“We need another player who gets 10 or 15 goals" - Wenger

[a_fourteen]

Alexis Sanchez: "I love to play any of those three positions (striker, left wing and CAM), but I’m a little more comfortable on the left because it allows me to face defenders. It is easier to score goals."

Most footballers prefer to be able to cut inside, Alexis no different. Unless you've no skill like Theo Walcott of course.

interesting. I hadnt seen that quote before. he player RWF for barca and udinese and us when he arrived and cazorla played left so just assumed that was his preferred position. I suppose he like to be able to cut in like Henry.

 

[North5]

Just sign Reus already.

 

[Furious]

interesting. I hadnt seen that quote before. he player RWF for barca and udinese and us when he arrived and cazorla played left so just assumed that was his preferred position. I suppose he like to be able to cut in like Henry.

For Udinese he played a bit of everywhere, mostly behind the striker in his best and last season.

For Barca, Villa/Neymar had the LW spot for two of the three years he was there. Also they prefered him to play a bit of a Theo role as he often does silly things when he has to much time on the ball, which they can't afford at Barca.

 

[bingobob]

Not sure about Austin.

Giroud, Welbeck and Austin? What you going to win witg that strike force?

Utd linked with Cavani, I think he scores for fun in the right set up

Probably thought the same over Falcao.

We have Walcott who is a goal scorer, To me though this is a call to arms for Welbeck and Ox to begin chipping in more frequently than they have been for the run in.

We might see change if Podolski, Theo and Campbell are sold over the summer and those guys don't step up. Though if we do sell those three I'd anticipate another wing forward come striker to be brought in.

 

[a_fourteen]

Wellington Silva arrives in summer so...

 

[Artisan]

Has Ox scored a goal coming in from the right? I swear except for his Tottenham goal I remember all his goals coming from the left hand side.

 

[PoleInGoal]

If Theo signs a deal and has a good pre-season then he can easily be this 3rd player. He always has fitness concerns but the last time he managed a run in the team in 12-13 he scored 21 goals and made a load of assists as well, excellent numbers for a wideman.

The real question is just the fitness, but then again it has been for a few years now, and there's no reason that's gonna change, so I'd upgrade him if possible

 

[A_G]

Has Ox scored a goal coming in from the right? I swear except for his Tottenham goal I remember all his goals coming from the left hand side.

His first CL goal against Olympiacos in 2011 and one in the 7-3 against Newcastle in 2012.

 

[Artisan]

The one against Newcastle was him drifting in from the left as well, no?

 

[The_Roadrunner]

Reus is the gold standard for a LW for us but he is definitely loyal to Dortmund and might want to give them another year or two.

After him we have potential LW in Draxler (fell off a bit this season), Dybala (still too young to really know) and Lacazette (really coming on strong this year but more of a CF than left wing forward).

 

[A_G]

Ox's goal is around the :12 mark

 

[Mitch]

Wenger comments sounds to me he's challenging players to step up. We have players capable of reaching this target:

Ramsey - if he finds last season form.

Cazorla - currently has 7 league goals and in his first season got 12 league goals for us.

Walcott - scored 14 league goals the season before last but for whatever reason has fallen down the pecking order for Wenger.

Welbeck - has never reached that target in his career (although came close once with 9 goals in 15 games started one season)but his international form suggests he does have potential.

Özil - yet to reach the 10 goal league mark in his career however has got 9 in 23 games for Madrid and has got 9 league goals with Bremen previously.

 

[Rain Dance]

Yeah I also think Wenger is hinting at Ramsey here, or perhaps Özil.

I don't think Wenger is thinking of buying another RW, because if he does think about it, he won't be saying this in the papers (not today, that is) , he knows these words might disturb the team cohesion

 

[Anzac]

If he wants another 15 goal per season player then he should probably sign someone who can do so and stay fit - Reus/Lacazette/Fekir/Firmino/Bellarabi.

Cazorla only scored because he was CAM before we signed Özil;
Özil is not a reliable scorer at any time - he's probably scoring ahead of his career average with us already;
Walcott can not stay fit long enough other than 1 season;
Ox's shots on target % these past 2 seasons is below 40% = the worst of any attacking option.

 

[pikey2000]

I'd agree that he must be looking at the likes of Welbeck, Walcott, Ox and Özil and be thinking they can all up their goal tally.

The amount of times Özil has had opportunities to shoot and opted for a pass this season tells me that if he was a little more selfish he could have had better numbers quite easily.

Same can be said of Welbeck, often charges into great positions but bottles having a shot and looks for a pass, if he can develop more of a killer instinct he can net a lot more goals.

Theo just needs game time and to stay fit, we know he has goals.

 

[pikey2000]

If he wants another 15 goal per season player then he should probably sign someone who can do so and stay fit - Reus/Lacazette/Fekir/Firmino/Bellarabi.

