A few BIG reasons for Arsenal to stick with Giroud

The big Arsenal centre forward is in the news again today and once again it is not for the sort of reason the 28-year old would prefer. Olivier Giroud was given the nod by the France manager Didier Deschamps to start their friendly game against Serbia and after missing a few chances and getting booed by the French crowd, he was replaced by Karim Benzema with about half an hour to play.

So the Giroud bashers have been given more ammunition and boy do they love to fire it. But I would like to stick up for the big man and explain why I think Arsenal have no reason to panic and plenty of reasons to keep faith with our striker.

Okay so he has not quite found his shooting boots yet this season, despite scoring a great volley against Crystal Palace. But he will. Giroud does thrive on confidence, like most strikers, and goals provide that confidence, but the Frenchman has proved himself mentally strong and resilient before, plenty of times.

Maybe his worst moment as a Gunner was in the Champions League knockout phase against Monaco last season. He missed a hatful of chances and just one of them would have seen us progress to the quarter final. And so he was slaughtered by his own fans and in the football media, which would have many players hanging their heads and struggling to recover.

Giroud scored the opening goal in a vital Premier League win over Everton in the very next game and then did the same in the next game at QPR. In fact he scored seven in our next seven games, the only time he drew a blank was against Man United in the FA cup and he only came on with 20 minutes left.

So we can reasonably expect Giroud to keep trying and start scoring. Apart from that, he does bring a lot more to the team; namely physical presence, a target man, link up play, great technical skill with his feet and in the air and work rate.

Now while the Giroud haters always scoff at all this, do you really think that Wenger and Deschamps would keep selecting him if this did not matter? Get off his back and get ready to cheer him again very soon.

Tags Deschamps Wenger

38 Comments

  1. Can’t wait for the fixture list to busy up … hopefully the quality of our play goes up, along with the quality of these articles 🙂

    1. Not specifically aimed at you YIM but you do know that half the threads on here are posted by the site’s visitors don’t you? The rest comes from the guys who run the site who are the same as you – Arsenal fans. The regulars on here who complain about the quality of threads should get their fingers out and contribute rather than moan and wait to be spoon-fed.

  2. france only have benzema lacazette and giroud to choose from…

    surprising considering they have such a strong team

  3. Don’t piss me off… After 3 seasons people are still holding out on hope that he will do something worth while, you know what he hasn’t done… Something worth while. For me he hasn’t worked hard enough or done his due dillegance and taken advantage of the opportunities that his been awarded (he literally in the past 2 years is the only striker, who can walk straight into a starting line up) he sits in front of one of the best attacking line ups in the world and its not like chances aren’t being created, he just can’t put them away…. Don’t tell me to have faith in Giroud because i can’t there is nothing in all good logic that dictates he is able to fufil this supposed potential he has… because he hasn’t done it three god damn seasons later.

      1. I said this almost 3 months ago… Christian Benteke in 3 seasons at villa had amassed the same amount of goals and apperances as Giroud, what do Villa not have that Arsenal do… a decent midfield… you see that bit when i said he hasn’t taken advantage of his opportunities… He had same effectiveness as a man who’s team have been in a relegation dog fight for the last 3 seasons and has played in front a far worse midfield..

        1. Ohhhhhh……
          Then what’s the reason behind Costa scoring 1 goal in 8 games provided he plays in front of one of the best midfields in the world?

        2. LOL, man that is compelling logic. AV play a completely different way to us – Benteke was their entire focus and far more direct. Villa created around 8-9 chances per game last year compared to our average of 12 but the majority of Villa’s chances went to CB. Our chances were shared around. Roughly the same number of goals but OG beats CB on just about every other metric known to man when it comes to playing football – passing, possession, creating, defending.

