At the end of Saturday's game, SZCZ fell to his knees and kissed Robin's boot. Whilst it's a manoeuvre many other gooners would probably replicate at the moment, a better one would have been to cover Robin's entire body in cotton wool.
We are not a one-man side. We have one of the best goalkeepers in European football. We have Vermaelen, Mertesacker, and Koscielny, who are all excellent CBs. Sagna, when fit, is a great player. Arteta, Song, Ramsey, Walcott and Gervinho have all contributed to our recent run of form through their passing, tackling, interceptions, assists and goals.
But Robin is the lynchpin. An injury to him deprives of us a player who probably only has Messi and Ronaldo as peers in terms of goal-scoring during the last twelve months.
But the real problem isn't that Robin is integral to our form - so what if he is? What's wrong with having great players, after all - it's that we have no one who can come in and effectively take over if he's injured or needs a rest. Of course, we're never going to find a carbon copy for him anywhere. There aren't many other strikers knocking around who are banging 30 goals a year and who area available on the cheap. But there has to be better options out there than Chamakh and Park.
When a player has basically been out of form for over a year, as Chamakh has been, you realise it's not form, it's probably that he's not very good. If he were to have to deputise for a long period of time, he probably wouldn't get more than one in four or five goals a game, which isn't good enough, even if some of his link-up play is underrated.
The jury is probably still out in terms of Park, but the whole transfer smacks of the bargain-bin. He wasn't prolific in France, and it's hard to judge his record with South Korea because of the standard of opposition they regularly face. Maybe we are all misjudging him, but he has basically had one good game since he got here, and Arsene's reluctance to play him is odd.
So our priority for January is a striker. Buying one in Jan will add a premium to players which are already the most expensive to buy, but I worry how thinly our squad will be stretched in the new year. I'm open to suggestions, although I think there is some basis to the Podolski rumours.
Ultimately, it would be criminal not to build on our recent renaissance. So let's hope we make some decisive moves in the marker in January, or that Park can show why Arsene was willing to take a punt on him.
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2 comments:
I remember when fans were saying that Arsenal should have paid the £10 million for Chamakh the January before we got him and not waited till the summer; 90% of whom had never seen him play.
I remember telling people that Bendtner was considerably better than him and a time will come when we will happily take Bendtner over him. I believe that time has come and gone.
Just a reminder for us to not get carried away by transfer names and trust the manager.
So far so good. RVP is scoring goals for fun and Gervino is an excellent accomplice .But wait a minute.It aint going to be smooth going during the winter months.
The grounds are going to be wet and The African will be away for ANC duty. When he comes back,he could be knackered and injured or lose form.I don't know but the FM may have something but if if he were to rely on Chamakh and the Russian,it's going to be a gamble.
Beat MC and it's going to be interesting.Btwthere has been silence from the refc.
Presumably he knows Barca are several rungs ahead of him. It should stay that way till he retires or is forced out.In the football world it is better to bow out when you are on top and not overstay your welcome when results/things don't go your way.
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