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?