Arsenal strikers plead case ahead of transfer deadline

While the vast majority of Arsenal fans (I assume) are hoping that Arsene Wenger pulls a transfer rabbit out of his hat in the next couple of days by signing a top class centre forward, it looks like the current first choice options Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott are hoping that he doesn´t.

While neither of the two strikers has been in good form in front of goal so far this season, they have proved in the past that their finishing can be much better and are clearly hoping that the manager does not lose patience with them so early in the season.

Giroud spoke to Arsenal Player before the game against Newcastle, perhaps already aware that Wenger was planning to replace him in the starting line up. And while he emphasised that he brings more to the table than just goals and is all about the team, the big man also spoke with confidence about improving on his perfectly good scoring record of last season.

He said, “I would like to score more than last year and to get a better ratio than last year. It can be between 15 and 20 goals in the Premier League. In total, more than 20 goals would be nice.

“If I succeed to reach this number, I think the main thing for me is to reach our team aims, that’s most important. If we reach our targets, it means that I would have been efficient.

“I’m used to playing when I feel good. My body is good and I’m pleased with that. As long as I’m in good form and my body is in good shape, I’ll try to give my best for the team and I want to play more and more games to score more and more goals.

“It’s such an honour for me to get to 100 games and it means that in three years, even if I have been injured for three months, I’ve played a lot of games for my club and that’s what matters the most.”

Walcott is also desperate to get more chances on the pitch after his recent injury hell and although he admitted that he could have done better with his chances against Newcastle, he is confident in his ability to find the net. But he also seemed to accept that he might have to take one of the wide forward positions if he is to be in the starting line up more regularly.

Theo told Arsenal Player, “I enjoy playing anywhere in the front line. The manager gave me an opportunity and it’s a shame I couldn’t help him out there by getting those goals but they’ll come.

“It was difficult after they went to 10 men, but you need to be able to adapt. I’ve been very patient since my knee injury and just want to play football for this team because I feel like we can go places this year.

“Once they did go to 10 men we found it more and more difficult to actually get in behind them. They condensed the pitch and we found it difficult.

“The game plan was pretty difficult after that but we had to adapt to what we were put up against and we just had to be very patient.

“We said at half-time to just be patient and luckily in the end we got a deflected goal.

“I had opportunities but I just didn’t take them. Like I said before, I would on another day. If I came out and had no chances at all I would be very disappointed.

“It’s good that I was in there and I know that I can do better, but we got the three points and that’s most important.”

So Arsenal fans, are you convinced that these two will start to get us plenty of goals? And with Welbeck soon to join Alexis and all back in the available squad, can the Gunners afford to let the transfer window close without a new striker?

Tags Giroud Walcott

47 Comments

  1. Giroud is a decent striker but we need excellent not decent. Giroud should be a supersub to a Too striker like Remy and Bony are too Costa and Aguero.

    We have two days to get someone
    Right now it does not look good but I’m not giving up hope. If Wenger offers the right salary and right transfer fee, who knows what can happen

    Fingers crossed

    1. Super Sub???

      hes not even good enough for that……

      Say we sign a world class finisher and

      if our world class top quality striker get injured…..

      Can Giroud come in and fill the boots???

      if he keeps missing as number 2 we will still be finished…just like how he came on as sub and fail to score a 1 on 1 against Newcastle…

    2. Please permit me: here we have many who are serious idiots. They come here and act like they are very smart and wise and do know everything about football professionally. Some of us begged and hoped Arsene concluded any deal he intended a week or two into the opening of the market, but some guys here (won’t mention name, they know themselves) called us clueless and that Arsene has been in the game long enough to know what he’s doing. What’s up now? What has the all-knowing Wenger done so far???

      Look, some of you should respect yourselves. Don’t come here and start acting like moderators, as if you know better than everyone else and can control every other person around here.

      What’s today? Is it still too early to sign??? Are you all satisfied now that Wenger knows best?

