Olivier Giroud was much-maligned by Arsenal fans last season and we were all calling for Wenger to buy a new top class striker to displace him this summer, but hopefully yesterday’s sublime finish against Man City must have allayed some of our fears. Although it looked like an impossible shot, Giroud says that it was definitely what he was aiming for…”I had a look at the keeper and I was thinking that he was a bit too much forward from his line,” he said on Arsenal.com. “I tried instinctively to shoot and to hit the target. I was a bit lucky but that’s what I wanted to do.”
The French international then went on to say that thesquad can only get fitter, and thatthecompetition forstarting spotswill improve the team even further. He said: “I came back just two weeks ago but when I came back I felt the squad looked really solid and with a really good commitment and spirit,”
“I have good feelings about our game and in training we joined with Laurent and Mathieu really early last week to play in the games. I feel we will be stronger than last year so we will wait for our Germans and see if we can reach our goals this season.
“After an international competition… you come back and you are late in your preparation so you have to come back stronger and to reach your legs. That’s what I tried to do and last week I was not ready. This week, I feel better and hopefully for the first game next weekend I will be ready.
“When we are all together, there will be a good competition on the pitch. I think it will be good for all the players to have a great competition. I think we will be stronger than last year. We did well until March so I think with a really good squad with the quality and the quantity now we will do better.”
One of favourite stats from last season was that Giroud played more games than Liverpool, but weall know that hewas in need of a rest at many points of the season. Hopefully with Sanogo around to take the pressure off we will see a more relaxed and fitter Giroud this season. He just has to start going to bed early before important games, on his own I mean!