Have Arsenal fans destroyed Olivier Giroud’s confidence?

I am getting a bit worried about Olivier Giroud right now. He has spent the whole summer reading about how Arsenal were trying desperately to sign his countryman Karim Benzema, and how much Theo Walcott wants to replace him as the main striker for the Gunners.

It doesn’t matter that it was just all media talk and every single link has turned out to be untrue, because it seems to have affected his form on the pitch. We all know that he is a sensitive soul and reacted badly when Thierry Henry publicly stated that Arsenal would never win the Premiership with Giroud as the top striker, and it could be that all the criticism aimed at him this summer (including by JustArsenal commenters and posters) has finally affected his confidence.

As Arsenal fans we should worry about his mental state, as an unhappy and unconfident striker simply does not score goals. This theory seemed to be proven tonight as Giroud was given a starting role for France in a friendly against Serbia, but after missing two clear cut chances to put the ball in the back of the net, he was getting jeered and booed by his own French supporters.

Giroud was taken off at half tme and replaced by Karim Benzema which couldn’t have helped his feelings either. This is going to be yet another real blow to his confidence and perhaps Wenger should consider starting Theo Walcott against Stoke on Saturday, but will that affect Giroud’s confidence even more”

What would you do if you were Arsene Wenger?

Tags Benzema Giroud

76 Comments

  1. Giroud is just not good enough to lead Arsenal or France,he had an absolute shocker last night out of 6 shots 5 of them were off target

    1. and every window that goes by, not a team wishes to bid for him (giroud)……Nobody’s interested…….

      NO
      .
      NOT
      .
      ONE!

      1. Especially now he’s on 130K a week,he’s on world class wages for being an average striker,we should have sold him back in 2013 when there was a hint of interest in him from PSG!

      2. @Dee@ease……….. Was there really a hint?……. That was all Tabloid made!

        In other News..

        Barca set sights on Riyad mahrez…..

        .
        Yea, when he goes to Barca, teams would go on a gold rush and bid millions for him…. Barca is where world class talent are made right?…..anything from Barca must be hot property right?…..Laughable…. He’s currently a bottom Table Leicester pLayer!

    2. No1 Gives a F*** if you are a sensitive Pu**y..
      He should try modelling if he is not willing to take criticism and play better..

      1. Ha modeling, nice. Giroud’s play was deserving of boo birds; another chance to prove himself, another chance wasted. Becoming a reoccurring theme with him.

        Perhaps he needs to chat with psychiatrist, hypnotist, or a witch doctor. Physically he appears fine; maybe problem between his ears.

        Stop with the “confidence” crap please. What is he, 6 years old? Viagra helps with “confidence”.

        He’s been here 3 years with no real competition just like Schez In goal. Perhaps he should be sent on loan to Roma also. Geez, like he’s going to fix his form and score 25 goals in PL. Not

  2. I will start Giroud as Cf because we don’t really have another ST.
    Walcott is not and can never be a good cf because it’s been late for him @26 a player shouldn’t dream of changing position.
    And Giroud? Boy o Boy! That dude shouldn’t and doesn’t deserve to be a starter@Arsenal considering the caliber of Strikers that have played for us for the past 3decades.

  3. This will not be the first player to be affected by our fickle fans. A number of examples will suffice: Adebayor, Gervinho, Bendtner, Eboue, Senderos, and Arshavin. This is excluding those who have managed to resist the bad mouthing such as Ramsey, Wishere, Walcott, Ozi, Welbeck and Giroud himself. I think this kind of behaviour is counter-productive and those who engage in it don’t in any way help the team. What is it meant to serve? This is also a kind of soccer hooliganism and should not be tolerated by civilised society. There are so many reasons why a player may not perform well and instead of attracting boos and bad mouthing that player should be helped to overcome his problems. Some of those players who left Arsenal after such psychological torture never recovered! Others have gone on to excel and we wish we had not forced them out. I hope this will not go to Giroud’s head and affect his performance further. In some instances Wenger has been forced to let go of such players as was the case with Gervinho, Arshavin and Bendtner. For how long are we going to ruin our players’ careers while praising some who later on become traitors like Fabregas, Nasir and Van Persie? If Van Persie’s injuries had been suffered by someone hated he would never have stayed at Arsenal! Such hate came when Arsenal started declining in 2006-07 and now seems to have become part of our fans’ culture. The sooner it is reversed the better it will be for the club.

