14/01/2017 | Swansea City 0-4 Arsenal | Premier League

[EliteKiller]

So I take it we played well

Not great .... but plenty good enough ... Swansea are shite and we did get all the breaks ... but the result was never in any doubt ...

[Big Poppa]

For some reason our fluidity and cutting edge has gone out the window. It may be Giroud, it may not. But we'll struggle against resolute sides.

Too much hesitation on the ball and trying to cut inside too much and end up trying to play through the middle where we end up with 4 or 5 players stood in or around a congested penalty area.

The problem is Giroud. It's that he is scoring regularly so remains up top which means Sanchez is on the left will keep cutting inside. It's been like this for a while and with Xhaka and Iwobi starting more regularly it's changed the dynamic slightly as they get used to the team and vice versa.

Pretty much. Look at the fluency of our attacking play after he went off. It's not his fault, he does his bit, but he is nowhere near as good a CF as Alexis, and the latter's pressing against CBs allows our defence to play 10 yards further up the pitch. It must be said it doesn't do Giroud many favours when Wenger puts midfielders or inverted forwards either side of Giroud, since his game thrives on crosses (which our full backs too are terrible at). But it's clear Alexis is the superior option at CF. If he was incapable of playing LW, Wenger would pick him there over Giroud, but he's not the type of coach to keep experienced players on the bench for tactical reasons, he'd rather adapt the shape of his team and have them on the pitch.

[Arsene Nose]

Kind of agree with what's been said above. Alexis drops back to start the play and then moves into position, sort of like rvp did. Giroud is more of a traditional inside the box striker. Problem is with 7 goals in his last 7 games it's hard to justify dropping Giroud.

[Cripps]

He'll go on a 15 game run where he doesn't score soon enough. Its what he does. Scores in little bursts then goes missing. Not good enough for this level. Cost us the title last season. Wont cost us the title this as we are out of it already but more importantly to Wenger could cost us top 4 so expecting Giroud to be benched soon.

Also I have just put him in my team so barren run incoming

[Big17]

So I take it we played well

Not great .... but plenty good enough ... Swansea are shite and we did get all the breaks ... but the result was never in any doubt ...

Looked 10x better lately since Theo has been dropped.

Haven't lost since his two abysmal performances either.

Credit to Wenger for that.

[gooney]

So I take it we played well

Not great .... but plenty good enough ... Swansea are shite and we did get all the breaks ... but the result was never in any doubt ...

Looked 10x better lately since Theo has been dropped.

Haven't lost since his two abysmal performances either.

Credit to Wenger for that.

Its really simple. The less limited players we field. then better we will do. With theo and giroud it becomes impossible to carry both. now we have 3 behind giroud who can actually play football. giroud is still a problem though

[BS221B]

So I take it we played well

Not great .... but plenty good enough ... Swansea are shite and we did get all the breaks ... but the result was never in any doubt ...

Looked 10x better lately since Theo has been dropped.

Haven't lost since his two abysmal performances either.

Credit to Wenger for that.

Its really simple. The less limited players we field. then better we will do. With theo and giroud it becomes impossible to carry both. now we have 3 behind giroud who can actually play football. giroud is still a problem though

Giroud isnt a problem atm.

i really want to know what are you smoking before opening GW.

[gooney]

giroud is a big problem for our general play. Go and watch Spurs and liverpool and then watch us and the difference in movement and creativity. We are much easier to play against. Also we are the worst of the top 6 in the h2h. Against good teams we cant do anything as our attack is too limited. Dont be fooled by 4-0 against swansea

[dc16]

giroud is a big problem for our general play. Go and watch Spurs and liverpool and then watch us and the difference in movement and creativity. We are much easier to play against. Also we are the worst of the top 6 in the h2h. Against good teams we cant do anything as our attack is too limited. Dont be fooled by 4-0 against swansea

Pretty much. Kane can carry the ball better than Giroud, has more pace and can and will shoot from distance. Walker and Rose bomb forward and actually link up with Kane, Ali and Eriksen while pulling the opposition fullbacks out of position they create more space and room for creativity.

Giroud can cause carnage in the penalty box, knock downs, headers and pure strength and fight but we probably don't do enough to support him either with crosses or runners into the box to get on the end of chances...if that's the way we want to play. We're just caught in a trap between Wengerball and a more direct approach. If Sanchez is on the left he is capable of whipping in some quality crosses for Giroud but surely we want Sanchez in there also as he was for his goal at the weekend.

This is the teams issue at the moment. Add to that the hesitation and lack of confidence and decision making under pressure. I remember this being clear against Bournemouth and Everton with Ozil (when he was playing) and Sanchez willing the team to press higher and push up. It's almost as if the players were too hesitant, like they wanted to but were afraid of failing in some way even when momentum was with us and all we needed ws to get the ball up to Giroud and Sanchez as quick as possible and the ball went from Cech and was passed around at the back before going to Xhaka (i think) to pass it long and forward but by then it was too late.

Basically...a lot of issues affecting us at the moment.

[BS221B]

We are easier to play against because our midfield is shit.

Like it or dont like it, Giroud has been doing a good job this season,