I have always backed Olivier Giroud to prove his doubters wrong, even when he took a while to get going after joining Arsenal from then champions of France Montpellier in the summer of 2012. His stats from previous clubs suggested that he got better with time and his all round contribution to the Arsenal cause was almost as important as scoring the goals we had lost with the departure of that baby boy Robin van Persie.
But one of the criticisms levelled at the big Frenchman, no matter how well he was playing, was that he was not an adequate replacement for the Dutchman. How many Arsenal fans still hold to that I wonder, because although van Persie did well and won the title in his first season at Man United, his powers have been on the wane ever since while Giroud continues to improve and make himself a real star with Arsenal.
We can only guess how well he and Arsenal would have done without that unfortunate tibia break, but looking at the stats comparison on Squawka.com based on minutes played between him and our former striker, Giroud is far and away the better player this season.
I have also included the stats for both from last season and that also emphasises that improvement I was talking about. He is only one goal behind RvP this season, despite starting just eight games compared to the United man’s 20 and will surely finish with more by the end. And as I said, goals are just one facet of his game, so do you agree that Giroud really has proved to be a good replacement?
giroud has improved every year hes been here.
hes scoring against the big teams now- which is great.
but lets not be biased cos of what happened-
giroud will never be as good as rvp-
on any level- we know full well we had a world class striker
not sure replaced is the right word
RvP far better technical striker than OG. OG far better team player and more overall contribution.
But, but, but, hang on a minute, a bit of perspective here; anyone recognise these numbers; 5, 5, 11, 7, 11, 9?? Correct – RvP’s PL goal tallies for his first 6 seasons so don’t anyone here (not aimed at you muff) start giving it the “guaranteed 30 goals a season” b***cks – took him 8 years to do it. Yes he was injured for long periods but he still put in 131 PL appearances to get those 48 goals. Ollie has about another 50 games to get 15 goals to match that total. But I don’t think OG will ever get more than 20-22 PL goals, so fair play to RVP for his one season 30 goal performance, but hey ho he buggered off straight afterwards.
I agree with you but unlike RVP, OG is willing to take the blame for the team’s losses even when it isn’t his fault. And despite his lack of ability he’s desperate to score in every game and always seeks to create a chance for another player when he can just shoot. He gives the team A LOT MORE than just some pretty footwork and finesse
OG > RVP aka king of mercenaries
Just dont try to compare Gold with Silver…Please add 2012-13 season and watch the difference…That will make it clear that it was not the form of Giroud which has risen to the level of RVP but the form of RVP which has dipped to the level of Giroud by 2014-14.
http://www.squawka.com/comparison-matrix#premier_league/2012/2013/olivier_giroud/126/2/115/0/p|premier_league/2012/2013/robin_van_persie/126/2/195/0/p|premier_league/2013/2014/olivier_giroud/126/64/115/0/p|premier_league/2013/2014/robin_van_persie/126/64/195/0/p#total_score/attack_score/key_passes/chances_created/goals_scored/total_shots/shot_accuracy#avg
Arsenal are a better team without van poessy…..we seem to get goals from more players not just the lone striker…as an out and out striker – I still think giroud aint as sharp as RVP, but as a team man OG is better, and doesn’t have glass legs…
i disagree, maybe now cos his age is starting to show.
but making out like we couldnt have used a guaranteed 30 goal a season world class talent, whos all round play was better than cavani’s is untrue.
people are still bitter- move on
@muffdiver
Yes he was a huge asset but RVP was not guaranteed – how many full seasons has he played with us…with our style since he left – we got more goals from our midfielders, even JW started scoring…Ryt now we get goals from Sanchez, OG, Santi, Wellbeck, Ramsey, TR7,etc..wait till Ozil and Theo get there form back….Back then we were almost solely reliant on RVP….Don’t get me wrong, we could be an even better team with a real out and out striker, but I think Rvp’s move was a blessing in disguise…
Sanchez is doing the same thing that rvp did in his last season. Take sanchez out god knows where Arsenal will be right now. You are trying to console yourself by saying we have become better but we are still the same arsenal who are fighting for top 4. That season RVP was bailing us out, this season sanchez is bailing us out.
