They say, those people that you keep hearing about but are never quite sure who it is, that having a lot of good players competing for certain positions in a football team is a headache but a nice headache to have. I can see the point but it is not always easy for any manager, the Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger included, to get the balance right, keep the squad happy and make sure that the fringe players are match ready when needed.
Danny Welbeck being currently on the Arsenal injury list, and Mesut Ozil unless you believe the conspiracy theory about him being left out of the Arsenal teams for other reasons, has given Wenger a smaller headache but he still has too many forward for the available positions and one man who seems to miss out more than most is Olivier Giroud.
To be honest I am surprised we have not seen more of the big France international this season, especially after his brilliant cameo off the bench in the opening game which we won in the dying stages thanks to his amazing towering header.
I get the fact that Giroud did very well as our super sub last season, and that Wenger wants more mobility up top which he gets from strikers like the summer signing Lacazette and our Chilean star Alexis Sanchez, but you get a lot more than just goals from Giroud as well, as Aaron Ramsey makes clear in his recent comments on the Arsenal website.
The centre forward has a great touch for a big man and with his strength and aerial ability he makes space and makes things happen for the players around him, like Ramsey, which is why the Welshman is clearly happy to have Giroud in the team as much as possible.
Rambo said, “I think he’s a great player. He can score a lot of goals, he’s very good technically and can hold defenders off, he scores a lot of headers and his link up play as well is very good.
“I like to play off him. He has a good understanding of the runs that I make and I try to play off him. We’ve had a few goals where we’ve combined well together.
“I do like that sort of player because make those sort of runs in behind and he’s very strong and can find you with passes or hold up play and flick ons.”
Is this a little message to the Arsenal boss perhaps? Is Ramsey asking for Giroud to play mmore for Arsenal and if so, do you agree with him?
Bob.