      1. you sounded pained. if their replies to your post are way beyond your understanding, then bounce instead of insulting people. all I see is your post is most of the time inferior to theirs intellectually.

  2. Whole transfer window we are linked with all types of player and in the final two days nothing is happening. I just don’t want to be stuck with another panic buy.

    1. If he buys anyone these next few days it will be labelled a ‘panic buy’ by the parrots.
      Hell, people still to this day label Mesut frickin Ozil a panic buy… I’m somewhat skeptical if the majority of fans would label KDB a panic buy for City despite them already having Silva if he was signed deadline day….

      1. The thing is, the signing of Ozil and Sanchez boosted the whole team, irrespective of how each performed. God knows we need a boost now, and if Wenger had acted a bit sooner like before the start of the season, we could’ve had our boost in place for the start. I really don’t understand the Wenger mindset. When we’ve made decent signings in a controlled manner, i.e. not stressing until the last day, that has given confidence to the whole team.

        1. Though we did sign a world-class player who was immediately integrated to the XI.
          If we’re assuming the top four will be us, United, City and Chelsea, United were the only ‘top’ team to integrate more immediately into their XI.
          This being said I 100% agree. We definitely could do with another Marquee player, a big quality name and someone fresh and new.
          It’s easy to say in hindsight with a few results being well below expectation. But we did put out an XI that should have easily dispatched West Ham. Quality wasn’t the issue. It was the way we played.

    2. Panic buy, that wiLl be something at least. That wicked man with the nose of a woodpecker can decide to buy no one at all. Why should Arsene panic? “He’s got the whole world in his hands”.

  3. Giroud himself lack confident, As a striker he should be talking about 25 goals plus not just 15, I never see Giroud try to score 3 goals in one game, the fighting spirit is not there. Once he score one is enough for him. I hope he change his thinking and know that strikers are made to always put the ball in the net.he should ask Henry how it is to score.

    ONE LOVE GUNNERS

  4. Remy and bony???? how are they super strikers and what have they done to be better than giroud people need to think before they write such things

    1. They plays for a big club Chelsea and City….that will automatic make them Super Strikers

      just like Samper…hes only a reserve at Barca….but hes automatically becomes world class player and good enough to play for Arsenal first team…

      Grass is Greener outside

      1. Arsenal is a BIG club dude (argue with that then we’ll know what kind of gooner are you). Like it or not ManUre is big club too, and even Liverpool. Naive complement from you!

      2. Sure, i can still give a nod to Bony but forget it Remy is not up to Giroud’s level, what can he do better than him? hope you still remeber Giroud was a topscorer in ligue 1 once, but the pressure here is greater than Montpellier, likewise Remy, neither newcastle or qpr had proven him to be worldclass, he can only prove himself here in Chelsea. Hope you’re studying Benteke’s performance, i told a fellow gunner that he cant outscore Giroud in liverpool and let’s wait till the end of the season…i wish both injury free

    2. @Perf, you should rather think before replying. Bony and Remy are two very good players that if Arsenal had signed, we would not have so much to complain about upfront (Bony in particular—he’d do wonders with Ozil behind him).

  5. walcott has been with us since 05 i think.10 years he has been with us and he is still saying he will deliver next year, he needs to score more we all know that you genius.He should have started scoring 15+ goals 5 years back.As for giroud no comments……

    1. hes been here since 2006….

      if Sir Alexie has been in charge he would have long been gone…..

      hes just not good enough as a winger and striker….

  6. Icardi of Inter Milan to Arsenal?
    Inter officially signed Perisic (a wide attacker) for 20M Euros yesterday and rumour that they are in talk with Lamela and Felipe Melo. Beside Icardi, they already got Jovetic and Palacio as outright strikers on the book. Unlike Real and P$G who do not need money, Inter need to balance the book. It can happen.

