Sunderland 0 - 2 Arsenal: We've won two games in a row!

I guess a fresh Campbell or Podolski would do worse than a tired misfiring Oxe or Santi. A tired player cannot give you much, we have stubborn manager who's afraid to make subs.

You lot always find something to moan about, Sanchez was rested against Villa and Spurs earlier this season. Let him play so he can get used to the league and build an understanding with his team mates on the pitch. Ox had a decent game just din't create enough but at least he was lively, Poldi was lazy against Southampton and failed to take his chance. Let him stay on the bench for a while.

It's not a moan, it's observation. Did Arsenal have habit to play their players to the ground to the point of injuries? Yes, they did. Did Arsenal have crazy schedule every year? Yes, they did. Has Alexis ever played in the league that not rest during winter break? No, he hasnt. Did Poldoski and Joel come in and help our against Aderlect? Yes they did, in fact the former scored a winner.

So yeap it's not beyond realm of possibilities to question why our bench can not be used more.

The way I see it Wenger is sending wrong message to the players whoever he likes will start, despite of form and performance. Podolski scores the winner and saves Wengers ass and the next game he wont even give reward him with some minutes when there are tired legs.

Oxlade is worst offensive player in the squad right now, but he must play since Podolski and Jeol had a bad game few months back. Favoritism by the manager needs to stop and stop treating the players like children.

Raptorgunner wrote:The way I see it Wenger is sending wrong message to the players whoever he likes will start, despite of form and performance. Podolski scores the winner and saves Wengers ass and the next game he wont even give reward him with some minutes when there are tired legs.

Oxlade is worst offensive player in the squad right now, but he must play since Podolski and Jeol had a bad game few months back. Favoritism by the manager needs to stop and stop treating the players like children.

It isn't favoritism - think about it rationally.

Podolski can only play as a LF or a SS. We play a flat 4 in the midfield. He'll be absolutely shit - and much worse than Özil or Cazorla in that role. His usefulness as a LW last season was also very debatable. Although it is positionally not very different from a LF role, it is functionally very different. That's why he barely finds minutes. He's among my favourite players, along with Rosicky, but I can understand why he doesn't get game time. AW bought him thinking he could also play the RvP role up front, but Poldi couldn't pick it up. We didn't sell him in the summer, only because we wanted to ensure depth and experience after Giroud was injured. He remains the only alternative to Sanchez and Welbeck up front - Theo is still on the mend and Sanogo, well, ..

And you can rationalize the amount of game time Ox gets as well. How many pacy players do we have? With Theo out, Ox is the only pacy guy for the RW, unless we shift Alexis there and play Cazorla on LW - and we already discussed how that turns out. Ox brings in pace and energy, I think he has been pretty decent. Problem is, we set stellar standards and rightly so - but it is naive to expect someone who hasn't been a regular to come in and put in world class performances immediately.

Ofcourse, the whole 4-1-4-1 shift hasn't helped any player in the squad.

Reg Joel - I am happy he's not being thrown into the deep end and being eased in. He hasn't set the pitch on fire in his appearances, he performs decently coming off the bench because of fresh legs. Also, we are so sick of the eye sore performance after 70' that Joel seems to be a messiah. Compare him with Alexis for example and you know why he's on the bench. He's got talent and potential, but for me, he's too raw and inexperienced to be starting every game.

And if he does start every game, it will take one bad performance before everyone starts crying about Wenger's pedophilia.

Why everyone has that idea some fans want Podolski and Joel to be starter, no just fresh pair of legs against Sunderland or lower teams from 70th minute or so.

I don't know about others, but I could swear I had read posts pre-match cribbing about (one of) them not starting

srigooner wrote:I don't know about others, but I could swear I had read posts pre-match cribbing about (one of) them not starting

Is not just about Podolski, Joel, its about the long season and we should be rotating the tired players. We play 3 games a week and we cant just not play a player for months and send him out there to play a full game.
No player should start if they dont deserve it.

This I agree with. AW's squad management has always been a big question mark.

How is Ox the worse attacking player in the squad