All this talk about Arsenal splashing out the millions on a new striker must be making Olivier Giroud very nervous indeed. We found out last season that the Frenchman is a sensitive soul and his game can be put off by the idea of Wenger buying a striker, or even by Thierry Henry saying that he is not good enough to win us the title.
But somehow Wenger has persuaded Olivier to sign a new (much improved?) contract to keep him at the club for the next three seasons, but did Wenger have to promise him that he would still be his first-choice centre-forward this season? We will probably never know but it is definitely a worry for Arsenal fans, although I doubt that Wenger will promise anyone an automatic place in the starting XI. Competition is key!
Giroud himself recently admitted that he did not like Henry’s comments but he won’t let it affect him on the pitch. “I know Thierry and I knew what he wanted to mean,” he said in the Telegraph. “If I see him we will have a conversation between two men. I’m not angry against him but it’s true that I didn’t understand at first. But it’s alright. I’m not going to be upset about that. I’m sleeping well and as long as my family is OK that’s the main thing. It doesn’t affect me too much.
“To be honest, when you are a footballer you don’t have to listen to people commenting about your performance. The main thing is not to have any doubt when you miss a chance or miss a game. The best thing is to forget about the comments straight away and to keep the head up and not let it affect your qualities.”
I can’t help remembering that Giroud’s form fell apart after Henry’s comments, so he obviously WAS upset, but will he take kindly to a new (improved) striker coming to Arsenal. He said publicly: “If there is a new striker it will be nice for all the team, because competition is good for everyone.”
I know Arsenal will be competing in four competitions so we definitely need two strikers – if Walcott doesn’t get moved to the centre, but I’m not sure that Giroud could be considered to be a supersub. I think he needs regular games to keep him sharp, so I’m a little worried about the effect on his confidence if left on the bench for long periods.
Who thinks he will be okay as second-choice hitman?
I am sure he is not nervous at all, because Wenger came out and said it’s not true.
Wenger said this about the 200mil transferAsked whether the comments were helpful he said: “Helpful or not, it doesn’tmatter. He has gone a bit overboard because that’s not true.“We are in a situation – I explained many times – where we are working hard if an opportunity comes up to do something, but we are not in the need.“Last week I had to answer ‘what will you do if all the players are available?’ This week ‘why don’t you buy?’“Last week (in Singapore) we scored goals and we did not have Alexis Sanchez and Danny Welbeck, who are coming back now. We’re in a position where we have a strong squad, but if an opportunity turns up we’ll still do something.”Wenger on Benzema“One thousand per cent is a lot! That looks quite convincing.”“I do not come out with names anyway. I believe we built something special last season. We want to work on that and not expect too much from outside.”
i cant believe that we have to hear all these nonsense and a certain klopp who also likes glooming young players and does not spend much is just sitting somewhere jobless…someone who made dortmund into what we know it in just 2 seasons…someone who knows what quality players is…someone who knows how to beat the big teams..a strategist…someone who can change a club like arsenal or everton..someone every club with an old or deluded manager should carefully consider…
FYI..i have not mentioned anyone’s god…if you feel that a club you know fits the bill then its intended for you…i think he would be good for sunderland
@trophyhungry gooner
Where is BVB at right now? In free fall. They lost a couple of players and fell apart, under Klopp. The Bundesliga is a 1 team League, with 17 also rans. BVB came out of nowhere and took everyone by surprise. They played well and Klopp rallied them on to some great wins. But if he was the manager you’re blowin him to be, then they wouldn’t have folded as easy as they did after losing a couple of players.
Now Eddie Howe at AFC Bournemouth is a manager to be admired for his managerial prowess…
Ny-gunner wise words once again. Your always spot on
@Kam…..sjdsuyewmnjcxdikqwbvnmhjwegtfcnaslkioqwopkidjsnmhjkwehgjweuywoidnbdsuiwghjsoqplidbewuybsaoijnhjkwqicxnbxcuislcdyewioanhhasjkulcduyi
Giroud is a professional and will fight for his place if we sign a top striker. Competition is always a healthy thing in football, it would bring the best out of players even giroud. We are competing for 4 trophies so there would be plenty of time for giroud to play. And there would always be rotation, so not a big deal. We need a world class striker and giroud should be happy if we sign one cuz it would bring us closer to a major trophy. I believe giroud would be a super sub and he can play in the cup matches.