@Wayne Barker
they strikers, aint it their job to score…..take away Aguero’s goals from MC, wer with they be….the point im tryin to make is that we now get goals from midfielders, wingers and defenders…our game plan with RVP was to feed him only, then when his glass legs (injury) came into play, we had no alternatives….
so we didnt get goals from nasri cesc and theo when rvp was here?
i get that alot of u are high from sundays win- i am too- but dont be so fickle that after one game-
giroud is better than rvp
now we are better than when rvp was here.
…..we are not spuds – bias is not our style
We have got better players now but honestly we still dont have a lethal. Imagine with this team we had a striker of the calibre of RVP in his prime. Again RVP would have done more if he had a team like this in his last season.
We don’t have to imagine too much do we? We had RvP in what should have been his prime with other handy players, as well as those players that many are still whining about like Fabregas, Nasri, Song – and we won nothing and waited patiently for 8 seasons for him to finally put in that single season performance – an untypical season that now seems to be how many remember his career at Arsenal.
It’s funny because with Giroud we actually challenged for the title last season unlike when we had RVP..
He will only replace him when he scores 30goals a season
I dare to say that if RvP would play for Arsenal he would get the Golden Shoe in his first season. Fortunately this will not happen. I’d rather have that prize for Sanchez.
still feel we need another striker someone like dybala his contract ends in 18 months maybe a summer move
Your feelings asking price is a whopping 30 million pounds. I do see a slight problem with that and I am sure I’m not the only one.
bvb going for lass diarra replacement for gundogan + Campbell could leave on loan or permanent
Giroud is not good enough…
lets get Cavani….
Cavani, Falcao etc…they are world class strikers that guarantee goals…
Falcao guarantees goals…? Need more evidence for that. I have a slight suspicion that injury has done more damage than people think.
@Hafiz Rahman,
i will like to know what is being served (drinks) in the house of Raman lately …? for few days you have being out of tune.. right now i will not substituted Giroud for Falcao, even United want to get raid of him as soon as possible .
I believe there will be some regrets for RvP when we will win the EPL. I am not saying it will happen this year or the next but I am 100% sure we will do it rather sooner than later.
As for this season all I would say to the team is just keep winning and see where it ends.
doubt he will live with regrets.
he won premier league first season he had with man u.
waiting another 5 years to see arsenal do it would have been pointless for him.
He did not win it. SAF did it. There’s a subtle difference between winning something and being in the winning team. Bale was the player of the season when Spuds finished 5th. That’s saying something.
he was the difference that season-
how many goals did rvp score for them that year?
how did they play poor most of the season but still scrape wins?
he was amongst the key players for them.
acceptance bro
The difference that season was exactly what the difference is this season. Chelsea got a head start and they will win it unless all the planets align themselves for them to lose this season. Same in 12-13 when Manure took a head start and did not let go until the end having what? like 11 points more than the 2nd? Everyone was crap (the teams in the top 4 finished with less than 80 pts except them) see what happened when top teams started to win more than 80 pts/season, they didn’t even finished in the top four when the pressure was high.
In any case, good for him, glad he got his title. Time to let go, I have no regrets for having going except for the fact that it started the series of attacks from the media to the club, manager and the players. Hope they are put to rest now.
is that you patlloyd?
You can call me Nancy if that’s what you like.
the difference was SAF, it’s been proved.
But he was a big part of them winning. I do not get your point so if I apply your logic then Henry has won nothing because wenger was the one who made it happen.
Oh, but he was. But you see, 50% if not more is due to SAF. The man had a team of average players (see under Moyes how they fared or even Van Gaal) and he lead them to the title.
Back when Henry played for us yes, Wenger made a lot of it possible. How many coaches would stand by a shy Henry in his first season and transform the way he played the game?
When losing you’re quick to point to the manager. Do the same when winning because you will not be far from the truth.
But yeah ultimately his career will show he was a big part of United winning the tittle. Your first line is itself a joke when you said he didnt win it. LOL. Truth hurts son, we are jealous of Fabregas and RVP because they won trophies that they werent able to do for Arsenal.
Jealous? Would you be jealous or angry when you see your girlfriend riding your boss? Bad choice of words, mate.
