Olivier Giroud says that Arsenal finishing second and winning the FA Cup would be a season of improvement, but he wants the club to build on that for the next campaign.
The last time the Gunners got as high as second was in the 2004-05 season when 83 points saw them finish 12 behind Chelsea, but after a number of years of scrapping for a top four position, recent form has made this a much more comfortable run-in.
Giroud sees progress and wants to continue that in the 2015-16 season, saying, ““Hopefully if we can have less injuries, keep the same group and with maybe one or two new players, we will have a great season next year,” he said.
“We have to finish this one first, and to get second and win the FA Cup would be a great season. It has been a few years since we finished second and if we can do it we can see an improvement, which is great.
“But the championship is not finished, which is why we need to focus in the last five games to keep second place.
“I know we can still improve ourselves and that is what we have been doing since I signed for Arsenal. I am proud about it and pleased with that.”
The Frenchman was also the subject of some rather pointed criticism from Thierry Henry who told Sky Sports at the weekend that Giroud “does a job but you can’t win the league with him”.
It seems a rather odd point to make when he is a long way from the reason why the league was out of reach this time around, and a rather big reason why we’re currently on such a good run of form.
He continued, “As for myself, in sport you have to question yourself every week and be ready in your head and you have to be at 100% of determination if you want to keep going and win games; you cannot afford to be at 80% or 90%.
“You have to have faith in your own qualities, that is part of being a footballer: being strong in your head. That is more than half of the quality you need to be a football player.”
Some odd comments from Henry – re: Giroud and also Ozil – considering they’re a big part of why we’re doing so well second half of the season
I’m thinking Sky probably made him say that sort of crap, they are always looking for sensational headlines.
Well I don’t think he said anything overly offensive towards the individuals in question. Although I disagree with him saying that Giroud can’t win you any PL title I believe that he is right about the techniqual aspect of Girouds game.
He just isn’t the player that will create stuff all by himself. He is mostly reliant on other players to deliver him the opportunities I am not saying that is a negative thing. I think Giroud is a very good player I just got to agree about certain aspects of his game leaving more to wish for.
Loved this from Coquelin though.
“Thierry Henry is wrong. Giroud shows his potential every week. He showed that he has the level to be the Arsenal striker, and we can win titles with him.”
(Quotes are from an interview with RMC)
Love Coquelin for sticking up for his team-mates. Flat-out called a legend wrong to stick up for Giroud. Leader.
Our French boys – past and present really need to sort it out within themselves.
Must have been so comforting for Giroud that he didn’t even bother addressing it again.
Though Henry is half right i think….
To me, he is talking as a fan. To say we can’t improve is illogical. A keeper who can command the area, a CB who can lead from the front, a better DM than Coq who will challenge him and be that extra guy who will play alongside him in big games where we need to shut up shop, or in case he gets injured, and a world class striker to challenge Giroud – Welbeck is not that guy. I would be delighted if we went out and got the players
I really disagree with Thierry about this. If we had Giroud and Ozil all season playing like they have been recently then I feel confident we’d still be in the title race. I thought Thierry was a decent pundit for BBC at the World Cup but since he’s been on Sky I haven’t been impressed with him at all. I’ll always love him and to be honest, I couldn’t care less if he’s a good pundit or not, but there are so many people that are calling for him to replace Arsene one day. If Thierry actually believes what he’s… Read more »
Peopoe allways call pundits had whenever they dont share the same opinion as themselves. Henry says what he thinks and is entitled to his opinion, it does jot make him a bad pundit just because he is not praising Every arsenal player. And looking at it objectively without letting your heart gets it two cents in then ye talks alot of sense imo. Are there better goalkeepers out there? Definetely, better CB’s? Definetely, better DM’s? Definetely, better Strikers? Definetely. Would we be more likely to mount a title challenge in the future if we strenthten the spine of our team… Read more »
Pretty sure thierys comments have been blown way out of proportion. He gets paid to be a pundit now and analyse football teams strengths and weaknesses. Noone wants to hear him consistantly say how amazing our team is when there are clearly places we need strengthening. Giroud is a great striker, but champion teams have more than just 1 good striker on the books.
