Admit it! Giroud has been excellent under pressure

Has Giroud proved his talent this EURO 2016?

I know I won’t be the first one to say it but the Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud has really come to light in these 2016 European Championships, with the Frenchman having yet another impressive display last night.

Giroud came into the tournament a little out of form with Arsenal (although he had scored a hat trick on the final day of the season) but had been ever present with France, scoring many goals for his national side on his team’s preparations for the Euro’s and then so far having scored 3 goals in 5 appearances at the tournament .

Giroud has come under a lot of pressure from both club and country sets of fans and at one point of which Giroud was booed by his national team supporters. With Benzema not being picked for France however, there was a lot riding on Giroud to lead the line with some top quality performances and he has done just that. Giroud has been ever present in front of goal and even though we have again seen some of his struggles with consistency, Giroud is performing excellently so far on the big stage of a major tournament.

Now of course a few good performances here and there doesn’t necessarily tell us anything with Giroud, because as we all know the Frenchman does have an eye for goal, it’s just his consistency that he really struggles with. All I’m suggesting is that so far in these Championships he is shining brightly and he is showing that he can perform at the highest levels of the professional game. With one or possibly two more games remaining, Giroud is in with a real shot at winning the golden boot this summer, if only he could replicate such form with Arsenal on a more consistent basis.

It raises the topic of debate that I’ve had a long standing opinion on surrounding Giroud for a while. I do not think he should be Arsenal’s main striker and I don’t think he should be leading the front line alone. However I do think there is space in this team for Giroud and he has a good set of traits, such as his hold up play and his consistency of heading the ball, which can be utilised by Arsenal when needed. Therefore Arsenal would be maximising his abilities at what Giroud is good at, rather than expecting him to beat defenders with pace and be the energetic striker that simply does not fit in with his style of play. With this in mind I think it’s so important that whilst we do look to secure the services of a top class attacking talent, that we also don’t completely write off Giroud, because as the Frenchman has proved this summer, he does have the strength and ability to perform on the biggest stages.

AH

22 Comments

  1. To be honest, Giroud has been great during this Euros.
    The issue with Giroud is that he’s been perceived to be a WORLDIE/ AWESOME/ POOL 1 striker. He’s not there, and people have been disappointed (France/ Arsenal fans). He’s however a GREAT/ POOL 2 striker… and in that category, he’s performing pretty well.
    If we view Groud for the category of striker he is, we’ll be ok with him. We unfortunately need someone better. No disrespect to Giroud.

    1. @Arsenal007
      I don’t think we need someone better than Olivier. I think we need someone different than him…

      1. Walcott is different from Giroud.
        Sanogo is different from Giroud.
        Welbeck is different from Giroud.
        Asano is different from Giroud.
        Giroud happens to be better than them…in my opinion.
        That’s why I said we need a striker better than Giroud.
        Or maybe I’ll say…We need a striker Better and Different from Giroud.

  2. Giroud IS a good player but the problem is he isn’t world class scorer most of the arsenal wants but he is a brilliant target man but we dont play to his strength.. now there are two options:

    1. we play to his strength emphasizing wingplay/wingscorers like bayern when they won the treble with an inferior mandzukic but they had world class robbery.. and believe me giroud is a much better player than this mandzukic, france also plays in an altered version of this with runners off giroud

    or

    2. we buy another striker who is a scorer and not a target man, who replaces giroud

    or 3. (:P) my most favorite option: we combine both options we buy a scorer and play like france and have sanchez and him running off giroud or we buy a scoring winger like sanchez similar to bayern 2013

    1. Options 2 or 3 for me.Our better wingers prefer to cut inside so and we don’t have as many top quality orthodox wingers.

  3. jesus …the icelandic team have been great under pressure in a mediocre tournament …so what … every serious team is investing seriously in upgrading their first 11, squad and management …what is wenger doing …trolling the J league in the hope of adding to corporate profits is the act of greedy and delusional management … we need two quality strikers as a minimum ..as lots of people on this site said last year dybala and draxler were available and obvious choices but wenger persisted with his current strike force which failed to deliver again and it will in the coming season because it is simply not good enogh relative to the competition which is the only metric that matters … buying rodrguez and seeling gibbs is also an obvious no brainer

  4. Fully agree with AH, Giroud can NOT be the No 1 striker, he’s far too inconsistent and does not fit in with the style of play. At least 2 top strikers are needed, as well as a world class central defender and backup for the defensive midfield position. As I have been saying for a few years now, a hard B2B midfielder in the Patrick Vieira mould will also not do any harm. Tica-taka football will not win this league.

