Thierry Henry is an Arsenal fans as well as being employed as a TV pundit by Sky Sports and the former Gunner makes no secret of the fact. So it was easy to see, and also to understand, his frustration that Arsenal and his former boss Arsene Wenger were once again left disappointed in their efforts to defeat Jose Mourinho and Chelsea.
But I have to take issue with some of the punditry that the Frenchman provided yesterday, specifically his take on his fellow countryman Olivier Giroud. As reported by the Daily Mail, Henry declared that Wenger needs to sign some more top class players this summer and I don´t think that any Arsenal fan would disagree with that, but his claim that we could not lift the Premier League trophy with Giroud as our centre forward was, in my opinion, very harsh on the big man and also inaccurate.
Henry said, “I think Giroud is doing extremely well. But can you win the league with him? I wouldn’t think so.
“He does a job, and he does it ever so well, but you can’t win the league.
“Arsenal were at the top of the league last season, but everyone was saying they are not going win the league.”
Henry spoke also about how Giroud needs the players around him to bring out his best and I can agree with that, As Henry pointed out, Giroud has not the pace or individual brilliance of a Suarez or a Messi but it is precisely the way he works with his team mates that makes him so good.
In my opinion it is not a replacement for Giroud that Arsenal need to sign, but another top class forward to operate on the other side to Alexis, someone like Marco Reus who would benefit from the power, aerial ability and link up play of our number 12.
The claim that Arsenal cannot win the Premier League is easily disproved by the stats, which show that since our France international forward returned from his tibia injury, Arsenal have played 21 BPL games and earned 50 points. Over a season that would give us 90.5 points and that total has not been reached in the previous six seasons and Chelsea will need to win all of their remaining games to beat it this time.
So how can you say that Arsenal cannot win the title with Giroud leading the line?
He is not wrong, its only that we are biased and do think that we are always right. Wake up and face the truth.
Giroud is a 4th place striker and not First class.
4th place? giroud?
lol thats funny. his goal count an overall play would suggest your wrong. very wrong. george clooney as batman and arnie as mr freeze wrong
Arsenal did turn Bendtner into a lord and Adebayor into the best striker in the Epl, so Gioud succes at Arsenal is not surprise to me.
Giroud is a Quality player look at his strike rate to game ratio then look at Henry’s !! look at how many games it took henry to hit the same amounts !! People dont look at stats or just dont want to know about them… Giroud is a class act look at the way he shields the ball and brings others into play..look at how he leads the line … look at his work rate per game!! Look at his ariel stats look how many balls he wins in the air … look at how many flick ons he does per game !! He gives you a target to aim for knowing he will hold it up against the best Giroud has added so much to his games since coming and there is still more to come im sure of it !! I was the Only arsenal supporter last season to say at the start of season before a ball kicked watch ramsey !! and wow didnt he do well and after so much stick from the fans ,,,( Idiots),,,,,Reus would be the perfect purchase in the summer along with Calvarho if that is how you spell it !! A class Young Holding Midfielder… schinderlin would be the perfect purchase for holding mid this summer but i doubt he will come !!
People re acting as if we lost against against the worst team in the league….from ur reasoning here I think messi can’t win barca titles bcos he has neva scored against chelsea even wen presented with a penalty.
I ddnt even expect chelsea to lose, I was just hoping for the best, can’t remember the last tym chelsea lost against a big team, the have lost just only 2games all season and dose was @ the middle of the season.
Now all our good runs recently count for nothing bcos we drew the best team in the league who ddnt want to lose.
Can’t wait for arsenal to get cavani and he’s a falcao type of flop next season and arsenal fans start complaing about ao wenger is not a good manager.
The only striker I think can fit into our syle of play is benteke…but again is he better than giroud, can he bring our grt midfielders into play as giroud does…
I believe giroud can win us titles, even starting from next season….its just for wenger to be tactically flexible…which I think he’s showing now
giroud: is very underrated, he is efficient, and all round good. The only fault I have with him is he could be quicker and shoot more often. I totally disagree with Henry about giroud needing the help of others it’s more the other players feeding of him it’s so evident when he doesn’t spare head our attack.
Welbeck: is fast hard working, shot type dicision and link up play needs to improve.