The thing is Sir alex played the master stroke by signing him. So yeah sir alex did play the part but rvp was the missing puzzle for them
And paid 25 million for it. Money which we fully deserved. We could have held int RvP but there was no point because he would not have been performing for us again as he used to do. So I don’t know what master stroke you talk. Especially the fact that SAF left the ship after that.
he would not be performing for us like he used to?
so that season he scored 30+ goals for man u- we couldnt have used?
a master stroke is having a ageing team with several average players- buying a guaranteed world class striker- an thus winning the title in his last term from doing so-
you are unbelievably bias lol
i suppose gallas for cashley was a good deal also
You’re reading, do you? I have said “for us”. If he wants to leave then leave him go unless you want the same Fabregas story to unfold. Do you think he’d put so much in the game knowing that we did not let him going to his only chance maybe to win the title? And in his last year of the contract. Think again.
I don’t want to speak for Budd but I think he means there are relatively easy ways for a top player to get a PL medal and then there are much harder and ultimately more satisfying ways of doing it. Signing for a team that had won 4 out of the 5 previous PL titles ain’t the hard way – bit like Nasri et al jumping on the City bandwagon. He biggy backed on a settled and successful team that had been nurtured and developed from the ground up for 25 years under SAF. It doesn’t either, as some will suggest, smack of ambition. It just smacks of “me, me, me”. That is why, when people talk about all time greats I have massively more respect for those players who did it the hard way – Maradona going to Napoli is a stand-out example. Trundling your little ass over to Real Madrid/BM and waiting for the trophies to arrive can’t involve that much excitement/anticipation surely? I credit the guys who have been at these clubs since day one and built something but haven’t got as much time for the “johnny come latelys”.
Please forget about that statistics. What does it translate to for Arsenal? Hit 25+ goals and no fan will need a statistician to tell him about you. Do we need statistics to know how good Sanchez is so far?
Off topic, Please can someone tell me which tract was playing immediately Giroud scored the second goal against Man city? I’ve been watching Cazorla’s dance steps at that time with interest to copy him.
We wont be getting a striker this month so we might as well bk og 12 and danny boy…I really like the deference in the 2 strikers we got a the moment…1 is big and 1 is fast….feel good to be able to mix it up a bit..not like last yr when we were so predictable especially when th14 got injured
Again Like I said this is typical over reaction going on from the moment we beat city. First Coquelin is said to be as equal to Matic and now Giroud is compared to RVP. I am a big fan of rvp and will always be. Let us stop being bitter, Giroud is not fit to lace the boot of rvp. I know it will hurt many fans but this is the truth. It is like some United fan saying Berbatov is better than Henry even though Berbatov has also proved more than Giroud
when you travel to manchest, beat city in every aspect of the game, frustrate city, then there is no such thing as overreaction. this is a celebration week,
I Thought we are supposed to be a top club aiming for top finish. When have we become like a stoke or Villa. Where are our old fans who used to stand toe to toe with United fans. Let us hope we manage to do our routine finish and be in top 4 other wise that trophy will also go
It’s a bad comparison really, you need to compare RVPs last season with us to Giroud now, which I suspect RVP was better. However, I think Giroud offers us a much better team player and a more important balance to the team. Our team is definitely better now than it was with RVP.
OG 12 does a job for us, and has begun to finally convert goal in the big games that matter, but he should be second choice, should come in and change games or give our top striker a break. Hold up play is all well and good, and something that he does extremely well and is useful for us, but he main job of the CF is to score goals, and sometimes make something out of nothing.
A CF that has the size to hold the ball up, coupled with the pace to get in-behind and give us a vertical option, as well as take his man on 1v1 and create somethin seemingly on his own – this is what we need to truly compete on the world stage and at the top of the prem. OG would round out the squad nicely and could change the complexity of a tight game in the 65h minute or so, but the Arsenal need a more complete and dangerous CF to consistently lead our line.
Just who is this prolific, giant, pacey, creative “CF” that goes past people at will?
Lets not get carried away after City win. Compare Giroud with Costa….the target is the League and Champions League, doubt Giroud can deliver one or both with his record…the stats say so!
