Why Alexis is not a Center Forward

                           

In our last two matches, Wenger has experienced with Alexis as our center foward following the absence of Giroud. Again Alexis did him no good and also lost him points. I have watched Arsenal win only one game with Alexis at the helm of attack and that was Alexis first season in a hard fought victory against Besiktas in Champons league qualifying game. Aside that anytime Alex had played the front man role we never won and put ourselves in a difficult position( Think the everton game in 2013 at goodison). The reasons why this is so is..

 The Difference Between a ST and a CF

I have come to realise that in English Language that no two words can mean exactly the same thing. Some times its just the scenario in which we use the words that makes the difference although logically the word may infer the same thing., funny that. So after coming across through the two words after so many years watching football I have come to realise that "all forward role players can end up being a striker but not all fowards can be  center foward". There are three general positions in the game being defense, midfield and foward. However one specific position that always fluctuate is the wing-man's position or the player that plays at the right or left part of the pitch ahead of the full-backs. The player who is positioned there is always described by the way he plays his game. So in the Arsenal Squad today Alexis and Walcott are strikers yet Chamberlain , Gnabry or Iwobi are midfeilders. Yet the question still arises, who is a Striker and who is a Center foward? If you know the difference between a Lennon and a Hleb, then you can know the difference betwen an Alexis and a Giroud. A striker, according to who we term them to be as of today's football world, describes the character of a foward towards the goal while a center foward is a top most position in the football pitch. Messi and Ronaldo started out as midefielders yet were very much strikers before they even had a chance to try playing in the center foward role but assuredly they are poor center fowards when compared to Giroud or Costa although their striking ability makes up for it. That is because of their consistency in scoring goals from the wing no matter what formaton they played in. This is what was wrong in our last two games. Alexis might be a striker because he scores a lot of goals from the wing (the reason an over-hyped Eden Hazard cannot be referred to as one). But playing him at center foward is not really effective and a suicide if he is a lone center foward as he clearly lacks the craft. The best he can do there is play as a deep-lying foward. This is how he has been utilised in chile and at Udinese. It takes more than just putting the ball in the back of the net to be a Center Foward especially in England. On the CF and ST issue why do you think that the next closest position a defender can play next is the CF role(especially in the EPL). He is big, tall, not very quick and very strong, think Drogba or Diego Costa. Giroud might not be the world class striker we crave for as our center foward but he is a world-class Center foward(ask the Germans: Neuer and Ozil). Althogh Alexis seem to have very good characters of a center foward one very quality he lacks is his movement from the center. Alexis even improved his movement from the wing at Arsenal. Most dribblers lack movement as they like getting the ball on their feet before moving thereby making them a little bit static than Theo who runs up and down chasing space only to give a pass to the opposing keeper and they count that as a shot on goal(please  that was a pass on goal). So Alexis has to learn to move from the from the center but i think it is either too early or late for that as he just has to be the master at what he knows how to do best for us at Arsenal

(Please note that I am using certain players to describe my message to avoid goin into detailed explanation between a ST and a CF).

Finally but not to digress, congrats to Arsene on finally delivering us with  a center foward who is a striking abilities as that is what Giroud clearly lacks. And for those who think the signing i mediocre should have a re-think. Who wasn't mediocre when they came to Arsenal, Henry( 12m ponds), Adebayour (4m pounds), Eduardo( 7m pounds) or Van Persie( 2m poundS)? The way Arsene sets up his team doesn't depend on a World class player but a Good Average center foward who like Chicharito. For your imagination think the difference between Welbz at United and Arsenal and I bet Giroud will never be a consistent goal scorer with his foot at any other club. COA( Come On Arsene) stop wasting your time with Alex at the CF positon.