Re: Arsenal 2 - 0 Cardiff City: The return of the Greatest Striker to ever Live

by Sina Thu Jan 02, 2014 1:49 am

and what was this with Theo/Poldi/Arteta/Cazrola all on the pitch https://i.servimg.com/u/f43/16/93/79/64/37329810.gif
http://i.minus.com/ipcmh4D90cfTZ.gif

by MJ Thu Jan 02, 2014 1:57 am

I'm so disappointed with how scarcely it happens that Arteta, Podolski and Cazorla actually try to score those. I believe Podolski's scored the most since he joined last season, three?

by Eman Thu Jan 02, 2014 2:52 am

Our free kick shooting ability is pretty shit for a club of our stature tbh. Cazorla in particular never beats the wall. On paper, Arteta probably has the best track record throughout his career given how he used to score free kicks all the time for Everton, but he doesn't always get to take them for us.

One more thing to add to the list of what we want in a new striker I suppose.

by El Gunner Thu Jan 02, 2014 7:49 am

Sina wrote:
and what was this with Theo/Poldi/Arteta/Cazrola all on the pitch https://i.servimg.com/u/f43/16/93/79/64/37329810.gif
http://i.minus.com/ipcmh4D90cfTZ.gif

I facepalmed as soon as he stepped up.

Why Cazorla doesn't take them is beyond me.

by MJ Thu Jan 02, 2014 9:33 am

Why Cazorla and Arteta rarely try to score them is what's beyond me. We always have Theo playing in crosses but we never see the actual dead-ball specialists going for glory.

by Sina Thu Jan 02, 2014 12:37 pm

Do we need a specialist?:

by Jay29 Thu Jan 02, 2014 12:56 pm

The strange thing is that neither Arteta or Cazorla take our direct free-kicks. Whenever we get a free-kick from around 25 yards that we can shoot from, it's always Walcott that seems to take them, or even Vermaelen if he's playing.

Walcott's delivery into the box from set-pieces is very good, but he's not the best at striking towards goal. It really should be Cazorla or Arteta from those sorts of positions.

by DuringTheWar Thu Jan 02, 2014 8:28 pm

I think apparently Walcott is impressive at free kicks in training. He has not yet scored one in his career though

by DuringTheWar Thu Jan 02, 2014 8:29 pm

Before he got here I remember lots of people saying cazorla was the best free kick taker in the world

by Lex Thu Jan 02, 2014 8:34 pm

Walcott's free kicks have improved. Delivered the free kick shot-cum-cross for Giroud to head in vs Newcastle and, yesterday, wasn't too far away from scoring directly

by RealGunner Thu Jan 02, 2014 8:46 pm

I actually don't mind Theo taking them. But Cazorla was a free kick specialist and no idea why he stopped taking them.

by Lex Thu Jan 02, 2014 8:52 pm

by Eman Thu Jan 02, 2014 8:59 pm

Cazorla still takes them most of the time as far as I can tell. Not sure what you guys are talking about tbh, although I'd like to see some stats to confirm. The problem is that, as I have said, Cazorla never beats the wall. I literally cannot remember a single time he has ever beaten the wall for us when shooting, although he probably has once or twice. His corners also lack a lot of pace when compared to Theo's or Ozil's and the defence usually reacts in time to deal with them. I am just not confident in Cazorla's set-piece credentials.

I have been most impressed with Arteta if I had to pick someone. We haven't had a great free kick taker in quite some time now though. That's surely a few more goals per season that we could get from someone with said quality.

by El Gunner Thu Jan 02, 2014 9:10 pm

Eman wrote:Cazorla still takes them most of the time as far as I can tell. Not sure what you guys are talking about tbh, although I'd like to see some stats to confirm. The problem is that, as I have said, Cazorla never beats the wall. I literally cannot remember a single time he has ever beaten the wall for us when shooting, although he probably has once or twice. His corners also lack a lot of pace when compared to Theo's or Ozil's and the defence usually reacts in time to deal with them. I am just not confident in Cazorla's set-piece credentials.

I have been most impressed with Arteta if I had to pick someone. We haven't had a great free kick taker in quite some time now though. That's surely a few more goals per season that we could get from someone with said quality.

What. Nah man, when it comes to the longer free-kicks/free-kick outwide Cazorla, Theo and Özil share the responsibility. When it comes to the score-able ones, Theo takes them. And he sucks ass tbh.

I agree with you that Santi corners are the worst though. He should just leave it to Özil and Theo when they're on the park.

by SamuelJayC Thu Jan 02, 2014 9:36 pm

Sagna's free-kick scratch

by Sina Thu Jan 02, 2014 9:54 pm

this was best i could remember from Santi,Eman

by Eman Fri Jan 03, 2014 12:51 am

It seems to me that Theo takes them sometimes but not all the time. He rarely took them last season and he has after all been injured most of this season so it hasn't seemed like very frequently to me.

Sina wrote:this was best i could remember from Santi,Eman

He took that one with his left too! I guess he needs to use his 'weak' foot more often Laughing

by Sina Fri Jan 03, 2014 1:41 am

he is ambidextrous :coffee:

now that you mentioned weaker foot i actually remembered his 2 right footed free kicks early in the game vs spuds this season
one low-driven went through the wall just wide
he can beat the wall occasionally if our memory serves tbh Razz

but yeah i expect more of threat from him

my Dream is Aaron becoming set piece specialist and complete his locker
do you see that in him?
then again at the start if the season if you asked any Gooner about Aaron-Arteta double pivot we would all say provides soilid defensive platform but doesn't offer much offensively
but how about that now :fishing:

you never know

by CBarca Fri Jan 03, 2014 4:27 am

What happened to his free kick taking, anyway?

It feels like just yesterday he was at Malaga and... I know in his last season he scored at least four including that absolute peach of a free kick against Madrid.

by Eman Fri Jan 03, 2014 3:52 pm

No idea, CB. Maybe since he isn't always guaranteed to take them he isn't in the right mindset? It's really strange.

But yeah Sina, our best hope might be for someone in the current squad to come out of nowhere and get good at them. I remember seeing a quote that Ramsey stayed after practice regularly to practice shooting so perhaps your dream could become a reality hmm

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