Did Walcott do enough to warrant a striker's role last night?

By Avenell Dave

Two goals to the good and deep into stoppage time at the end of the first half, there was a cruel inevitability both that we'd gift Schalke a goal at a critical moment and that they'd go on to equalise.

A draw, let's be honest, was just about a fair result and indeed Schalke could argue that they did more to warrant the three points.

Listening to the commentators, it made me chuckle to hear them criticise Theo Walcott's performance.

"Apart from scoring his goal, he's done nothing all game," one said.

Now, Theo Walcott is not Thierry Henry, nor is he Lionel Messi or Ruud van Nistelrooy.

But he's proved this season that he can score goals and I don't blame him for thinking his time has come to play as a striker.

Before he moved to North London, my favourite non-Arsenal player when I was a kid was Gary Lineker.

He played the game with a smile, he didn't cheat and he made a lot of the skills he had, which could be summed up simply as: he knew where to be and when.

There was some of that in Theo's goal last night.

Olivier Giroud has many talents but raw pace isn't one of them.

That a defender got back to make a last ditch tackle was no surprise, but Walcott's deft flick and calm finish smacked of a player who deserves to be playing every game.

Many have criticised Wenger for not fielding Theo against M*nure but we don't know what signs of fatigue or illness he was showing after the Reading game.

And anyway, that match is gone. We can only look forward.

What Ivan Gazidis must do now is work out a way with Wenger of nailing Theo down to a new contract as soon as possible.

To lose him just as he comes good would be a huge smack in the face for everyone.

Giroud also did well last night, winning headers, holding up the ball and making a nuisance of himself.

He doesn't convert every chance that comes his way nor does he have all the grace of other some other strikers but he's starting to show now that he is an important part of the team and I hope those who keep comparing him unfavourably with RvP start to get the bigger picture.

Of course, we need to start keeping clean sheets again. We need to create more chances and control games as we used to rather than nicking goals on the break. And we need to get our confidence back for good.

But last night was a start and showed that even in a few days, the players are capable of turning it around and at least showing some fight.

I hate seeing players booked for petulance, but can you blame Lukas Podolski for getting angry when the referee stopped play with Arsenal in a superb position to score with a Schalke player down.

You can argue that the sporting thing would have been to kick the ball out, and I'm all for that when the ball is in no man's land, but not when there's a key passage of play. 

That could have made it 3-1 and a very different night for the Gunners.

A few days until Fulham now, a few days to get more players fit and build on any confidence gained last night.

There's still plenty of work to do...

How can Arsenal win in Germany tonight?

By Avenell Dave

When the most recent international break came to an end, I must admit I hoped one of the title challengers would skip up, their rythmn hampered by the disruption.

I feared it could be us and so it has been, with dummies thrown out of the pram, critics circling and the club yet again seen to be in crisis.

We've always been a punchbag for critics who called us defensive even when we scored more than 100 goals in a season, back in the day and because, historically, we're the most successful team in the south.

Things aren't right at the moment. We lack heart. We lack winners. We lack confidence. We lack a coherent vision that sees us competing at the top table.

It could be worse. We could have Stewart Houston, Don Howe or even Bruce Rioch in charge again, and I suspect many of you don't even remember those dark days.

A win two weeks ago against Schalke would have put us on the verge of qualifying for the knockout stages of the Champions League but we now have a fight on our hands to finish in the top two.

Few would bet against Schalke givings us another footballing lesson this evening and we have to seriously up our game if we're to put ourselves back in the driving seat.

Defeat would mean having to go to Olimpiacos and winning, a place few English teams have done well at and certainly a ground where we have struggled in the past.

So how does Arsene Wenger turn it around?

For me, it's simple. He brings in Theo Walcott to play alongside Olivier Giroud and brings in Andrey Arshavin in a midfield four.

I know it's en vogue to play 4-3-3 but we don't have the players to make it work and the fact that we're the second-lowest on-target shooters in the CL says it all. We're shot shy.