    1. The players you mentioned
      were all on fat salaries.
      They play in front of
      60,000 people get flown
      all round Europe , accommodation
      food clothing boots everything free.
      Giroud gets all this plus 60,000 quid a week
      and all has to do is kick or head the ball into
      the net once a fortnight. FFS!!!

        1. Haha I honestly don’t think he’ll be happy until every footballer donates 99% of their earnings to charity.
          Think it’s commercialism in general he has a problem with. Or maybe he’d be happier if Kroenke and the shareholders just pocketed all the ticket prices, endorsement, merchandising and global fanbase’s monetary contributions. Instead of a small percentage going the actual f@#king players, manager and coaches!

    2. You are talking tripe mate, am sorry to say..give me a quarter of what these prima donnas earn weekly and I will readily take some physical assault weeek in week out not to talk boos and jeers…..you earn in a year what a lot of people will not earn in their life time and you complaining of been booed and jeered cos you rubbish?

    3. Great comment. Wayne Rooney has gone for like 10 premier league games without scoring yet Man United fans are giving him all their support yet some low lifers who call themselves Arsenal fans take pride in bashing their own players. Only people afflicted with bitterness tend to derive satisfaction in negativity and inflicting pain on others.

    4. Is that like giving everyone a trophy just for playing? He gets paid 130wk wages, no need to defend Giroud’s soft caramel center.

      So the fans are jerks for expecting him to earn his check? I respect your opinion, but I disagree. I don’t blame him for being average, I blame Wenger for relying on an average striker for yet another year. Too bad no better striker was available at all anywhere in the entire world. Lazy scouts probably never checked Antarctica.

  4. We all have feelings, but this is what separates the best from the mediocre/poor. I have always said that if an athlete cannot perform because of what people think of him/her then they don’t really belong there and will never achieve the type of success they should be wanting. This type of criticism should only fuel Giroud’s desire to work harder, improve his game and ultimately prove his critics wrong…but letting it affect you negatively and having a defeatest attitude is not conducive to himself or his club.

    The question is, can Giroud actually improve his game? My honest opinion is that at times it looks like it, he has these brilliant moments where you think FINALLY the guy is coming to the party. But then a few games go by and he does nothing. Too inconsistent to be a world class CF and our first choice striker. Giroud needs to take these criticisms from fans and media constructively and at least show more fight and determination on the pitch, rather than sticking his tongue out when he misses open goals or stand around an moan all the time.

    1. Giroud is 28 going on 29 he can’t improve his game,he should be the finished article by now but soon he’ll hit 30 and be even slower then he already is!

      1. It’s a real shame or mistake as it may be that we don’t have Giroud as well as a top calibre striker. When we had our great to watch strikers who loved ball at feet or in behind we where always said to be lacking an Oliver Giroud. The last time we had one was A Smith and himself and Wrighty didn’t do too bad at all. A great opportunity missed it looks to me.

      2. It’s not a computer game mate. Every player is different when it comes to peaking in their career. Some strikers peak at 25. Giroud was in Ligue 2 at that age, now he’s playing for his country and in the CL. Clearly a late bloomer, and if you watch any of his first-season with us, there’s been obvious improvement for anyone willing to look.

      1. Putting his tongue out after one of his many misses is the only skill he has ever shown in an Arsenal shirt

    2. In fairness to Giroud.. Straight after he received his justifiable criticism for a poor game versus Monaco, he went on to a lengthy red hot patch of form when last season was in the balance. (sitting 6th or 7th in the table I believe, maybe it was 5th)
      He then received heavy criticism for his 7 or so game dry-spell end of season, which was also justifiable.
      But still, with less time on the pitch he’s still equal with Aguero and Benteke and ahead of Kane, Costa and Rooney, the seemingly coveted strikers in the league who are receiving nowhere near the level of criticism Giroud is. A few goals, maybe a big one vs Chelsea and we could see a more confident Giroud who does finish a lot better.

  5. Now the Arsenal fans can officially take the blame for his Lack of scoring form……… Cuz we asked him hold the ball up and be Less potent in front of goal right?……..

