Do You Regret Selling Giroud? by Dan Smith
Those old enough will remember what Cup Final week used to look like… The team doing a song. The squad trying on suits. All week the media would track their travel plans. Was their hotel lucky or not lucky? Heck the TV coverage would start like 6 hours before kicking off. It was tradition. Now we’ll leave it to JustArsenal to whet your appetite peeps …….
One of the biggest threats standing in our way in winning some silverware will be our former Gunner Olivier Giroud. A cruel irony? Unless you’re the man himself ….
In January 2018 Dortmund would only sell us Aubameyang if they could sign Batshuayi. Chelsea would only approve that deal if they too could find a replacement by the deadline. To help our own agenda, we gave the Blues our striker.
Gooners were so excited by the arrival of Auba, as well as Ozil signing a new contract (yes you were), that a man who had given 6 years’ service left North London with little fanfare or thanks. Which in a sense was fitting, as from his first day at the Emirates he was never really appreciated by a section of our fanbase.
He became manys scapegoats long before Mustafi or Xhaka. This was the start of where it became acceptable to abuse a person on social media because you think they are not good at their job. Crazy ……but sadly true.
The Frenchmen didn’t do anything wrong. He was a constant professional and tried to give the best version of himself, which is all anyone can ever do. He kept his head down and kept the right attitude even when he would have been aware he divided opinion.
Some saw him as the best Plan B in the Premiership.
Others took it out on him simply because his employers didn’t have the ambition to bring in Higuain, Suarez or Cavani like they hinted (usually around the launch of shirt sales).
Giroud is still one of a few to score over a 100 goals in the Red and White, while also winning 3 FA Cups with us, ending our trophy drought. In those Finals he scored in one and assisted a winner in the other two.
He’s since added one more FA Cup to his CV as well as the Europa League. Yes, you could argue he’s the main reason we were not in the Champions League this season and, thankfully, that Emery got sacked.
On the same pitch as Lacazette and Aubameyang (the strike force that made him expendable) he produced a MOTM display while the other two went missing. Not bad for a player who both sets of fans assumed was passed his best when he moved across the Capital.
You see those at the Bridge have also undervalued him. Both Sari and Lampard went through periods when they wouldn’t even bring him off the bench, assuming they had better.
His new coach froze him out in the first half of the campaign; hence it wasn’t till February he got his first League goal of the campaign. It’s only been post-lockdown that he’s started ahead of Abraham. Only then was he offered a new contract. I guess you could say, he’s made a living out of proving people wrong.
Even in his home country Deschamps gets criticized for putting Giroud ahead of a pool of talent. That was justified when France won the World Cup. Giroud is in a unique situation where he’s a World Champion striker without scoring a single goal in the tournament despite starting every game in Russia. Yet his hold up play was vital to Les Bleus. Yet I was still reluctant to write back in Feb that we should bring him back as I assumed what some of the comments would say.
I reckon some would still think we are too good for him, even though he would have been a free agent at a time when Stan Kroenke won’t be spending money. Tell me now you wouldn’t want him coming off the bench instead of Eddie? That you haven’t seen games where we needed another option, which Giroud gives?
Yet would you be shocked if he makes a difference at Wembley on Saturday? We could lose two finals thanks to a player we gave to our opponents for peanuts. Not great business.
Many were unhappy how he celebrated in Baku yet try and see it from his point of view. He’s only human…
If a company told you, you’re not good enough. You get laughed at, mocked, called names, etc and never bite back. They send you away for your troubles, where you prove to that company that actually you might be decent at what you do, are you wrong for not patting yourself on the back.
Readers will know we have fans I don’t feel sorry for. It is like Ozil joining a Turkish side and scoring against us, then the same men/women who verbally abused him will cry when he celebrates. I don’t get it.
Olivier Giroud has won the following ……
French League
4 FA Cups
The Europa League
oh …. and THE WORLD CUP
Only two players have scored more than him for his nation.
Not bad for a lamp-post, eh?
I know which dressing room I would want him in next weekend.
Be Kind In The Comments…
Dan Smith