I am not sure if the former Arsenal and England international striker had someone specific in mind when he said this, but having listened to some of the opinions put forward in the football media by Ian Wright about the problems of the Gunners in recent years, I would hazard a guess that Arsene Wenger might not be too far from his thoughts.
Wrighty was talking about the latest challenge for the Premier League title, which suffered a little setback at the weekend as we failed to win the north London derby against Spurs. A lot of fingers of blame have been pointed at the big centre forward Olivier Giroud for missing a few chances in that game but as reported by the Evening Standard, the man who used to score the goals for Arsenal does not agree.
The 52-year old said, “Olivier Giroud has taken so much stick it’s a wonder he isn’t black and blue.
“His critics were at it again on Sunday after he missed a couple of great chances in Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with Tottenham.
“Forget all that talk of this being the Gunners’ best chance in years of winning the title, they said, with Giroud leading the line they haven’t got a prayer.
“Yes, the Frenchman didn’t have his finest hour against Spurs. But to put all the blame at his door is unfair and wrong.
“If Arsenal do see their title hopes go up in smoke again this season, it won’t be down to the fact that Giroud is up front.
“Any more than it will be down to the fact Theo Walcott or Danny Welbeck are there.”
So what will it be down to Ian? Maybe he thinks, just like the man who broke his Arsenal scoring record, that Giroud cannot do it on his own, as Thierry Henry was forced to clarify after his comments had upset Giroud in the summer.
Is he suggesting that Wenger should have signed another striker in the transfer window? It seems so, although Wright has also been full of praise for the way Theo Walcott has performed at centre forward for us this season before he picked up an injury.
Maybe he is just saying that no single player can be held to blame for the failure of a whole team. What do you think Gooners?
after missing 100 chances giroud was still trying to rally the arsenal fans behind him! even falcao would have scored more goals if he played for us because ozil is on fire creating chances.stop thinking of modelling and start scoring..
He only missed one sitter – and did well to get himself into that position..The fans at the stadium play a huge role in boasting the players – i did enjoy that from Giroud, urging the fans to get behind the team, not just him.
Fans forget that its a team sport – cannot blame the striker every time the team fails to score..
Even Wenger is at it now… With the Modeling!
Wtf! Is that about? ? Is he hinting for another pay rise?
God damn!
Honestly i think Giroud is improving day by day.
Giroud missed 1 clear sitter the others were not clear cut chances – it happens to the best..Fans also tend to forget that even though Giroud doesn’t have pace to his advantage, he does have great positional play – gets himself into great positions…His goal vs Bayern was class..
Who else then can be to blame? Wenger? Is not buying reinforcements during the summer window might yet come to bite him! I hope he realises this for when the window opens again in January and I also hope that we are still in a strong position to challenge and take the golden Grail!
I don’t think Ian Wright intended to blame anyone for the draw against Spurs. If anything is to blame then it has to be injuries and fatigue due to travelling to both Swansea and then Munich in a period of 3 days and then returning to London. Also, our heavy loss against Bayern took its toll on our players. In fact any realistic observer should be fine with that draw. Remember we didn’t have Bellerin, Ramsey and Walcott who have been our regular starters this season and Oxlade who has featured regularly. T
The article was not complete. The draw is a good indicator of our new found resilience. In the past few seasons Arsenal would have lost this game. The fact that a tired Arsenal side managed to scrape a determined Spurs side should be highly commended. Any player including Thierry Henry sometimes misses scoring opportunities. If Giroud missed an opportunity or two that does not make him the worst striker on earth. Afterall lately he has been scoring very crucial goals for us. Only fickle characters would take offence with Giroud for that. To err is human!
I guess we all can agree that its easier playing for arsenal than any other team in epl at least because of the playing system we have in place. Giroud is good but a WC striker will immediately shift arsenal into Europe’s top bracket. Anyways, I am happy with Theo as well.
giroud is good but we deserve a better striker.
Ian Wright Wright Wright is blaming the referee’s if we fail to win the premier league! ?
Naah seriously, he is obviously having a pop at Wenger!
Anyways don’t worry to much about what Wrighty says,
He keeps jumping on and off the bandwagon like most fans do, when we win or lose.?
there’s something bout this wrighty i dn’t really fancy………Honestly!
@SA
That seems like a character flaw dude…
@Fatboy Gooney
Wrighty is doin what he always does, callin it as he sees it…I don’t see him as a bandwagon jumper. Seeing that he’s a true Gunner, he’s allowed his disappointed judgements.
Giroud tried his best for Arsenal in the last Spurs game. But his trying was not good enough as he turned out to be wasteful with those 3 scoring opportunities which were assisted him by Ozil. Another big failure in that Spurs game was Sanchez whose activity on the field of play in that game has no any end product. Olivier Giroud MUST find a way to overcome his wastefulness in front of goal and thereby have his conversion ratio increased to 1 goal in 3 chances at least. Or on his good day to 2 goals in 3 chances. God help him. Amen!
you can Lead a Horse to a river, but u can’t make it drink!
@samuel
As long as he’s givin his all, thats good enough for AW. No other striker out there plays box 2 box like Olivier. He most times puts in a damn good shift in both offense and defense. True team effort.
Couldn’t agree more
He missed a couple of good chances. In a high pressure game where he spent much of the game off the ball due to a VERY lacklustre midfield (Wenger’s fault in this instance) he was not totally sharp when the chances eventually fell to him. That said he was constantly moving all game and put in a defensive shift as well – he spent large chunks of the game defending at left midfield in the first half!
Giroud is not to blame for the draw. Likewise, if we don’t succeed this season Giroud won’t be to blame for the season failing. He may not be the best striker, but he is a good striker and he has scored goals for us consistently. Unless a world class striker becomes available, Giroud is a very apt option. He may add to the reason why we don’t succeed, but heaping the failure purely at his door would be unfair.
Santi being off form and Wenger choosing to play him was the worst part about that game. Not Giroud.
aLL TRUE, MORE OR LESS !! But, and a big BUT!! Giroud has to improve his goal rate, he misses more than he scores, Theo dos’nt, but he should improve hie positive score rate as well !!If these two were reliable, we for sure , would be in a much better position now? And thats a FACT,