From Poet :
First of all, I just want to say that I think a world-class striker is the single most influential signing we can make.
Not because we have Giroud, but because in the EPL, that’s just a fact.
Except for Drogba during the first Mourinho stint, I can’t recall a single team that’s won the title in the EPL era without strikers scoring lots of goals, and big goals.
As Arsenal fans, we know what Henry and RvP did for us.
We’ve seen what Suarez did for Liverpool, RvP for Man Utd, Aguero for Man City, and this season, Kane and Vardy for their respective clubs.
However, as transformative as that role can be, I don’t think it’s one Ozil will benefit most from. Neither will Xhaka.
Xhaka simply isn’t an assist machine. He has one assist this season. He is not someone who unleashes runners.
He is someone who allows attackers to not drop deep to pick up the ball. They can stay further forward, where they can do the most damage, and he’ll get the ball to them.
If Xhaka is good for anything, he is good at allowing Ozil to do his thing. He can roam, look for space, and never have to get frustrated and drops deep just to touch the ball.
Ozil, in 2012/13, made 24 assists for Madrid.
Only 5 of those were for the central forward, Higuain and Benzema. You see, Ozil unleashes the runners out wide, like CR7 and Callejon.
The fact that we don’t have a right winger (a Welsh central midfielder has outperformed the likes of Walcott and Ox, sadly) hurts him.
The fact that Sanchez, who’s perfectly suitable for being the arrow to Ozil’s bow, prefers to come towards the ball to pick it up, rather than move forward into space, hurts Ozil.
Yes, if our central striker was Augero, that would be even better, but that’s not Ozil’s main passing targets.
Sign the powerhouse striker. But fixing our issues out wide will be one of the best things we can do for Ozil and Xhaka.
Myles says :
Thanks, Poet.
Maybe Bellerin could become a right sided Overmars?
Let’s hope Arsenal mix it up more, use fewer passes, shoot sooner.
Being the main man for a small country, Alexis Sanchez has to be Bobby Charlton as well as Jimmy Greaves, starting the moves as well as finishing them, and often making his own goals. At club level his role is smaller but still vital.
Were you put on this planet to be an opinion-leader on football?
ANR loves to publish your insights.
And I’m here to learn as well as teach. As I realised last Friday when I enjoyed a literary talk at a UCL festival in Gower Street.
Almost every Friday for the last 15 years I’ve gone swimming but last week I was able to meet the legendary Mary-Kay Wilmers and the LRB’s editor-at-large Andrew O’Hagan.
What a privilege! And Andrew introduced me to the young man who produced and directed this short film, which I like a lot.