Many, including me are absolutely ecstatic at the signing of Mesut Özil; it is simply – a game changer. He has been sold on our ambition and his signing is a real statement of intent for the future. However, like many, I cannot help but feel slightly disappointed that a striker didn’t come in as the transfer window closed. We went from Luis Suarez to Demba Ba to no one which is rather anti-climatic.
Ba may have been an astute loan deal but in the end, I am going to go with an unpopular thought and say I think we should be ok to get through to January still be in the mix. Going for Ba implies that we didn’t want to panic buy an average striker but would rather get a stop gap till the next window where we can make another statement.
For Olivier Giroud, Sunday was the culmination of the improvement he has made during his first 12 monthsat Arsenal. After a decent return last season, he looks a different monster: leaner, sharper, stronger, and more confident. He terrorised Spurs and didn’t allow them a moment of peace. Having just scored the opener – a fantastic finish by the way – he harried Vertonghen for 30 yards as the defender attempted to bring the ball out of defence and battled to win the ball before and starting a counter attack that nearly led to a goal. Many strikers would not bother with this work having just scored a goal but this summed up Giroud’s performance and his overall attitude.
Scoring the winner and being named MOTM in the NLD moved the dial in some people’s acceptance of the player, moving them off the fence when it came to considering his ability to lead the Arsenal attack. I think Giroud is to prove he can be our main striker. Historically with Giroud his second season at every club he has been at has resulted in a significant improvement over the previous year. With Özil alongside Cazorla (giddy at the thought), having a big man of Giroud’s ability – one who can hold the ball up and link play well, is a positive thing. That said, what is our plan B?
This is where I come onto Theo. Last year many fans were calling for Walcott to get his chance up front and when he did get his chance against Newcastle he certainly made an impression scoring a magnificent hat trick. This continued at Wigan as his pace caused them problems and many were convinced he should be the club’s primary option up front more often. However, then came the Manchester City game at home. The Ox, who came off after about 15 minutes, had more touches in that time than Theo did over 90. What the game proved is that when we come up against a side where we who are astute defensively, Walcott will can struggle. He does not have the ability to hold the ball up well enough to play against the likes of City, United, Chelsea. He may also struggle to play against teams who park the bus and play a deep defensive line but against those sides he is more likely to still get chances as Özil and Santi get more time on the ball.
The cruxt of my argument is that although Walcott has limitations as a striker, against certain teams he has the ability to effectively lead the line and give Giroud a rest. Away from home especially Theo could be lethal as part of a counter attacking unit and when teams look to play a higher line. When Podolski and Ox come back we have even more options out wide and can move Theo up. We could even play a 4-4-2 with Theo and Giroud with Özil and Santi wide (formula used by Man City the year they won the league). Theo could do benefit well from Giroud’s link up play and could capitalise on weaker defences with some of the runs he has proved himself capable of making.
It may not be the preferred option but we still have SOME options to get us through to January where hopefully with this new direction we’re supposedly taken, we can line up a top class striker to compete with Grioud and give the Frenchman a rest.
Last year fans clamoured for Walcott to be a striker but now many are complaining we only have one striker. Although we only have one recognised amd accomplished centre forward by trade, we certainly have the options to get us through 4 months of football still in contention. Come January, if we can then buy a world class centre forward to compliment what we already have then we will well and truly be taking steps, no make that strides, in the right direction.