The only thing i can say about giroud’s situation is these…if you are really good and convincing, then no one can doubt you, in fact people right now would be rejoicing for his new contract but alas!!!…FFs man no club has ever shown any interest in you since you came , people never mourn when you miss matches, you have more haters than lovers, your fans only point out to your hold up play(are you a striker?), you have never scored more than 16goals in a season for us, you’ve divided the fanbase, we struggle with goals with you around etc…i don’t think that a top striker has those kind of qualities and i sense if a top striker comes through, then you might be relegated to capital one league only since i favor welbeck for FA…good luck big guy
How many goals did benzema score last season???? And giroud has more qualities than just hold up play…stop talking crap
i have not mentioned benzema anywhere..am not even his fan..but talking of benzema, isn’t he the guy who benches giroud in the france national team????…if hes better than giroud, i prefer him or any other better striker…gosh they are sooo many…lukaku 7yrs younger is miles better than him for example
Giroud scored 14 goals in 21 starts. That is not a bad record at all. What about lukaku and his record?????what do you have to say about that???giroud is not world class but he’s a damn good striker
@seancali who would you prefer for arsenal currently…lukaku or giroud???…and while we are at it would an everton fan jump to the idea of exchanging lukaku and giroud….hmmmm i don’t think so…love is blind so i think you must be really into giroud that you cant see his obvious mishaps
Giroud is a target man, he’s the heart of all our attacks. His hold up play,his passing,his one twos,his first touch,his heading ability and his defending are his attributes. He’s not fast and can’t dribble but have other qualities. Giroud has improved season by season, competition would bring the best out of him. Stop slating giroud for stupid reasons
@Seancali,
Btw…Lukaku, Benteke, Ibrahimovic are all target men.
They can dribble too. Lukaku and Benteke are very quick and I have seen Benteke does dribble. I have seen Lukaku pick up the ball, dribble and go on mazy runs. Ibrahimovic is also a fantastic dribbler as we all know with very good feet and possesses magic also.
Just because Giroud is big isn’t an excuse for him to be lazy and not have any skills or versatility in his Arsenal.
Lukaku and Benteke are actually way better than Giroud… They are faster, younger (haven’t even reached their best or potential yet), stronger, better dribblers (especially Lukaku), as big as Giroud (but more agile and mobile) and better finishers. You forget that Lukaku and Benteke have achieved admirable feats playing in clubs like Aston Villa, West Brom, Everton who I find it very hard to remember names of players in their midfield rather than Barkley, Barry and Fabian Delph while Giroud has had the luxury of players such as Cazorla, Ozil, Sanchez, Walcott, Ramsey for 3 seasons now who are an indisputable stronger creative force compared to those other teams mentioned. Past 3 seasons goal tally – Benteke: 19, 10, 13. Lukaku 17, 15, 10. Giroud 11, 16, 14.
42, 42, 41 respectively BUT the big difference is they have played for Aston Villa, West Brom and Everton.
Giroud plays for ARSENAL with all the midfield maestro’s providing,assisting, creating chances and making his job way easier but still cannot score more than they have.
These are FACTS…as @mohawk and other Giroud fans like to sing about.
Deal with it!. If you can’t make any point to discount my analysis…shut the F*ck up and thumb me down like you just have. You can’t prove otherwise.
At least, you know that Giroud is average and not good enough to play for Arsenal as a starter that we rely titles on. Nothing you can do about that.
Last season in PL Giroud’s chance conversion was 20%, better than Benteke at 15% and Lukaku at 8.6% – he actually had less chances than CB and RL. You overestimate the creativity of Arsenal’s midfield compared to other PL teams – we averaged around 3 more chances than the teams you mentioned and a greater proportion of those chances went to CB/RL – the primary focus of their play. If you have watched us you will know OG is not the sole focus of our attacks and chances are shared around.
And do you want to explain why Chelsea rejected Lukaku and he is at Everton – surely someone would have been in for him if he was as good as you say? And didn’t see much squabbling or competition for Bentekes’s signature – care to explain?
Yesss
he can come in extra time to hold up play
a second or even a third choice striker is not bad for GI rod.
He can come in when we need a vital goal and we change our formation to 4 4 2
Then Alexis cuts in to his right, he finds wilshere,
Wilshire passes to carzola, carzola leaves two player dead and he finds ozil in the box. ooo what does he do…………
he delivers an inch perfect pass and GI rod taps in.
it’s a goalllllllllllllllllllllllllll
goallllllllll
goalllllll!!!!!!!!
@THEFINALGURU……….. Sgehalksxydencx jsklernbxztyaqoi ajhd yhgcy TV jsadieurbnxsd??
Dont see how a competition will make Giroud run faster, dribble past 2 or 3 players, make runs past last defender, shoot from outside the box and more importantantly score more goals???
Ok first and foremost Giroud is a target man. he excels at playing with his back to goal and bringing other players into the fold with slick flicks and one twos. You cannot expect him to take the ball and dribble through defenders with pace and trickery. That is simply not the type of striker he is. After all you wouldn’t expect aguero to play as a target man now would you.
Secondly competition can help. When you are fighting for a place in the team you want to try harder so that you can retain your spot. look at monreal or walcott for example.
all that being said, i hope we do bring in a cdm if flamini leaves, and a top striker liker a benzema, lewandowski or lacazette. If everyone stays fit, this is one scary team
Lukaku is a target man also. Bigger and stronger than Giroud. I have seen Lukaku does take the ball and dribble through defenders with pace and trickery. He has it in his locker. If you have talent you have talent. Look at Ibrahimovic also.
There are no excuses for Giroud being average. You either have it naturally, develop it or you don’t and remain average.
Scenzny lets in goals few goals and he get slaughtered but the donkey doesn’t score when it matters but he gets praised, excused and given upteempth chance to prove everybody wrong by deluded fans!
I hear you NIKK.
Its pathetic sometimes.
