The Enigma of Lukas Podolski

Lukas Podolski - lethal at one end of the pitch... a liability at the other?  The 3rd most capped, 5th top scorer for the German national team, 28 years of age, with an excellent goals per game ratio and an ability to deliver superb balls from wide on the left should surely be a key member of Arsenal's first team. So why doesn't Arsène use him more?

He certainly was a key player in his first season at the club; arriving in the same summer that the club's captain and star striker upped sticks and took his disloyal jazz hands to Old Trafford.  Along with the superb Santi Cazorla he took to English football like a fish to water and created 11 assists and scored 16 goals, including Arsenal's goal of the season; a sensational volley against Montpellier. He also seemed to settle very well into London life, proving a popular member of the squad and a hit with the fans, going hashtag mental on social media and busting out a thumbs up once every seven minutes on average.

His second season at the club has been hindered by injury as he missed around four months but despite this he has scored and assisted regularly when played. It seems clear however that since the tail end of last season, when Cazorla was moved to the left and Rosicky played centrally that he has been increasingly marginalised by his manager. Arsène first sited tactical reasons, before claiming last October that he feels Lukas only gives 80, 90 per cent, that there was more to come from him. Recently there has been a lot of talk among the press and Arsenal fans that his casual style and lack of cover for his fullback and his penchant for giving the ball or penalties away makes him a defensive liability; a high-risk player who is dangerous at both ends of the pitch.

There is some truth to this narrative; if we look at his contribution in the last two games we can clearly see that he has been in the thick of it at both ends:

• Most recently he was caught in possession against Manchester City and they broke away and scored. He also conceded a few needless free kicks in this game but assisted Matthieu Flamini's equaliser with a cross from the left. It is only fair to point out that he was just dispossessed on one occasion in this game but it proved costly.

• Against Swansea, Lukas came off the bench when his side were losing and scored the equaliser before moments later providing a superb assist for Olivier Giroud to give Arsenal the lead. He was however culpable for giving the ball away in the build up to Swansea's absurd own goal equaliser.

It is also fair to point out that he struggles defensively and does not provide much in the way of cover for his full back and a needless penalty conceded against Liverpool in the FA Cup (a game in which he also scored) suggests he can be far too rash when he is trying to defend. I do however feel that his recent run of mistakes aren't really being taken in isolation and that he's being unfairly labelled a defensive liability. He doesn't give the ball away very often, in fact his passing success rate this season of 88.4% is third amongst our midfielders and attackers only to Flamini and Arteta.  In terms of his defensive errors that have cost us goals, he is far from alone in such mistakes. Without wanting to single out players, I think its fair to say that all of our attacking midfielders have been guilty of giving the ball aways sloppily or getting caught in possession in the build up to opposition goals.

So I think his defensive shakiness is being exaggerated and isn't enough to justify leaving him out of a side that has been struggling for goals without Theo, Ramsey and Özil. That's not to say he can't or shouldn't improve defensively. Work needs to be done on the training ground to improve his defensive positioning and discipline.  But again, he is not alone in this - just look at the amount of times our fullbacks get caught miles up the field while the opposition are breaking in numbers against two or three of our players.

So what next for Lukas Podolski? It's no secret that Arsenal have been pushing hard to sign Julian Draxler and the paper talk (which has been denied) is that Lukas would be offered in part-exchange. He will be 29 in the summer and is on a high wage so it wouldn't shock me if Arsène (if he sticks around) would consider moving him on. In the past the manager has moved players on when he considers them to be past the peak of their abilities and there is also a question over Podolski's fitness. Bizarrely he has completed ninety minutes for Arsenal on just six occasions. I think it would be a great shame if he were to leave without fully showing his class; he is a player with great experience and probably our most clinical player in front of goal.

"Podolski can score goals and when you have a goal chance you want him to have it. He is a clinical finisher and he has an unbelievable short and quick backlift. He is very accurate in his finishing. He can be effective, he can score goals when he starts and when he comes on, he is always dangerous." - Arsène Wenger

Former Germany great Oliver Bierhoff accused Lukas Podolski of stagnation at national level since his move to Arsenal. Podolski reacted angrily and the national manager Joachim Loew responded by explaining that Lukas was "indispensable in his position" but a more recent "appeal and wake up call" prior to the World Cup from the manager was taken by some to be aimed at Podolski and his Arsenal colleague, Mesut Özil. With a place in the German team and a possible FA Cup winners medal up for grabs it is certainly in the best interests of both Arsenal and Lukas for him to prove his worth before the summer.


My thanks go to 7amkickoff, whoscored and squawka whose stats I used for the article and infographic.