Im pretty sure thats what thiery was getting at rather than just having a blatant dig at our HFB.
I think majority of the criticism is just because he isn’t a pacy forward and hasn’t got a good rating at FIFA 15 (79 WTF).
People need to detach Thierry the pundit from TH14 the legend.
Pundits are paid to say punchy things, both Neville and Carragher have also slated their respective former teams, loyalty or personal friendships are simply don’t come into it, it’s just the media like to magnify Thierry’s words a thousand fold for some reason.
That’s wrong mate, most team that use one striker have a decent back up, hence Madrid cldnt keep hold of Benzema and Higuain.
Madrid – Benzema and Hernandez
Bayern – Lewandowski and Pizarro
Barcelona – Suarez and Pedro (Messi cums in Pedro goes right)
Chelsea – Costa and Remy or Drogba
Liverpool – Sturidge and Balotelli
Psg – Zlatan, Cavani now plays right wing, replaces Zlatan wen out
Henry did do a wonderful job as a player for us. He was my favourite when he did.
However, isn’t this the same kind of message he and Viera often aired during their days with us?
Wenger will largely I guess will make his own stars rather than buy them, even the ‘Invincibles’.
My only quarrel with Giroud is that he cant make chances for himself. So for him to score he needs it on his head or assisted in a position where he can finish without having to take on any defenders. He can take on anyone in the air though. But he is a magnificent teamplayer and I think it is the understanding he has built with his teammates more than anything that has lifted Giroud to new heights this season. But if you gave Giroud this challenge where he get to start in midfield with the ball and then needs… Read more »
That’s what happens when you spend time around Redknapp and Carragher. Unfortunately some of the bullshit rubs off on you and you find yourself spouting nonsensical bollocks every now and again. Even a legend like Henry is not totally immune to that level of toxicity.
Idolised Henry the player. Strongly dislike Henry the pundit. Bang out of order to levy that barb at Giroud. He’s had an outstanding season and technically, he’s actually getting better
It’ll be interesting to see Arsene’s response if/when he’s asked about Henry’s analysis. I’m just hoping for some, any, indication that they have some sort of understanding that Thierry can mouth off as much as he wants to to earn his Sky paycheck while retaining his relationship with the club. Little delusional, I know, but infinitely preferable to acknowledging that the man with a statue outside the Emirates has such poor (and inconsistent) judgment. And Giroud has really stepped up this season, against my expectations. If there’s a real disappointment, it’s Welbeck – I thought he’d pull an Henry, especially… Read more »
You would expect though, that a player with a career around 30 years long, in which he has played under some of the best coaches, in 5 different countries and leagues would have enough knowledge to provide some good insight and discussion rather than having to stoop down to stuff like what he said.
Henry, a guy who has won titles with us, Barcelona, a world champion, a former professional, doesn’t know what he’s on about does he. Us ‘fans’ know more.
No, Wenger knows more. And going by your logic, Carragher and Owen give great analysis.
Really well said sir. I think they call that check mate.
By that logic, Scholes and Owen must be incredible pundits.
No. Pundits come in all shapes, sizes and colors. Henry is the last one to criticize Arsenal because he is a fan. So when he does, you have to weigh his comments with the reality of the situation. Reality is, we can improve, and the positions he mentioned are or main problem points in his opinion and I agree
He wasn’t “positive enough” for the positive fans.
Because being a fan is all about being critical of the team you support? A fan refers to someone who supports his club through thick and thin. This does not mean he cant criticize or question some of the decisions but all in all a fan should try to portray positivity. But alas, this is the age of the keyboard warrior, where the amount of criticism and abuse hurled makes you some kind of internet diety. Football has changed. For the worse.
Show me where i have “hurled insults” at giroud or any arsenal player for that matter??
