Can Park really be considered as an alternative to Van Persie?
Whilst Robin Van Persie’s shots continue to bulge nets far and wide, there is always the worry that his injury woes could return, leaving Arsenal with little options up front apart from the ineffective Chamakh. Since the arrival of Park and his subsequent brilliant run of form for his country, though, this issue seemed to look resolved. Finally given another start by Wenger last night, he scored his first goal for the Gunners in stunning style – but is this enough to prove his worth as Arsenal’s alternative centre-forward?
The first half proved to be a frustrating period for the Korean. He seemed to struggle against the dominant forces of Cahill and Knight at first, in particular finding it difficult to win balls in the air. On top of this, four out of Arsenal’s five offsides were from Park.
As the game progressed, he wondered infield more, and it was then that he looked increasingly dangerous. Several long-range efforts flew towards goal and he looked comfortable running from deep into the box – as he did for his terrific goal 16 minutes into the second half. The fact that he plays behind the centre-forward for his country – and not in the most forward role as some Gooners suggest – does point to the potential he has as more of an attacking midfielder or support striker rather than an out-and-out centre-forward. With seven goals in five games for South Korea in the aforementioned position, the statistics agree.
Is Park a suitable substitute for Van Persie, or should he be deployed behind the Dutchman with Arshavin, in similar fashion to Park’s successful role behind Dong Wong-Ji for Korea?
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I would prefer to see Park playing as a supporting striker. That vein said I like the formation we run right now (4-2-3-1) Rvp seems to be thriving up front and gerv fiends on runs from a more defensive, further back, wing. If rvp needs a rest or is out for a couple of matches, I’d like to see a 4-4-2(1) with park supporting chamakh. People say chamakh is driftwood but he is a true cf, he is quality in the air. He definitely needs work but park supporting him may be what he needs. Park up front would leave us with no aireal threat up front to win goal kick which would push Alex song forward to win those headers leaving arsenal exposed. I hope arshavin gets a run in the 10 spot in the second half of the Chelsea game, he must track back quick if he wants that role though. I’m f***** pumped for the chelsea fixture! Gunners til I’m deceased
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What is nice to read is that, suddenly, we have stopped running scared when thinking of Van Persie injured or rested. The arrival of Park and a re-positioning of Arshavin has re-awakened dreams that had long been nightmares. The question now is how Arsene Wenger is going to deal with this apparent embarrasssment of riches. We musn’t get too excited but what with the return of Vermaelen, the horizon of our great Club this season is beginning to look rather bright at last.
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I wonder if you guys realize that Park is better in the air than RVP?? Clearly you havent been watching the fellow play. Park is also a better goal poacher than RVP and is quite adept at finding the right finish necessary to score the goal. Park therefore would provide the better option of playing upfront and RVP could play in behind him. Park is what the Iceman was saying we need some1 who is a true CF.
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The problem is quiet the same concerning van persie’s position, but the quality of his finition and his clever positionings make him a great center forward. The fact is that appart from van persie we lack of these qualities. We can’t play him behind the striker because who would be the striker? Park can be a striker in the same mould in my opinion. And he will get better and better. An another option could be to play A 4.4.2 but it won’t happen…
So park rather than chamakh upfront anyway. I’d reconsider the question if we get a benzema, remy, rossi or tevez in january… At the time we are too short in strikers to play both park and van persie.
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thought he already scored for arsenal??
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I’m sick of the fake Arsenal fans that kept on saying “sack Wenger”. Where are they now? Now the man is brilliant but in a few weeks time, maybe after the Chelsea game he will be a complete failure and be spit on. If you want to support a team based on expenses, jump on the bandwagon of Man U, Man City, Barca, and Real Madrid.
Honestly screw the transfer window in January. Seriously we have a great team with great backups. Maybe sell a couple players and maybe grab another center back but other than that I’m extremely happy with this team and the way they are connecting.
Lastly, I’m sooooo sick and tired of hearing about the Manchester United – Arsenal game. So this should set the record straight:
“I’d 8-2 be an Arsenal fan right now”. Well buddy, out of the last 7 games we’ve 1-6!
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Enough of dis ‘rest vrp nonsense’here are many players in blazing form and where never rested.how many times was cr7,rooney,messi rested.once u are in form u must play and give us our deserved result.look at what happened wit stoke.pls there is no resting van persie he has no replacement 4now.gunner even till afterlife.
Opinions divided. What do you think?
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he can definitely be better back up than chamakh.
And just a note on how different Arshavins game is when he is playing in the role he has played all his life instead of on the wing.