Like you wonder if these people ever want Arsenal to be great again? or if they even watch any other strikers other than Giroud.
All that “pace and trickery” and stuff “in his locker” and last season he scores less goals than OG, at a lower goals/min rate, a lower conversion rate and he is a Chelsea reject at Everton. Presumably Wenger isn’t the only manager in Europe blind to his brilliance – why is he at Everton?
For F’sake we put past 4 against WBA after a barren run last season…why?
Because of THEO… His runs and movement created space for midfield to operate by forcing opposition to defend deep! Even Pulis was hoping that Giroud would play instead of Theo because one dimensional donkey is easy to defend against! The two FA cup trophies hav been won without Giroud starting…get real and smell the coffee instead of his ARSEnal.
Giroud is an integral part of the team. Why do you think we usually struggle without him on the pitch. His soft touches, double passes, hold up play is great. That’s why I’m Happy he signed a new contract. Buying a new striker doesn’t mean Giroud will be on the bench, It means he has finally got a good competition.
If wenger buys a striker, I wonder if it means he’s given up on welbeck in that position.
we struggle without him ? not sure, but if you that’s true then it’s because we have no other striker than him … soft touches, double passes, hold up play are not great at all for striker … scoring goals from half chances, passing defenders, put fears into them, these are great not yours …
THEFINALGURU, you are good at making people laugh don’t you? I enjoyed that your commentaries. Talking about our must love Olivier Giroud, who has successfully been leading the Gunners line for the past 3 years as the Gunners have came 4th & 3rd in the table and won the FA Cup twice during his spell. One can’t fault Giroud but to give him Kudos. Giroud has a track record of improving his goals tally every season. Let’s watch out for an improved Giroud as the Boss will be tourted to play him in alternate to the 3 other Arsenal forwards down the middle this coming season.
Giroud is better than Benzema, Giroud said he is just behind Costa and Aguero, i trust him O_o
You talk like Wenger must be some yoda master to persuade Giroud to sign for another three years. I can think of about 130,000 reasons that may have persuaded Olivier more than Wenger whispering sweet nothings in his ear.
True…. Reasons like
Sh*t…no one has made any enquires for me?
Where the f*ck else would I get enough chances as I have been given here?
Which other big clubs can I ever start for?
Which big clubs have been breaking their back and banks trying to sign me for the past 3 seasons?
I cannot believe some tossers here think I am world class. Hahaha this is great that I just have to be average and some idiots would believe my “holdup play” is astronomical and will win Arsenal titles. What? a raise and another 3 years?…haha…You have got to be kidding me? I can’t believe these idiots are this generous.
why no other team ask to purchase Giruod? WHY!
i have never seen the fans get so geed up as when lord snooty of peckenham said we have OVER £200million+ cash in the bank, i would bet everything i have, that he isn’t wrong either, i for one cant wait for the full yearly account to come out in sept-oct then we will really see what the real lay of the land is. i am betting revenue will be £340million and cash reserves will be £235-240millions, gross debt will be down to £195million. and i tell you what i wouldn’t want to be wenger in the dugout. if he hasn’t bought at least a top striker(we might get away with no extra d/m maybe this time) to take us forward and he has been sitting on a healthy minimal budget of £70million, the emirates will be howling with boooooooooooooooo’s and calls for his head if the early results dont go our way, and any unlucky injuries happen to important attacking players.
I’m glad that Olivier has received his big payday from the club. When our keeper has a goal kick he aims directly at OG and there is about 10 times a game he is going up and trying to win possession with his head. Invariably one defender always clocks him from behind. Knee to back, elbow to his head, sometimes just blatant pushes. I hope we can see Theo, Alexi, and Olivier finally work together. I also hope that Theo signs his contract soon as well. Theo I believe will be (barring injury) will have his best season ever for us.
aww…I feel for him too. That is so cute. He doesn’t have to score any goals. He just has to be average and get a huge payday while you watch the team go 12 years without winning the EPL and farther away from winning the CL.
Fans definitely win. You win….you get to watch Giroud.
I really don’t understand, if Giroud is fit both a new striker and he should both be on the pitch.
Yeah, I reckon Wenger wants a new striker but not just anyone so I hope he gets one. And Giroud will be a top notch second string. I even think that there will be some games that Giroud will be better suited given that we think a new one will be different type to Giroud. Also I believe like you mentioned that it was no coincidence that his form fell at the same time of Henry’s comments.
People seem to think it’s just about Wenger identifying a striker he wants, making a bid and getting him!
What if the current team don’t want to sell, or the player doesn’t want to come to Arsenal.
Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see someone like Muller, Lewandowski, Aguero etc in an Arsenal shirt but it’s not as straight forward as that. It seems that a lot of people on here are living in a computer game and think it’s all about throwing cash at what you want and getting it, real life just isn’t like that.
Do I want Benzema at Arsenal, yes and no! He’s an improvement on Giroud (who I like), but not £35+ million worth of improvement.
As for people whose argument is based around statistics I’ll say two things;
1) How did teams buy players before this Americanisation came into the equation
2) And a quote; There are lies, damned lies and statistics.
Think about it!