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Making the Arsenal

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By Walter Broeckx

After having looked at the keepers, defenders and midfielders we end up with the strikers department in the PL so far.

We started the games this season with:

• Sunderland: Walcott – Gervinho – Podolski : 0 goals
• Stoke: Gervinho – Podolski – Giroud : 0 goals
• Liverpool: Oxlade-Chamberlain – Giroud – Podolski (1): 2 goals
• Southamtpon: Oxlade-Chamberlain – Gervinho(2) – Podolski(1): 6 goals
• Manchester City: Podolski – Gervinho: 1 goal
• Chelsea: Podolski – Gervinho: 1 goal
• West Ham United: Gervinho – Giroud (1) – Podolski: 3 goals

The first two games was a bit of a search. New players adapting to each other, to a new league, now system. The result was we didn’t score. And that is what strikers are all about at the end of the season. That is where they are judged on.

I tried to put the strikers in a summary about the goals we scored. I only took the strikers in to account for this. We had a few own goals forced by Gibbs, Koscielny scored and of course Cazorla scored 2 goals and had two assists but as we have looked on him in midfield I will not mention him here. In fact I just did.

In the summary I took not only the goals but also the assists. Because getting an assist is almost as important as scoring the goal in my opinion. And then I also looked at the total minutes each player has played in the PL so far. And then we can also see who was the best striker of them all. And I must say the result was a bit of a surprise for me…

Player	Goals	Assists	Min played	Goal/minutes
Podolski	2	2	517	129
Gervinho	3	0	477	159
Giroud	1	1	352	176
Oxlade-Chamberlain	0	1	254	254
Walcott	2	1	183	61

Because when we look at the total game time we see that Walcott got the least minutes of time and yet he got the most goal involvement in numbers together with Podolski but Walcott only played 183 minutes in total. And this means that for every 61 minutes he played in the PL Walcott got or a goal or an assist.

Okay, what are the chances that Theo or his manager will step up to Wenger with this article and saying: just give us what we want. Sorry Arsène, but the numbers are the numbers.

And it also puts things in perspective. Many say that he isn’t worth the money. Some say he is not good enough. Some say he should be sold. I would say: let’s try to keep him if possible. And the most amazing thing is that these numbers come from only 1 start in which he didn’t score and 5 substitute appearances. Somehow Theo and his manager will not use this article anymore maybe. Because it somehow could indicate that Theo is at his most dangerous when coming on as a sub. Sorry Theo, but the numbers are the numbers.

If we look at them all we can say we have used 5 strikers so far this season. Each of them being involved in the goals a bit. Apart from Walcott it is Podolski who is the one with the best overall numbers. Followed by Gervinho and Giroud.

Oxlade-Chamberlain is the most prolific goal scorer for the moment. But he sometimes is used in midfield so he has a bit of a different position compared to the others. And mind you he did score in the Capital One cup game. Just like Theo scored 2 in that game.

To be complete I will also give you the same table but with all the competitive games played so far this season.

Player	Goals	Assists	Min played	Goal/minutes
Podolski	4	2	686	114
Gervinho	5	1	647	108
Giroud	2	4	511	85
Oxlade-Chamberlain	1	1	396	198
Walcott	4	2	294	49

And then we see that Walcott remains our most potential goal scoring player with being involved in a goal every 49 minutes he was on the pitch.

And the we see that Giroud becomes our second most dangerous man with being involved in a goal every 85 minutes on the pitch. Gervinho has been involved in a goal every 108 minutes and Podolski is only just behind with 114 minutes.

This was based on 10 competitive games so far. On average we could say that Arsenal plays some 50 competitive games each season. This of course depends on the length of the cup runs and the Champions league but just for the fun of it I will try to predict the number of goals scored by each player based on the first 10 games. This is of course for all competitions.

Player	Goals	Assists	Total goals
Podolski	20	10	30
Gervinho	25	5	30
Giroud	10	20	30
Oxlade-Chamberlain	5	5	10
Walcott	20	10	30

Of course this is purely for fun. My take is that Giroud will start to score more goals. As will Oxlade-Chamberlain. And of course Gervinho could drop a bit on his current numbers. Nobody knows what will happen but if those numbers would be correct we sure have a few players capable of scoring a few goals over the course of the season. And many players having the potential to score around 20 goals. If we look at the numbers we are certainly not depending on one striker any more.