Olivier Giroud says he’s learned to put the highs and lows of football in perspective, recognising that top level professionals always have the opportunity to put right their mistakes.
The French striker has experienced the fickleness of both terrace opinion and the modern press during a roller coaster season, but maintains that he has the character to take it all on his handsomely chiselled-chin.
“Football is a sport where you need to have a strong mentality because you have to face some difficulties,” the 28-year-old told Arsenal Magazine.
“Even when you play well and score a lot of goals, if you miss some [chances in a] game, everything is forgotten. You have to have a conscience about it and be aware.
Saturday’s 3-0 win over West Ham saw Giroud score his third goal in four games since his well-documented cameo against Monaco. He now has 11 Premier League goals for the season, just two behind Alexis Sanchez who covered for him during his three-month lay-off earlier in the season.
“I know when I play well or not,” he reflected when asked about being subbed in the Champions League first-leg.
“I know how to bounce back. I used to say that football is an everlasting new beginning. You have to be aware of that and do it.
“I try to bounce back as quick as I can and it’s true the boss gave me a chance to do it against Everton. I tried to do it straight away. If you let the doubts enter your head it’s even more difficult to cope.
“There are always tough moments like that because we do a hard job. You have to question yourself every week and bounce back. I try to show my answer on the pitch with my mentality. It was nice to do it.”
The opportunity for further ‘redemption’ comes tomorrow night at the Stade Louis II. Looking ahead to the game, Giroud underlined that the whole squad ‘trusts’ they can score the goals that will help them to the quarter-finals of Europe’s top competition for the first time in five years.
“The first leg was a bad day for all the team, but we have not talked about it too much, we needed to focus on our training and how we were going to work.
“We learn from our mistakes and we will go there with a lot of confidence. We are on a really good run, we trust in our chance to go through and if we create as many chances as we did against West Ham, then we can create hope. We have that experience and we need to show it.”
Bring it on, Moncao
Arsenal is going to Score 3 goals and qualify for quarters.
COYG
#believe #aha
Let’s create history, not hope.
All gunners blazing tomorrow night, as OG put it, see it as an opportunity to right the wrongs of that forgetable 1st leg.
I think we can do it if we start well and get some momentum in the game.
If we manage a goal (or two) in the first 15 minutes, who knows…… COYG!
I’m excited for this game, it presents an opportunity for us to play with the handbrake off. Regardless of the outcome I think we’ll be in for some very entertaining football. #COYG
thats a nice thought. creating hope.
I love Giroud. He might not be “world class” to some but he is without doubt a very good striker. His goal rate is up there with the best 9s at the moment. He can be the hero tomorrow night. Watch this space.
Isn’t his goals/minutes better than Costa’s? He should get way more acknowledgement than he does…
Yeah you’ve got to remember he spent 2 months out with his ridiculous broken leg.
Not quite but it’s up there. Depending on where you look (Squawka/Whoscored), then you’ll see that Agüero scores a goal every 102 mins, Costa every 103/104 mins, Giroud every 105/106 mins. Now that’s pretty damn good. Amazingly, though, they’re not the top 3 (of players that have scored at least 10 Premier League goals this season). That accolade (currently) goes to Papiss Cissé who’s scoring at a rate of once every 93/92 minutes! Crazy, right?! Got a bit distracted by stats there. Anyway, the point is, he certainly doesn’t get enough credit for what he brings to this team and… Read more »
Agree completely. I think if he plays like he did against West Ham, I struggle to think of a better fit for Arsenal as a lone striker.
HFB is better than those 2 from a ‘team player’ perspective but he does let himself down sometimes by trying too hard to score. He got so hyped up in the first leg that he out-psyched himself. Hopefully he won’t feel that much pressure now and after scoring with his first shot his confidence will carry him through the rest of the game with another 4 goals!!!!!!!
