EPL | West Ham vs Arsenal | 26/12/13 | 3:00 PM

[Anzac]

Özil's movements off the ball alone make him world class never mind on it. The guy never stops moving especially when we are on the ball and that little run he made in the heart of the West Ham defence to make space for Theo's first goal was amazing.

The guy is a genius and his footballing IQ and vision is ridiculous. No wonder Shrek couldn't stop singing his praises after the game at OT.

I've said elsewhere that IMO we have not yet begun to get the best out of Özil & I look forward with anticipation to seeing the team in this 4222 style in full flight. The key for mind will be the depth of quality in the squad to be able to maintain the style regardless of the starting line-up.

 

[yuvken]

Playmaker's post above is very good.

Given that hardly anyone really believes the false 9/play without Giroud is ever happening, the one point remaining is this: Giroud's absence makes defending that much easier. Which is true (and, according to the playmaker, confines us to useless stuff around the box - my words, not his).

But the question remains: easier to defend or not - what's the use of all the good build up we do (owing to Giroud's drawing the defense?) if there's no finish there? what good is a system in which the main cog is dysfunctional? a possible answer could be: see the last assist yesterday. Or even - he let's Pod and Theo play, get to their positions and situations.

It's all at least partly true, no doubt. But is that all there's to be said about it? I wonder.

Playmaker (rightly) says you can only play Caz at CM against a non factor west ham mid - you'd never risk it against a proper team. And that gives you a one man bonus, in effect: Caz plays AM, and there are still 3 men in the front positions and a free roaming Oz.

But take away this carte blanch - you must add a player behind Caz at AM (say wilshere, or flamini, or Aaron in better days). Gotta remove someone from the front line: which one is that? well - I fully respect playmaker's claims when all is in proper health. But as things stand right now, it is my opinion we could still enjoy all that variety of options even if Giroud is out.

Yes, this needs to answer the difficulty of facing a more organized, less paranoid defense. Or so could be claimed.

Or this is what would happen much of the time. With Theo and Pod around to finish (and others from the back) the defense (Giroud? hardly noticeable) will be dizzy most of the time.

Yes, this is all very theoretic, and won't happen anyway. But it explains why some of us want to explore this further.