Five lessons to take from Arsenal 1-3 AS Monaco.
With Arsenal falling to a shock 3-1 defeat at home to AS Monaco, here’s five things we learned from a possible season-defining result for the Gunners…
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Arsenal transfer rumours
1) Giroud not a top-level striker
Olivier Giroud may have been slightly over-hyped this season. The French striker has enjoyed a decent run in front of goal and he has done well to chip in with assists as well. There’s no doubt he has a good touch and can play the target man role well, but he should not be a regular starter for a club with Champions League ambitions.
Playing for Arsenal against a team like AS Monaco, Giroud needs to be putting away the kind of chances that came to him on Wednesday night. Scoring against the likes of Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and Middlesbrough is one thing, but these were easy openings on goal that Giroud simply messed up due to a lack of quality and composure when it mattered.
2) Ozil not what Arsenal need
A player who worked brilliantly at Real Madrid as a luxury playmaker who didn’t play 90 minutes and had more quality around him, Mesut Ozil looked world class, as he often has for the German national team as well. For Arsenal, however, Ozil just isn’t what is needed to inspire a team when it’s struggling.
Known for years for being a bit of a soft touch with skill but no bottle, it’s hard to understand why Arsenal chose this player for breaking their transfer record, when it’s clearly a player more in the Yaya Toure mould that is needed; someone who can control a game from midifield and drive their team forward with presence and authority, as Patrick Vieira used to do.
3) Gabriel deserves a run in the team
Following an awful night in defence for Per Mertesacker, it’s hard to see a way back for the sluggish German centre-back. From now until the end of the season Arsenal simply have to give January signing Gabriel a chance alongside Laurent Koscielny, just so Arsene Wenger can know quite how much he’ll need to spend on a new defender when the summer comes. There is little to play for for Arsenal now, so it seems a decent time to experiment slightly, and Gabriel deserves a shot at replacing Mertesacker at the back.
4) Szczesny should come back in in goal
Although he was rightly dropped after a poor performance at Southampton, Wojciech Szczesny has surely learned his lesson now and could do with getting back into the Arsenal starting lineup. The Pole may not be ideal as number one in the long run, but David Ospina has simply not taken his chance to replace his rival as first choice, looking unconfident and flappy on too many occasions now. Arsenal don’t have a lot of luck with goalkeepers, and although Szczesny is not a huge upgrade, he has at least shown on occasion some match-winning qualities and the personality to be a top goalkeeper.
5) Walcott’s return could be a boost
Theo Walcott has been eased back into action after a lengthy spell out through injury, but now is surely the time for the England winger to be starting out wide again. When he came on as a substitute last night, Arsenal finally looked a little more dangerous upfront and managed to carve Monaco open a little more.
Additionally, while Danny Welbeck is also not an ideal first choice striker, it might be worth giving him a chance in his preferred position instead of continuing to play him out wide, where he has not managed to make the desired impact, and where he is certainly an inferior option to a fully fit and on-form Walcott.