Lukas Podolski insists he wants to be more of a goal threat for Arsenal despite bagging a respectable seven goals in his first 18 appearances for the Gunners predominantly from the wing.
The German international has never scored more than 18 domestic goals in a season – a figure he hit last year for Cologne – but believes he can be more ruthless in the box at the Emirates as he looks to build on a promising start to his career in North London.
“For now I think it is good but I think I can be better,” Podolski told Arsenal Player.
“I think I can score more goals, to help the team and take some assists. But I think for now it is good and I keep trying to get more.”
The 27-year-old is the club’s second highest scorer this season, on a par with fellow new boy Olivier Giroud, but has been impressed with the way the likes of Theo Walcott, Santi Cazorla and Gervinho have all chipped in to help soothe the departure of Robin van Persie.
“Yes, it’s important to share the goals,” he continued.
“Last season there was one guy, Robin van Persie, who scored 30 goals or more. Now we have four of five players who score five, six, seven or eight goals.
“I think this is important when a good player leaves the Club, it’s important for some other players to score the goals.”
Podolski’s goals have come in all shapes and sizes so far with sublime free-kicks (Southampton), scrappy tap-ins (Spurs), clinically taken one-on-ones (Liverpool) and bombastic volleys (Montpellier) forming part of an impressive portfolio.
Off the top of our head Arseblog News struggles to think of any recent Arsenal player with whom to compare the German.
He’s far more utilitarian than the artistic Robert Pires, more naturally talented on the ball than Ray Parlour, but less energetic than Freddie Ljungberg or Tomas Rosicky. His left foot doesn’t caress and curl the ball like Van Persie; he thumps it like Reyes…but with more control.
His dribbles are direct, but he doesn’t possess the pace of Marc Overmars and playing so often on the left side he rarely cuts in to shoot like the Dutchman. His defensive work is impressively disciplined in comparison to Arshavin, but he’s quieter and far less hot-headed than we’d been led to believe.
He’s not yet loved on the terraces like Paul Merson, seems too cool for school to be embraced as a cult hero like Perry Groves and is just a lot better than an Eddie McGoldrick. He’s a bit of an enigma.
For all that we’re increasingly fond of him…even if he’s not allowed to play a full 90 minutes.
Not sure I would define the goal against Tottenham as a ‘tap-in’.
perhaps a “Hamish Hot-Shot special rocket”?
personally i thought of it as a dribbly mcnoscore bobbler, but that could just be me
That was a well placed german strike, served cold with a prolific left foot!
This guy probably thinks football matches last 73 minutes in England.
Great work rate and not a cunt, so completely unlike Adebayor.
Aha! The anti-Adebayor.
I’ve just had a mental image of Podolski going in on Adebayor and at the moment of contact a blinding flash of light, leaving only a slightly-singed Poldi, a scorched patch of turf and a pair of smoking boots.
I’d love to see podolski and HFB play together in a 4,4,2 against the weaker teams,two in midfield should be good enough.
YES!!
So sorry, mental block that 58 people haven’t had. Who’s HFB?
Giroud — “Handsome French Bloke”
Lukas!!!!!!!!!
Love the German Gremlin. Wealth of talent and he doesn’t hand the ball away like AA23 does and he actually tracks back to win the ball back should he be dispossessed unlike AA23. I too predict a lot more goals and assists for the man from Cologne. Hopefully we’ll see more like his screamer against Montpelier mixed in with a few free kicks (if Theo will stop blasting them over the goal)
Play him centrally instead of Gervinho and he will show how clinical he is.
he has real poor movement
Me: I can eat more pancakes.
Me: I can score more girls
That photo has captured an awkward pose for a German to be caught in…
He has the best goal celebrations since Freddie. (denilson’s bobly head aside)
I loved his one against the spuds..
Slides over to the corner flag and humped it, efficiently.
Lu lu lu lukas podolski…
Why hasnt been sung by our fans i still dont know.and who says he isnt a hot-head he is once would love to see him square up with van pussy .
We all know whats gonna happen Rvp to just talk talk and talk and Podolski comest out with a knock out punch.
Been hoping that we would buy Poldi for the last 5 years, and very pleased to see him in the squad, def looks the part! Loving the fact how he’s got the hardest shot most of the players have ever seen!
I would like to see Poldi play down the middle more, he’s a viable option, but it does mean we have to find someone to play on the left, so it will probably mean the Ox shifting out there…or…Cazorla. He’s got a great left foot but will drift centrally too, perhaps making things unbalanced, but Poldi likes to do this anyway.