The previous 2 seasons I was an advocate for upgrading on Giroud whom I saw as a mediocre striker not at the level required for a club like Arsenal. This season however he has really stepped up his game and become a real quality striker that im glad to have in our team. He is no longer static, he has started using his physique to his advantage, he is technically better, he has added clever movement and positioning to his game, and his finishing has improved many fold. His improvement has really amazed me. As someone who developed as a… Read more »
I don’t think it is just his improvement but it is more a change of the players around him. Last year with all the injuries and lack of depth other teams would just collapse down on him. Now with players like Alexis and Welbeck etc they can longer just collapse down on him and it allows him to show his skills more.
he also stopped whinging and finger flicking as much and I honestly think that has contributed to his improvement
This season he’s not on his own up front being the only ‘out ball’ which meant last season every CB would jump all over him constantly. He got no protection from the refs from the ever present knee in the back. This season Alexis and Danny have often been good alternative ‘out balls’ as they’re very quick in transition from defence to attack.
I still do think hes become more robust and actually using his strength to the maximum and not doing that thing that most footballers do and cry about a bit of contact. I felt like for his size in previous seasons he would get pushed around a bit more than he does now, and that for is a consequence of him saying
“fuck this, it doesn’t even hurt, have some of it back”
One more mention of Giroud not being world class, and I’m going to start my comments here with a swear word.
POLL :
Win the epl/FA cup double
Or
Win the champs league and finish 5th (behind Manu for the lulz)
To be fair, if we won the CL we wouldn’t need to qualify for that competition, so ending 5th wouldn’t mean much (technically).
Think that was his point. I’d still take the league, purely because that would mean Chelsea finishing the year trophyless (not including the league cup). However, I think there’s about as much chance of me turning out against United for the penultimate game of the season than us making up 10 points on Chelsea. And I’ve never even played Sunday league.
I would go for the CL, just so those blue cunts don’t have one up on us. The cunts.
I want the treble,
I want Jose to cry,
I want John Terry to cry,
I want their tears to form a toxic cloud that swells up around stamford bridge and makes everyone poor and crying.
You know i have had it up to here hating Chelsea, they really need to get off the stage and let me hate someone new. Man City or Liverpool.
Even Rooney only gets an immediate hate from me – i.e, i have to be thinking about him or seeing him to feel the hate.
Don’t forget making Stevie G cry on his birthday
Stevie G will be hailed by liverpool fans as the best player to not win a premier league.
but that’s bollox – he is in fact the best player to be the entire cause of his not winning a premier league.
I dont hate him, i laugh at him – he is a roy of the rovers, flash in the pan, highlights reel that was built for cups and moments rather than leagues and seasons.
If he cries on his birthday then i think thats a nice thing.
My only regret is that he never went to Chelsea
And I’d probably agree with them. Think of him what you will, no denying he is/ was a damn good player. And although his reasons for not going to Chelsea were probably not as romantic as he’d have everyone believe, given that about 10 years ago he could’ve probably walked into most midfields in the world surely he deserves commendation for sticking it out?
Why not the CL, the FA Cup and 3rd? You know, the position we find ourselves in at the moment.
I’d settle for both next season.
Believe is the Key, yes we can !!! #COYG
Could we please leave the talking to the performance on the pitch!!??????
No.
There wouldn’t be much need for a comments section then.
Apologies for the silly question but, what does it mean when a part of a quote from a player is put into a bracket? Thanks.
(Google)
😉
It’s something they may not have actually said but was obvious what they meant, so to make it make sense on paper the person reporting the quote adds the words in the brackets
Close. But that is not strictly correct. It is actually used when the person is using a robotic voice. Of course, you wouldn’t be able to tell from the printed words. It would be a real shame to let all of that artistic imitation go to waste, so we put it in brackets. Journalist: Mr. Wenger, are you considering strengthening in the midfield this summer? Wenger: We are open to possibilities but, at the moment, we are not close [to signing anyone] Actually, one would no be surprised to have that whole damn answer in brackets. Like this: Journalist: Mr.… Read more »
It’s often used when someone uses pronouns that make sense in the context of an interview but not an article. So the interviewee says “She came over last night” but the article says “[Sarah] came over last night” so that things make sense for the reader.