  7. We definitely need a world class striker at least. It will surely bring competition which can really helps to improve Arsenal striking options! We can’t afford to wait for these 2 to start scoring. 10 – 11 games 1 goal for Giroud is not consider a world class striker! If we did get a striker we could be in trouble! If look at Man City, of course they are spending lot of money and Arsenal surely ca’nt compete with them but we have 200m in the bank!! Tell me is it that we can’t even afford to offer and sign a top striker with this money?? For god sake, we will not challenge for title if no new striker to come in! We can kiss goodbye to the BPL title as we will be out in between Out to Dec! Mark my words!

  8. No ambition that’s the major problem this club, the manger and players have. If there was any form of ambition at all u will see the desire to win, win dirty if they must. A striker content with 15goals has no ambition. A winger who has clamoured to play upfront. Is now content with playing anywhere in the front three, lack of confidence. They both know they can’t deliever but they prefer the manager doesn’t buy cos they all have no ambition of winning the league

  9. I ramble about last season with Giroud and I really shouldn’t. We all want an effective striker leading the line but what I fail to comprehend with Giroud is that despite each of his seasons with us being slightly better than the last, why it’s impossible to comprehend that he can be an efficient scorer for us.
    I’d really like to try an understand the criticisms, so I can actually constructively evaluate his performances and see if he shows improvement in areas other fans think he is lacking.

    Chances – This is the biggest one I struggle to comprehend. Aguero gets himself in loads of scoring positions, but his misses are not openly criticised as it’s a mark of his quality that he finds himself in so many of those positions. He has a brilliant creative force behind him, as does Giroud. Aguero was on the end of roughly one more chance than Giroud per game last season in the league and their conversion rate was pretty similar from open play. I’d like to see Giroud score just as many as any fan would, but I really want to ask the question… Do fans believe he’s incapable of creating enough chances for himself to be an effective striker? Or is it his inability to convert?
    Goals – I honestly believe there would have been as much criticism thrown his way if he’d converted his chance on the weekend than if he did. It would be put down as a meaningless, nothing goal against a ten man side 1-0 up and ‘why can’t he score vs the big teams/when it counts?’ I’m under no delusion.. 1v1, cutting across on his preferred foot, he should’ve slotted it! But are those really the goals we seem to evaluate him on?? It seems to constantly change from he doesn’t score enough, he only scores tap-ins to he doesn’t score vs the big teams. He finished last season with 19 goals while spending 3 1/2 months on the sidelines, but a lot of fans are still adamant that he can’t push past into the 20-25 bracket. I obviously haven’t been as frustrated as others in regards to our lack of goals so far. We’ve seen slow starts before but the goals come, it’s more about the results for me. But for this point I’d like to ask is it the big-time scoring vs Chelsea, City, Bayern which needs the most improvement? His overall goal tally? Or the quality of his goals? Are his goals any less important if Ozil puts it on a plate for him than if he scores a screamer from outside and what should be a reasonable target for him?

    And finally the ‘mobile striker.’ – If you’re to look back at Giroud’s goals, his assists and the quality work he’s done in the forward line. A lot of them are one-touch finishes, finding a pocket of space in the box, and a lot of times using his strength and body position to his advantage.
    As I stated earlier, he doesn’t seem to have a problem using positioning and strength to his advantage in the box. Theo was crowded out pretty easily vs Newcastle. And though we weren’t really showing any intent in pushing to find holes, I still felt no confidence whenever we did find space on the wings if we were to whip any balls in and test their resolve.
    There’s the ‘something out of nothing’ which seems to get thrown around a lot.. As a lot of commenters have mentioned, despite us playing with nowhere near the fluidity and intent we’ve shown previously we’ve still managed to create more chances than by far and away the majority of the league. There’s a lot of creativity in the side, our full-backs for me, have been playing exceptionally well so far at both ends and whoever is at striker is going to have about as good a support as you’re likely to find in Sanchez… Haha I’m rambling in this last comment, but I guess what I’m trying to say is we’re going to create chances.. Loads of ’em. Why is scoring from nothing more important than scoring in general??

    1. Gosh!!!! What’s it you just did there???? Was that you “TRYING” to go RATIONAL on why Giroud isn’t a flop??? You liken Giroud to Aguero??? That’s the height of it.