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When u look at how many strikers on the.payroll you wonder.why we.still.have.not uncovered one that could not just be.back up to rvp but actually make him look over his shoulder. chamakh park arshavin walcott gervinho afobe watt murphy freeman ansah bendtner vela that is 12 players that should be able to play down the middle.yet not one of them has van persie worrying about his place in the team.
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Park is better in the air than van persie but he’s now playing in the premier league where the defenders marking him will be physical and body him up in the air. I think he’ll win less balls on goal kicks from sczez bc of this, on corners he can has a chance to get a away from a defender which would help arsenal. I’m excited about park
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the question we shud be asking is why don’t we play park ew van persie. we have have been as creative as before up front maybe maybe park and persie combining can change that
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@gary,
You may not know it but there’s such a thing as loyalty to the Club which stood by you through months of injury, paid your wages and nurtured you medically. The grass isn’t always greener…..
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What about this line-up?
Szczesny
Djourou, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Santos
Song, Ramsey
Gervinho, Arshavin, Park
van Persie
Song playing his usual role, Ramsey in Jack’s role as box-to-box focusing on his defensive duties. The 4 up front would challenge any defense with their agility, speed and finishing.
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i havent seen much of Park to judge him but from what i hear he is a great player. i dont see him as a replacement for RVP but rather he increases our goal scoring options. I look forward to a time when AW will be able to play both players or swap them to avoid burnout from playing too many games.
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You can list 70 of ‘ur so called strikers’ u thnk are in Arsenal for all I care,if they’r all worthless like de list I jst saw above there’s absolutely nothng any human can do abt dat!!Lets get ril for cryn out loud,Not all strikers will end up as world Class.If Arsenal wants 2 win a Trophy or compete at real Top level in ALL FOUR FRONTS then we definitely need 2 go sign a MARQUEE Striker,there’s absolutely no way 2 go round it,bcos Park cant be RVP,and RVP cant definitely play for ever,he’ll break break down if he doesnt get help! [GFL].
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There`s no doubt about it Wenger now has many options up front, RVP, Parks, Chamakh, Gervinho, Asharvin and even Walcott. That`s some strike force put in the right order.
The defence looks like it`s getting solid and reliable with Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Kosceiny, Djourou and Santos, if only we had Sagna.
In the mid field there are a couple of question marks on the form of Ramsey and Arteta but once they get back into their stride he`ll have plenty to chose from.
For the first time in two seasons I am confidently looking forward to the next game, all we need is `lady luck` to smile and the ref. to be neutral then we can add the Chelsea scalp to our belt.
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this team is managing to do what nasri, fab and co never managed at arsenal, and thats wining ugly and grinding out results. its an absolute must if you have ambitions of lifting trophies.
i dont think we need to beat chelsea this weekend and we shouldnt slam the team if they lose, we just need to put in a good performance and make sure if chelsea win its coz they deserved it and not coz we handed it to them with another mistake or dodgy allround display. looking forward to the game, just hope we show we can still mix it with the big boys win or lose!
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id like to see him as a super sub and replacement for RVP when he’s out.
i think we need to strengthen our squad just a bit.
we should buy hazard/gotze then use a 4-2-3-1
szczesny
sagna vermaelen mert/kosc gibbs
wilshere/arteta/song wilshere/arteta/song
hazard/arshavin arshavin/gotze gervinho
rvp
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park should play week in week out/some things are just natural like the ability park has.
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When chamakh joined arsenal he played alongside nasri, fabregas and wilshere. The ball was executed superbly to him, hence the decent star. Ever since rvp’s return chamakh has been used mainly as a sub with barely 2 or 3 starts…. I feel that he would deliver again if he plays upfront w park or RVP just behind him….
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I feel arsenals’ fan has been unfair to Chamakh. I really think he’s still a good striker as shown in the Blackburn match where he came on as substitute and scored a world class headed goal from Van Persie’s cross with two (not one) defenders closely marking him!
To make it more significant the 2 defenders who are marking him are Samba and Scott Dann, both are Arsenal’s transfer target!
He’s a penalty box striker with specialty for headed goals. In the Stoke game, it’s not really his fault where he failed to score, the are NO crosses for him to head towards goal! Can anyone tell me how many crosses Arsenal made into the penalty box from open play? Almost NONE!
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He should get some game time for sure, but not on the wing please. He likes to play through the middle. I would also say that Arshavin is much better down the middle so please give him more opportunities there as he is now to slow to play on the wing.
