As we're unlikely to see terraces again at football, this is the virtual equivalent where you can chat to your hearts content about all football matters and, obviously, Arsenal in particular. This forum encourages all Gooners to visit and contribute so please keep it respectful, clean and topical.
augie wrote:I said already that I too would have picked wally at centre forward on Saturday (best option from poor choices) because wemberley is too big of a pitch for an immobile centre forward. That being said I absolutely dispute the notion that wally played well at centre forward -
at centre forward he had 2 great chances and 1 good chance, and he fcuked up all 3
when he moved to the left wing he had 1 hard chance and he buried it......with his left foot
People look at the fact that he started centre forward and scored a goal, but they fail to recognise that he wasn't playing centre forward when he scored it. He was moved to what I would consider his natural position on the wing (albeit the left side instead of the right) and if he had of been centre forward at that time we wouldn't have scored the goal cos he certainly wouldn't have won the header that sanchez did to set him up I also think that the fans are looking at his hat-trick against a shit baggies team when analysing his performance on Saturday, instead of looking at his 1 goal from 4/5 chances ratio - wally will never be a natural striker imo and certainly not in a lone striker roll, and if the victims coughed up 25m in the summer then I would still sell him
Don't think he had a great game individually but his inclusion at CF obviously worked for the team. Not saying that we wouldn't have hammered them if Giroud had played but Walcott looking to play off the shoulder stretched the game and created a lot more space in between their defence and midfield than had Giroud been playing and dropping into that space looking for the ball to feet all the time.
But we all know how appalling Walcott can be so there was a real risk that he'd offer nothing, hold nothing up and that every move would break down. So it was a brave decision to start him and hard to say it didn't pay off really given how the game panned out.
augie wrote:I said already that I too would have picked wally at centre forward on Saturday (best option from poor choices) because wemberley is too big of a pitch for an immobile centre forward. That being said I absolutely dispute the notion that wally played well at centre forward -
at centre forward he had 2 great chances and 1 good chance, and he fcuked up all 3
when he moved to the left wing he had 1 hard chance and he buried it......with his left foot
People look at the fact that he started centre forward and scored a goal, but they fail to recognise that he wasn't playing centre forward when he scored it. He was moved to what I would consider his natural position on the wing (albeit the left side instead of the right) and if he had of been centre forward at that time we wouldn't have scored the goal cos he certainly wouldn't have won the header that sanchez did to set him up I also think that the fans are looking at his hat-trick against a shit baggies team when analysing his performance on Saturday, instead of looking at his 1 goal from 4/5 chances ratio - wally will never be a natural striker imo and certainly not in a lone striker roll, and if the victims coughed up 25m in the summer then I would still sell him
Don't think he had a great game individually but his inclusion at CF obviously worked for the team. Not saying that we wouldn't have hammered them if Giroud had played but Walcott looking to play off the shoulder stretched the game and created a lot more space in between their defence and midfield than had Giroud been playing and dropping into that space looking for the ball to feet all the time.
But we all know how appalling Walcott can be so there was a real risk that he'd offer nothing, hold nothing up and that every move would break down. So it was a brave decision to start him and hard to say it didn't pay off really given how the game panned out.
I agree wholeheartedly that his inclusion worked for the team and it did indeed pay off, but the point I was making was that wally himself at centre forward wasn't the huge success that some fans seem to believe. The type of football that we play needs tempo and needs a pacy mobile striker, and I can never understand why we have neither in so many games Playing fast football prevents the opposition players from getting physical with our smaller technical players, and playing a striker with real pace to get behind the opposition defence forces their defence to sit deeper and allow us more space to operate in dangerous area's - these are things that you shouldn't need to work in football for 30 years to see
Brilliant weekend
beer more beer ,90 minutes of football where the result was only going one way, more beer and up with a hangover Sunday morning to see the parade and listen to Jack serenade our neighbours
I also think that the fans are looking at his hat-trick against a shit baggies team when analysing his performance on Saturday, instead of looking at his 1 goal from 4/5 chances ratio - wally will never be a natural striker imo and certainly not in a lone striker roll, and if the victims coughed up 25m in the summer then I would still sell him
Playing fast football prevents the opposition players from getting physical with our smaller technical players, and playing a striker with real pace to get behind the opposition defence forces their defence to sit deeper and allow us more space to operate in dangerous area's - these are things that you shouldn't need to work in football for 30 years to see 
