Olivier Giroud says he was buoyed by Arsene Wenger’s decision not to sign a new striker in the summer and now wants to hit at least 20 goals in a Premier League season for the first time.
The French international has netted 14 times in all competitions so far this campaign, including nine goals in 16 league appearances; an eye-catching set of statistics given he spent the early months of the season behind Theo Walcott in the attacking pecking order.
Speaking to French channel Telefoot ahead of Monday’s game with Manchester City, the striker thanked Arsene Wenger for his support and patience.
“He came to see me [in September] and he said, ‘Listen, I didn’t sign a striker. It was a way of saying to me — even if it put a bit of pressure on me — that ‘I have full confidence in you.’
“Afterwards I continued to work hard at training and above all I was always decisive when I came on.”
He continued: “I don’t know if I’m in the form of my life but in terms of statistics anyway it’s very interesting so I’m going to try to keep it up.
“I want to break the 20-goal barrier [in the Premier League] and after that, in all competitions, it would be between 25 and 30. They’re quite interesting aims that are achievable.”
Not for the first time Giroud was also asked about the criticism leveled at him by Thierry Henry. Harsh words that the ex-Gunner has since toned down.
“When your pride is hurt a bit like that you want to respond on the pitch, but I’m not out for revenge because I had other [critics] and that’s not what’s going to sap my spirit,” reflected Giroud. “But it maybe motivated me even more.”
Score again against city please tonight.
http://fanclub.dfb.de/fan-club/deine-stimme-zaehlt/nationalspieler-des-jahres/
with this player (German player of the year by a margin) assisting should be easy.
Vote here for Ozil, currently he has 56% of the vote.
he did score tonight 🙂
Just came back to this post to say he did !
For me between Giroud, Walcott, Sanchez, Ramsey and Ozil we have enough goals. Campbell has shown to be good cover (probably like most of hoped he would) and Ox continues to threaten to explode. Welbeck as well though it might only be a small contribution this season – getting back up to speed/form will take time. Also, Giroud and Walcott have both upped their games this season. So it would be a welcome addition if we add further goal threat either in the form of a CF or wide players (not saying it has to be but someone like Mahrez).… Read more »
Tonight will be a good time for your first PL hatrick!
You handsome French bastard! 🙂
30 goals from a 12 m striker and another 30 from a 35 m winger. Wenger knows, eh?
the guy perseveres better than most.
Something tells me that’s exactly what Thierry wanted
Great stuff – good to hear Wenger’s man management techniques paying off.
I’m not liking how regular footballers are talking about ‘statistics’ nowadays. Too much time spent on 1 sided stories based on Opta in my opinion.
Keep scoring big goals in big games and I wouldn’t care about the final number in a season.
Has anyone else notice Giroud’s running style has changed since he joined Arsenal. Less bouncy has much faster acceleration now.
It’s called tuning mate.
Yeah man – who knows perhaps in the off season he did some sprint training to change his action?
Chambers said
Oops, Chambers said Shad was working on their running, so maybe that’s the difference, he does seem to be faster.
I pretty sure titi was putting a bit of pressure on giroud for a reason there.
I think he can end the season with 25 goals quite easily.
A fresh Giroud is excellent but his form falls off a cliff when fatigue sets in ,and quite rightly so. We need someone else to come in during January to lighten the load,Welbeck could have done it but the Injury Gods were not in favour. Walcott is brilliant in certain matches when we concede possession and look to counter but obviously can’t do what Giroud can do.
Haven’t a clue who we will go for though.
Olivier is truly our HFB! Just look at those baby blues!
Really glad that he’s on such good form now. Hoping he’ll score a brace vs City tonight.
1
Hat trick today and Giroud will be legend. Forget the target, just score when necessary.
Come on HFB score another hat trick tonight – let’s batter those Manc cunts
COYG!!!
Just really hoping that when the second half of the season comes kicking in, we will have plenty of ‘Like a new signing’ players who will step in and take charge while allowing key players like Ozil and Sanchez and even Giroud to rest their legs. I’m talking about the likes of wilshere, Ox, Chambers and maybe Welbeck too to have an impact and secure us the long waited BPL title. This is the year. Really.
He’s really improved this season but still think we need a world class striker who can turn something out of nothing on his own if we want to win the league. If you look at all the top teams in Europe who have won their leagues in the last 10 years they’ve all had someone like that too.
And we have 2. Ozil can produce an assist out of nothing and Sanchez can score one his own.
That’s true but either way I can’t remember a team winning a major league in the last 5-10 years without one of these forwards. I do think we have a chance this year because of what is going on with the competition but against a fully firing Chelsea, United and City over 38 games I’m just not so sure.
U mean like Lucas Barios, or Mario Mandzukic? Yup, plenty pace with these guys.
Provided he gets enough rest I think he could comfortably make it to 30 goals this season.
He faltered towards the end of last season because he was our only option left up front and was obviously knackered. As long as he’s sensibly rotated with Theo he should be fine.
is good to have a target as a striker but is more important to score in big matches, because it will give you breathing space against the big clubs. Just do your thing and score tonight. GIROUD!
I have to say up until now, I’ve deliberately ignored all attempts by people to Recognise his likeness to Rylan.
But in that particular picture…
Who is Ryland?
I hope he reaches his target and more actually! From the stats I’ve seen he’s been improving each season and while you can attribute this to his desire to get the best out of himself I think it’s also testimony to Arsene. People get better whilst playing for him.