Are our Strikers really good ??

Arsenal's 2012-13 campaign has begun with some positive and some negative results. We struggled to score in the first 2 games. We got that vital win against liverpool. and thrashed southampton. Played an evenly poised encounter at the Etihad stadium. Last week we suffered a loss to Chelsea at home, due to defensive errors.

Our same old defensive errors costing us again. Contrary to what we saw in the chelsea game, our defense has been very solid in most of the games. Credit to goes to the Big man Steve Bould. 

Lets leave out our defensive problems aside and think about our offense. We don't have a quality out and out striker like RVP now, but we have players like Gervinho, podolski, who rotate in the midfield and surge ahead with an attacking move. Giroud who came to Emirates with lot of hope from the fans, who despite opening his account for the season against coventry city, has failed to actually impress the supporters and managers alike. There is the pressure of playing in a top club in EPL, and a world class striker should take it as a challenge and overcome the pressure. Having said that I strongly feel Giroud should be given some more time to get his confidence back and get up and running. We don't need another Chamakh and Arshavin, who started out promisingly but couldn't impress enough as the season progressed. Arshavin has a huge problem with his confidence, which i have to partly put the blame on Wenger. I feel he was just sidelined without much support when he was out of form. Chamakh had a similar story, he started the season well in the absence of RVP in the front. When RVP came back to full fitness, he just became like a supporting cast to RVP, and started dropping his form. At these times, a player needs to be continually motivated and should be given more match practice to regain their confidence.. 

Unfortunately neither of it worked out for them. As their future in Arsenal hangs in balance, there is not much u can expect from them. 

Coming to much talked about Theo walcott. His refusal to sign a new contract just angered Arsenal supporters, branding him as traitor. Which was unfair. A player has got all the rights to discuss contracts and take time to renew them. There is always this debate whether theo should play upfront as a main stream striker, than as a winger. Maybe time has come to give him a chance. His shots on goal, reminds me many a times about henry.
The recent win against West Ham will boost the confidence of our strikers. And encourage them to take more shots at goal.

New Season, New Hope

One Day from Arsenal begin their 2012/13 league season. The Pre-season transfer market had some ups and downs in the Arsenal line-up. There is too much pressure on the professor Arsene Wenger to get some trophies this season as always. Even the patience with Arsenal fans is running out. Last season was a patch up rather. We started disastrously last season, and managed to end the season on a high note at No.3. It was a bad season, but we made it look like a good season.
  This time around Wenger has taken some positive steps. Spent a good amount of money in buying quality players. He has got in some quality players this time around. The arrival of 2 quality strikers Lukas Podolski and Oliver Giroud have surely increased the Attacking prowess of the current team. Also Wenger roped in a quality midfielder Santi Cazorla from malaga. He was recently on target in an international friendly for Spain against Puerto Rico. The Arrival of 3 big game players have excited the team members and fans alike. There was a hope that Robin Van Persie might change his mind in the midst of new signings. But he went the other way signed a deal on 24 million pounds with rivals Manchester United. This has angered lot of arsenal fans. well it was eventually going to happen, but the fact that when wenger has made some positive moves in the transfer market, would spur any player to stay on, it wasn't meant to be. Now Arsenal are on the brink of loosing even Alexandre Song to Barcelona. Wenger must be keeping his eyes open for capturing Nuri Sahin from Real madrid to replace him.
 So what the new season holds. The arrival of new talent has definitely rekindled the hope of some silverware this year. It would be very crucial this year to have a fit squad throughout the season. We are already plagued by injuries to JackWilshere, Frimpong, Sagna.. Somehow injuries have always been our problem since many seasons. Its just pure bad luck. For going on playing good for the entire season, we don't have a good bench strength. Our 2nd team players aren't that strong. Thats what i am worried about. We still need some players who could fill that void. I somehow felt Wenger should have bought a quality defender. Our defense was horrible at times last season. We lost most of the games owing to below par defense. If we would have bought one good centre back, it would have been a complete team. We need good centre backs to back up Vermaelen and Koscielny. Mertesacker had just few good games last season. he struggled to make an impact last entire season. I hope Wenger pulls in some ropes to get a good defender before the transfer market closes. Lot of hopes are pinning upon Lukas podolski  to handle the attacking front. He does has a good conversion rate and has lot of experience behind him. So i am hoping he will get at least 15 goals this season, supported well by Gervinho and Giroud. Midfield is our strength. With players like Arteta, Ramsey, Rosicky, and of course Cazorla, we do have good playmaker options. It would be interesting to see how fellow countrymen Santi and Arteta pair up. At the goalpost , Szczesny has been ever solid for us, though he had a miserable Euro campaign , which i rather don't mention. Fabianski hopes to continue with Arsenal this season. Wenger's trust in him has made him a better player, and improved his game to challenge for the first team.
 My predictions A number 3 finsh again looks realistic and something arsenal fans won't mind. But somewhere there is hope that we might win the Carling Cup or FA Cup this season. And a place in quarters at least in Champions League.
  Can't wait for the season to start, GO GUNNERS !!!