Cazorla only scored because he was CAM before we signed Özil;
Özil is not a reliable scorer at any time - he's probably scoring ahead of his career average with us already;
Walcott can not stay fit long enough other than 1 season;
Ox's shots on target % these past 2 seasons is below 40% = the worst of any attacking option.

To be honest I would rather see Campbell, Akpom and Gnabry get game time and we spend on CM as we are far more unreliable in that position right now with Ramsey, Wilshere, Arteta all catching injuries and thats before you even mention Diaby.
If you had to choose between getting another offensive player or getting another CM what would you go for?

Personally I would let the younger players have more game time offensively and pay some good money for a decent CM so that we don't have to see Flamini / Arteta (sorry) straight in our team when wilshere and Ramsey take their annual 3 months out with injury

 

[Anzac]

To be honest I would rather see Campbell, Akpom and Gnabry get game time and we spend on CM as we are far more unreliable in that position right now with Ramsey, Wilshere, Arteta all catching injuries and thats before you even mention Diaby.
If you had to choose between getting another offensive player or getting another CM what would you go for?

Personally I would let the younger players have more game time offensively and pay some good money for a decent CM so that we don't have to see Flamini / Arteta (sorry) straight in our team when wilshere and Ramsey take their annual 3 months out with injury

A genuine goal scorer = Reus / Lacazette / Fekir / Firmino / Bellarabi / Dybala.
I don't ever want to be in a position when we see our most prolific attacker double teamed and then our only other goal threat have a nightmare in front of goal like Giroud v Monaco.
Convert those early goal scoring opportunities & then we can sit more compact as we saw in the 2nd half v LFC & play on the counter.
LFC nearly won the title last season by scoring enough to offset having a porous midfield and defence.

Further to this I think our midfield options can potentially be addressed internally by changing positions and roles - more so if Aw is looking to revert to his ultra high D line etc.

 

[pikey2000]

A genuine goal scorer = Reus / Lacazette / Fekir / Firmino / Bellarabi / Dybala.
I don't ever want to be in a position when we see our most prolific attacker double teamed and then our only other goal threat have a nightmare in front of goal like Giroud v Monaco.
Convert those early goal scoring opportunities & then we can sit more compact as we saw in the 2nd half v LFC & play on the counter.
LFC nearly won the title last season by scoring enough to offset having a porous midfield and defence.

Further to this I think our midfield options can potentially be addressed internally by changing positions and roles - more so if Aw is looking to revert to his ultra high D line etc.

Would be nice if we could do both, I guess it comes down to personal opinion on how you can go about winning games, you can go aggressive offensive like Pool last season / the invicibles and put they game to bed early doors or you can go for a mix of stability and offensive guile ala Chelsea this season

I guess I have seen so many attempts since the invicibles to try and win based on attacking play and flare for so long and letting ourselves down at the back that I would like to try the defensive stability route instead

It certainly feels like injuries in the midfield and a lack of defensive cover have been what has scuppered us this season rather than lack of goals

 

[WurzlSepp]

A genuine goal scorer = Reus / Lacazette / Fekir / Firmino / Bellarabi / Dybala.
I don't ever want to be in a position when we see our most prolific attacker double teamed and then our only other goal threat have a nightmare in front of goal like Giroud v Monaco.
Convert those early goal scoring opportunities & then we can sit more compact as we saw in the 2nd half v LFC & play on the counter.
LFC nearly won the title last season by scoring enough to offset having a porous midfield and defence.

Further to this I think our midfield options can potentially be addressed internally by changing positions and roles - more so if Aw is looking to revert to his ultra high D line etc.

Am i the only one who still sees a top class striker as number one priority?
We have so many options on the wing, even more so when Walcott and Gnabry are back. Also Ox impressed me a lot this season.
Having Sanchez on the left or right there is only one spot free for Ox/Walcott/Gnabry or even Welbeck.
All of those 4 got quite some pace and offer different qualities.

Then we got Giroud as a striker - what if he is only on a purple patch now!? What if he gets injured? Welbeck up front again - only good imo if we want to press, can't hold up the ball, don't even want to speak about his finishing.
Walcott is not even an option as a CF for me.
Then what? Waste Sanchez there? No thank you.

We need a top notch striker again, it would improve us so much. Someone who can get you a goal out of nothing with technique/finishing/speed.
Also i would love to see a player at Arsenal again who can strike the ball immediatly and accurate like Henry or RvP, someone who does not need 2-3 ball controls to be able to fire off.

Imo we got enough players at every position, maybe in some only in numbers but not quality (LB/DM) but for the CF we got only one in number and quality.

 

[Rain Dance]

A genuine goal scorer = Reus / Lacazette / Fekir / Firmino / Bellarabi / Dybala.

Reus isn't exactly ever-fit guy and Firmino only has 1 prolific season, and I am not convinced with the rest.

I don't ever want to be in a position when we see our most prolific attacker double teamed and then our only other goal threat have a nightmare in front of goal like Giroud v Monaco.

neither is Wenger by the looks of it, hence what he said.