William Jones
Another deadline day closed another month of false hopes and disappointment. The club’s failure to sign an extra proven recognized traditional centre forward to bolster the side’s title credentials has set the alarm bells ringing amongst the majority of the Arsenal contingent, but if you look a little deeper into the team it is possible to find possible ways to rework the squad to accommodate the hypothetical absence of Arsenal’s first choice number nine, Oliver Giroud.
With the squad considered as one of the strongest the club has witnessed since the move to The E******s, it does have options available to it for that eventuality. By either shuffling the players available or switching away from the 4-3-3 formation which has been deployed since the mid-2000s, an injury to the French target man might not be as catastrophic to Arsenal’s title challenge as pundits and fans alike seem to be making out.
Arsenal’s actual number nine, Lukas Podolski, for me, would be the first name on the team sheet to fill the vacancy should 27-year-old 6ft 4in striker come a cropper to a spell on the side-lines. In the season before the German international joined Arsenal, Poldi scored 18 goals in 31 appearances for a struggling FC Koln side in the not too unfamiliar position of centre forward, a feat made even more impressive by the fact that his side back then were actually relegated that season. Whilst some are left bemused by lack of the former Bayern Munich forward’s inclusion in the Arsenal team this season it could be explained not just by his injury, but by the fact that he could be being saved as a back-up for Giroud because, as performances have shown, the diminutive German of Polish heritage, has the technical credentials of composure, killer instinct and previous experience to represent The Gunners as the focal point of the attacking line.
Podolski will have the extra motivation to try and play his way into the German national team’s plans for this summer’s World Cup in Brazil too, a side where he is also often played on the left wing, firstly because he is naturally left footed and secondly, because he can be considered as simply too good to be left out of the side.
The Kim Kallstrom loan-deal and inability to find a striker who didn’t represent value for money is yet another black smudge on the club’s transfer policy as the 31-year-old Swede will not be available until March at the earliest, encompassed in Wenger’s "I wouldn't have signed him if we had another two or three days, but it was on Friday at 5pm," remark after finding out about the injury sustained playing beach football in Abu Dhabi. Simply frustrating. Still, an extra experienced midfielder wouldn’t be unwelcome during the tail end of the season where Arsenal will be playing Tottenham, Manchester City and Chelsea at the end of March.
Another option available to Mr Wenger would be to alter his tactics and formation to one that would certainly fit Le Boss’ football purist’s ideology. I could be going out on a limb here but it is possible to play without a recognized centre forward, something that Spain did in the European Championship in 2012 and Barcelona have executed to devastating effect in recent years. For Arsenal to play at the levels of the aforementioned sides could well be out of their reach but it is interesting and noticeable that clubs are now beginning to revert back to playing two centre forwards, something that both Liverpool, with Suarez and Sturridge, and Manchester City, with two of either Aguero, Dzeko, Negredo or Jovetic, have demonstrated through their abundance of investment capability and talent. Yet, even if Giroud doesn’t get injured, Arsenal don’t have the personnel to even think about playing two strikers.
Playing without a traditional target man is a tactic which can best be epitomized in the ever improving Luis Suarez who helped give birth to ‘the false nine’ position. The role allows for the fluid interchange of the front three players and has become a mainstay of football tactics in the modern era. If you imagine that either Mikel Arteta or Mathieu Flamini plays the holding role in midfield, that leaves Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey, Tomas Rosicky, Santi Cazorla, Mesut Ozil, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Serge Gnabry and the only other recognized striker Lukas Podolski (if all are fit or not suspended, improbable I know) to fulfil the remaining five positions on the pitch after the keeper, back four and holding midfielder. Furthermore, keep in mind Wenger’s penchant for giving players a run out on the wing in order to allow them to develop, the fact that all the aforementioned players have played there in the past as well as each squad member’s ability to drift inside and switch position, deploying the untested 4-6-0 formation, as farfetched as it may sound, is a definite alternative.
Reservations over Podolski in the centre forward role or changing formation and tactics are aplenty, such as could Arsenal actually pull off the execution of the tactic given the players’ collective ability and availability, especially with the season ending injury to Theo Walcott. But it has to be better than relying on Nicklas Bendtner who I will not even begin to consider in the eventuality that Arsenal could be left absent of Olivier Giroud.
However, I fear that after the club’s latest transfer fumble, Arsene, unflinchingly resistant to change, will most probably keep Podolski on the wing and keep that irrevocable and unexplained faith in the Danish donkey up front and the 4-3-3 formation which has, undeniably, brought stability but not success.