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judt waitin for jack the f*****g wilshere..his return will gv immense boost to the team…and than we can go by this formation
————-scezny————
sagna(one fit)– per—verma—santos
———–song–arteta———
—-ramsey—–wilshere—-gerv[—-
————–RVP—————
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Park is very smart and definitely should play more often. People will be surprised what he could become if given more play time. Look at Bendtner now. He has bagged goals both for Sunderland and Denmark due to more playtime and Park should not be subjected to the grievances that bendtner went through only to be judged as poor by arsenal standards. I like RVP but in soccer you can never rely only on one person. He could get injured or loose form due to fatigue. So using Park more often with benayoun and oxlade is important.
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Am happy about park commitment to arsenal, infact he is absolutely prefer than chamakh and he now serves as an assistance to van persie. Arsene Wenger is a great man to arsenal i will like to see him at emirate for a long time infact if he retire let him be one of the board forever because he get too much knowledge. Arshavin is also good as related to gervinho but i will like seeing chamakh and walcott on loan or prepare a transfer for them. All of our midfielder are all wonderful infact they are brilliant, people like arteta, wilsher, ramsey, song, benayou, etc. Up Gunners till eternity.
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No striker that would have any chance of going to arsenal could replace RVP. If he leaves this club or gets severely injured, arsenal are in a state of disaster. For example, against stoke, we had the upper hand most of the game, but when RVP came on our entire gameplay changed. We DOMINATED when RVP came on…
We need to ensure we renew his contract whatever the cost. Pay him £ 150 000 a week if we have to. We need to keep RVP as he is the ONLY worldclass player left at arsenal.
We need ANOTHER worldclass striker to come to the emirates, and don’t even get me started on the defense and midfield.
Gooner 4 life
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i realy think dat park can make it if he plays regularly but i don’t realy know y AW don’t want to play him in d PL,as 4 our defenders we stil don’t av a dependable right back since sagna and young jenk is now on injury list.GUNNERS 4EVER.
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denilson, bendtner, chamakh, squillaci n djorou r a waste of space, time n more importantly MONEY. we need 2 ship their asses 2 the highest bidder n buy hazard, baines & verthongen plus renew all our top players contracts especially ROBBIE’S he deserves 150,000 at least n squid deserves 1,000 but squid gets 50,000 n robbie gets 90,000 huh? n park is 100000000000000000000000000000x better than chamakh. Technic, runs n confidence park’s got it ALL can’t wait 4 him 2 play his first PL game:)
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vermalean MUST not be on the bench!!!!!!!!!!!
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@nicky
smell the coffee Nick…£4.5 million a year extra…
and in any case like Henry – he’s already been loyal enough
there is no such thing as loyalty and ‘one club’ men anymore…all that stuff went out the window when the big bucks started slushing arround
Nasri is my case in point…a relative unknown – and then sets himself – his kids – and then their kids up for life
as much as you don’t like it – you and i would do exactly the same….
sadly thats football today….SOLD TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER
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Park needs to start!!!
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I’m very impressed at how we have been playing of late. Team morale is high and you can see it in the way we are playing. With the return of Verminator and the stunning emergence of a much needed support/backup striker (Park), things are looking good. We have a few games consecutively, a great way to go into the derby on Saturday. We must just remember the teams we have played of late were not that great, Stoke probably being the most threatening statistically. Chelsea will be a real test for us, with Drogba and Bosingwa out, Terry having personal issues, we have a better chance to win.
On that note, Chelsea have always been quite a physical team. I think playing Park as a support striker behind RvP would be a great idea as we have seen his long shots are accurate and lethal. If Chelseas defense click on Saturday (which to be honest of late have been quite poor) we must just need someone to shoot from long range. I believe Park and Arshavin are the men for that job. I’ll admit I haven’t been Arshavin’s biggest fan, but when he is on form, as he is now, he is a potent player.
Overall Saturday is going to be one hell of a game. If we play as well as we have lately we might be able to win it.
Good luck boys we are behind you all the way
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i hate reading people talking about injury anytime they talk of rvp.we know dat his carier has bn characterized by injuries,4 God’s sake cant he go d whole season witout injury.let’s b positive.instead of arguing weather park wil b an adequate replacement 4 him wen he gets injured,i believe playing 2 of them at d same time wil b awesome and deadly.
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The game of chelsea we have to play this formation 4.2.1.3
szncney
djourou kos6 Tv5 santos
song arteta
arsavin
benayoun gervinho
van pierse
and sub would be fabianski mertisecker ramsey walcott park AOC and arsenal can beat chelsea this team has solid defenders and wonderful midfelders and worldclass striker and good wingers inthe future they would anderstand and would hve a big confedance
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remember we will not have Gervinho in January, so we need more options upfront.Park should play more games and gel with the rest.
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Where’s adam kemp now?!
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