After capping a fantastic Champions League performance with his first ever Arsenal hat-trick against Olympiacos and following that up with the opening goal in our Premier League trip to Aston Villa, Olivier Giroud will already have been feeling pretty pleased with himself.
But just in case he was not happy, the former Arsenal strike star Thierry Henry and his current colleague in the forward line Theo Walcott have spoken out to heap more praise on the big France international. Henry, who is one of only two Gunners to score 50 goals for the club faster than Giroud, was fulsome in his praise in a Sky Sports report.
Working in his role as a TV pundit, Henry actually made his fellow Frenchman the pick of the Arsenal players from the Aston Villa game. Perhaps it was another attempt to apologise to Giroud for the comments that upset our centre forward in the summer.
Henry said, “For me, he was man of the match.
“I like his all-round play and his work-rate. We all know he can hold the ball well up front and he does it with ease at times. He can hold the ball, flick it, and will also do the dirty work.
“He’s always available, that’s one thing I like with him. He will always ask for the ball.
“Well done to him and Arsenal at the moment. They are flying.”
Also, even though he is in direct competition with Giroud for the coveted centre forward role, Walcott spoke in another Sky Sports report about how great it was to have the big man on the pitch with you.
The England forward said, “He’s in great form at the moment.
“He’s a dream to play with and he makes our job a lot easier. As soon as I won the penalty, I just knew that he would score.
“Confidence is streaming through him and you want that in the busy Christmas period. You want players that are on form and he’s definitely one of them.
“It’s not just his goals, it’s his general play and everything about him. The way he holds the ball up, he blocks it and defends it, and he works hard from the team from defensive corners and everything.”
Better than being called a donkey by the likes of Piers Morgan eh Ollie?
Great to see Giroud getting some positive plaudits. Also great credit to Wenger who has built and managed a squad who are pulling together and playing for each other. Let’s hope it continues for the remainder of the season and that we achieve some real success this year.
Big up’s OG. His really proving a lot of people wrong, hope he continues his good form and bang another hatrick against City.
OT: Guess Chelsea rounded off a good week for them too, into the round of 16 in the UCL and in 16th place in the EPL. At the rate at which they are going we can look forward to a mouth watering London derby between Chelsea and Fulham next season.
It would be ironically hilarious if they were to win the CL…LOL
True. Championship team in the UCL.
@007
It would be a new world record in football. A Championship team that won the Champions League. Jose would be praised as the best manager of all time…Lol
Ollie is not a donkey, he never has been, he’s improved season on season for our club, and has turned up for us on numerous occasions. And piers morgan? F**k that dude. He’s about as worthy a football pundit as he is journalist. Why anybody listens to him I’ll never know, his Ramsey u turn says everything about the type of gooner he is. Back our boys, they’re going to need us this season!
For sure dude, and if it wasn’t for his injury last season then maybe his doubters would have noticed the improvement.
Funny that Mourinho seems obsessed with Wenger only when Chelsea win games. Hardly much to be heard from him since Chelsea’ seasons turned the wrong way around. Almost every team is beating Chelsea after we got cheated by that disgusting ref and dirty Costa. I am enjoying watching Costa get bullied by almost every team he is coming up against. He is now the weak link, and has become the hunter being hunted instead while Chelsea and Mou are being left clueless with tactics. Willian has scored a few from some great free kicks, about the only thing that works for them.
Long may he continue scoring. I hope Walcott and Giroud put pressure on each other to improve and score lots of goals
Giroud needs to continue to do the dirty work sometimes. The last coupe of games and some games ealier this season he has shown physical power and hold up play better than he used to as wll as fighting spirit. He needs to continue that as well. Great scoring record this season 14 goals in 21 games. He will be key vs Man City as well should he continue his performances of recent games.
When we play Barcelona, our players need to make Barcelona think, can they beat us instead of us thinking can we beat them. To do that we will need to start on the front foot and put them under pressure especially at home. Give them as little time as possible on the ball. That would put some doubt into them.
The french fighting spirit is so poetically called Elan.
Also notice, Giroud has less assists this season, that is because he is shooting more instead of always laying off, something that he used to keep doing in previous seasons. I think after the Palace game he said the manager told him to shoot more, especially first time shots. Ocasionally he does get that easy cutback shot wrong and straight at the keeper, but in other departments he has improved this season.
hes doing well fair play, but the real Acid test is this coming Monday against City. He has to put a big performance in this is where u separate the top strikers with the decent ones. To possibly go 4points clear of city should be a massive incentive to all the players just hope they take it & dont bottle it like they tend to.
I thought Lampard was too harsh on Ramsey, while what he said makes sense it was not all called for. First off Ramsey is recently just back from injury, but has scored goals made them and put in man of match performances. Second off Ramsey has been playing as a winger for a long while now, so adjustments had to be made. None of this was mentioned, also Lampard said he should realise Ozil is no10. We are talking about Arsenal not Chelsea nor city with their two holding midfielders. What about Lampards discipline for England when he didn’t have the benefit of playing ahead of two holding midfielders, did Lampard juggle his attacking and defensive instincts with aplomb ..like hell he did. He would of had difficulty if at AFC so maybe not the best person to judge a player recovering from a time out of side as well as out of position. And we shouldn’t forget how Ramsey has contributed nicely to our results.
Dude don’t worry, pundits are told to criticize everything related to Arsenal, it’s like a habit for them even though most of the time their words are pure nonsense.
And I think that spirit is what ferguson has been using to succeed, nothing else. The squad Sir Alex win things with is not any special than our current squad. So let’s keep it up and see what happen next.
Fergie and Wenger know football more than any manager of this generation, they were brought up in the golden era of sports. Wenger winning the league undefeated and Fergie breaking England’s trophy record proves that football is more of a mental game than physical. Example ? Guardiola’s side failed to beat Chelsea in 2010 not because Chelsea were better but because they wanted to win it more. That’s why I laugh when 12 yr old Messi fanboys tell me Barca is the best team in the world. They’re not, they have the best front 3 in the world, but aside from that their midfield can be matched by any other top team and their defence is so so. For all the attack their 3 strikers provide other top teams will make up with SPIRIT. You can’t win a game if you start it thinking you’re going to lose, you MUST play like you’re already winning.
hoping someone can recall the year and game: Sagna sends a long ball up field to Giroud who traps the ball on his chest and then flicks the ball to Ramsey racing by . Ramsey then makes a cutting back long cross to Ozil who slams home . Hoping to watch it on arsenal player. Thanks, George
Found the game 5 oct. 2013 Napoli.
@trevor, completely disagree
Lamps is spot on he’s been there done it, he is not talking about his last 2 games he is talking about his overall game. Ramsey normal game is being very greedy thinking he is ronaldo esque and shooting from everywhere and anyway, flicks amd one twos going wayward.
I’m essence lamps is saying leave the tricks to santi, leave the passing to ozil, Ramsey just needs to find the balance btwn attack n defence his key strengths are his energy levels and goals but to get to the Gerrard m lamps level he needs to add some defensive steel to his game.