    1. Hold-up play is an important part of the attack. Especially with the rest of our team liking to commit numbers in support.
      If that’s all he does how does he manage to get into so many scoring positions fans so openly criticize?

    2. funny u could boldly defend his “hold-up” plays but could barely comment on his potency and wastefulness in front of goal!

      1. Yeah. His conversion’s been poor. Not disputing that fact. As have a lot of top strikers in the league who’s finishing is not being anywhere near as questioned…
        I was more pointing out that if all he adds is hold-up play, how does he find himself so frequently in scoring positions?

        1. I think it’s more of a case of our plethora of top midfielders picking out quality passes to him. Not taking anything away from Giroud as he has a knack of creating space in the box…but this means NOTHING if he cannot capitalize on those chances. I keep saying, if you put Aguero, Costa, Rooney or any other world class striker in the goal scoring situations he has been in since he joined Arsenal, they would have at least 30-50% more goals, maybe more. I cannot see a player like Aguero missing the howlers that Giroud has. Also, everyone knows Arsenal’s midfield is the most creative and talented in the league, I just wish we had a top CF who could take more advantage of the magic happening around him.

    1. Can you please name the last defensive error by Mertz that cost us a goal??
      Surely a CB you deem that horrible would have made errors galore?

        1. Haha not really dude. How do you judge CB’s? I usually judge them on their ability to prevent goals. If you struggle to name a goal conceded in which Mertz is at fault then i’m going to go out on a limb and claim he’s doing a pretty good job.

    2. This is the best defensive unit we’ve had for years, if we had this back four/8 and Coq in the days of Fabregas Adebeyor Persie and Song we would of had a right old go of it.

  6. That only shows Giroud is weak and cannot stand up for the challenge.

    Even his fellow Frenchman booed him. Don’t put all the blame to us.

    We have paid more than enough tolerance and patience, considering the money we need to pay for the season ticket. Shouldn’t we expect something better?

      1. You do realize he doesn’t hold a season ticket. But he will buy one at double the price in a heartbeat. I know I would.

        1. I don’t hold one. Does it matter as a fan?

          If you two unfortunately hold one right now, you should be worry in every single games for this season.

          Hope we don’t need own goals to win.

          And seriously, I think Giroud is the opponent defender’s best friend. Consider the number of chances he missed every single game.

          That’s why we can only get 1 or even 0 points in games we are supposed to win.

          1. Haha if we don’t get 1 or 0 points in a game we’re supposed to win then pray tell how many points we’d get? Because I’m only seeing one other option….
            No i’m not a ticket holder. Hence why I don’t whinge about money as though I do!

  7. The problem with giroud is mediocrity.He scores when he wants instead of when needed.Fact giroud has scored more goals than rooney in the last three seasons combined!

    1. Rooney has been played predominantly as a CAM since SAF left the club. Tell me how many CAMS outscore their CF’s? The seasons before Rooney was moved to the midfield, he was bagging 25 to 30+ goals a season – something I doubt Giroud will ever accomplish let’s be frank.

  8. Ok. So a few questions….
    The fact that Giroud had 5-6 opportunities in one half of football. Is that a testament to the quality of his movement and ability to create chances as a striker, or France’s quality as a creative team?
    If the answer is the overall quality of France as a team. Then why did Benzema fail to score vs Portugal and in the second half? Surely within a system that created that many chances for lowly Giroud, Benzema would have found the net multiple times in three times as much game time as Giroud has this international break?
    I’ve never seen this much criticism for a player who was as active as Giroud was in a half of football… Honestly, a lazy, ineffective, uninspired performance I would understand. But literally the only negative in his game was his finishing, which can happen to the best of strikers as well.

    In answer to the article. He’s a confidence player. I’d play with Sanchez and Theo on the flanks playing off of Giroud running the channels. Ramsey’s defensive output would be missed with Theo’s inclusion, though one of our forwards needs to start scoring. Give all three of our most dangerous goal threats the start. I’d like to see us go for blood even if it mean conceding one or two.

    1. Giroud is awful no matter how many times you defend him he’ll keep messing up,every Arsenal game Giroud gets on average about 5 chances at goal but he can’t even score 1,let me remind you that including end of last season in the last 11 Arsenal games Giroud has scored once!

