Lukas Podolski has made a fairly good begin to his Arsenal profession this season. We take a look at his report card so far and explain the good and the maybe not so good facet of his sport. Such could be the exalted position occupied by footballing media in todayas sporting landscape which they simply travel season-long narratives for football clubs. For Arsenal in 2010, itas all been about the departure of Robin van Persie and how Wengeras hastily gathered group of ragamuffins have failed to deal with said departure. Every reasonable opportunity missed is followed by avan Persie would have scored thata and other nuggets of wisdom-y wisdom; every Man United win with van Persieas name on the report sheet elicits an aoh how Arsenal can do with this man inside their ranks!a; and any particularly impressive little bit of skill by Arsenalas current forwards results in athat was a first toucha and similar encomiums. Yes, it is got by us. Not that the media are wrong, by itself. The Gunners definitely miss having the silky-toed Dutchman lead the line for them; any team could feel the pinch when one of the best strikers in Europe leaves in his prime. Is in testing Arsenalas replacement strikers, particularly Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud, by the same yardstick because they do van Persie where in fact the media are wrong. As players changing to a new country and a new club, it'd be nigh-on unrealistic you may anticipate from their website the footballing pyrotechnics that van Persie performed in his final season at the Emirates. Seen in isolation, both of Arsenalas newly-unwrapped frontmen experienced reasonable starts with their careers in red-and-white. We focus here on Lukas Podolski, who was obtained from Cologne for roughly 10 million pounds and has played both as a single striker and wide left forward for the Gunners up to now. When term of Podolski signing for Arsenal reached their eclectic fan-base, there is practically an equal split between expectation and apprehension: expectation that FC Cologneas hero and one of the cornerstones of the German national team would rise to another stage and persuade be profitable, and stress that Prince Poldi would turn out to be an damp squib as he had at Bayern Munich. Seven months down the road, there's been considerable evidence to give support to both of the aforementioned theories, as Podolski has intermittently happy and disappointed. Podolskias skill-set is well publicized: a of a foot, bloody-minded directness, quick changes on the counter-attack, and correct distribution from the wings. Thereas an excellent conciseness in the way he represents when on track a' every pass is fresh, every give-and-go is no showier than it requires to be, every handle put in is sans extras, tracking right back is done with a minimum of fussa a comfortable and happy Podolski is unbeeindruckt in the face of most hazards. Such laconicism flourishes best when itas surrounded by expressiveness, and Arsenalas unperturbed German has expectedly had his best activities when the total midfield and strike-force have fired on all cylinders. Podolski will never run rings around the entire resistance group and report with a bodacious pelvic thrust; he will be the one fizzing a simple but dangerous mix into the box, or kneeing the ball into the net after a corner-time struggle, or busting a gut to provide a supporting run on the counter. Podolskias most useful sport in an Arsenal top up to now got against West Ham at home, and his performance that day presented the trademark terseness of expression properly. Following the guests had taken a distress lead, the Gunners were brought by Podolski back in the match with a tracer-bullet of a go from thirty yards out. Then, in the 2nd half, he enjoyed an elegant but powerful one-two with Giroud before sliding in Cazorla for 3-1. Hardly a minute later, he'd the ball on the left side again, and sprayed an cross-field ball for Walcott to report. Again, the replays were hardly over when he charged down the medial side such as a thorough rhino and hit a low cross for Giroud to push home. Net-buster of an objective in the initial half aside, there was no aOh snap!a moment of genius from Podolski in that game, no transcendental piece of talent that made one apply eyes to oneas. It was simple things done just, it was going from point A to Z without having a myriad prevents in pointless alphabets along the way. As Podolski is economical in his virtues, therefore is he indifferent in his deficiencies. Seldom are you going to see Podolski having an abjectly terrible sport, losing moves like billy-o, or tanking shots left, right, and centre. Podolskias poor games are his invisible games: games where the amount of his contributions will be to move the ball back once again to his full-back, set an erratic foot or two out for tackling, and generally shy from any significant contribution. While Gervinho hilariously fails (but tries) and draws all method of invective in his course, Podolski will hang on a hammock and drink pina colada on the left wing. A person sporadically switching off for activities is not unheard of, but this recent Arsenal group doesnat have the mandatory quality to properly take passengers. On a negative time, Podolski has most of the end product of a rigor-mortis upset cadaver. This is never more evident than against Bradford. Podolski was almost a of Arsenal that stormy night: technically better than the weight, but hemmed down and pushed into impotence by work, enthusiasm, and drive. He unfailingly had two players snapping at his heels, haranguing him in to making errors, and he couldnat handle it. Itas said about good players that they can make a moment of brilliance even on a poor time, but Podolski seems more suited to moments of productivity than moments of brilliance. Granted that he's a well-honed poacheras reaction, something thatas an issue at Ashburton Grove, but one only needs to look at how Podolski gets replaced across the 70 minute level usually to know that heas not necessarily your amoment of magica type of player. Perhaps not in Arsene Wengeras eyes up to now, anyway. To conclude, Podolskias record card to date would read something to the song of aGood start, but can perform bettera. His enjoying model is rife with a typical sense thatas not-so-common, and one can see him taking cost as one of the leaders of this team in the a long time. But, there are certainly a fair few uneven arrows in his quiver that he wants to straighten out if he needs to make the step up from Prince to King. Dumb Abhishek Iyer is a freelance basketball author and spends nearly all of his time wallowing in the seedy wetlands of BigFourZa with a tear-stained Arsenal scarf. After that, he's an contributor to 90 Minutes, Arsenal Vision and, needless to say, The Hard Tackle. Follow him on twitter a' @Nickspinkboots
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