Theo wants to play as a striker and to be honest, he's got more chance of causing trouble there than he has out wide, where he is often ineffectual unless he comes off the bench.

Giroud, as @legrove said recently, needs to be playing with a partner and the current formation just doesn't suit him.

Wenger isn't one to drop players easily (though some could argue he did exactly that with Jens Lehmann after a couple of errors) but maybe now is a time to rest Santos, despite the storm in a teacup over his shirt swapping giving media and the high and mighty far more to moan about than the act itself warranted.

Some have suggested moving Thomas Vermaelen over to left back but having seen the Belgian struggle there in the past, it isn't going to do him or the rest of the team any good.

Captain or not, he is in woeful form and must be dropped and Sagna would do a far better job on the left with Jenkinson coming in on the right.

We can win tonight. We have to be disciplined and we have to use Theo's pace as they push for goals.

Keep believing, Addicts. Football can be a lot lot worse than under Wenger ove rthe past five years. 

Many of you, fortunately, are far too young to remember it.

Addixt XI

Mannone

Jenkinson Mertesacker Koscielny Sagna

Cazorla Wilshere Arteta Arshavin

Walcott Giroud

The Arsenal Stadium Mystery

By Avenell Dave

It's hard to feel optimistic when all your fears have come true, when your team has failed so limplessly to fight for the shirt us fans would give our right arm to wear in anger.

Even the backing of our phenomenal travelling fans seemed not to inspire them to the basic levels of competency we should expect.

Yes, we can debate the fall from grace of Vermaelen, the ineptitude of Santos, the anonymity of Podolski and why 4-4-2 would work far better for the current crop than the 4-3-3 we're struggling with at the moment.

But the truth is, we have fallen hard, and the board has to take responsibility for that.

Yes, it continues to frustrate me that so many Arsenal fans - those aged 25 or under, think we've always been a powerhouse capable of challenging for the title year after year when the older amongst us recall so many years when finishing in the top 10 was an achievement.

Of course it's hard to compete when Oligarchs and Sheikhs have completely obscured the market.

But we should still be able to compete. And as others have pointed out, the scoreline is about the only thing that's a positive from the game. We haven't lost heavily this season but we could have easily seen our goal difference wiped out at Old Trafford, it was that bad.

Of course, it all goes back to the move from Highbury. 

We needed to move, of course, but we also needed to remain competitive.

We can look at the injuries, the injustices, the pure bad luck and the ego of footballers who have no loyalty in this day and age.

But things are not right at Arsenal and we all want answers.

The fact is, Arsene Wenger inherited a fine team, bolstered it and turned it into a great team and then rebuilt it into a side capable of going unbeaten for a season.

But since we've moved, too many players ahve been allowed to leave and I would like to know why.

Why are first team players allowed to get into the last year of their contract like Flamini, Edu, RvP and now Theo?

Why do we never spend MORE than we earn, ever, even when we look one or two players away from being real contenders?

Why don't the board communicate with us more honestly about their plans, explain the importance in their minds of paying off the stadium (if that is their strategy) which has hamstrung our ability to build and meant that almost every summer we have ahd to sell at least one big player?

None of us would like it if the club said that repaying the £400m or so that the stadium cost was the priority and maybe, commercially, it would mean some fans stayed away.

But in the cold light of day, I for one would appreciate their honesty rather than watch our manager have to make excuses for his inability to coach the team he dreams of fielding.

So often we end up with trolley-dash players who simply don't cut it and then are unable to move them on when better quality players become available.

Are the failure to sign players such as Baines, Lloris or Mata indicative of the frugal nature the current chief executive is imposing on the coach? I suspect so.

Who knows how we will cope in Schalke this week?

We need players back and fast.

But whatever happens this season, much as I love Arsenal and bleed red and white, the same old frustrations of frugality where we need to speculate will frustrate me every time the board hides behind FFP.

The fact is, new commercial deals will not be lucrative unless we can compete and at the moment, we're a long way away from challenging for the title.