I have recently commented on the January transfer column that I think a loan or stop-gap player is preferable to a big signing because I don't think any of our top targets will be available. Settling for a second tier striker now would hamper us getting a world class striker in the summer. However, a recent development has made me reconsider. The recent development I speak of is the improving away form of Man City and Chelsea. I was hopeful that our consistency would see us through to the end of the season and our two rivals would drop points away from home at a similar rate to the first half of the season. That is looking increasingly unlikely. Therefore, we need to start beating the big teams. I like Giroud but we need a better finisher if we are going to have any chance of winning at Stamford Bridge or beating City at home. His profligacy has cost us points already this season and could eventually cost us a PL trophy that we have been waiting the best part of a decade for. Therefore we need to strengthen our firepower with the best striker we can buy this month if our title ambitions are genuine.
There was an article lately on the BBC suggesting that Barcelona were better without Messi. I have supported Giroud a lot this season, however if getting a striker would improve our chances, of course I would be for it, but if it can be suggested that a team would be better without a 40 goal superstar, then why not Arsenal being better with Giroud? A lot is made of his lack of finishing but most of his chances aren't much more than half-chances and he seems to be more of a false 9, bringing the 3 players behind him goals. I don't know the answer, except we have got to where we are with Giroud up top, and so there has to be a really decent case made for replacing him. You can't pull someone from the continent and assume they will automatically be better. Even if they score more goals than Giroud, it will not mean that they are a success, particularly if the midfielders goals dry up, or we start letting more goals in. We have lost 3 games this year, one at United, against the run of play, with half the team ill, one at City which was a open shootout where we didn't get a lot of luck, and the opener at Villa. I don't think that the case has been made for a change of this magnitude. A striker as backup, sure; as a replacement for Giroud, I think I would have to see who. I'm not buying the "Anyone is better" argument.
Terrible weekend for us, all our rivals had tricky games yet all won, the way this season has gone you could have expected one or two of them to have slipped up, huge worry that Man City seem to be OK on the road now. That said we're a good team and will get better as players come back and you would have to assume a decent striker is heading our way...
i'm perfectly happy with giroud as first choice. but we really do need a back-up striker that can come in and do a job when given the chance. we haven't had that for some time. bendtner will not cut it for a title-chasing team. podolski just doesn't know how to play up front on his own. and past them theres no one atm.
The options on potential CF's we can get are so limited it's hard to see who we can get at the moment. I am more inclined to find a replacement for Walcott at the moment because there are options to replace him. The likes of Griezmann,Draxler and Di Maria should be looked at.
Still not convinced we'll win the title tbh. I just can't see past the fact that both the big spending clubs (City, Chels) have much larger and more powerful squads than we do sadly. I hope we can push them all the way even if we don't win it. I'd be happy with some backup being brought in for Giroud, doesn't necessarily have to be the most expensive.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying we replace Giroud outright, just find some quality competition for him.
With Giroud's goal scoring rate at the moment and Walcott and Bendtner out we are looking pretty light up top. I think we will need to bring in a CF or WF, just alone to make up the numbers. We might not get the 'top top quality' that we'd hope the club would go for in the summer, but we could be seriously lacking in options if anybody else gets an injury. I'm not really in favour of bringing players in to cover stop gaps, but I don't think we have a choice at the moment. A loan deal still looks like the best option to me unless we can pull of a miracle deal like the Ozil signing, but it's unlikely in January.
If there's a positive about that, it's that for the past 3 months, that's roughly been our situation, yet we still have managed to stay top, Bendy wasn't technically out, but he never played, so you could consider it the same thing, and Walcott was out, and Giroud's form has been patchy during those months, but still we kept it going.....Now it will be tough to replicate that again for the second half of the season, but as the first half showed, it's not impossible. See, I'm not so negative, . But still do think we're playing it very risky if we don't sign someone, and that our title chances have better odds if we do sign someone.
Form table is Ominous with City and Chelsea hitting the straps now (no real surprise as most people had them for 1st and 2nd before the season started, given their squad depth and quality) Utd on a run in the league but after their shocking start, have too much ground to make up imo. Everyone else are pretty close over that period http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/matchday/form-guide.html
Everyone goes on about Giroud's all round contribution and I certainly agree with that but surely there's a player out there who works hard, can hold the ball up and bring others into play and finish his chances when he gets them. I know the HFB does get goals but his ratio isn't great for a team with title ambitions.
