His first real run of bad form for us, and it's starting to worry me because there seems to be no signs of him improving. I thought he was pretty terrible against Napoli and for my money, has only had one good performance all season. Maybe playing on that left hand side is affecting his form, because he is not a player that is suited to tracking back, and when he does he looks spent, as he is hardly a great athletic. Problem is we can't play behind the forward, because we have a certain Mr Ozil playing there, so it's a bit of a conundrum for Wenger to solve. With Wilshere set to be banned for the Chelsea game, Cazorla might get another chance, but I would personally throw Podolski into the deep end and see how he does. Rosicky is another option, but he has not been great in the last month or so, and his end product is pretty ****. Podolski always has a goal in him and maybe he can link better with Ozil. How many people on here would start Santi Cazorla in the Chelsea game?
It's a tough one because like Ozil, Santi can produce that moment of magic that changes a game. That said we haven't seen much of the little magicians skills for a while and at the moment, Rosicky is playing better and should on merit start ahead of him.
Not sure about the Rosicky bit. Can't remember his last good performance. He is a weird player, who goes through periods in which he is unplayable and looks great, but can't ever sustain that form.
I guess I mention him more as a like for like player, but if Pod is fit then he is more direct and we'll definitely need somebody with that mentality against Chelsea.
After seeing our defence be so open against City, I can see Wenger going for the Arteta-Flamini combo and shifting Ramsey out wide.
Cazorla + Ozil is a problem because of what I posted in another thread. Neither are good defensively, yet you can only give one of them a pass on defending in open play along with Giroud. Cazorla played his best games for us when he was in a free role defensively, or against lesser opposition where he could take more risks.
I'd throw Poldi in upfront, and start Santi on the left. He's a quality player, his form will return soon, remember he didn't have a pre-season, so he's behind a bit.
I've noticed this too SJW. Personally, I would play Rosicky if he's fit. I think he's playing well enough, and his end product wasn't too bad against Everton. He provided that long, curling ball into the box for Walcott to head across goal and Ozil to finish. Pod isn't a bad option either. I've found that when most players come back from injury they have one really good game before struggling for form. If he can have that game against Chelsea, all the better! It's a risk though, but like Hans said, he can go up front. Giroud's form of late has been really poor as well IMO.
I think Santi has been quiet but not poor recently. He hasn't been involved in the game as much but considering he has been returning from an injury i don't think it's a huge issue. He is a quality player and no doubt he will find his feet again.
I agree, but I'd rather not risk him continuing that form against Chelsea. Let him find his feet against West Ham and Cardiff.
For me it depends on a few things. Firstly it depends on the fitness of the players. Against Chelsea i want someone who is going to be on the pace. If Podolski isn't 100% he should start on the bench. Secondly i think Walcotts performance against City shows he is back and ready to go and with his form pre-injury and his goals on the weekend (plus his good performances against Chelsea in the past) i think he will definately start on the right. Which means Wilshere, Rosicky, Podolski and Cazorla fight it out for the left wing spot. It also depends who plays in the CM spots, will it be Flamini-Ramsey or Flamini-Arteta? If its the latter then Ramsey comes into contention for the left wing spot as well. With his form this season it's difficult to leave him out of the team. So thats 4-5 players who could potentially play there. I think it all depends who is fit, what kind of tactics and team we go for, who is looking sharp in training and who seems fired up for it.
Unfortunately by buying Ozil Wenegr "killed" Cazorla. Santi really enjoyed his free role last season, he is a bigger threat to the goal than Ozil. But we can only have one player in this position. I think Cazorla is a bit unhappy with the situation. He of course used to play on the wing in Spain, but somehow it does not work here, I do not understand why. probably be is frustrated because he has lost his status as a de-facto Arsenal foortball maestro number one. I guess sooner or later we need to rest Ozil and give Cazorla his free central role, that wuld be interesting to watch. Problem is for Santi he knows that with Ozil price tag he can not compete with him for a starting place, unless Mesut completely lose form. Even lacklustre Ozil will be preferred by Wenger nw.
For me he just needs games to find his form. After Ozil he's our most talented player. He should start. I would like to see this team.. -------------------Sczezney------------------ Sagna----Merts--------Vermaelen---Gibbs -----------Arteta----------Flamini---------- Walcott------------Ozil------------Carzorla --------------------Giroud-------------------
against chelsea, i think we need our wingers to be willing to drop back to defend. when cazorla does that, he seems to be completely ineffective attacking. i would play podolski, who can get up and down much more to help out in defence and attack. and definitely ramsey alongside flamini. one thing i would like to see soon though is wilshere in a deeper midfield role again. i still think that's his best position, running forward from deep. trouble is atm he isn't as good as arteta, flamini or ramsey in that deeper role and so will continue to play on the wings
Well my reasoning is Chelseas main threat are their attacking midfielders. (Oscar, Hazard etc..) This is why I think tactically we would do well to play both Arteta and Flamini.
