Just Arsenal News

Cazorla Out Wide? A Guest Post by Josh Brooks

A tactic the boss seems to be using increasingly over recent weeks is playing Santi Cazorla wide left. When Cazorla first signed for Arsenal I didn’t expect him to play through the middle as often as he did during the first half of the season. Although I do realise that we had limited alternatives, Cazorla came with a reputation of a wide player who liked to drift inside, not as the central attacking midfielder that we have seen for the majority of the season. .......Read the full article here

Podolski v Cazorla by Gustaf

Podolski has had a rather mixed season, he started well but has been dropped to the bench lately as a result of Aaron Ramsey´s recent run of form meaning Carzola has been pushed wide. He has been deployed as a winger in everyone of our games except the one against Sunderland where he was largely ineffective. Wenger himself said recently that he could spearhead the attack but should he? Let´s take a look at the pros and cons. .......Read the full article here

Podolski as Striker, Yes, But… By Twig

Until his substitute appearance against Norwich, Wenger has hardly used Podolski at all in past 2 months or so. That has fueled rumours that Podolski could be on his way out with clubs like Juventus and Galatasaray as possible destinations.

Probably to put to bed those rumours, and obviously with Arsenal in dire need of a goal against Norwich, Wenger brought on Podolski, who responded in kind by hitting the post and scoring a long range effort. One cannot deny that Podolski is clinical when it matters, but when played either on the wing or as centre forward he doesn’t really fit in. .......Read the full article here

How Wenger evolved our wings this season by KJ

There have always been questions over Arsenal’s lack of depth for many years now but this season, you feel there is an abundance of quality players ready to factor in on the wings. This season, we started with the options of Podolski, Walcott, Gervinho and Chamberlain on the wings. In recent months, we found another quality wide player in Cazorla (who usually plays in the middle). But what combination would be the best for the remainder of the season? .......Read the full article here

Do we really need five players Bob? by DW

Bob recently published an article stating that Arsenal need 5 more players. Having considered our current crop of players i feel that in the short term that maybe 3 players is what we require in this transfer window to secure a Top 4 spot. The two key areas where I’m sure all Arsenal fans feel we need to strengthen is both up front and in the defensive midfield position. .......Read the full article here

Why Ramsey holds the key to keeping Walcott by DS

Wenger’s insistence on playing Ramsey as a winger in a 4-3-3 along with Giroud and Walcott up front has angered a lot of Arsenal fans, especially when he leaves out the likes of Podolski, Gervinho or the Ox and has resulted in Ramsey being harshly criticised (sometimes fairly, other times not, but I don’t want to get into that debate now). Everyone knows that Ramsey isn’t a natural winger. It’s obvious that he doesn’t have the pace or the skill to play that position and if it’s so obvious to us then it must also be obvious to Wenger. This begs the question why does Wenger play Ramsey as a winger? .......Read the full article here

The talented young Japanese winger Ryo Miyaichi is being fast-tracked to the Arsenal first team by being sent straight out on loan for a year at Wigan in the hope that he can make a great impact this season.

He has only made five appearances so far, but considering he is only 19 it is surely better to give him a staggered introduction to the rigours of the Premier League so as to lessen the risk of burnout, and the player himself is certain he is in the right place to learn his trade. .......Read the full article here

Behind the scenes at Arsenal must be a place where a less than firm handshake could spell disaster. If Theo Walcott thought that he was involved in the sort of bargaining where you name a price double what you want and walk away offended when you know all along that you will accept much less. then he is in for a shock.

After Peter Hill-Wood went public today stating that Arsenal have a wage structure and will not alter it for anybody, reports claiming that Arsenal are sizing up possible replacements for the winger/striker. Crystal Palace youngster Wilfried Zaha is being tracked by Arsenal, and other Premier league teams, and could be seen as a direct replacement for Walcott. .......Read the full article here

Arsene Wenger has often told the story about how he convinced the Arsenal winger Robin Van Persie to move into the centre-forward role, and Robin himself has revealed that he wasn’t sure if he had the confidence to become an out-and-out goalscorer.

Well we all know how that turned out, and now Wenger believes that the same situation is happening now with Gervinho, who has rewarded him with five goals in five games since his switch to the centre. Wenger has today revealed how this came about. He was asked if he had the idea of using Gervinho as a striker when he bought him. “Honestly, no, I did not always think he could play this role when I bought him,” said Wenger. “I thought he was a wide player but I discovered using him in training sometimes through the middle. His runs and his movement were interesting. .......Read the full article here

We have heard a lot about the contract wrangles between Theo Walcott and Arsenal. Some reports suggest that the stumbling block is the winger’s demand for £100,000 per week in wages. Arsene Wenger has stated that the problem is not money and that he expects Walcott to sign a new contract because he loves being at the club. I personally think that there is a battle of wills going on between Walcott and Wenger, and there is only ever going to be one winner, and he is French. .......Read the full article here

Player profile: Adrian Lopez by KJ

So someone made a request that I do an article on the highly rated striker linked to Arsenal – Adrian Lopez.

Adrian is a Spanish striker who currently plays for La Liga side Atletico Madrid. He signed on a free transfer last summer to Atletico and has really excelled this season. At only 24, he managed a whopping 55 appearances. He managed to score a respectable 19 goals considering that Atletico’s star man is the world class Columbian, Radamel Falcao. Adrian has mainly played in a left winger position because of Falcao’s dominance as an out and out striker. .......Read the full article here

Given all the previous history between Barcelona and Arsenal it is no wonder that both teams are always trying to score points off each other in the transfer market. It doesn’t look like that is going to change in the near future according to a report this morning in the Catalan newspaper Sport.

They reveal that Arsene Wenger is making enquiries about the injured young Barcelona winger Isaac Cuenca, who was also linked to the Gunners last December, but subsequently signed a new contract under Pep Guardiola. .......Read the full article here