Arsenal fans need NOT PANIC about Giroud’s France woes

We fans of Arsenal have been guilty of this ourselves, with a large number still getting on the back of our centre forward Olivier Giroud at any opportunity. So we should not have been surprised to see a lot of blame aimed at the big man after a couple of below par performances saw the France national side lose back to back games for the first time since 2013.

Although the Arsenal striker did not have good games on a personal level, I think it is a bit harsh to blame him for the two defeats. For one thing, the two games were a bit meaningless and Giroud had gone off the boil a bit at the very end of the club season.

And for another, there is the report in The Mirror that points to Giroud’s stat of touching the ball just 13 times in the first half against Albania on Saturday, gleefully informing us that their keeper Lloris touched the ball more. That may say that Giroud struggled to influence the game but it does not say a lot for the players supposed to getting the ball to the main striker.

France did no better in the second half without Giroud and there is one more reason for us to go easy on the big guy. A Daily Star report a few days ago suggested that Giroud would miss the game after picking up an injury in training and limping out of the training ground on crutches. So why did Deschamps start him a day or two later?

After Giroud had his season nearly ruined with an injury, are you really surprised that he was a bit cautious against Albania? Don’t worry Arsenal fans, he will be back on form for Arsenal for the start of the new season.

37 Comments

  1. Giroud is not good enough to lead the line at Arsenal. He is a good substitute and that is it. It is a shame, on Arsene and the board that they have allowed this farce to happen for 3 straight years.

    Chelsea: Costa, City: Aguero, Manu: Rooney, Arsenal : Giroud.

    Guess the one that doesnt fit in a top team.

    1. Also interesting to note the article defending Giroud and shifting blame elsewhere. Yet Sterling played awful for England and that was just cause to steer well clear of a transfer…..

      Arsenal fan logic. Said it before and say it again NO fan considers Giroud a top 10/15 ST in Europe and we’re a top 15 club supposedly.

      1. Charlie.. Honest question. Do you think we played better football first half of the season or second half of the season??
        Do you think there was even the slightest correlation that Giroud’s return to the squad coinciding with our form improving dramatically?? Just curious… I mean in our hot-streak he was scoring pretty much every game, similarly to when Sanchez was carrying us… I personally think it was pure coincidence, nothing to do with the fact that our win ratio with him on the pitch would’ve got us much, much closer to the title (as with Ozil and Coquelin), but that’s just me.

        1. Clearly second half, but to deduce that it was simply down to Giroud returning is a massive leap.

          We were better in the 2nd half of the year as we had half a team return from either the treatment table or obscurity. Ospina, Koscielny, Coquelin, Ozil, Rambo, Giroud all returned 2nd half of the season after considerable absence. We were the fittest/freshest team from January onwards because our big players had played half the league games of our rivals.

          That being said quality often is a defining attribute when hard work and effort subside, where was Giroud in the home stretch when we had 2nd place in our hands and an FA cup to win? He was ineffective and subsequently dropped for the cup final as we failed to score a a goal in 3 home games and away vs United (That og was a huge slice of luck in another toothless attacking showing).

          No top ST would ever relinquish his place at such a crucial point in the season. That’s the defining characteristic of being a top player vs a good player for me, all players have passive moments in the season…..but none of the best do it with 4 games to go and a cup final beckoning.

        2. We payed 16m for Cazorla, the highest assist maker in the premier league and one of the best playmakers. To be honest skill wise currently Sterling is worth nothing more than 12m or so. Anything above it is bad business.

          We need a striker if not better then as good as Giroud for the variety. Frankly its defense where we need strengthening. A DM is a must. If Le Coq gets injured we are screwed.

    2. my guess is that he meant Mickey Rooney
      Or Ruined
      or something else…he cant really mean Rooney there…no, definitely not

  2. Poor guy his blamed for not scoring from club, country, and blamed for scoring from the wife, I’m sure he gets it confused sometimes when he should score and when he shouldn’t

  3. All players should have a month and a half of not touching anything but a white sandy beach. This playing 12 months a year has got to stop.
    I wonder how many would play if their club would dock their wages if injured and can’t return to the club at the start of the season.