      All I want now is an Article from Budd and his brethren on why we must trust and believe in Arsene Wenger at all times.

      1. @kick, don’t be gullible in trying to slate a rational post. he raised a lot of reasonable points which you are expected to counter if you don’t support them. you all rush here blaming giroud for whatever insane reason you get and even compare him to aguero without you all putting their price tag into consideration. he never said he is okay with giroud as our only striker but questioned your hatred towards the guy. Sanchez failed to deliver but he is a superman that can’t be critized by you lot – you all claiming he needs a rest like he is the only Chilean that played the copa America.

        1. Cheers. I agree, Sanchez’s chance vs Liverpool was our best chance of the game. (wrongfully disallowed goal aside) Didn’t even hit the target! It’s not a measurement of his quality because he’ll score from 10x more difficult chances this season! But if Giroud misses those chances he’s castrated, no matter what he’s done in the weeks before or the weeks to come (Monaco)…

        2. God bless you, i have said it in the other post that Sanchez was not the only Chile player that won them the copa America, Vidal has started very well for his new club.
          Maybe we will still give Sanchez more one month holidays to rediscover his form.

          GUNNERS FOR LIVE

      2. Yep.. How dare I look at stats to compare two players who play in the same position!!!!
        Blasphemy!

    2. Nice one there @ Josh37.
      I agree with you on your points about Giroud as obviously they are there to see clearly. Last season, Girouds stats solid. And he should he is very capable of being a deadly finisher.

      However, I’ll say the issue with many have got with Giroud is TRUST. Even I struggle to understand why I myself don’t trust him to be our best-choice CF option. You see, trust is a delicate this thing -when you lose it, you can hardly gain it back. Justifiably or unjustifiably so, Giroud has lost the trust of many of the fans who keep on asking for his head.

      Personally, I can’t get outta my head that picture of how Giroud’s form slumped terribly to near zero level in the later part of 12/13 season. It had a major impact on our until-then strong title challenge

      1. The 12/13 season he was our one and only option up front and played a crazy amount of games that season, often 2-3 full matches in the space of a week. I agree with what Henry said wholeheartedly. He simply cannot do it alone. Someone has to be able to step in and do a job if he’s not performing or needs a rest. But this being said I do remember the second half of that season and he was poor… Pretty jaded as well.
        I’m yet to see enough from Theo to make a personal, conclusive judgement. 4 goals in the space of our final 2 matches last season to pretty much nullified vs Chelsea and Newcastle this season.. As Wenger rightly said, as soon as the red card happened Newcastle dropped 10-15 yards deeper. A hard game to assess anything really.
        Then there’s Danny… Physically and technically I think he has the tools to be immense. But composure wise he’s either going to get it or not. Confidence and getting on the score sheet could do him wonders if given a consistent go in the first team. But he, quite obviously, second guesses himself when in dangerous positions. (First-touch and finishing)

        Don’t get me wrong… I think we pretty obviously need someone else. And I honestly think playing Theo on the right off Giroud’s shoulder is the best option we have in an attacking sense. He’ll find more space and hopefully that extra split second will help his finishing.

    3. Sanchez single handedly won U several games on his own last season something Giroud hasnt done. We dont criticize Sanchez as much because we know he has class, similarly we dont readily criticize messi/cr7 following a game with no goals. Giroud plays well with the team no doubt and i like that, but when you need moments of class to break a deadlock in an important game Giroud usually lets down. I rate him but he isnt on Aguero’s level obviously. Ask yourself the question if you were managing a team and u were offered Giroud or Aguero deep down who would u choose?

