The good guys do not always win, Arsenal fans, despite what Hollywood westerns would have you believe! In fact you could go a bit further and say that when it come to competitive team sports, being bad has a distinct advantage. Only this week we had the revelation from our big strong centre forward Olivier Giroud that the Arsenal copaches were trying to bring out a bit of the bad in him.
The France international suggested that he was trying to take a leaf out of the book of the Chelsea and Spain striker Diego Costa. So what happened Olly? Instead of the cold and emotionless killer attitude, Giroud fluffed his lines and then did his usual trick of holding his head or sticking his tongue out. The only thing that was in danger of his anger was the Emirates turf which he gave a good thrashing after missing an open goal.
It is not just Giroud though, far from it. As a group, Arsenal are just not tough enough. We play nice football but when it comes to the darker and dirtier side of the game, we come up short. Referring back to the invincibles video again, it does not shy away from the fact that the Gunners of 10 years ago were not always the nicest bunch. The famous van Nistelrooy incident with Keown and others roughing up and intimidating the horse faced cheat was a prime example.
I think we need to get a bit more of that back into our game and stop being so NICE. What do you think Gooners?
You don’t really need any nasty players in the positions we’re good in. The positions you need nasty players in are the positions we all know we need replacements in anyways – a defensive midfielder and a centre back.
And a striker. We need a real mean guy in attack.
Not necessarily. A lot of strikers aren’t really nasty. Henry certainly wasn’t.
I think Henry was mean inside though.
He was arrogant on the pitch
like Suarez Cantona Christiano et all.
These players wanna be number one so bad.
I like that in a player especially if he can
back it up.
Of course, you have to be ruthless as a striker. I think that’s what we’re lacking as opposed to nastiness. There are great strikers out there that aren’t really mean at all. Henry as I mentioned, Aguero, Messi, Cavani, and yes RVP etc. players you associate more with hard work or elegance than nastiness.
Henry didn’t back down from shit.
Someone pushed him he was in their face, being strong and nasty are not the same.
Henry was a gent who took no shit!
And a top striker. Giroud proved once again that he has trouble against top teams, top defenses or big matches
He may have trouble against Everton and United but should be fine against QPR and West Ham
We need a beast of a striker like Costa. Maybe lacazette or Dybala
Spot on about Giroud
Find this sudden view of Giroud quite funny. His finishing was awful vs Monaco, but all strikers have games like that, RVP missed from 6 yards vs Milan in a crucial game. Point is Giroud put himself in the position to miss which shows his quality.
The issue isn’t getting a “better” striker, we just need someone else for when it isn’t his day. Didn’t see Alexis or Welbz missing any chances…..because they were so shit they didn’t put themselves in position to miss.
Girouds quality is not in question, but he’s the ONLY ST we have who can play the role. You talk about Costa but he’s had shockers this year – difference being Chelsea can bring on Drogba/Remy as an alternative and the team is unaffected. Giroud has a bad gameand eeveryone jumps on his back because it’s all or bust with him. Not fair at all.
Charlie I usually agree with you but he missed 3 sitters and and easy chance, not just that his all round play is just ok, a top striker may not score all 3 but at least two
Look mate I still want to slap his beautiful face for that performance. But try not to let your emotions rule your objectivity, every striker in world football has had games like that.
All I’m saying is he was good enough to make space for those chances and should be credited for not hiding like others did. I still maintain we need another player at ST, but the reason isn’t lack of quality, it’s a question of depth.
I think we get caught up thinking we have some uber fluid and interchangeable front 3, but Alexis/welbz/Theo are all half the player Giroud is at ST. I’ve said it all along but Bony should have been ours last summer instead of Welbz. I’m hoping this summer we go for Benteke if Villa go down.
Anyone noticed that Sanchez doesn’t score when Giroud plays?
Wot u sud notice more is dat the team doesn’t play well wen welbeck and giroud re upfront,…sanchez scored 2 against stoke city wif giroud upfront..and he’s just recovering from injury…giroud had a bad game nd not a bad season…welbeck is aving a bad season or bad career if I may say…sanchez is d suarez wenger wanted to buy 2 seasons ago..he’s not dere yet but he ll surpass suarez…
I read on here each and every day, Fans saying that they dont like Wenger and they want him OUT !!! I could not agree more i think Wenger and 60% of the players we have now should not be at the club, Lets face facts
How many of our players would get in any of the top teams in europe ?
How many of the top teams in europe would put up with Wenger as manger ?
How many other top clubs fans would sit back and allow this to go on season after season ?
Arsenal as a club are the fan base with out us fans there is now club, so it is up to us fans to put a stop to this rubbish, we dont like what is going on so lets put a stop to it now, Each and every match we play we should have Banners also the Fans should voice what they think, lets make lots of noise and make sure every person & every tv station is talking about what us fans want. We want a new manger, We want some how can take us forward, We want a manger that buys players that will give there all and will be proud to wear the Arsenal shirt each and every week, We can not and will not win every match and there is disapointments at each and every club in the world but we will exept that as long as we as fans can see some passion and commitment from our club manger and players
IT IS UP TO US FANS TO CHANGE THINGS
ONLY WE CAN MAKE THE DIFFERENCE
LETS STAND PROUD FOR OUR ARSENAL
LET TRY AND GET BACK THE GLORY DAYS
BUT MOST OF ALL LETS BE HAPPY WITH WHAT WE SPEND OUR MONEY ON
@goonergetya
We got it the first time mr cut n paste. Put a sock in it…
It’s not just the players it’s the whole club it’s all out money at Arsenal
Monaco fans all over the ground the other evening laughing and taking the p
At any other ground it wouldn’t happen, but the gound is full of white collar people who don’t see that as an issue, this site is full of Spurs fans who want Wenger to stay, that way they have a chance of finishing above us
Simple answer is yes with maybe the exception of ox and coquelin. We are mentally and physically weak all over the pitch. Every team needs a feisty tough tackling player, listing some in the pl: ivanavich, konchelkis, costa, zabaletta, fernando, kolarov, kompany, terry, skyrtel, dembele, sandro, barton, livermore, barry, milner, cattermole, shawcross, bony, etc etc…..Every side needs at least one or two players that can mix it up if needed. Remeber the days when we had adams, keown, petit, parlour, viera, sol, lauren, gilberto etc. Big physical players surrounded by a number of highly skilled players and intricate players, (jungberg, pires, henry, bergkamp, over mars, fabregas, rvp- god even rvp had fight and an edge to him!). Just buy a strong imposing, (and vocal) cb and dm player and the balance will be closer to what we need.
@Ronny331
Would like to have Cattermole pairing with Le Coq in mid…
It’s not rocket science and frankly im suprised the article even asks thequestion Pundits, fans and anyone who knows even a little about football can realise arsenal lack a physical/quality spine – cb, dm and striker. I’m sick of wenger still not addressing the matter!!
Oh I forgot to mention zouma, it’s called forward planning and signing the key players you need arsene. Something mourinho does so well 🙁
@nygunner. Totally agree, Lee is only 26 and with a market value of 3m he’s a bargain. All I know is everytime we play stoke we are terrified of him, he’s a pitbull, a moee talented more energetic flamini 🙂
Meant to say Sunderland not Stoke, doh!