    1. Well thats why they get paid ridiculously….duhh. That is and should not be your problem. Its why they have dieticians, fitness coaches, Wenger etc.
      The best players Messi, Ronaldo etc. actually enjoy it. That’s how they have racked up their distinguishable career stats.
      That should not be an excuse especially for Giroud because even with 5 months rest, he would still suck. He is not for Arsenal.

  4. International football
    is dumb any way.
    Gibralter v Germany.
    Like Arsenal v Truro City.
    Giroud is the best front man we have.
    20 goals a season, 10 assists
    is fine especially for 10 mill.
    Just need another 15 -20 goal
    7 assists player. Chelsea scored just 2 goals more than Arsenal.
    GK. DM and for me another AM like Sanchez would be fine.
    Goals wont be a problem next season

    1. It’s not just about how many you score, it’s also about when you score them and who you score against. Arsenal haven’t scored a single goal against Chelsea in 2 seasons. That tells me we don’t have enough quality up top. Yes, Chelsea park the bus whenever we play them, but they do that against Man City too, they still score, because they have the quality.

      Another player like Alexis would be great, but also I think we should look at getting Cavani. A proven absolute top quality striker. 25+ goals a season multiple times in ‘the notoriously defensive’ Serie A. People say he doesn’t do it anymore, but that’s because he plays out wide, Ibrahimovic is the main man at PSG. But even so, he’s still managed 34 goals this season – 34! That’s more than any Arsenal player, even Alexis.

      I think we could convince him to join. It’s no secret he wants to play as main ST, and at PSG he can’t do that, so that’s something we can offer. But convincing PSG to sell would be a different story. It would be difficult to get value for money with him being 28 years old, but he still has 3-4 good seasons left in him I think. No doubt he’d be at least on the level of Costa if we got him, perhaps even Aguero.

      1. I’d be over the moon with that although good luck with calling AW and convincing him we need him!

        1. Yeah, I can remember he refused to acknowledge we even needed another striker this season and then had to panic buy Welbeck on deadline day because Giroud got injured. Ridiculous. And it seemed that was only because the fans at the Leicester away game were chanting ‘sign a ****ing striker’ when we were playing Sanogo up front. Surprise surprise we didn’t end up winning that game…

      2. if when and vs which team….man lets not talk about Henry NOT soring in our two European finals vs Gala and Barcelona…right?

  5. Im praying that olivier giroud can hit the ground running, in this coming season and better his tally from last season! Would be great if he can prove his critics wrong and give us about 28-30 goals in the coming season! Coyg!

    1. You’re right, that would be great. But we all know it won’t happen, and I’d rather not take that chance.

      For me Giroud does belong at Arsenal, but he doesn’t belong in our best 11, where he is at the moment.

    2. wow…some will still not learn. This is why we will still have Giroud next season and the quality striker needed will not be bought.

  6. Giroud is a good striker but we all know he isn’t good enough to lead us to the glory we seek. Be truthful to your self, we can’t lift the EPL trophy with Giroud leading the line for us. We need a world class striker, simple and short.

    1. yeah…since when he was injured we played our worst part of the season and when he came back we played better and got most pointz…wait, thats the opposite

  7. If we don’t buy a top quality attacking player this summer, and we don’t win the league due to a lack of firepower, I blame Wenger and Gazidis. If we don’t buy a DM and lose because of a leaky defence because Coquelin is injured, that would be beyond a joke. A goalkeeper I can forgive for not getting, though I do think we need one, but not buying a new attacking player or DM is just negligence from the board and Wenger. If a top striker isn’t available, buy another Alexis-style winger as an extra source of goals.

    No excuse for not competing in the title race this season, even if Alexis Sanchez gets a season-long injury in the first game. If we don’t win the title, it’s a failure. If we finish more than 5 points off the title, it’s an unacceptable failure and people’s jobs should be on the line.

