You might think that scoring the goal voted as the best in the world would get you a game of football every now and then, and if you were Olivier Giroud you might well think that you deserved to start more games than he has been doing over the last year or so.
Arsene Wenger seems to disagree though, as he has yet to give the big France international forward a single start in the Premier League so far this season. Giroud has come off the bench eight times in EPL games this campaign, so is still a part of Wenger’s plans and the fact he did so well as a super sub last year may not have done Giroud any favours but he must feel that his talents are not being utilised enough.
Just this week that theory has been boosted in a big way for two different reasons; the first was when his scorpion kick goal against Crystal Palace was voted as the winner of the annual Puskas award and the second was the claim by the just sacked Everton boss Ronald Koeman that the failure to secure the transfer of the Arsenal striker was a big factor in the Toffees’ struggles.
Is it just that Wenger wants more pace and movement in the Arsenal attack? When the Gunners usually dominate a game and the opposing defence sits deep a target man with aerial ability is a big plus point, though, and the wide forwards like Alexis and Welbeck can offer the pace the Frenchman lacks, so is Wenger simply wasting the talents of Giroud or is he using him in just the right way?
Bob.