So tell that to the giroud fanboys who feel he can’t be criticized or his ability questioned because he has nice hair or whatever.
What he said about Ozil and Giroud is just plain wrong, in the eyes of most fans, a lot of other pundits and also Wenger. I’m fed up that Arsenal fans can’t bring themselves to criticise Henry’s punditry. It’s not very good, he’s too reactive and a little irrational. These are not good characteristics for a manager even if they do make one hell of a player.
He is right, Giroud is not that striker who will pull something out of the bag when the team is playing rubbish, or being choked like against the scum, someone who will get you a goal from nothing, like Costa or Hazard do for the scum.
I am talking about not just being contenders, but real favorites to win the title. We need an Ibrahimovic or Lewandowski
Eh United at home? We couldn’t hit a barn door all day and then Boom. That was his first game back too
Surely Ramsey, Cazorla, Wele, theo, ozil and ox could score more??
Who won that game?
The referee, mostly.
First United goal, Fellaini was a couple of yards offside, and then committed a foul (pushing Gibbs into Szczesny) to allow the shot and subsequent fluke deflection to happen. Goal should never have counted. Then, while still 0-1, the cunt McNair snapped Wilshere’s ankle in two. Cast iron red card, no doubt about it, but not even blown for a foul. If those two calls are made correctly, Yernited don’t stand a whelk’s chance in a supernova of winning the match.
What a load of rubbish! When a team is not good enough, the decisions of the referee becoming a more decisive factor. When it is good enough, bad decisions are more or less nullified.
Who will be depressed if we turned around tomorrow and said we had agreed a deal for Lewandowski?
Henry didn’t say Giroud was poor, far from it, he actually praised him, but he also said we need a world class striker if we want to win the league. Can’t disagree with that assessment
the “positive fans” won’t see it that way despite henry clearly stating he “could do a job”.
Even if suarez and messi were available, giroud fanboys won’t want us to sign them because it would “kill him”
50% people will be depressed….
I don’t even understand why you mention Costa. While it’s painful to admit that Costa is an incredible finisher, he’s nowhere near a player that can get you a goal from nothing. He’s a simple player that will finish off a chance and is great at that which is what makes him good. If you had mentioned someone like Aguero it would have made sense. The problem with Ibrahimovic is that he has his infamous bad history with Arsenal, and the fact that he’s turning 34 this year, and that his injury record is getting worse, and that he has… Read more »
If anyone can tell you a thing or two about world class strikers, it’s Henry. Shame on so called fans who are criticizing him for his opinion
Except you know, for the fact that Henry just a few weeks ago was talking about Giroud’s record on Sky and was praising him and kept insisting on how he’s under-rated by saying that if anyone else was doing what he was doing they would be called the best in the league. A few moments later Alan Smith praises Giroud but finishes off by saying “you still get the feeling, there’s a sense that well he’s doing well Olivier, but maybe he’s not top level, maybe we need to get another striker in, you know another lad would do well”… Read more »
Henry praised him again. He didn’t criticize him except to say maybe he’s not that guy. Maybe you should go back and check again. He only said we need a world class striker. Saying that is not a slight on Giroud, in fact Giroud is that type of player who plays better when he is challenged. What better way than to bring in a world class striker?
Nothing wrong with changing your mind or realising u were wrong I thought Podolski was a better signing than Giroud & I’m sure I’m not the only 1, but obviously I was wrong and I’ll admit it. Giroud is a good striker but if there’s an opportunity to get a better striker, I wouldn’t have a problem with it. Like blogs always mentions people seem to find things to moan about when we don’t win & unfortunately Henry is the current scape goat. We failed to score in both games vs Chelsea this season, Henry thinks we need a better… Read more »
Henry has his opinion, so does people who listen to him. You can’t insist people to agree with something they don’t. As long as criticisms are done in a decent manner, without swearing and creating needless problems, there is no problem doing that.
You are right. There aren’t many strikers available and for the price we want. The only possibility would be Cavani given that he and Blanc don’t get on but its a still long shot.
