My very first impression of Podolski during that friendly was that the difference in technique between van Persie and Podolski was pretty large. I hadn’t watched him closely before so I wasn’t really sure what I was expecting. It is a bit unfair to compare any strikers technical qualities with van Persie’s

Lukas Podolski has confused the hell out of me from the minute I saw him make his Arsenal debut in a friendly against FC Koln. I had been hugely excited about his arrival when it was confirmed at the end of the previous season. His goals to game ratio was comparable to that of Robin van Persie and he had been playing for a relegation team. He had also scored 1 in every 2/3 games for Germany from the left which is remarkable from that position and at that level.

Like most I had hoped to see him wide left and that Dutch fella playing as center forward but we know how that ended. No problem, we had a player, younger with just as good a strike rate to replace him, or so I thought.

My very first impression of Podolski during that friendly was that the difference in technique between van Persie and Podolski was pretty large. I hadn’t watched him closely before so I wasn’t really sure what I was expecting. It is a bit unfair to compare any strikers technical qualities with van Persie’s because pushing my dislike to one side for a minute, Robin van Persie’s technical qualities are rare.

Without checking, I think I am right in saying that Podolski made a pre assist with a fantastic flighted pass into the path of Kieran Gibbs who then crossed for someone to score. I should really check these things.

Then came the start of the season, traitor had left and many of us assumed that Giroud would start in attack and Podolski on the left when in fact it was Lukas Podolski who lead the line against Sunderland. A Martin O’Neill team that came to sit back and frustrate us and Lukas found it hard work.

He looked utterly lost, rarely contributed to the game and when he was taken off I had forgotten that he played a part in the game. Didn’t seem to play on the shoulder, didn’t appear to drop off and make anything happen. Oliver Giroud came on and did more immediately than Podolski had done for the previous 64 minutes.

The team around Giroud instantly had a focal point, someone to play the ball to and get it back. Oliver Giroud could and should have won the game for us had he tucked away Santi’s slipped pass on his weaker right foot.

That was almost the end of Podolski’s spell as an Arsenal center forward. I say almost because early on during the Swansea league match at the Emirates, Arsene decided to switch Gervinho from the center where he started to a left forward role, moving Podolski back inside. At the time I thought this was an offensive move but the knowledgeable @ArsenalColumn told me on twitter that it was because Lukas Podolski hadn’t been tracking Angel Rangel’s runs from right back. Unfortunately his performance as a center forward in that Swansea game was non existent.

Before that match though, Podolski had been blowing hot and cold in the wide left position. I had said a few times early on in the season that he reminded me of a left back playing on the left wing but a left back who had an amazing shot and cross.

Podolski wouldn’t really lose the ball and that was mainly because he played everything very safe. Making short passes and not really committing the opposition full back. Basically Podolski was often not very involved but when he was he would score and supply Giroud or Cazorla with wonderful low crosses from the left. You could call it German efficiency *rolls eyes*

The trouble was our build up play and our football suffered with Podolski playing but we needed him there to supply the needed end product.

Lukas Podolski is the polar opposite to Tomas Rosicky. For a number 10, Rosicky doesn’t score or directly assist anywhere near the amount that he should do at Arsenal but there is very little doubt that when he plays, players around him play better therefore we are a better team. It is a knock on effect if you like, Rosicky makes assists not by making assists but purely from being on the pitch, Podolski is the opposite. Makes us a less fluid side but then makes us a better team in the areas where it counts. It is why I used to get frustrated when he would spend 90 minutes without making a run off his full back and into goal scoring positions. It was almost a waste of his greatest strength.

Podolski had a few really good games offensively such as Reading away and his best West Ham at home. Thundering down the left and supplying goals for anyone who cared for taking them. Mainly Santi but soon enough after an ankle injury I think, he was replaced directly by Santi Cazorla and overall by another creative midfield option like Aaron Ramsey originally and latterly Tomas Rosicky. The team found a better balance without the German and his goals and assists were distributed around the team.

Things have been working out for the most part since the change but for all of Giroud’s hard work and link up play, there seems be to a feeling that he could score more goals, although scoring 20 goals in 37 starts for club and country during his first season is certainly nothing to be sniffed at especially when you consider that he has shared his striking role at Arsenal with Gervinho and latterly Theo Walcott. However Walcott is the perfect example of a good finisher not necessarily being able to play as center forward at Arsenal.

I have lost count at the amount of people saying that Walcott is being played out of position and should be a striker. Arsene has given him that role earlier in the season and those calls have almost vanished completely.

Put Lukas Podolski in front of an opposition goalkeeper and you’ve got yourself a world class striker, but being able to shoot is only a small part of the role.

Arsene’s comments that came out last night were very interesting.

Wenger said:

“Podolski was injured when we played at Bayern and won,” the boss said. “After that, we won at Swansea…sometimes you have periods like that and I think he can play as a central striker as well.

“I work a lot with him as a central striker at the moment. He is a quality player and when he comes on you can see that straight away. You don’t get 100 caps by luck.

I had a feeling that Arsene would be working with Podolski as he was with Walcott and Gervinho. Trying to develop them in the areas that they are short. Podolski’s movement and link up play was very much in need of work. I am intrigued to know how far he has come on if at all.

That said, Arsene Wenger’s praising words of Podolski could also be used to counter the current reports that Podolski could look to search for pastures new as he is no longer a starter. I hope not, I was certainly impressed with his introduction into the team at the weekend. Involved from the first moment he got onto the pitch until the final whistle. Scoring, smashing the crossbar and showing good link up play by playing the 1-2 with Chamberlain that got us the all important second goal.

Replacing Giroud with Podolski even on a very short term basis for resting, injury or whatever is not as simple as it seems. Giroud is the only man in the squad who can perform the role he does. He wins an extraordinary amount of balls in the air from goal kicks, free kicks etc. Our wide attackers seem tuned into this and often pick up the second ball and we start playing from that area. Lukas Podolski isn’t going to do that and he is also not the type of player to drop deep and slip threaded passes for runners so I am not quite sure how the team would work with a new and improved Podolski leading the line.

One thing is for certain, it is difficult to leave a man who has scored and assisted so many goals in his first season at Arsenal. If he keeps affecting games the way he did against Norwich then we may see him get a chance as that center forward.