Is Giroud the new Alan Smith?

By Avenell Dave

I remember when Arsenal played Leicester at Highbury one year in the late 1980s and there was a buzz around the stadium about the announcement of a new striker.

The fact that he was playing against us that day added to the intrigue because, in all honesty, no one had heard of him. Some smart arse said that he was a better player than Gary Lineker, another Leicester City striker but we saw little to suggest that was the case.

I can't remember how he played but I don't think any of us were too impressed with him, certainly where I was sitting.

But over the next eight years or so, Alan Smith turned into one of our most important players.

No blessed with great pace, he nevertheless provided the classic Number Nine outlet for the team.

I rarely saw anyone who held the ball up better; he was a fine header and had a decent shot on him.

He scored goals inside and outside the area and brought others into play and provided an outlet when the team was in trouble to give the defence and midfield some breathing space.

Watching Olivier Giroud recently, I've seen much of the same type of skill and it bodes well for the team.

Surprisingly, there are some who remain unconvinced about Giroud but you only have to see the impact he made against Montpellier to see how valuable he is to the team - and how much his former club miss him.

He's also a superb defender - perhaps a career as a libero beckons when he gets older? - and his presence at the back certainly gives us more stability at set pieces.

But going forward, he never gives up, has a bit of trickery about him and when he said he hoped to score 12-15 goals this season, I think it's safe to say that he'll pass that mark without too much trouble.

While many Addicts speak of signing a new striker, how I'd love to see an Ian Wright type player come in to play alongside him.

Wright scored goals for fun and while Theo Walcott has shown some of the promise to be a central striker, I've almost written him out of my forward thinking daydream plans because I really doubt he's going to sign a new deal.

That leaves us with such a thin squad, though, that I can't see many changes for the first of two tricky away games, against Aston Villa on Saturday evening.

Villa are poor and it's about time they went down, but you just know taht at home, under the lights and on TV, they'll put on a decent show and we have to win to get some real momentum going.

I can't see Arsene Wenger making many changes to the team - perhaps he'll bring in Kieran Gibbs if he's fully recovered and I wonder if, having played his first 90 minutes of the season, Lukas Podolski may get a rest now that Gervinho is fit again.

We certainly need to rotate a bit but it's tricky doing that when the side is still a work in progress with ground to make up and form still inconsistent.

We all expect a win - but then we almost always do, don't we?

Addict XI

Szczesny

Sagna Mertesacker Koscielny Gibbs

Cazorla Arteta Wilshere

Oxlade-Chamberlain Giroud Gervinho

Does Chelsea farce underline the need for patience at Arsenal?

By Avenell Dave

There are two schools of thought following Ch*vski's knee-jerk sacking of Roberto Di Matteo this morning.

A likeable Italian, Di Matteo's domestic form as manager wasn't impressive but winning the Champions League and the FA Cup is not a bad way to buy yourself time and opportunity.

Isn't it ironic that after dropping his underperforming striker who's tipped to leave in January and creating a culture of attractive football, he's lost his job as soon as the team have a blip.

Personally, I think the Ch*vs are a small, classless team in West London with little history, a horrible captain and a dubious owner.

But, whatever we think about them, they have won things and for the Wenger generation who grew up in an era of success, the barren years without a trophy have seen fans become increasinly Abramovich in their patience.

We're all feeling pretty pleased with ourselves after the drubbing of the Spuds but equally, we know that there is plenty of work to do if we're to compete for the title again.

Personally, I'm proud of the fact that we don't change managers every season or two - it's never been the Arsenal way - and that stability is why we've always competed while other teams come and go.

Believe it or not, even M*nure went 26 years without winning the title - and we never went more than 18 following our success in the 1930s.

While we all get frustrated and some question the ambition of the manager and the board, it's a no brainer to bring back Thierry Henry in January.

Le Roi will help the younger players develop (and hopefully persuade Theo Walcott to sign a new eal) and give the club a lift.

Of course in an ideal world Chamakh will leave and we'll sign another forward as well but I don't expect that will happen if I'm honest.

Wenger has said before that he sees Theo, Podolski and even Gervinho (!) as players capable of performing in the centre and if we continue to score goals with the ease that we are currently, I cannot see him bringing in someone else even if it would be a good idea from the outside looking in.

Maybe he can use the line "I'm not signing another striker because this is now Theo's time" as a carrott to get him to sign, if he hasn't done already.

Tonight is a huge night for the club. Win, Schalke win and we're both through. The team can rest up and let the reserves play in Greece - let's be honest, winning the group is unlikely now.

Montpellier haven't been playing badly but they are nothing like the team who won the title.

I can see us winning this and European nights are something to savour, so let's get behind the team and remember how fortunate we are to compete in this competition year in, year out.

Addict XI

Szczesny

Jenkinson Mertesacker Koscielny Vermaelen

Cazorla Arteta Wilshere

Ox Giroud Podolski

Should we get carried away by victory over Tottenham?

By Avenell Dave

Would Arsenal have won if Greedebayor hadn't been sent off?

Do we care?

As usual, social media was fascinating over the weekend and I even got a message from a 'fan' from Nigeria who last week told me he hoped we lost the derby and then proceeded to remind me that the victory only papered over the cracks.

There may well be an element of truth to that - two sides with lofty ambitions and shoddy defences and in Apeboy Bale, T*tt*nh*m had a player who could have hurt us badly if he had the wit to square the ball at 4-2 instead of shooting.

You'd have thought after Gallas 'scored' early on taht we would have sorted out our defensive line but we were all over the place and never looked robust.

People talk about drilling the defence George Graham style and I don't deny that more defensive work would be beneficial. But given the frequency of matches, we're only doing some light training between games anyway so drilling the team on being more disciplined is hardly viable. In Graham's day, we had fewer games and that's why it was possible to get the defence playing so well as a unit.

It would be unreasonable to have expected too much from Wojciech Szczesny after a long lay-off but I do wonder how fans would have reacted if that had been Vito Mannone in goal.

Defoe's shot for their first goal wasn't the most powerful and the Pole should have got hold of it while the second was powerful but a long way out. Maybe I'm being harsh but we need to know Szczesny provides a solid line of defence and I think he still has much to prove.

On such thin lines as Bale's miss are games won and lost and much as the defence still needs some work, our attacking play was, at times, superb.

The statisticans have been having a field day today, talking about Mikel Arteta being the first player to reach 1000 completed passes this season but it's no coincidence that, despite not passing to each other very much, Santi Cazorla and Jack Wilshere playing together has helped us regain our vavavoom.

They may be very much team players but both have world class skills at getting past players, playing in killer balls and superb passing and it's very hard for sides to live with the two of them.

We've got a tough run of games coming up (even though it may not look like it on paper) and this result will soon be forgotten if we start to stutter again.

What we need to do above all is use the result to boost not only morale but focus so we can push on and turn this season around.

It's possible, Addicts. Then again, anything is possible with this team.