Cavani ? Not better than Giroud imo.
Cavani IS better…despite playing mostly as a winger at psg has a goal ratio of more than a goal every 2 games. He’d thrive playing alongside ozil.
Cavani is a bit different to Giroud. It would be an improvement, certainly. But it all depends on what Wenger sees from Welbeck in the summer and what we plan to do with Walcott and Podolski
May be it is just me, but whenever I have seen Cavani play, he has a piss poor match. Given that most of him I have seen in CL and WC, I am not sure if he is great at big games. With Giroud improving himself in the big games and continuing his improvement ever since he joined us, I am not really sure Cavani is gonna be a huge improvement on what we have.
Cavani in the PL would be no better than Falcao. Good scoring record in a shit league, but hopeless in the PL.
Wow why didn’t Wenger think of that?! Get a world class striker! Get your head outta your arse and be realistic.
I wouldn’t swap Giroud for Costa. Madness.
We aren’t out of the title race because of Giroud. If anything, it’s because we didn’t have anyone as good as him when he was injured.
Point proven – we need a world class striker
So you’re saying that Giroud was the world class striker we needed? I mean that totally contradicts your arguments above. The OP essentially said that the team required someone with Giroud’s ability and didn’t have it and you have agreed.
I think you’ve come down on the wrong side of your own opinion and argument.
No, The Playmaker has said Giroud was injured so we missed his goalscoring ability up front. Say that is true, the argument of getting a world class striker is valid. My opinion is Giroud is not good enough to lead the line, although he has been brilliant for the part of the season he has been available. But you can’t base his ability on one or two seasons. He has improved no doubt, but is he that guy who will take Arsenal up another level, who will terrify defenses? In my opinion no, he’s not. The conclusion the same, we… Read more »
Costa is not a player who can pull something out of nothing. His goal scoring record is due to a fully fit team playing at a very high level throughout the season. A big chunk of his goals have come from the 6 yard box, which Giroud can score well too. Costa is an amazing finisher and Giroud has improved leaps and bounds in that department and pretty sure he is gonna continue that too. As far as Hazard is concerned, we have a similar player in Alexis.
The difference is Costa can run in behind defences, which allows the team tosit back and defend and hit teams on a quick break. Giroud doesn’t allow for that possibility. Henry allowed for that possibility. Giroud is great in the box, but not playing off the shoulders of defenders. Welbeck or Walcott could be that player, but they have big issues with important aspects of their game. Not clinical enough and not hard working enough respectively. Sanchez could do that job but he is great running from deep and from the wing also. There is no substitute for pace up… Read more »
Giroud is unfairly criticised, we have two others who could do better on the scoring front: Theo and Welbeck.
Sadly people just want to see something flashy.
Giroud is simply criticised because he can’t outpace defenders, the same way Mertesacker often becomes the scapegoat of our defensive problems even when he isn’t at fault because he’s slow.
Giroud is flashy in his own way, and he’s very good. I guess, people just don’t like the fact that he depends on his teammates a lot more than Aguero or someone similar.
I think if that welbeck chance fell to Giroud – it would have been buried in the net. He is clinical. Had he been fit whole season, he could have topped the scoring charts.
It seems retirement doesn’t do these footballers any good.
Also we have someone who makes things happen and his name is Alexis Sanchez.
Henry should temper his words and not over react to show he is ‘unbiased’ in the media. Giroud is arguably a more effective striker than Costa (if not on par) see below and better than Kane in terms of strike rate per minutes played : http://eplindex.com/66461/comparing-olivier-giroud-leagues-best-strikers.html Henry needs to do a bit of homework. Also we drew with Chelsea last season as we have this season but this season’s draw feels different. Last season we were mainly on the back foot defending and unable to get at them. This season we took the initiative and had them defending instead for… Read more »
Yep, we all know he’s not an aguero or bitey McBiteyson and we also know we need to add to the strike force but he always manages to tuck away a very decent quota of goals each season.