          And ask yourself this – why has CB gone from AVFC to LFC? Every other top 6 PL team has been looking for a striker in the past 12 months. What have you seen that United’s, City’s, Chelsea’s and our scouts missed? Why didn’t Dortmund or Juve or Atletico come in for him? And has he lost his “deadly touch” now he is at bigger club who don’t like kicking it in to the box too quickly?

    1. Done his due diligence? What is he a project manager lol!

      59 goals in 108 starts (many where he hasn’t played 90 mins) Plus 31 cameo sub appearances. That is not a player who cannot score. Sure he is no Messi or Ronaldo, but he has a higuain/benzema type ratio goals per mins played.

      Still everyone is entitled to an opinion. For me he makes my starting x1 when playing most teams, but it would be alongside alexis and Walcott. However against the big boys. I would be inclined to put giroud and Walcott on the bench. Instead playing alexis as a false 9, with Ramsey wilshire cazorla and ozil offering a super creative attacking midfield ahead of coquelin. I just think against the likes of Chelsea, United, liverpool and city away from home that would really work.

      Everyone needs to relax now, the window is done until January, the players need our support. If you have anger express that towards wenger, gazidis, etc, if you must. But as a supporter or fan of arsenal, we should want to win every match and for all our players to play well. What would you rather we be in the bottom half of the table, lose to sure in the cup and exit Europe? Or for us to still be fighting on all 4 fronts come January, with everyone playing well and money to spend.

      Man for man our first choice 22 is up there with anyone else’s, sure we lack world class quality in one or two areas, but in other areas, we also reign supreme. How many of our rivals can boast 2 keepers of the quality of ours?, Chelsea may be. We have 4 decent full backs, 4 decent centre backs and some very good wide men. Outside of our best 22 we have rosicky or arteta and flamini, 2 players who offer great cover, for matches against the likes of Bournemouth, Watford, Norwich, Sunderland, West Bromwich, etc. They are more than capable of holding their own in those games, giving valuable rest to the rest of the midfield.

      There is 3 spaces in our premier league squad and I would like to see us fill them. However should we do that 3 players will have to be left out of the champions league squad, people must understand the restraints, it’s why Chelsea, Man City and United have been unable to fulfill their CL quotas.

    1. i remember euro 2004..that was a teenage beast who loved football an had it all…
      he never improved beyond that.should have been top 3 of englands all time

    2. Don’t understand why the thumbs down………. He equalled sir Bobby charlton’s all time record (and bobby’s an England Legend)……… Maybe cuz Rooney’s not an Arsenal player?

    1. It’s not about just scoring goals, as he is the central figure in an attack that includes Sanchez and hopefully Walcott. Each scoring assisting and winning balls. Btw OG does this better than anyone from a goal kick.

    2. And why do you care? Though you want him replaced. Just keep saying to yourself everytime you see him in the field that he will not score. You will be pleased.

  4. He should stop sticking his tongue out every time he misses a chance and seems to lack the determination to win those 50/50 balls. The Newcastle defence kept outmuscling him everytime Cech punted the ball outfield, and while they jumped for headers, he kept waiting for the ball to land on his head. That was frustrating to watch while he never put in a serious effort to put pressure on the opposition defenders when they have possession, and appears to jog along towards them. Opposition teams come to the emirates to frustrate us with defensive tactics, and Giroud and Walcott should be doing more to force bus parking teams into making mistakes, like the Ox did against Newcastle.

    1. I don’t really care who gets the goals and I also don’t care if a player sticks his tongue out! Wtf? He can stick his cock out for all I care, just win us matches that is all that matters. Honestly what have we had about 4 defeats in 2015? And 2 more trophies!!

      Do people think that if we sign a £50m striker there will suddenly be an extra 20 goals scored? Personally I just think it will mean the focus will be more on that one player, rather than the likes of alexis, Walcott, giroud, Ramsey, ozil, cazorla to score the goals. I would rather have 6 players scoring 15 goals each, than one scoring 30 and the other 6 only scoring 10 each. OK we might not win the golden boot, but we also wouldn’t be heavily reliant on one player.

