Arsene Wenger has confirmed the news about Olivier Giroud’s injury and revealed the striker had an operation today to fix his fractured ankle.
Speaking after the 1-0 win over Besiktas which put his side into the Champions League for the 17th consecutive season, the manager said, “Giroud had successful surgery today. He is out competitively until end of December or the beginning of January.”
Get well soon, HFB.
In his absence Alexis Sanchez got the vital goal tonight, and the manager was keen to praise him after the game.
“Alexis had a good game,” he said. “He was mobile, dangerous, and has shown he has great fighting spirit.”
While Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain praised his teammates, but admitted it was nervy affair.
“Yeah, there’s relief. When we went down to 10 men, our backs were to wall like in the first leg. The main thing is that we defended well and did that as a team.
“We’ve got a great togetherness, we haven’t played at our best maybe but we stuck together and did what we had to do.”
Get well soon, Giroud!
To be honest I may get red arrowed but I’m happy with Walcott, Ox, Podolski, Cazorla as options out wide and Alexis, Sanogo Campbell as options up front for now. I rate Giroud but I don’t see us going spending alot on someone. The only type of deal I could maybe see would be someone like Remy. I said yesterday on here that I think Sanogo can step up. He hasnt had a run of games and with the creativity we have in midfield it wont be long before he starts scoring. That will open the floodgates. Its more a… Read more »
Agreed on the striker situation. Everyone shouts for replacement, but who?
Cavani? Not available.
Benzema? Not available.
Falcao? Unfathomably overpriced and trending downward.
Reus? YESSSSSS! But not a striker/not moving this summer.
Remy? Yeah, good option, but that medical — what was up with that?
Everyone else…basically overpriced, unproven, bottom of the barrel or some combination of the three.
Much better to concentrate on immense talents (Rabiot, Carvalho, Reus please oh please) than just buy for numbers’ sake because Theo, Joel and Alexis are not 6-foot-3 and muscular.
I think Bony would be an excellent signing. 25 goals for a mid table team last season is no mean feat. He’d do well for us, possibly even better than Giroud. Otherwise, Benteke might be an option (if he can stay fit he’s a real handful too), although I’d much prefer Bony.
I think we won’t see Giroud till March again on the football pitch.. The injuries in our team always take longer.. such a shame!
Wish Wenger didnt say No when asked about Zigic. Now im not sure if he means no or yes
But then if he didn’t say ‘no’ and said nothing, we would still be unsure.
Ahhh Wenger, playing with people’s minds no matter what he says.
Is Falcao in price range? Wenger smiles: “No”
Surely, the key point of this is his smile!
We may get a loan striker but we still need a cb and a dm …
AW: “I bought Alexis to play striker, not to play only on the flanks.”
Can’t see us getting a striker after what Wenger said. Need a big def midfielder to do Girouds defensive dirty work that he does so well if we go with Sanchez and Walcott.
Can’t see us getting a striker after what Wenger said
===
Which is another of Wenger saying he has no ambition to win the title or the Champions League this season.
If Alexis gets an injury, we’re looking at Sanogo at centre-forward.
At the moment, we do not have a squad to compete for the highest trophies: Witness the lack of defensive signings, and only two quality strikers (Giroud, Alexis).
Name me one club besides Man City and maybe Real Madrid–both wealthier than us–that has so much depth in the striking department that losing their main striker won’t do much damage? If one is to follow your logic, if Chelsea loses Costa, then Mourinho has no ambition. We all want to see another top striker at our club. However, if you presumptuously conclude that Wenger has no ambition only because we don’t sign another striker, such a presumption is not only improper but also illogical. As I said, we all want to see another top level striker. But our immediate… Read more »
Liverpool: Sturridge, Balotelli
Everton: Lukaku, eto
Manure: Van rapist, rooney, hernandez
Chelsea has schurrle who can play as a cf and torres plus drogba. Hence why mou IS TRYING to sign another striker. I don’t why it’s hard for some people to admit it…our striking options is the weakest in the top 4. People even go as far as saying we don’t need a dm…and they seem to forget what happened last season against the big teams
Also: There is no man more competitive and wanting to win the Champions League than Wenger. After all, CL is the only silverware that has he has failed to accomplish. What distinguishes our manager from others as a class figure, among other things, is his sensibleness in dealing transfers. Given the status of European economy at the moment, the kind of money that is thrown around in football is ridiculous, borderline crazy, even with FFP. It might be frustrating for us fans, and I get it, but to question Wenger’s ambition based on the fact he has indicated he will… Read more »
You say we’re short of options at CF if our no. 2 striker gets injured. Well, that’s true of Chelsea, Manchester United, Tottenham (frankly they’re short of options even when their strikers are fit, but anyway) and Liverpool.