I could see Poldi scoring more freely from a central position, I’m not saying Giroud doesn’t deserve his spot, because he does, but Poldi down the middle wouldn’t hurt!
Once Rosicky is back to full fitness i would love to see him come into the CAM position and move Cazorla to the left and podolski upfront. Would be useful for resting Giroud when needed. Also would just be beneficial for our opponents to not know which CF they will be facing on the day, making it harder for them to prepare for the game….I think the return of Rosicky will have a real positive impact on our game
Nice to see the King not mentined in the comparison. Would have made God very angry indeed.
I agree mate, Bergkamp surely would not be happy with that comparison.
This post is why I love Arseblog news.
Respect(Without the stupid hash tags).
The German Jimmy Carter. Other than the being totally shit part.
Are you really struggling for former gunners to compare him too? I can think of some left sided forwards you could have mentioned:
Martin Hayes – 6 footer who should have scored more goals than he did
Ray Kennedy – always looked big and slow on telly (too young to see him play for us but saw him at Liverpool), he had a shot on him
David Price – blonde, hard worker
Tony Woodcock – speaks German
He’s faster then selley but far more sober then charlie george
Not sure which is Podolski’s best position, but expect a lot more for from him to justify a 4 year contract @ 90k per week.
Lukas Podolski, he scores when he wants
great player, but i still think they will need to add one or two to the squad..
lets resign fabregas from barca in january and we will have the best team in the world,just look: szcz
sagna kossielny BGF gibs
arteta
jack
fabregas
rosicky santi
GIROUD
if only dude if only!!
Ah the old 4-1-1-1-2-1 formation eh? Very direct.
Great player to have. And I can’t help but think he’ll get better and shock us all. You know, we want so much that we often forget that Podolski, Santi and Giroud just came in from not long ago from other leagues. Here’s hoping they all have plenty more in store for us, Gooners!
I’ll take an established German player any day of the week!
On their day any of them can score a goal or two.. cazoral, giroud, podolski, walcott, gervinho..but then again some days none of them do… its Bizarre..
We should try him centrally or in a 4-4-2 with HFB if the game isn’t going our way. I really like this team. With Gibbs and Szcz back, our defense looks much more solid , but we really need another midfielder and a proper striker. We have no real back up for Giroud and Arteta is our heartbeat, but he is forced to play deeper which puts more pressure on Cazorla to create. We need a proper defensive midfielder, even though Arteta has done a good job, we are wasting him playing his talent so deep. Arteta AND Cazorla creating… Read more »
Arteta has played further forward last season, but he naturally drops deep out of maturity and experience, so the choice to make him hold I feel was genius by the boss.. it gives wilshere and santi creativity freedom and yet he still managed to chip in with a goals anda few assist this season.
Yes but i don’t think anyone can argue that we need an enforcer in the squad,even if he’s not in the first team. (Frimpong isn’t ready nor will he be for the next season or two and with his previous injuries,who knows how much he will have developed in two seasons time
Frimpong won’t be ready for years.
The key to that DM role is experience. Being able to look at play, predict where the threat is most likely to come from and then move to the right position in front of the back four to disrupt it, ideally taking possession or at least leaving a simple task for a defender to pick up the scraps. Arteta is very, very good at this.
That ability to read and predict the flow of the game only comes with years of “seen that done before” to draw on.
Good, start smashing them in then!!
What a clinical finish against Montpellier, smashed the shit out of the ball like it had Adeybayors face on it.
just like the way he celebrates…………*
very nice poem for podolski….
Andrew Allen did well…
I think he will be more effective centrally compared to Theo
lets sign a real winger like Ben Arfa etc to allow Podolski to play centrally
Everyone seem to forget how important Podolski is when it comes to stopping opponents fast breaks. We need him on the left to help with that especially when Gibbs is pushing up. He also dovetails nicely with Gibbs since he prefers to cut inside rather than go outside.
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wenger said YES! when asked if fellaini would fit his game in arsenal…hmmmm…i just hope arsene is negotiating with everton for fellaini…hope this jan we see fellaini in arsenal colors.
he would be a fantastic buy in jan plus few more signing would be fantastic. Poldi, giroud & santi were great signing in summers lets put icing on the cake with some more inspired signing in winter.
I so desperately want to participate & watch arsenal parade their trophies . COYG!!
keep dreaming…why would I sign Screech when I have a few LAN?
The problem with Fellaini is that you need to be able to keep a clean sheet with 10 men two or three times a season.
Plus: Lethal aerial threat, gets goals from all sorts of situations, amusing hair and hard as nails.
Minus: Tends to attract cards in much the same way as dead camels attract flies.