ManU had VanP and Rooney but brought in Falcao who… U know the rest.
Suarez has not made any difference for Barca. They’re still as good.
Big name signings does not guarantee success player improvement does.
Mr Henry should know that because he was just an average striker when we brought him in.
Suarez is doing well now and it will get better for him.
Wrong…barca frontline has improved with the addition of Suarez. He’s might have started off slowly, but he’s added something new to their team.
Let’s say for arguments sake Suarez has not improved Barcelona. That just goes to show Barcelona is such a great team. You can’t really do much to improve them.
And the next, and the next, and the next…
Until Akpom has his 30 goal season and Giroud (ageless and handsome still) goes on to take us through the cup games on our treble winning season.
I love Henry to death, but I was a bit disappointed by his comments. Especially when you consider that Giroud has shown considerable year on year improvement at the Emirates.
Besides, who is this mythical ‘world class’ striker that a massive improvements over Giroud and the solution to all our problems? Maybe Cavani, and I’m not fully sold on him. It’s not all if we can go to eBay and click ‘buy’
I am really getting pissed off about this issue of Giroud not being world class, What should the guy do for the club for him to be well appreciated? I bet if Giroud was scoring at this rate at Montpellier now, all these arsenal fans,Henry inclusive would be saying Wenger should sign him, and that he is a beast n wd fit perfectly. Now, we’ve him, and some of u are saying he’s not world class n can’t win us the league,BULLSHIT, Henry shd mention one top striker anywhere who is tried and tested and can outscored Giroud in the… Read more »
If Giroud was to be in another club,most of you guys would raving about we signing him. Henry should really call Giroud and apologise, if Giroud was in Titi era at arsenal, he would have been a better player cos he would definitely benefit from berkgham and the rest.
Henry might have made his comments out of disappointment, but lets be honest, he did make legit points. Yes Giroud has improved over the last few months, but he just doesn’t have that x factor like an aguero, lewa, costa…slag me off all you want but it’s the truth. We can not win the league with giroud, welbeck as our strikers. The most CRUCIAL moment when we needed giroud against Monaco, he choked. Did the same against besiktas at the beginning of the season. Fact is we can do better than giroud…people need to stop acting like if we replace… Read more »
Zzz.. Stop with this “world class” stuff that somehow they’ve been making goals out of nothing by themselves in every games. They don’t exist. Aguero have so many off games as anybody else. And Chelsea isn’t winning the league because of Costa, they’re winning because as a team they play better & more consistent for the whole season. More than us.
Costa, whether you like it or not is a MAJOR COMPONENT in chelsea winning this season. The difference between chelsea last season and this one was a lack OF A CLINICAL Finisher like costa…that’s why they’re winning. City won the league last season because aguero AND dzeko were clinical in the matches they played(aguero scored 17 in 21 and dzeko scored 16 despite being second choice). Van Rapist’s 30 goals played a HUGE role in manure winning the league last season. Stop making excuses for giroud…if we had aguero or costa in this team i assure you we would much… Read more »
I guessed Henry choked in champions league final for us too then?
Matter of fact he did. But he also showed up against madrid at the bernabeu…that’s what i mean when i talk about the x factor.
He also showed up at milan against inter when we beat them 5-1.
Truth be told henry also did disaappear in certain periods…but unless you’re trying to compare henry to giroud, then you’ll get the point i’m trying to make.
I might just go ahead and buy myself a Giroud kit, that’s how much I like him. Or maybe a Coquelin one now, after he resumed his defensive responsibilities off the pitch too.
