Arsenal

[carlito]

Or that he's proving a point Walcott style by not playing him.

[The Fox]

Walcott was stalling over a new contract though when Wenger dropped him. No such thing here.

If it's solely based on how poor he was against Cardiff then that seems a bit harsh, seeing as he's always been poor at centre forward. He's just not very suited to the role.

[carlito]

Maybe he's not training hard enough. Maybe he's not playing in the way Wenger wants. I, like everyone else, have little but conjecture to go.

That said, in a team that is a bit short of players who are looking to make runs rather than see them and, more importantly, players that can really finish, I absolutely cannot believe Wenger isn't finding a place for Podolski for "footballing reasons".

Also what do you mean "he's always been poor at centre forward"? How many times has he played there?

[The Fox]

4? Not often enough to get used to it and for the team to get used to him there. But he doesn't really run, and can't play with his back to goal either. I just think he's ill-suited to the position on a basic level really. By saying he's always been poor at CF I'm not really having a go at him, just saying I don't know why he was deployed there in the first place because the resulting performance was exactly what you'd expect, given how he'd played there previously: rubbish.

[Timmo]

If you don't like Barney Ronay this won't change your mind, but this was amazing:

As for Lukas Podolski I have a theory there is some terrible misunderstanding in train here, that he hasn't actually mustered up the courage to "come out" as a striker at Arsenal, that he turned up at training and just sort of joined in with what everyone else was doing, like arriving in the office canteen on your first day at work and on a whim pretending to have a broad Mexican accent, and somehow finding yourself still doing it three years later.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/jan/17/arsene-wenger-julian-draxler-arsenal

[The Fox]

Wilshere didn't train today and looks like he's out for tomorrow, no word on what the issue is yet but that's a blow.

Looks like it'll be Oxlade-Chamberlain and Flamini anchoring midfield, as Arteta and Ramsey are both still out too.

[Silent Runner]

False alarm on Wilshire, he's starting today. Really love to see Gnabry have a good game today.

Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Flamini, Wilshere, Cazorla, Gnabry, Ozil, Giroud

[The Fox]

Well this is shit. No Ramsey or Walcott = no one runs. Podolski on not long after HT if nothing changes.

[barkbat]

Smelling a massive upset here.

[Silent Runner]

Bit of redemption from Santi after giving away possession for the goal on Monday. Goals any good?

[The Fox]

He's been the best attacking player today. Wilshere good again too.

Koscielny probably our best player though for me. Love dat guy (and on the same day Kompany gifted another goal with some more comedy defending, for people who still think he's better than Kos).

edit: six wins in a row now which is good considering we've not played really well for a long time now

[hauk]

Thought we looked good in patches today. Was nice to see Podolski on, he's not got the best control but that shot of his that hit the post really shows what he's capable of. Santi looked good too, very we'll taken goals.

Have to say the improvement in the defensive side of our game and the general maturity of the team makes the last 10-15 mins of these kind of games far less panic inducing.

[KRP]

absolutely, even last monday after Villa scored we held our compose very well.

[Rocafella]

Just when you lot thought you were good again.

D e l i c i o u s

This comment gets better and better every week.

[The Fox]

We've never been more than 15pts ahead of them in the Premier League. Currently the gap is 14pts...

[Dude Ranch]

Interesting..

Arsenal have named Dutch youth development expert Andries Jonker as the new head of their Academy.

The 51-year-old will join the Gunners at the end of the season from German club Wolfsburg, where he is currently working as their assistant manager.

Jonker previously spent seven years developing and implementing youth coaching reforms for the Dutch FA and also spent spells managing Holland's U15 and U21 teams.

He has been part of the backroom staff at Barcelona and Bayern Munich, both times in tandem with Louis van Gaal, and joined Wolfsburg in 2012.

His appointment follows Liam Brady's decision to leave his role of head of youth development and the Irishman will work with Jonker to ensure a smooth transition - Brady is maintaining his association with the Gunners in an ambassadorial role.

Boss Arsene Wenger said: "I am very pleased that Andries is joining us. He has a big reputation in the game and was a key part of the team which developed the structures which are now producing such strong young players in Holland.

"I look forward to working with him. I would also like to thank Liam for his work which has been outstanding over many years."

Chief executive Ivan Gazidis added: "Youth development is a key part of our philosophy at Arsenal and I am delighted that Andries is joining us.

"He has an outstanding track record in developing and identifying young players and creating systems to bring the best out of them. I know he will build on the tremendous work which has been done by Liam and his team over many years."

[The Fox]

For all the Koscielny fanboys out there (it's not just me right?)

Where's Rev these days? Rev, do you still hate him?

[wev]

I loved it when he kept Messi quiet! A "Ligue 2" player keeping a player like Messi in his pocket, outstanding and its not like its only been the one match he's done that either.

[Stagger Lee]

I've been working all weekend so I've only just watched the highlights.

Szczesny's Sidwell save was awesome.

[Petrousgyre]

Szczesny's Sidwell save was awesome.

Strongly agree - surprised it hasn't been discussed more in the media. One of the saves of the season for me so far.

[SeanR]

this one?

[The Fox]

Can't say I agree. You'd be absolutely livid if he'd let that go in.

For me it's a decent stop but no more than that.

[Stagger Lee]

That's the one!

I don't think they even mentioned it on MotD.

Edit: I guess it's pretty close to him. It looked more impressive from behind Sidwell.

[SeanR]

the ball changes direction in mid-air, curls to the left on contact then moves to the right.

might have hit the underside of the bar and bounced out, but you never know.

[Lucky]

It's a good save but if you want to be a top keeper at the top level then these are saves you should be making.

Not taking anything away from him but like The Fox said you'd be very unhappy if you'd not saved that.

[Petrousgyre]

It looked more impressive from other angles. Saving shots from range hasn't been Chez's strong suit though.

[Rev]

For all the Koscielny fanboys out there (it's not just me right?)

Where's Rev these days? Rev, do you still hate him?

I left the forum for a bit whilst doing Not Good Life Stuff I now mostly lurk (and twitters).

Koscielny has been great, but my original reason was that he was always very close to making spectacular mistakes and he's not really changed that, he's still very last ditch. He's just getting a lot more right than wrong now, but he now has Per calmly kicking around somewhere nearby to rescue as well. They definitely need each other, Kos and Vermaelen really brought the worst out of each other.

[Jonathan_Kerr]

So on the twitter, there is talk of Podolski being involved with a swap for Draxler (with a bit of cash involved, obviously).

Would be a shame to see him go but he does seem to be on the outer...

[The Fox]

Any transfer rumour involving a player swap has a 95% chance of being bullshit.

[Swallow]

Schalke aren't going to sell for any less than the £37m they wanted in the summer, and won't value Podolski any higher than we paid for him, so that's still more cash than I think we'll spend this season. It would be very nice to see Draxler join before the summer, mind.