At least everyone now concedes that Alexis is a “quality” center forward option, so we’re making progress.
Almost removes the relief of winning against Besiktas.. I mean Sanchez is an awesome player and I’d probably pick him ahead of Giroud in most matches, but his physical presence is needed in some matches. Therefor I think this is a big blow for arsenal and I really hope we got someone lined up to replace.. Sure, Sanogo is promising, but consistency is needed.
Now that we have secured champions league football, top striker should be the priority, plus a defender and dm ofcause
Call me crazy, but I think Alexis up top might just work…
Yeah, until he’s so exhausted he can barely stand. We already tried that last year, but with Giroud. It’s not a good idea.
Last year, Alexis played more matches for Barcelona than Giroud did for Arsenal. Alexis went on to play more minutes in the world cup than Giroud as well and yet he doesn’t like a bit jaded to me. I think we need to realize that some players can handle the playing minutes and some couldn’t. Alexis might be the most physically well built player on Arsenal’s books.
If I was Wenger, I would get Remy on loan now. £2m can’t be too much in these circumstances.
It very much sounds like we’re not buying another striker, despite losing Giroud until January. That is troubling to say the least. It means Wenger will either run Alexis into the ground, or rely on Sanogo a lot. Last year when we tried the exact same tactic, but with Giroud instead of Alexis, Giroud looked completely battered by Christmas.
Incidentally we are at home to Southampton in 3rd round of carling cup
Let’s buy more of their players, quick.
Anyone except Zigic and Wellbeck….
Anyone except Zigic and Wellbeck….
Anyone except Zigic and Wellbeck….
Anyone except Zigic and Wellbeck….
lol didn’t Zigic get sacked by birmingham or something one time?
If he’s so shit he get’s sacked by a championship club it would be a travesty if he ended up with us.
We could always try out 4-4-2, and allow Sanchez to play with someone. It would mean more running in midfield but also another player upfront alongside Sanchez. Judging buy the game today and the one against Everton I thinking he would appriciate it.
play 442.. then play Ozil in the middle.. buy a DM to play on the other mid field slot.. so pray tell, where is Ramsey’s spot?
And leicester!! Bring it!!!
Oh and get this. 10 yellow cards where handed out, not a singel one to Flamini. Guess he wont be caching a lot of sleep tonight.
Can just see him sitting up awake in a chair all night with that crazy look in his eyes bc of it
Replaying the game and every situation he commited to, asking himself what cruelty he must have done to make this happen.
I’m done.
Just don’t buy that 33 year old we are hearing about. Wenger shouldn’t make that mistake. The guy scored 5 goals from 25 games the last time he played in th epl and he scored 7 goals from 35 games in the championship. All that said and noted shows that he’s a useless player. If he does sign him then Wagner out!
Win tonight was for OG, get well soon big man.
All the people who have been giving Giroud stick for the past two seasons are crawling out of the woodwork now crying. Hes second to none at what he does and its almost impossible to replace him. Who could we get in that would honestly be as good as Giroud?
On a side note, Wilshere was immense. It seems he thrives as the attacking midfielder and plays better when not asked to hold like he is when he plays with Aaron.
I told u we should’ve bought Baloteli! lol! I’ve got a bad feeling that Wenger won’t buy a striker. After a promising start to the Summer, it’s a familiar but unwelcome uneasiness at our transfer policy once again. Surely Cavani wouldn’t be a bad idea at this point? Ir too expensive?
Aw said that Alexis, Theo, Podolski n Sanogo.
Meaning Theo is finally getting the chance he wanted.
That is unless we ARE getting someone.
Sanogo is simply not good enough – there I’ve said it. I know we want to have faith and defend him when he plays poorly. But if you take an objective view then he is not good enough for Arsenal Football Club. If he was playing for Sp*rs, we would all be laughing our socks off! Like we do with Soldildo. I hear people saying he’s raw and he needs time and he’s still learning. He’s not a teenager. He’s the same age as the great Thierry Henry was when he joined us. I don’t recall people saying Thierry was… Read more »
I don’t see Arsene buying or loaning a striker, he trusts Sanogo to do a job up front, at least for now. I’d very much like to get the fabled CDM+CB in. Not Song, please, though I’m struggling to put a name to this mystical being-player.
