Olivier Giroud: handsome, good at football, great hair. Sadly for him, he’s not the ‘world class’ striker some people want.
With 7 goals so far this season for club and country, it might be fair to suggest that some of the criticism leveled at him has been a bit over top. Nevertheless, Arsene Wenger has left him on the bench in recent times – preferring Theo Walcott.
The Frenchman’s response, however, has been just what you want. When called up from the sidelines, he’s produced. 4 of the 5 goals he has for Arsenal this season have come as a substitute, and Giroud feels like some of his perseverance is being rewarded – especially after his somewhat fortuitous opener last night against Bayern Munich.
“I’ve had a bit more luck than in recent weeks, so I’m making the most of it,” he said.
“For a striker, it always works in cycles and I know that. You can’t start doubting yourself.
“All the qualities are there – I just needed a helping hand from destiny, and tonight it worked out in my favour.
“It’s certainly not my most beautiful goal but it’s one of the most important.”
No arguing with that, and with Wenger admitting that he’s going to have to figure out how to manage both Giroud and Walcott in terms of starts, you do wonder if he might reward his recent contributions with a start against Everton on Saturday.
We shall see.
Giroud 1-0 Lewandowski
G1roud – Lewand0wski
I can glady and honestly say iv defended him through all the criticism hes been having… Hes not world class but does it matter he does a job for us and does it well.. Wenger not signing a world class player doesnt justify the abuse hes been having and lets be fair doesnt he clore against the big teams often… the answers yes!
agreed! Plus I like that he and Walcott are so different. If you want to tire the legs of the CBs then start with Walcott and bring on Giroud later as a super-sub to over power. Vice versa, start Giroud to give the CBs a tough physical time then bring on Walcott to exploit the pace.
I’d love to see Walcott out right as well, but I think with Welbeck out it’s too risky to start both of them. I think we might see more of the Ox on the right.
Everton better be damn scared of our team!
Exactly this! The fact that our 2 main attacking options at the moment are so different is great, gives us options and keeps the opponents on their toes. It doesn’t necessarily have to be one or the other either, they can both start if needs be with Theo our wide. Exciting times to be a gooner I can feel it
Lovely to see, he always responds well after set backs.
Now that rambo’s injured, why not put walcott on the right and start giroud up top? before he got injured theo proved he could score a load of goals from the wing as well.
And 2 seasons ago Theo was the biggest provider for Giroud goals.
Because we dont have another striker in case we need to rest 1 of them..
I hope we get to see them both play in a 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 if Theo was to play wide. Just think of all the headers giroud can flick on over the line of defenders allowing Theo to latch on to..
I think the competition between the two is only getting the best out of both. Plus, it gives us that ever eluding plan B we have been craving for. Our game changes significantly when Giroud comes in place of Walcott and maybe that confuses the opposition for a little while. So, maybe it is best the way it is.
Agreed. I would go as far as to say that I’d prefer Campbell to start on the wing over Walcott if we ever choose to rest Alexis (while Ramsey, Wilshere, Welbeck & Rosicky are out). This fighting for a single spot thing seems to be good for both of them, and bringing on one for the other must confuse the heck out of the opposition defenders.
With Ramsey now injures I would be very tempted to start Walcott on the right and group up front…
With Ramsey now injured I would be very tempted to start Walcott on the right and group up front…
*Giroud. I’ve had a mare
Alexis looked shattered last night but I would expect him to recover by Saturday because, well , he’s not human is he. Unfortunately The Ox looks lacking in confidence at the moment so I would keep him on the bench and move Walcott to the right and start Giroud up top because of Ramsey’s injury.
Leighton Baines is injured so Walcott’s lack of real defensive acumen on the right shouldn’t be such a problem and with Hector ‘Super boy ‘ Bellerin covering……no problem.
Seems like the best cure for the lack of confidence that you diagnose the Ox as having might be to let him have some games in his best position when the central midfielder who been keeping him out of the team (while playing out of position) goes down injured, I’d assert.
walcot will never get arsenal 20-25 goals. he is not goal scorer. Wenger should forget about walcot and play giroud. He will score more goals and also he will hold up ball in advance areas. Giroud also good target for players like ozil to play off. Remember the great goal wilshire scored and the role giroud played in it
He scored 21 goals in 2012/13.
I’m sure that I saw Hussain’s words somewhere. Maybe from Daily Mail. Not in relation to Walcott and Giroud but they look so familiar. Every single word except the players mentioned.
The Daily Mail is rubbish in many ways but their spelling and grammar couldn’t be that bad.
I have this deep feeling in me that you might not have an idea of what you are talking about. I hold you to a bet on this, if Walcott stays injury free, he will score at least 21 goals (don’t ask why I’m not rounding it off to 20 or 25, I have no idea myself. Plus everyone who has watched Sanchez and Walcott on the pitch at the same time knows they are developing one of the best striking relationships in the league. I can bet on one more thing, by the seasons end, if they continue playing… Read more »
you are a buzz kill, haha
Yawn. Everytime one of the guys scores and the other doesn’t it starts again: “xy is rubbish, yx is the best!”
Can’t we stop judging them on one fecking match??
They’ve already proved they’re both great tools for different strategies, both have good days and bad days and both are Arsenal players who deserve our support, even if they’re going through a rough patch.
End of.
Hope he starts saturday, I’ve just put him in for Aguero in the fantasy 🙂
Fresh & confident Giroud = goals.
The most consistent striker in the premier league for the last three years, second to Aguero. Fact.
Giroud is scoring a goal every 52 minutes this season so far, which beats everyone. Even Lewandowski is a goal every 53 minutes and he has been on fire.
So Giroud hasn’t deserved some of the flack he has been getting.
The fact that he is the second highest goal scorer in the Prem League in the last three years has to mean something?
Our bearded HFB looks like a different machine – more menacing – but producing the important goals when required (kinda reminds me of super sub Poldi). Wanna see Le Prof starting Giroud vs Everton on Saturday. Coming off the bench clearly isn’t affecting his confidence…
I thought he was bloody great when he came on last night. Showed exactly what you want from him. He bullied the centre backs, held it up, generally showed what a fine player he is.
He may not be in Aguero’s class, few are, but he’s one of the best in the next tier.
Ramsey gets injured just as Giroud announces his glorious comeback. It seems fate has decided this team ain’t big enough for two models.
It’s the beard. The beard is doing it for Oli and Theo. Now If Alexis’ perfect physical specimen of a face could get some stubble we’d be truly unstoppable.
I thoroughly subscribe to this ‘stubble power’ you speak of.
We need a world class striker.
We can’t score goals. We will struggle to score against better opposition.
Wenger only bought Cech.
😉
Yeah, but what happens when one or both of our strikers gets injured. The party will be over. Things are going great at the moment, but Wenger should have signed someone
Well we will find out May 2016, won’t we?
Why wait till May? Probably not a popular suggestion following the euphoria of Bayern, but things can change very quickly in football. We have the lessons of the 2008 season to go on. Arsenal were top of the league and flying. Anelka was available and keen to return and would only have cost £10M. Wenger felt we had enough up front, did nothing, then the terrible injury happened to Eduardo and the rest is history. We should at least sign cover in January, especially if Welbeck looks a long way off from a return.
No praises for cech??? He really stuck it out for us against Bayern. It was good to see the whole team show up for defence too. Well done boyz!!! Africa is proud of you more so SANCHEZ,SANCHEZ, SANCHEZ!
If we manage to qualify, then I’ll call this goal the most important this season. 🙂