      1. Yeah, well said. Surprised with all the universal praise of City that no-one has commented that they are waltzing away in to the distance atm with basically the same team as last year and Aguero has just one of their 10 PL goals. Looks like a decent template to me – continuity and share the goals around.

      2. Exactly. If you have a front three that score 15 goals each, as opposed to a striker scoring 30 with another 15 goals shared between the flanks what’s the difference? None…
        We have the most dangerous supporting forward in the league, with Theo more than capable of chipping in a lot of goals from the right. If teams have to prioritize keeping them quiet as well Giroud’s tally will naturally increase.

    2. Ah, I see. This is the issue. His tongue. I am sure you have not seen the game against Newcastle because once he came in Newcastle never came past the midfield in any meaningful action. He kept three defenders in their own half. So much for out muscle him.

  5. we’d stick with Giroud, if he could stick to being a Lethal and potent C.F in front of goal rather than stick out his tongue frustratingly!

  6. As I have said yesterday lets get behind OG and the rest of the team

    but you can all slate or praize management as much s you like after all it’s their vision, controll, and hireling of players,

    I think they have failed us a bit by not buying the two players to fill the position that desperately needed top players

    Just think at this moment there are 88 players in the EPL injured most will be back at the week end but it just shows you how easy it is to get injured and it’s just the beginning of the season

    1. No.. never going to happen.. The day he leaves Ill show up at the Emirates with bells whistles fireworks a srombrero and sh#tloads of beer.. I’m throwing a parade even if we don’t win any silverware whenever that may be.

  7. The team should realise that they earn more than players in teams below us ( Liverpool and Spurs included), and are required to put in more effort to justify their earnings. The simple chances have to be put away, and for both Walcott and Giroud, the goalposts seems to shift when it comes to such chances. These are the one’s we want to see put away, while the more difficult and brilliant one’s put away will make them excellent forwards.

    1. Liv were paying higher wages for allot longer than we. That’s how they kept Suarez for that season not that Suarez agent would admit it though. Also is Hazard automatically a better performer than Sanchez because of wages, or should Leicester players roll over because of their wage.

  8. Convenient of you to seemingly put wenger andDeschamps
    On the same boat concerning the selection of giroud in the squad only that you can almost be sure that Giroud won’t start the next France game.. Or the one after but for arsenal, Good game or nightmare game for him, he’ll still play in the coming games,which brings me to my concern.. Given the average performance by this guy in the last 2 seasons! Why is he still the only designated outfield striker we can/still rely on? What is this? some mystery sci-fi plot on a single “chosen one”? On our striker dilemma Where he’s our harry potter?. Buy other strikers.. Give them the chance you give giroud then we can rate them from there!

    P.s: Goals against Everton and Qpr which only assured our chances of a TOP FOUR finish are not big reasons! (otherwise what will you term it when he scores the deciding goal in the semi final against barca for instance?!)
    Oh, and another thing.. Notice how the coach listened to the fan’s literal crys and made the expected change? No? Probably because it never seems to happen anymore under wenger!!!

  9. There’s only One big reason for Arsenal to stick with Giroud
    and that’s because we have No Other Choice!

    Thanks to Wenger of course! ?

    1. At times OG gets picked by default as the team has only got 2 tall centre backs to defend corners and free kicks against a tall physical opposition…another fine mess Wenger has got us into!

  10. Giroud’s flicks are awesome (Wilshere goal vs Norwich). He’s a good player for me, people complain as if we bought him for +20million. He is good value for money, additionally he allows players like Alexis to shine with his link up play. #NaNaNaGiroud

  11. Yes Giroud needs to improve and that should be the only reason for all criticisms aimed at him… I will have to in my own opinion blame wenger all the way. He should have made the CF position alot more competitive by bringing in a new quality face. It not only improves the team, but individually players too. Anybody notice Chamberlain improved abit after sanchez’s arrival?….

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