You think Chelsea are going to win the UCL with Costa’s zero UCL goals to date this year? Which stats are you referring to? OG’s goal scoring ability? Aguero got 17 goals last season (to OG’s 16) and Suarez got 31. Man City = PL title. Pool = Zilch.
Google the chance conversion rate!
LOL. I made an effort here to accommodate your request. First one that came up on Google was admittedly an out of date chance conversion chart for the PL dated 14/3/14. And without a lie, I quote to you: “Nicklas Bendtner has been statistically proven to be the deadliest striker in the Premier League”. The top 5 strikers in the PL on chance conversion rate were: Bendtner, Adebayor, Cole (as in Carlton!), Vydra and Welbeck. Like all stats you need to very careful with them.
Dont try to be some intellectual know it all pr1ck…compare OG to Costa as stated in my original post!
Sanchez to the left of me, Walcott to the right, here I am, stuck in the middle Giroouud.
Not many people would prefer Giroud over RVP in a 1 on 1 situation, however Giroud does do more for the team in terms of one-twos and holding it up to bring our other attackers into play. We are not dependent on our striker now like we were with RVP, this is because we have several players who can get goals. The team will be much more confident if the goals are spread around, think of the mental aspect, when we had RVP everyone must have thought as soon as he is injured then we’re f*cked. Now we can cope with injuries to our best players and we still have players who can get goals.
We have no trouble scoring goals, it’s been our defensive game that’s let us down; however that seems to be improving and with that has come wins and clean sheets. All we need now is to try and build on the momentum we have been gathering. Brighton is a perfect opportunity to give our best players a rest and to give players who aren’t getting much match time a well needed start, this includes recent returnees as well as squad players.
The title is probably out of reach this season and I don’t expect us to win it. I feel that we could maybe catch City with a great run and some luck, but more realistically we have to finish above Utd, Sot’on, Spuds and Pool and try and progress in the CL as well as the F.A Cup.
Love the Gerry Raferty (Stealers Wheels) reference. You know your pop music.
I feel that now he has to do with a lot of competition for his position, he has had to improve his work rate and finishing. He was always a good team player but his finishing and work rate was poor. He sure is getting a whole lot better and can improve.
The difference between the two strikers is that Giroud plays game in and game out while Van Persie had only 1 fit season with us. Van Persie is very talented, but you cannot score goals from the training table. Just ask Diaby
van who?
seems to me, ever since Giroud got caught in da sack, he has turned his attitude around, he seems slighter and faster, i used to complain daily about him, he was slow, always out of position, now he is attacking the ball, finding gaps, someone did a nice job developing him, i was wrong on OG,
I’ve always rated Giroud on here against the tide of opinion it has to be said.
Maybe now, people will start to appreciate him a bit more (or maybe not…).
RVP is no doubt better, but Giroud has improved greatly since first joining the club, when he was quite simply not good enough before. I think overall both RVP and Giroud are/were vital players to the club. When we dont play with Giroud now, we simply arent as good. He leads the line very well now and has become a consistent goal scorer. Not many have mentioned it but he led the line fantastically against City, which is exactly what we need from him. Giroud to be is essentially a light version of Benzema. Neither are prolific goal scorers, but both are essential to their front lines. Credit to Giroud honestly. I never thought I’d be saying good things about him a few seasons ago…
Stats are funny things. I like them – they are useful. However…….
Stats, for example, showed that Poldi was the best finisher in the league every year with Arsenal – goals-per-minute ratio, goals scored-per-shots taken etc. Poldi even led the entire league in assists 2 years back – Wenger benched him despite all that.
So what did all those good stats do for Poldi? Earned him a top place on Wenger’s sh#t list and a free trip to Milan.
The truth is, despite Poldi’s finishing stats, we must admit he had some weaknesses in other areas of his game. The same is certainly true of Giroud. He will never rival RVP’s ability to create chances on his own. But he is also far less injury prone and thus ready to play more.
There are so many factors going into the equation that it is difficult to make a true comparison – especially just using selected stats. My criteria for judging him goes like this – So long as Giroud helps Arsenal win, it is fine with me. Even if his play makes fans call him a lamp post, if he helps with wins, he is doing the job.