I think the truth may lie somewhere in the middle concerning this debate. Yes as we’ve all seen Giroud whiff on several golden chances in a few key games this season. But no striker on earth is going to convert 100% of their chances. Poor timing or nerves maybe? Regardless, Giroud is an integral part of this team, and we would not even be close to our current position without him. Just look at the recent FA cup game for example when he came off the bench and the team sprang to life. Or even our league position earlier this… Read more »
Yes Giroud has been an intergral part of the team, but we can also do better than him. Fergie in his last season bought van persie despite rooney scoring 28 league goals the previous season and the result?? It WON HIM THE LEAGUE. So all this talk of “getting someone to help giroud” is nonsense…isn’t that what wenger thought when he bought welbeck?? what has been the result?? Its simple…if we want to challenge/win the league and epl we definitely need a world class DM and ST to do so. Other teams aren’t going to standstill so we can catch… Read more »
I’ve got nothing but respect for Thierry but I ain’t agreeing with him on his analysis the other day. Other than scoring goals Giroud is massively important to our build up play with the hold up and the flicks etc. Costa can’t do that. He’s the guy that draws defenders towards him thereby creating space for your Ramseys and Sanchez. He can become even better as he ages because he doesn’t rely on speed to get away from defenders. Wenger might decide to supplement Giroud with another striker but even then Giroud will play a major role in our campaign.… Read more »
what thierry means is that giroud is just a big lump and easy to mark out in a big game. he is looking for a more mobile version, wily and quick at taking the half chance. if he meant someone along with giroud I can go along with that.
To win the PL we need a striker like giroud. a real no. 9. battling at corners, crosses etc.
a small tinkering in the team and we can win the thing. and moronho knows it.
what we need are battling performances from week 1 next season.
Raheem Sterling Anyone
Fuck off Owen.
Meant for Nepaligooner.
Fuck, no!
Meant for Nepaligooner, “Reply” button didn’t seem to link it right.
And to be crystal clear, I’m replying to your comment, and not to you. My heart goes out to you and your countrymen right now.
Sherwood must be confident after watching the gunners against Chelsea.They were unlucky to lose to MC.Believe me Wenger ball ie full of passes will lose to speed.
So don’t be surprised the gunners lose the CF. Anyway Arsenal have no divine right to win.
I just hope I am wrong because Wenger ball gives time to defenders to come back in numbers to
stifle the gunners. It has happened time and again and will again if Wenger aint careful.
Yeah, we were so easy to stifle when we stuffed them 5-0 at our place and 3-0 at their place. /s What team is it that you’ve been watching this last couple of months? Because the one I’ve been watching has won 8 out of its last 9 games, has beaten Manchester City and Manchester United away, tore Liverpool a new one at home and just about shaded the game in a cagey draw against the Champions elect. Yes, we were hardly at our fluent best on Sunday but we played against an incredibly well organised side, managed by a… Read more »
What are they smoking over there at Sky Sports?
I watched all of Henry’s comments back last night and I don’t think what he said about Giroud was actually that bad. He heaped praise on him, said he had performed very well this season but simply said that (in his opinion) he’s not an excellent player, the sort to win you titles. Of course the media take the worst of the comments, but I think when viewed in their overall context he wasn’t that critical. I don’t think anyone would really disagree that Giroud isn’t an excellent player; he’s clearly very good and improving but nobody can reasonably claim… Read more »
Olly if you ever read these comments rest assured some of us appreciate you as a very important player for us and we are very happy to have you in the team …
Keep banging them in
He’s better than van Persie!!
(No we don’t want you back, Horse Face Glass Ankles).
Seems like Henry isn’t quite ready for management then people… or perhaps punditry is fucking with his mind!
Whenever one of our players mentions something like “maybe with one or two new players” I can’t help but wonder if they have any particular players or positions in mind. Fans never seem to stop voicing opinions on which positions need strengthening, but I would be really interested in the player’s opinions on this. Do they also see Arteta as insufficient backup for Coquelin (as so many people on here seem to do)? Do the defenders want a new forward and the forwards a new defender, to improve the team without threatening their own position? Or do they really cherish… Read more »
Darn it, this is the other Giroud story. Hard to tell the difference, but that quote was in the other one.
Re Sunday’s match, hated that Giroud just watched that pass go behind him instead of turning around to put it in. With just a few minutes left that would have been it.