickly and becomes error-prone. So he isn't a great back-up option.
My personal feeling is that we should use him to bolster the Mid on the left when needed, somebody mentioned that he'd make a good sub for Podolski, not a bad idea. I think he's better further up the field than he is at LB.
I agree he is a good player to use as a late sub for Podolski when we want to close out a game. For me Santos is our best tackler of the ball.
Disagree. We need someone better than Santos to cover Podolski. So that's AOC,Rosicky or even Cazorla. Hell even Gervinho when he returns from the ACON. Santos even in forward positions he has looked terrible this season, taking idiotic shots and not making simple passes. The guy has no future at Arsenal, hopefully the clubs in Turkey still like him and they are willing to take him off our hands in the summer.
I can't agree with that mate, he's a chancer when it comes to tackling. When it comes off it looks great, but when it doesn't it leaves him horribly exposed. If he misses a tackle in the oppo half then it's not so bad, if he misses one of those tackles on the edge of our box, then we get punished. I think his strength is going forward, he has power and pace and a good touch on the ball. He's more of a Left sided mid than a LB every day of the week.
Now that is complete and utter nonsense. Almost laughable to read that after his performance against Liverpool.
I know what you mean, when his tackles don't come off it leaves space in behind him. But the majority of the time he makes the challenge, and it's a nice difference to gibbs who too often stands off and lets the cross come in. I agree it is less dangerous if he misses one of those further up the field, which is why i think he should now be used as a defensive LW sub. @SJW - I agree going forward we have better options as back-up on the left. But for closing out games we are winning i think he is a good option.
Even then, I would stick Ramsey out wide in that situation. He is the best man for that job. Comes on, keeps it simple does what Wenger tells him to. With Santos, something crazy is only around the corner.
Taking the game against Liverpool as an example of his tackling - he missed ONE tackle in the entire game. He made SEVERAL very good challenges. The reason he played so absolutely shockingly poorly was his positioning and fitness - he was all over the place and couldn't get back when he needed too. I'm all for pointing out a players weaknesses, but tackling is one of his strong points.
I think Ramsey is a good choice as well but better deployed centrally. Worth noting while we are talking about Ramsey that recently he has played well, i hope some of his doubters are realising he still has the potential to do very well for us.
Having a bad game doesn't make a certain attribute crap. There are plenty of games where his tackling has been superb.
I agree with afc. Last year for the stretch prior to his injury he performed great. At the moment he's unfit & out of shape. If he were fit I think he'd be decent. I was disappointed he wasn't rotated with Gibbs this season & given more playing time. Sadly since Arsenal haven't convincingly won many games there hasn't been much opportunity to rest Gibbs & give him time, or play him against "easier" teams to use his attacking attributes.
He can take Arshavin's place on the bench and come on whenever we need someone to take random shots at goal.
I actually want him to get a couple sub appearances under his belt before the Bayern game. Who else are we going to play at LB in the CL? Gibbs will miss both Bayern games.
