View From The Sphere

Do we need to add upfront to challenge next season?

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GiroudArsenal need to sign THREE top strikers if they are to mount a serious title challenge for the Premier League this season, according to Thierry Henry.

Arsene Wenger’s men are on course to finish runners-up in the Premier League this season and also have a chance of ending the campaign on a high but retaining the FA Cup, but Henry thinks his former club should be doing better, given they have gone over a decade without winning the championship.

The former France international suggests he won titles with Arsenal because of the strength in numbers in attack and says this is where the Gunners need improving if they are to compete next season. Henry reckons Olivier Giroud fits into the bracket of top strikers, but needs help from others to chip in on the goalscoring.

Quoted in the Sunday Sun, Henry said:

‘Look at teams competing in other countries, particularly Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. They all have three top strikers.

‘I am convinced we won the league at Arsenal not due to the fact I was banging in goals but because the club had a good squad. Sometimes when I was being given a rest, Sylvain Wiltord or Kanu would come in and Dennis was always there.’

The Frenchman finished off by suggesting the current Arsenal side need more than one player who can operate in the centre-forward role apart from Giroud:

‘To win a championship, you generally need more than one player who can play in this central striker role. I scored 25 times for Arsenal in 2005 but we didn’t win the title.’

We do have the likes of Alexis Sanchez, Danny Welbeck and Theo Walcott who can all be used as a lone striker, but Wenger opts to play with only one of the four (including Giroud) upfront by himself, with the latter being the Frenchman’s first-choice. We do have the personnel capable of offering Giroud help, but they all play better out on the wing rather than on their lonesome upfront.

Henry is 100% right – back in the day we used to have options and all the forwards were capable of stepping in and provided goals. But having said that, I don’t think we need three top strikers. For me, I think we struggle with option upfront – when Giroud is unavailable we do look weak in attack. Walcott and Welbeck have composure issues, while Sanchez is clearly more effective on the wing cutting in. So while Henry suggests we need three top strikers, I only believe we need to add another this summer to compliment Giroud, or when the French striker is out of action.

Who? Well that is up to Wenger and co.

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3 comments

  • Unknown C says:

    First and foremost, the first line of this report is completely wrong. Henry did not say Arsenal need to “sign” 3 top strikers, he said that they “need” 3 top strikers – he counted Giroud as one.

    Now onto the question, I think Arsenal have one very good CF (Giroud) and two makeshifts (Welbeck and Walcott). Akpom looks like he has potential but is still far too inexperienced. Arsenal need at least one top player who can play as CF, and knowing Wenger, he’ll probably need to be able to play across the wings as well.

    Then in agreement with Henry, need to strengthen the spine with DMF, CB and a world-class GK.

  • kamil says:

    I think wat Henry is saying is true but Olivier is doing great job there, he only need good competition.

  • abbas says:

    Sign dybala. He is perfect for us. Very young and promising.

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