        1. Giroud had 14 league goals I don’t know where you get 19 from you keep adding FA cup goals to boost your weak argument,he played 26 league games the same as Costa who ended on 20 League goals!

          1. I’m not having this same argument with you over and over again mate… 19 goals was his season total for Arsenal, all comps.
            Your main argument is ‘oh this guy did it.’ yeah cool, don’t care. Costa was amazing last season scoring a goal every 100 or so minutes in the league. Amazing stuff. World-class figures. I’ve never claimed Giroud is world-class…

            1. At the moment though.. Costa has 1 in 4, Giroud 1 in 3. Somehow I’m guessing you’ll be more critical of Giroud’s scoring though for some strange reason?

          2. 19 goals was the total because without them we don’t lift the FA cup at the end of the year or have the Shield this year. FA cup CL goals count just as much as any other goal.

    2. Yes. Yes I can defend him by comparing his performance with Benzema. They both play in a position than is held accountable to goals, why is one of them being criticized and the other not?
      As I put the question forward. If a side is creating 5-6 chances for their striker when Giroud is leading the line, why can’t Benzema find himself in those same scoring opportunities?
      You can’t just say ‘if Benzema was in front of goal he would’ve scored two of those chances’ cool… Well why spending such a time on the pitch did he not find himself in those positions?? Being a good striker isn’t just the ability to convert once the chance happens, that’s only a small (be it, an important) part of scoring. I love how people just act as though if Giroud’s there anyone would be. Well no! A lot of the chances in the game were runs into space timed to perfection! Movement is crucial.

      1. “….why can’t Benzema find himself in those same scoring opportunities?”

        Well, may it is because he is in the bench when all those chances were created might be big reason.

  9. @davidrusa….seriously, Giroud is still on 60?…………… U would Love to see the most recent development on his salary scale bro!

  10. What’s baffling is your lack of respect for our players. Every day you come in here and Say our players aren’t good enough, the manager should go… Per Mertesaker was one of the best Wenger signings. For the past three years, he’s brought stability to our defense. He is one our most consistent players. He retired from international duty with 104 caps for Germany and that says a lot.

      1. He’s right. I don’t remember more than 5 games where Mertesacker was at fault for a defeat. One of the best signings in defense for Arsenal.

  11. Why does Arsenal not
    buy number 1 strikers?
    Giroud is a good number (2).
    Bendtnut was a (2) Fark a (5)
    Chumpark a (4) Unwellbeck is a (3)
    Crampbell(4) Saynogoal (7)
    Girvin-ho (4) P-doltsky (3)
    If Wenger keeps buying garbage strikers
    why should we stop hassling them when they fail?
    Fans who say its ok to perform badly 4th place is good enough
    are the reason we have gone 11 years without the title.

    1. David… Far out mate.
      You spend more time talking about players who rarely, don’t or in Park’s case never did play for us than the ones who actually do.
      I really can’t comprehend why supposed ‘fans’ come up with nicknames like that for our players. Especially some that are so young. Ridiculous.

    2. It is very cheap, lack of respect and class and a symbol of hate for some individuals to spend their valuable time coining insulting names for our players, past and present. How is that useful to our team? Don’t you think somebody can also coin a name for you like nitwit or imbecile? How pleased would you be with such a situation? If we have to criticize an individual it should be based on merit not hate. None of us is perfect. Some of take offence for insensitive remarks like unwellbeck for Welbeck as if he loves being sick! Instead of wishing him a quick recovery you mock him! You must be one of the most heartless fellows around! Can you ever be more civil? how dare you call our players garbage? Is insult all you are capable of? It is a sign of lack of civilized behavior and stunted brain growth to engage in insults against people who have not personally wronged you. if someone does not play well that is no licence to be abused in a cheap manner. You can call him a bad or poor player but not garbage and such pother retrograde language! You need to style up.