    1. Wenger has to resign if he cant sign a quality striker and CDM. We are just 3rd or 4th club with the current squad. Chelsea will be stronger than last season, Man City and Man Utd will spend 200 m each.

      1. You think your opinion gets the most successful manager at Arsenal to resign?

        Are you sure you are not a Newcastle supporter?

  8. Giroud is overrated by many Arsenal fans here. Donkey Adebayor scored 30 plus goal in a season
    for us. Giroud three seasons and still cant score 20 goals in a league and cant score a hatrick.
    Arsenal main striker should be scoring 25 league goals per season like Wright, Henry and V.Persie
    Why is this French model not scoring 25 goals in league. I will tell u why because he is a striker
    of a mid table team. He doesnt have the ability to lead a line in a big club like Arsenal.

    1. yah!! bring back adebayor so we can win the EPL and UCL…wait…we didnt win those with him in the team,,,,did we?

  9. it is amazing how people slate for the sake of it.
    I am a critic of Giroud when he doesnt perfrm but man,,,,
    Judging Giroud by who he scored against? Not even Henry gave us European glory in finals vs Barza or Galatasaray. So…big games? yeah even King Henry failed those and man did we need some Euro cups…after all I read somehere thats why he and Vieira and others left.
    And then saying Adebayor…oh man…whatever…hahaha not even worth it.

    1. for peoples information.
      Look atthat team, and I for one can never say they were bad, they were the best!!! and yet…they couldnt score and they let in …4 penalties1!!! for just one of ours.
      Getfacts when saying something about your own team.
      The lineups at Parken on 17 May 2000 were:
      Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Keown, Adams, Sylvinho, Parlour, Vieira, Petit, Overmars (Šuker 115), Henry, Bergkamp (Kanu 75).
      Galatasaray: Taffarel, Bülent, Capone, Popescu, Ergün, Okan Buruk (Hakan 83), Suat (Yildirim 95), Hagi, Ümit Davala, Arif (Hasan 95), Hakan Şükür.

      1. FC Barcelona in 1999

        Players

        1 Netherlands GK Ruud Hesp
        2 Netherlands DF Michael Reiziger
        3 France DF Frédéric Déhu
        4 Spain MF Pep Guardiola (captain)
        5 Spain DF Abelardo Fernández
        6 Netherlands MF Ronald de Boer
        7 Portugal MF Luís Figo
        8 Netherlands MF Phillip Cocu
        9 Netherlands FW Patrick Kluivert
        10 Finland MF Jari Litmanen
        11 Brazil MF Rivaldo
        12 Spain DF Sergi Barjuán
        14 Nigeria MF Emmanuel Amuneke

        No.

        Position

        Player

        17 Netherlands DF Winston Bogarde
        19 Spain FW Dani García
        20 Portugal MF Simão
        21 Spain MF Luis Enrique
        22 Netherlands DF Frank de Boer
        23 Netherlands MF Boudewijn Zenden
        25 Spain GK Francesc Arnau
        26 Spain MF Xavi
        28 Spain MF Gabri García
        29 Spain MF Mario Rosas
        31 Spain MF Nano
        32 Spain DF Carles Puyol
        37 Spain MF Sergio Santamaría

        Head Coach
        Louis van Gaal

        Stadium
        Camp Nou

        La Liga
        2nd

        Supercopa de España
        Runners-up

        Copa del Rey
        Semi-finals

        UEFA Champions League
        Semi-finals

        Top goalscorer
        League:
        Patrick Kluivert (15)
        All:
        Patrick Kluivert (23)
        Rivaldo (23)

  10. it would ne aweom that humbs down would show the names of those who clicked them.
    I see thumbs down all over for facts.
    Sad thing that people turn down facts.
    no actually is funny hahaha.
    and then they go and write some more fictional stories…yeah definitely a good laugh, kee it up.
    Now the thumbs down ….go!

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