Just how important his late goal against a dogged and resilient West Brom yesterday that earned Arsenal all three points at the Emirates stadium will be in the grand scheme of things, only time will tell, but it felt like a massive moment for the Gunners in our challenge for the Premier League title.
That was not the first time this season that the big Frenchman has come to the rescue for the Gunners, despite his lack of Premier League minutes on the pitch. Giroud has been largely a peripheral figure for Arsenal this season, partly due to his lack of match fitness in the early stages and then because his replacement at centre forward has been doing so well.
Yesterday’s match against the Baggies was Giroud’s first EPL start of the season and he was probably in the starting line-up only because of the injury problems keeping Theo Walcott and the Ox out of contention. Giroud’s late goal heroics will probably not be enough for him to keep his place, though, as he does seem to have become something of a super sub this season.
As the Premier League’s all time record goalscorer Alan Shearer was reported in the Daily Mail saying, the Frenchman’s aerial ability and presence gives Arsenal a different option and it is one that comes to0 the fore when Arsenal are looking for a late goal.
Shearer said, ‘Not for the first time this season you’ve seen Arsenal scoring late.
‘Three points today, a point at Old Trafford (when Giroud scored in the 89th minute to earn a 1-1 draw against Manchester United).
‘If it’s not working to pass their way through a team, they’re prepared to put it in the box. And it’s worked for them today.’
That is four EPL goals for Giroud now and all of them have been crucial. Three were headers and two of those were in the last five minutes of tight games but all this is not really helping to get him back into the starting XI as it all strengthens Shearer’s theory about him being a good plan B when the Gunners are struggling.
Is that how Giroud’s Arsenal career is set to continue do you think?
Bob.
The team should be setup to play into Olivier’s strenghts when he starts. Just bombard crosses into the box and the frenchman would have a field day infront of goal.
I will agree with Shearer on Giroud to start from the bench. The problem of Arsenal is not scoring but to defend their victory when they are winning. U can see it in the game of Everton and Man City, after leading they would go sleeping instead of mounting pressure on their opponent. I see no reason why Giroud should start. Sanchez is are top striker and he will keep on being. The over realance on Walcott and Ox is the problem instead of signing a player of Draxler who is an upgrate to them. Giroud score or not he should not be our first eleven. We need pace in our attacks to stop opponent defenders from mounting pressure on us and Giroud does not have pace. What made Barca unique is their front three that whenever u play against them u dont overlap when u do they punish u for it.
Playing to his strength is the bottom line. When West Ham has Andy Carrol in their team, you see them pumping a lot of crosses into their opponent’s 18 yards box. The same goes to Stoke City with Crouch. We hardly take advantage of Giroud’s strength. We don’t even have a wing player or full back who can put in at least 4 quality crosses into our opponents’ 18 yards box per game. Another advantage of playing to Giroud’s strength is that it will shift attention from our other attacking players which will enable them to take advantage. Alexis and co would get good goals from loose balls. Opponents won’t be able to guess our approach as we can use either way.