Remy would be a beautiful signing to me. He is convincing, whereas Sanogo is not. But whatever
*said that Alexis,Theo, poldi n sanogo are his options upfront
I wonder what is the correlation between the “Give Campbell a chance Arsene!” crowd and the “buy another striker” people. I suspect high.
I cannot remember Giroud being injured even for a week .And now he is out for 3 to 4 months it is a huge loss.
Course Wenger know this before the match, but handled this situation very well in order to focus teams and fans on the match. Rather than speculating on who we might get, I will say we have a huge opportunity in the transfer market and enough cash to make the most of it.
He would probably get Llorente for a target man or Benzema if Madrid get Falcao.
i would love llorente, no idea why juve would want to selll him he was great last season, benzema too lazy and overrated , anyway he sign a brand new contract few week ago
In all seriousness, AW sounded like he was keeping his cards close to his chest. I would not rule out a signing upfront but I would not bet on it either. He is not going to strengthen his negotiating position by announcing we desperately need someone, even though we do. Yegetme?!
Nevermind Cavani go for Zlatan…we need a swede 🙂
Big blow for the team.
Nobody can say that he does not work very hard for us.
We do not have the choice now.
We need a new striker.
I honestly believe if Wenger doesn’t buy a CF our season will be tense and desperate. I don’t want tense and desperate…I want calm and easy. Besiktas are as good as QPR….
We are through but if we are to be serious about winning the cl or the premier league then another striker is a must. And for those that inevitably say their are few quality strikers available the answer is we have needed one for the past two years. Buy a quality striker and the defensive midfielder we have also been crying out for then when this team gels we could win either trophy fail to buy them then it’s another season of what if and another season of our best players getting older and frustrated about not be able to… Read more »
To my mind, Alexis was brought in to play through the middle like he planned to use Suarez last summer. He would probably have planned to bed him in into the team while playing off the wings until TW14 returned from his injury.
Giroud’s injury only means Alexis will be fast tracked into playing through the middle. Just hope the team gets used to him and vice versa sharpish
Thought santi n jack had a brilliant game. Ox was good too n kos was bossing the back line as is his wont. Overall a decent game if you take out the bonkers refereeing ! Think arsene ain’t as stingy as we think though a good cheap deal probably pleases him no end. Having said that his early phase at our club suggests that he is happy to spend money when available n it sure is available now. Think the fact he was ok to let poldi go suggests he has a transfer tied up which was waiting for our… Read more »
If we get Benzema I will somehow have learnt to do summersaults and triple back flips out of nowhere.
More of the same this yr, we will struggle in big games, have enough experience and quality to beat the smaller sides but the competition for a top 4 finish is much higher.
A few more injurys in certain positions and we’re in deep doo doo
Even today in the first half we saw how important he is. Very huge loss. We now Giroud is a figher and i think he will be back a little bit sooner. Even though Sanogo isn’t ready/good enough we will need to play with him against the team we will have the ball. Or buy a new striker but who?
What about Bony? I rate him higher than Remy
I would most definitely prefer Remy to Bony….Remy is quick,has good dribbling skills and can finish well.Bony is a great header of the ball but one of the best finishers but is still very slow for a modern day striker……Welbeck would also prove to be a very good acquisition…just like sturridge to Liverpool…many of you hate him because of his atrocious scoring record but don’t consider his overall game as a whole
Walcott is a better foward than welbeck. Rather play poldi as a cf than have welbeck.
only one Thierry Henry…
puff puff be smoking to match wacky tobacky. bony ten fold better overall than remy and especially in out formation & style of play.
*too much
*our formation
I would welcome Demba Ba to the club. Would he be cup-tied? Cheap option and Wenger admitted to considering signing him when he bought Giroud. Ba’s knee problems were a worry for Wenger, if I remember correctly.
I think most people on this awesome blog thought we needed another striker before OG went down.
A pleasant draw tomorrow please; not the easiest group, but not the group of death!
Ba would be excellent, especially if he could score a winner against the Chavs. But we couldn’t buy him this calendar year anyway, because he just transferred to Besiktas last month and you can’t be owned by more than two teams in one calendar year. (FIFA rule designed to stop multiple transfer shenanigans)
Love him or hate him he changed the game against Everton. He scores goals, he makes goals, he is a striker. It will take millions to replace him. I don’t think arsene has the guts to spend and do that
I’d rather take remy as a stop gap solution than go without adequate cover. At least his scoring record in the epl is not that bad(14 in 25games) and isn’t really inferior to giroud. I’d like bony too; but swansea’ll probably ask for 25m.
What is that warden in the background doing, really? 🙂