    1. @sagooner
      Olivier does fit in with AFC’s style of play. You need to watch more AFC matches…

  5. Fair play to Olivier Giroud.
    For 10 mill he is an excellent
    2nd striker for Arsenal.
    It is the failure of Walcott Wellbeck Chamberlain
    Podolski Girvinho Sanogo Bendtner Park and Chamakh
    that have prevented Arsenal from winning the EPL.
    Why Arsenal failed to replace RVP I simply don’t know.
    You need to ask another chap who’s name escapes me.
    The French side is packed with talent but have performed poorly
    and Giroud Griezmann and Payet have kept France in the tournament.
    Now go buy a number one striker Mr Wenger.

  6. Just get another “scorer” as Giroud likes competition. He is too unfriendly with consistency that he should not be our only (good) striker. But I prefer he stays and compete with an upgrade and not Welbeck (when ever he’s back).

  7. Look at France and how they play. Payet and Griezeman swirl around OG and fully utilize the strengths of the target man. All three players are doing really great things.
    Now why do the above mentioned players from France play so well with OG? Ask that question.

    1. @Jim A..

      Exactly!

      If only Ramsey is dependable and matured he would have benefitted greatly from Giroud if he plays as our 10, and Sanchez too, we will be so so unpredictable…

      Ozil thrives on strikers that run behind, (Vardy, chicharito,cr7,Walcott)..as Walcott said; “Ozil told me to just make the runs behind”….

      And modern football requires dynamism as those kinda strikers will sometimes face parked defences and their running behind will be useless thus making ozil less effective….

      That’s where no.10s like payet, coutinho,De bruyne to name a few stands out…they can shoot really well or dribble through…

      If only Ozil can switch to that RW and allow sanchez,Ramsey or Cazorla to play behind Giroud..
      But I don’t think we will see that,we need penetration in our hole!

  8. I like that the article appreciates Giroud, he is a traditional target man..not one that can score too many goals,he is a playmaker/striker and he does that really well….

    The problem is our formation at times..Wenger doesn’t like to change his formations and we pass and pass and pass,that has to change….
    Giroud said it two years ago;”sometimes we pass the ball too much”….

    And then, only Sanchez is good enough to play alongside Giroud,Ozil doesn’t suit him as he is also one dimensional(assist only)…
    An instance is our second goal at City,look at the run Sanchez made to receive the lay off from Giroud, Ozil would never that penetrate like that….

    For Giroud to flourish more, we need another scoring LW, a ruthless 10 and reduce our pass.

    1. agree. That second goal at City was a perfect example of what a target man brings to the team. He came to meet the ball and took out both defenders and gave Sanchez the wide open shot.

  9. For me we have never played to Giroud Strengths. He plays better with a supporting striker and that’s what happened when Dechamps switched to 4.4.2…That’s what Wenger should be thinking about at this very minute in time….period

  10. Come on now, lets not make it out to be more than it is. Who have France played, and who is surprised France won these games. We know Giroud can play very well at times. But if this competition was stretched out for a number of months, would Giroud still keep focused. Giroud is frustrating, he can be an animal up front, switching between a lion and a donkey.

    I think people are making it out more than it is because of what he had to put up with. People are glad that he shut up the boos and turned them to cheers. But it is Iceland at the end of the day. Even though they made fools of England, I think we all still expected France to trounce them. Giroud may well end up with the golden boot, but my opinion will not have changed.

  11. It is becoming increasingly clear that we’re not going to get that striker we so desperately desire this season. Possible solutions:

    1) Get a goal scoring winger like Reus, Draxler or Mahrez and stick with Giroud/Welbeck/Walcott as strikers

    2) Sign a striker that has shown great ability in the past but who’s a bit out of the limelight at the moment and hence will come cheap e.g. Sturridge, Benteke, Jovetic or Bony

    3) Hope Akpom does a Kelechi Iheanacho next season

  12. People are forgetting too easily the disastrous run of games Giroud went through last season. I know there were bigger culprits than he, and 17 goals is a decent share, but 14 goals is not, and that’s what he was on before facing the worst side the pl has seen on his last day. 14 goals is a midfielders numbers, Alexis got 17. If fans minds are being turned from these Giroud performances well then I fear the worst – Wenger keeping Giroud as main man and getting in a Welbeck replacement.

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