On the face of it, the Arsenal and France striker was well and truly outshone by his new team mate Alexis Sanchez this season and so many Arsenal fans and football fans in general were in agreement with the club legend Thierry Henry when he launched into a criticism of Giroud recently.
And Giroud has this week admitted in a report by The Mirror that Henry’s words were hard to take and make him question himself quite strongly. But he also went on to say that the support of Arsene Wenger and the other players in the squad helped him to get over it quickly and move on.
Giroud revealed, “It is part of the game. I will never win unanimous support.
“Apparently Titi (Henry) corrected himself recently.
“He said that he was thinking about competition, that he wanted Arsenal to have many strikers who can score goals.
“He was a little brutal at the time, so it caused a fuss, but that is what he’s asked to do as a pundit and I didn’t lose any sleep over it.
“Of course, it hurts your pride – it brings into question the work you do every day. It irritates you, and I was a little annoyed, but I quickly put it behind me. I talked to the coach (Wenger) and the most important thing is to have the support of the people around you, who have faith in you, the staff, my team-mates.
“We can only answer on the pitch and that is also why the FA Cup was important.”
On a personal level, I reckon that Giroud’s last minute goal at Wembley was massive for him because he had just gone off the boil a bit towards the end of the season, which Wenger suggested was due to fatigue. But it has left people questioning the big man again although I think he thrives on that and will use it to do even better for us next season.
And don’t make the mistake of thinking that Giroud was no good this time. He may have scored fewer goals than Alexis but he had a lot less time on the pitch to do so, including three months out with a broken leg. I think that as long as the Frenchman has confidence in himself, it is good when he has to prove himself to others because it seems to inspire him.
And if Arsenal do sign the striker that Henry wants, I reckon Giroud will thrive on the competition as well. do you agree Gooners or do you think his time in the first team will be limited from now on?
After King Henry’s criticism Giroud has been worse,he went 7 full games without scoring a single goal,Henry is our record goal scorer he knows what it takes to win titles,champions leagues,world cups because he’s won them all so he’s 100% right Giroud must be 2nd choice striker!
totally
a striker must score in every game…
Henry never gone 7 full games without scoring….
no top striker has gone 7 full games without scoring
lets spend some money and sign a quality striker
we need 2 world class striker to rotate….
Many top strikers go without ba goal for a few games, overall giroud has had a decent season and we can’t deny that, the stats shows it. We need someone who can challenge giroud. Sanchez and Theo should not be used as strikers. Welbeck should be our third choice striker, sign higuain or Martinez to challenge giroud to the limit.
Please Let’s stop decieving ourselves…. Henry’s criticsm of Giroud will have NOTHING to do with his development…. If we fail to bring in a dynamic/versatile forward (as Walcott may now be in wenger’s CF plans),a back-up DM (coquelin’s Aide)….if we fail to strenghten this presumably strong squad… If we fail to look beyond our noses and make the right additions… We will only be having ourselves to blame for what lies ahead…. Going a full season without an injury to a key player or two is not something we could gamble on…. Sincerely, we weren’t so close to winning anything until ozil and sanchez joined us…brought with them, winning mentality…now we could go a step further and break that jinx… Break that barrier… Hurt the likes of chelski and citeh….grab bigger trophies… A few key additions to our squad could achieve all that … WE ARE ALMOST THERE… DON’T STOP HALFWAY
@SoOpa I agree with you we need to avoid complacency. Rather we need to learn to always look beyond our nose if ever we will be on same level with the football powerhouses of this world -because that’s what they do to remain at the top.
You see, that is the way the human mind works. As time passes it begins to doubt. Look, there was a time when some of us began to doubt if Arsenal indeed DESPERATELY NEEDED a specialist all-action type DM in the team (a defensive bully). Now we don’t remember that -because we have one now that has CLEARLY worked for us.
There was a time some of us began to doubt if Arsenal indeed DESPERATELY NEEDED big-name players in the team (with big price-tags). Now we don’t remember that -because in the past two years, we’ve bought two of such players that eventually contributed majorly in winning us two FA cup trophies.
This is just the beginning! As the necessary time passes until Arsenal transitions to becoming something of a European/Wold power-house, some of us will occasionally doubt our needs from time to time.
Thank you SoOpa AeoN.