      1. Obviously Aguero!! I wasn’t suggesting any otherwise. If he creates more chances for himself with a similar conversion rate that equates to more goals. Aguero’s scoring record in the PL is immense, I was simply pointing out that Aguero is praised for creating a lot of chances for himself regardless of how many he converts. The same cannot be said for Giroud.
        I was merely pointing out that Giroud’s misses are heavily scrutinized, his goals are passed off as insignificant (as you’ve done in your comment) and there’s an overall different scale for measuring him for some reason. When Giroud scores it’s often been the first goal of the game which is crucial! We relax, the other team comes at us a bit more and we often go on to score a few more. The 3-1 or 2-0 might have been a bit different if we hadn’t put the pressure on them. It’s easy to call a goal insignificant when looking at the final scoreline. Except the game may have taken a different turn had we not got the break through.

        1. Say he plays 34 games this season. That’s 34 extra chances. He converts roughly one in 4, that’s 8-9 extra goals. Aguero’s the best striker in the league for me, hands down.

  10. At this point I find myself wondering….what’s the worst that can happen? We don’t sign a game changing striker and we manage to finish fourth once again. Been there way too many times. We will survive. I feel like Wenger never really wanted to buy a player apart from Peter Cech. Months ago he said something about how the season we were invincible, he only signed Jens Lehman, a goal keeper. So you get the feeling he wanted to repeat that this season by buying only Cech with the expectation that cohesion will do the job. I know we bid for Benzema but was he available? Considering that Real never found his replacement, how serious were we in putting all our eggs in one basket when we knew that Benzema might only be available if Real signs his replacement? That is why I don’t believe Wenger really wants to buy in this window. Bidding for an unavailable player is a great way to wind down the clock and when the window closes, Wenger then comes out and says that the targets we had were not available for sale.
    I would take Lacazette in a heart beat. He is different, prolific, fast, can dribble and is a fox in the box. I hope we trigger that his relsease clause if it is still there because Benzema and Cavani are not available. How many world class strikers are available these days and why will the few clubs with such strikers sell them? Lewandowski won’t leave Bayern and Aguero is untouchable.

    1. I can clearly remember a certain commenter on here kept talking about ‘a loud bang from the Emirates as the sound of Wenger’s purse closing for the summer after the signing of Petr Cech. This was very early in the transfer window, so his pronouncements was often ignored. Don’t know if that dude still around here but… how true his pronouncement will be if we don’t sign anyone of note by tommorow evening!

      And yes, I too will take Lacazette in a heartbeat. He may be “gamble” (borrowing Wenger’s word) alright, but a far more sensible gamble than Danny Welbeck or Yaya Sanogo. Wenger says money isn’t the problem for us (isn’t that obvious?), so I hope we push for him even if it means we bamboozle Lyon with a late offer they can’t reject. We have the f***ing money!!. Lool.

      By the way, someone said he did not feature for Lyon over the weekend. Any truth in that? If so, what was the reason given? Dodgy reasons? If it is by any means transfer-related, then I will shift my focus to Lyon to see what we can get from there directly on indirectly.

      At this stage, Icardi (don’t rate him much) or Yarmolenko (not ‘world-class” but still..) will save me the impending disappointment. A Kallstromisque or Welbeckesque buy will kill me (and I’ll be reborn a Wenger-out enthusiasts)!

    2. How about Higuain? Terrific scorer but provided Arsenal going to pay what Napoli is asking! He will leave because Napoli is not playing the Champion League this season. He scored a brace last night and Cavani scored a brace too!

  11. Neville after an arsenal match – Arsenal need a striker.
    After a chelsea match – chelsea need a striker.
    After Man u match – Man u need a striker.
    lol. Very original.

  12. Seriously i love both of them, they both have a very good memory we might reminisced on but it is Wenger i hate…(with passion) so stubborn! what would cost him to buy someone with an edge over this two players for the good of our team, with adequate rotation we wont be missing anyone, but he already misplaced his priority which was his mentality,…Sticking to Wenger is like sticking to Hunger when there are foods around to eat. His area of specialization is favouritism, a coach full of sentiments…

      1. lol…i dont know for how long u’ve sticked to the name, probably after the signing of Ozil, mine is not Wizardry of Ozil but rather that of moiself…..Wizard Calidad and that’s my pen name coz i write…hope you’re not angry as you will have to permit another wizard in me being named here Sir….lolz

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