  12. “I’ve never seen this much criticism for a player who was as active as Giroud was in a half of football…Honestly, a lazy, ineffective, uninspired performance I would understand.”
    What are you talking about? a player who is as active as Giroud?”He did not create the chances, other players created for him but he could not score a single of those chances from a close range.You said you would understand ineffective performance, what do you think last night was?Effective?Giroud’s performance last night was as ineffective and inefficient as it can get.You can’t defend him by comparing his performance with Benzema, if Benzeman was in front of goal he would at least score two of those chances.Can you imagine how much he would have cost France if that was a crucial match, its is 3-1 lose to Monaco all over again.
    I feel for the guy to be honest, it is really bad to be jeered by your own fans but that he was bad last night, that is not exaggeration it is just the fact.

    1. ‘He did not create the chances, other players created for him’
      This isn’t how it works! People just act as though If Giroud was there anyone would be. Well no, movement is absolutely crucial for a striker!! Watch the chances again, tight spaces, perfectly timed runs. Team’s actually try and defend pretty heavily against chances from 6 or so yards believe it or not.

  13. You forget that no matter how much money they earn, they are still human beings after all. Every professional especially a sports professional playing at this level knows how to deal with criticism. They are intelligent enough to understand that they will get a fair amount of stick if they don’t perform well. But where it starts to destroy a player’s confidence is when no matter how good or bad you do, you are anyways criticized. Everyone knew Giroud was far from a clinical striker when he joined. Whenever on the pitch, he always puts in the hard work and still shows he can improve his play. Yet he gets so much unfair criticism. After Giroud scored that wonderful goal against CP, all he got was “Donkey scored a good goal today”. Though I disagree with Wenger’s philosophy especially transfers, I find one thing he says particularly apt. Our society today like a child craves for the next shiny toy. If the parent does not buy it, the child behaves petulantly and throws a fit. It does not respect people as human beings who can learn, develop and lose confidence.

  14. Gooners Giroud if he is hurt , i mean if its true his confidence is hurt then he kinda deserves it .From me it serves as a kinda a time for him to have a reality check on himself .He has not won us the premier league despite the support he receives from our midfield. Oops Benz should have started the France game infact and Arsene could have signed the other frenchman (Benzema ) instead of Giroud!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  15. If anyone is to blame for his confidence crisis then it has to be Wenger; if he had bought another striker since begining of last season when it became obvious to every football follower Giroud still needs a lot of work to become the finished article then the poor chap will not be under such intense scrutiny and pressure…..moreover if the fans opinions and boos is affecting him then he lacks the mental strength to lead a big club like Arsenal

  16. Giroud has always been treated unfairly

    He has scored almost 60 total goals in 3 seasons and almost 50 PL goals in 3 seasons

    Yes that’s far from WC but it doesnt make him a “donkey” or “the worst striker in PL”. He is a decent striker (better than Welbeck) and can score some classy goals once in a while like last goal (which by the way is our only goal this season)

    Lets get behind Giroud, Welbeck and Walcott. Wenger is to blame for not getting a top striker, Giroud should not be blamed for not playing like a WC striker. He is what he is and lets hope he can score around 20 goals this season, which is definitely achieveable

  17. Why do we always find a way to play the blame game. While arsenal were not winning trophies Wenger points fingers and now if a player is not performing well its the fans. I am very sure that very soon we will blame the player performance on gardners, fifa, fa and fans from other countries and not even the english. when is the coach and players of arsenal ever accountable? Arsenal fc should better grow up.

  18. Now they want to blame the fans, I will tell you who is responsible for ARSENAL woes the Coach ARSENE WENGER, Giroud is a good striker but needs real competition to be our first choice and to better himself, this is what they call motivation….this paternal approach has proven a mistake, it does not apply to professional footballers that make more money a week that many do in 1 year…Giroud admitted that bringing Benzema was the right move (truth to be told he only admitted it after it did not happen)…. nothing can be done now, we will sit and wait to see what future lies right now does not look pretty.

  19. “…Giroud is human..”.. “..He’ll lose confidence… “.. Bohoo! We’re Human too! He misses a sitters and Yeah I’ll fre#n scream at him. Let’s quit this prejudiced playground fandom.. Giroud is no kid, dude’s a 28 y.o experienced striker paid 100+ K to be professional.. He carries really High expectations for our club’s striking success so excuse us for booing and criticizing him when he comes short of that!.. jesus! How many excuses will we formulate for the underachievements of this guy, coz honestly blaming the fans is a new low!

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