Wenger – Giroud COULD become a top class striker

Arsene Wenger has been talking ahead of tomorrow’s game against Crystal Palace, and it looks like he is trying to keep Olivier Giroud concentrated and focused on improving his goalscoring record. The French striker has scored 10 goals in 18 games this season, and has improved his goals-per-game ratio from one goal per 2.75 games in his first season, now down to a goal every 1.8 games this campaign, but Wenger thinks he needs to improve on that before calling himself really top class.

“I want those numbers to go down even more – he can do one in one,” Wenger said on the official Arsenal website. “When you look at the numbers of the top strikers now, they approach 1.1, 1.2 and I think Olivier has the quality to get there.

“The timing of runs in the box is important and he has improved a lot on that. He has improved on the quality of his finishing as well and let’s not forget that he’s surrounded by players who can contribute, who can create crosses, give final balls and then feed your strikers with quality. In our team he gets that.

“What is more important as well, I believe he has improved his team play and his link play. He works hard for the team and not many strikers in Europe work as hard as Olivier does for the team. Even if his numbers are excellent, as long as he continues to contribute to the team I’m very happy.”

Basically what Wenger is telling Giroud is “Don’t get complacent because you are scoring well, always aim for more!” Arsenal really need more goals – as Dave said in a previous post – so come on Olivier, go for it!

Tags Giroud Wenger

22 Comments

  1. 10 goals in 18 games means 20 goals in 36 matches. These is what we want from our main striker. This is very true that Giroud has improved his overall game quality. We look completely different team when he plays.
    We were very unfortunate that he miised lot of matches with injuries and suspension.
    He also have the nack of scoring goals in Big matches. Even against Spurs, his missed time shot came into the path of Ozil.
    He is definitely nightmare to any defenders.
    Yes he can still improve a lot and can score 25 PL games in s season

    1. Never really thought of Giroud as one who scores in big games, he certainly hasn’t been a big-game player in past seasons. This season he’s scored against Liverpool, United and twice against Man City, so I guess he’s improved on that too.

        1. CAPITALS are used to make an EMPHASIS on the word in question. Can you SEE the Difference between “Giroud could become a top class striker” and “Giroud COULD be a top class striker” ??

          Plus I have a message for you. STOP PUTTING THE SAME BLOODY COMMENT ON EVERY POST!
          Is that emphasis enough?

    2. The manager’s statement just confirms he’s not top class even as far as the manager is concerned…then why hard line on him when there’s a Dyabala some where longing to get here????

  2. He’s scored some very good goals so far this season and has been a real help for the team as a target man as well. I think Giroud’s size, strength and physical presence really help to balance our attack. Besides Giroud all of our players are quite small, albeit extremely talented. That means we only have the option of counter attacking or trying to walk the ball into the net, which they’re all perfectly capable of doing of course. Giroud means we offer a threat on all fronts. He’s very good at set pieces as well, both in attacking and defending.

  3. Wowww! Never mind them: ọnụ kwuru njọ ga-ekwu mma.
    Those mouths that called Giroud a lamp-post have turned around. Deo Gratias!

  4. Olivier giroud has been a striker transformed this season, showing more prowness and scoring more often than in the last two seasons! His form has been more better this season, and i must say he has improved. Only time will tell if he can replicate the form of aguero or costa who are deadly top class strikers, who can give you about 30 plus goals in a season! if giroud excells to that in time, it would be great for arsenal! Coyg!

  5. As a matter of fact, Rhinosacker, Giroud, Szczesny, DeAbereu and Chambers are currently the 6 footers plus and the big body sizes we currently have at Arsenal as I know. A good size and a good height of a Gunner can turnout to be a big advantage for the Gunner in his games. But it is not the absolute factor to be a good performer on the field. If size and height were, Messi wouldn’t have been a great performer. But if a player has the size, height and the skills combined, he could become a Cristiano Ronaldo. Giroud has improved in his performances. But he should improve in his scoring goals on consistent basis. That’s the quality he lacks at the moment. Because of his lack of goals scoring consistently, I am not expecting him to score this afternoon at Selhurst Park. But the boss should start him as he can assist or even prove me wrong by scoring. I am expecting our goals today to come from Walcott, Ozil and Sanchez. Bearing in mind the lack of match fitness of some of our Gunners. My starts: Szczesny. ChambersRhinosackerDeAbereuMonreal. CoquelinCazorla. WalcottOzilSanchez. Giroud. These my starts WILL down 3 Eagles today at Selhurst Park. Let us wait to see if my starts will tally with the boss’ starts when he reveals them later. I have never gotten his starts 100% correct. And I don’t think anyone has.

    1. He is a bit like Benzema. Not scoring consistently but there are enough quality players around him to do so.

  6. I have been defending Giroud for years, but even I believe we need to get a Top striker in the summer if we want to win the PL

    Giroud has scored approx 45 goals in all competitions in 2.5 seasons (which is good)
    Jackson Martinez has scored 85 goals in 2.5 seasons

    We need our own Costa or Aguero, like Dyabala, Cavani, Martinez, lacazette, etc.

    Giroud is good, no doubt. He has scored many goals for us, but he is inconsistent, hardly ever score against top clubs or in big moments, pulls out a goal from nothing. We need a striker capable of over 30 goals per season

    With Injuries, playing 4 competitions there will always be a need for Giroud and Welbeck

    Giroud and Welbeck would be fantastic supersubs
    like Bony and Jovetic are at City or Remy and Drogba are at Chelski, but we need our own Costa/Aguero to Win the PL

    1. How many goal kicks are those strikers winning FC? It’s always about his overall game not just goals. We should have 20 from Sanchez Walcott and OG every year. Throw in 10-20 from the link up play with OG from Jack And AAron not to mention Ozil and Santi.

  7. Also remember that Giroud is approaching 29 years old which means there is a limit to how much he can improve at that age.

  8. Giroud gives us a physical presence up top, somebody who will fight for every ball and who isn’t afraid to track back and bring that physical style in to our defensive end on set pieces. He’s also shown over the past 2 seasons that his ability to create goals for others is very good for a striker of his size.

    With that being said, we need another option. Giroud is 29, and he doesn’t striker fear into anybody. His overall contribution to the team is fantastic, however with the emergence of Coquelin, and hopefully the signing of another top DM this summer, we need a creator. We need a guy that’s going to take the ball, beat 2 defender, round the keeper and put the ball in the back of the net. While I am hoping that Akpom can grow into that roll, Giroud is 29. Bring in a tricky forward, somebody in the mold of Sanchez, Suarez and Aguero. While Giroud has done fantastic, he’s never going to change a game entirely by himself. We need another option.

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