I think Giroud responded well on/off the pitch. Being a centerforward you are usually the frontline when it comes to criticism but i think Giroud has had it much better than other strikers in the premier league’s top5/6 teams e.g. Falcao and Soldado which is mainly because of his price tag.
I like Giroud as a player but i agree with Thierry too, his comments where probably to make a big “SkySports” statement but there is truth in it. Arsenal need a centerforward to compete with Giroud but its difficult to find, because the risk is so high. Teams are spending alot of money getting strikers that don’t work out e.g. Balotelli, Falcao, Soldado, Torres……., you can’t just buy the 1st name in the papers.
Girue will be the all time arsenal top scorer in two seasons.Henry you will eat your words
Thierry has a statue outside the stadium, I don’t think many current player have a claim to have one too.
Dream on
Giroud has what it take for 25 goals a season but he has had little to no competition, Henry is right on that point. Just like Sanchez he was burnt at the end of the season so Theo can really have a role to play centrally and he gives us a different tactical option that will cut some teams apart with a faster type of play and through balls options instead of the strike being used like a pivot point to bring other players up.
Alexis needs to be rotated in some games, but that is for him to accept to sometimes be on the bench against lesser opponents. If we used Welbeck/Rosicky as a backup for AS we would keep him fresh for longer.
I think we have the players to band the goals in up front and the only addition we would need is a top one if available. And by top I mean top because such signing would probably mean the end of Theo at Arsenal.
My first choice would be an unbelievable RW so Theo is used centrally and we can use Ox there too without worrying about his fitness.
what abt Reus?
I am surprised we are not linked to him. He can play on either wings and will be an upgrade to the personnel we have- allowing theo to move central. Can play CAM, and I believe can also play ST. Any thoughts?
I’m always confused when people say we need a Central defender. Thats the least of Arsenal’s need to compete right now. I have watched EVERY single game Gabriel played and I can say categorically we have that great central defender we want in him. I also compare Chambers games as Central defender with his games in the right side of defence and I think he is a better Central Defender, more composed and assured in the Centre than on the right. And note i said HE IS and not his future. He can do a job as a fourth central defender in a title challenging Arsenal side TODAY. And with Isaac Hayden the fifth, I wonder what people are looking for again. Please remember we both the second best defender in the La Liga statistically and bar the issue of language challenges, which I believe he is working hard on, we have a great defensive leader in Gabriel. But i guess because we now own him people stopped thinking highly of him. I will give Gabriel a chance. He is a great ball playing defender and he fits our style of play much more than most defenders the rumour mill links us with. Having said that we still have Debuchy, Monreal and Jenkinson who can do a Job in Central Defence in case our first Four Central defenders all got injured at the same time. We have an amazing depth in the centre of defence and i dint think we need to ruin peoples career by buying them and having to keep great players in the stands (and note I didn’t say bench), we are not Manchester City (ask Jack Rodwell, Scott Sinclair, Edin Dzeko, James Milner, Micah Richard, Jovetic, even Sami Cahsri and Bacary Sagna).
I actually prefer the more tigerish elements of Gabriel’s game. He’s a tenacious player and if he gets his positioning right, he has the attitude to become a defensive bully. A good foil for Koscielny, who is himself a ball-playing centre half. He’s also had a few failures in his early career which I guess has added to his mental toughness.
I’ve got one or two question marks over his weight – he’s apparently only 11 and a half stone which isn’t much more than the much shorter Alexis. AW does prefer his centre-halves on the lean side, but if his attitude and confidence are right there’s no reason why he can’t deal with the physicality. I’d like to see him add another 10 pounds of muscle though and really give himself the tools he needs to play his type of game, providing it doesn’t affect his agility (which it shouldn’t do).
Oops. This was meant to be in reply to GO as an off-topic. Soz 😀
The last few games all that mattered was if we were to get 2nd or 3rd. The season was basically over so there was no sense of urgency and OG as well as everyone was just going through the motions. It’s a long season and the FA cup was the carrot on the stick at the close.
I predict OG will have quite a few more productive seasons ahead of him.
It’s funny I think because he plays a game that is so different to everyone else barring a few many can’t wrap their heads around his contributions to the team.
How can Giruod have fatigues if he out injury 3 month of season?!?