Other uses include clarifying implications. If the interviewee said “I’m going Saturday” the article might say “I’m going [to the match] Saturday.”
@Mootilated. It denotes the writer’s own words or emphasis rather than verbatim words of the person being quoted. @Gunnarama that was so helpful to a humble guy
Thanks! 🙂
Monaco will spank arsenal. But atleast atmosphere is good around the club. Credit to the manager and players.
Mootilated, usually done when the quote has been edited to avoid being ‘lost in translation’, owing to the limitations of the subject/speaker with the English language. There may be other reasons, though.
Back to topic; I am fully persuaded Arsenal shall qualify tomorrow.
Spot on as ever, slightly different take on the game tomorrow night, how similar is it to the 1970 Fairs Cup Final?
http://www.rightattheend.co.uk/2015/03/3-1-down-3-0-upmonaco-v-arsenal-arsenal.html
Match summary… the first 20 mins==> Arsenal will score two quick goals for the next 70 mins or so we will hit the bar, post (posts rather), the ref, linesman (yes both again), the ref behind the posts..Every possible obstacle but the f***** ball will just refuse to go in. AW after the game…”We didh ith, well almost…” followed by the usual lecture of mental strength (or lack of it).. @Blogs, Why we screw up every time in the first leg in CL knockout, every single time? As if the target is to reach the stage and once we are… Read more »
Giroud was in brilliant form before the Monaco game and he came out and spoke about being more composed in front of goal and how much confident he is going into the game. And then went on to miss three sitters against them.
The moral of the story is : Don’t tempt fate.
As much as I’d love to see us go win this game tommorrow, I too think it will be a close match, one we will win, but just not enough goals. Hope is there and I am gonna do as much drinking, crisps-eating, shouting and farting in front of the telly as possible. And yet I am more optmistic than ever, that this end of the season run-in is gonna be awesome. I want the players n Arsene just to do their shit and give every single game a right good go. Rrrrrrrrrrr. It’s a feeling. Let’s play our dream-football.
Hi Everyone, I’m not a stranger to the Emirates but for the first time tomorrow I’ll find myself working and stopping in London whilst it is an away game. Any recommendations where I can catch the game either near the ground or central London?
Not the Sports Bar in Haymarket, I saw the first leg there…
Try to ask in the tomorrow blog’s arses around 10am, much more people there.
Have a feeling that Walcott could deliver the goods somehow. He is quick to get into very dangerous positions but like Santi after injury needs a bit of time to zero his sights. A brace from him and we will be within sight. Also feel somehow Alexis might be pivotal and may nab us the ‘winner’ close to the end when it gets tetchy. All this of course will be nought if we do not keep a clean sheet. Contrary to popular opinion and I say this as one of the few start of season who mentioned he was likely… Read more »
Although I agree Flamini is much better than many on here can understand, this game is likely to be Monaco defending their box with 10 behind the ball and trying to break quickly while our FBs are playing as wingers. Flamini is a step slower than Coq so I expect Coq to play instead (not being a mind reader, I could easily be wrong). Similarly, although Theo is better than he’s given credit for in tight spaces, he’s better with space so I think (in view of Monacos expected game plan and his lack of match sharpness) he’ll be on… Read more »
We are going through to the quarterfinals. We lost the home leg when everything that could possibly go wrong all went wrong at once. We had Giroud miss half a dozen sitters that he’d normally bury. We had our midfield consistently missing passes they’d normally make in their sleep. We had an opponent that knew they were the underdogs and had nothing to lose. We dominated the first 35 minutes then got kicked in the nuts when Monaco opened the scoring on a fluke deflection. The whole match was Murphy’s Law in glorious 4D technicolour Imax surround sound. There’s no… Read more »