Poldi great finisher on his left foot, but not fit enough for prem no has t the hold up play of giroud
Akpom , sanogo n/a
If we are to add to the attack I would want top quality like
Rues to own the right forward spot
Or Higuain as the deadly aguero esce finisher
Henry’s views on Giroud in particular and strikers in general on what it takes to be successful were just simplistic twaddle. No Thierry, he isn’t going to score works of art goals on a regular basis like you did. But far too easy to carried away with the idea that the striker who can create something out of nothing is the answer. But if you want to see the world’s shortest UTube videos go google “Lineker 25 yard screamers” or “Greave’s goals from outside the 6 yard box” or “Klose mazy dribble wonder goals” or “Gerd Muller solo effort goals” or Rossi or Inzhagi etc etc other scorers of simple goals. Giroud may not be in their class but the style and method of any regular goal-scorer is not to be sniffed at. 90% of the art of goal scoring is to be the right place at the right time – that is the trademark skill that marks out proper strikers.
And to bring it up to date and relevant Chelsea are just about to win the league with a very un-flamboyant striker who is nearer in class and ability to Giroud than he is to the Agueros and Suarezs of this world. If, and big if, OG can maintain anywhere close to his present goals/min ratio then of course we can win the EPL with him. The bigger deciding factor will be defence, tactics and mental strength from the rest of the team.
im afraid Henry is right on this one,who would know better than Henry?certainly not the author of this article.Girouds had a good run of form since hes come back from injury but thats all it is form,he doesn’t have the pace or mobility of movement needed to penetrate the best deences regularly,he doesn’t score many goals by himself,thas what Henrys talking about
If i were you id know what im talking about before i opened my mouth !! Stats of goals to game ratio… Have a look compare Henry to Giroud …. Go on please !! Humour me 🙂 …and whilst your there look at his assists aswell… Arsenal supporters wouldnt even know the meaning of support…. Echoing Keane’s remarks about the Utd fans !! Aloud of prawn sandwich eating Twats !! seems since we moved to the emirates we have gained alot of fans with alot of money !! but no knowledge of football !! support means to carry !! cant see much of that now adays at Emirates !! Just glory hunters with no knowledge of football !! fact !!
How would Henry know? and better than any.. pffft. Love the player but he never managed a team and just because he was great player doesnt mean he can. Even the best gamblers in world cant know for sure.. its his opinion and fair enough hes entitled to it just as we are and just as the author is too but it doesnt mean its worth two cents.
No True Goon I think Thierry was wrong on nearly everting he said. Henry is my all time fav Arsenal player but have a feeling the love will be chipped away at with his punditry. He had a torrid time in recent weeks for being too laid back, fence-sitting and generally being uninteresting – especially after his Hernandez/Ronaldo comments. Sky probably pulled him to one side and said the easiest way to get ratings up will be for you to slag your old club/manager off. IMO his comments were cheap-shot throwaway shit-chat that falls in line with the standard media line with Arsenal. Last week he was s**king on Le Coq’s d**k and called him the “policeman” – this week he needs replacing for reasons not offered. Ditch Ospina – all well and good but not one pundit has set out exactly what Ospina has done wrong or why it is undeniably the case that he will fail and never be top class. Then Gab was indirectly disrespected with the glib assumption he is not going to be any sort of answer to our “problems”. Then he kicked off the old Cesc saga again – quite unecessarily imo – FFS when will people accept this as water under the bridge. He would have had Cesc back in heartbeat, bench Ozil and pass on Alexis.
Simple-minded thinking like this is why the likes of Henry and Adams will be Arsenal legends forever but would be best advised to steer clear of any allusions to football management.
Mind you when it comes to proper moronic punditry Carragher’s comments will take some beating. According to him Arsenal need 3 players; Cech, Godin and Pogba. OK, fair enough, putting aside the £120M+ needed – no explanation as to the problems of taking a world class keeper off a rival who hates us, nicking the defensive lynchpin from the current La Liga champions and securing the services of probably the world’s most in demand player.
Arsenal wont win the leauge as long as Wenger is around and we refuse to go the extra mile to compete with the big boys. He is emty now. The team we have is slightly getting older and the balance is not right at all. Favorisem is also still killing us a lot. Santi, Ozil, Rambo should not play in the same starting line up. They are all good players but neither of them could give us something new. I think that Moro can play another 10 game against Wenger and he would still find his way to beat us.
Wenger trys to beat onix with pikachu and that over and over again. ( pokemon logic).
I see Ramsey running all the time, without any effect on the game, he simple runs and runs. Santi nowdays cant shoot the ball near the goal let alone put the keeper in danger. And Ozil i trying to much bec he misses a dangerous player to pass the boll to. ( Walcott always bench). Fabregas has so many assists bec he can pass the ball upront, and his team mates will put this chance into use.
4 players indeed we need. Begovic, Kondogbia, Striker, defender.
@ks-gunner
You just confirmed all my doubts about you by referencing “pokemon-logic”… Well done Son…
what ever happened to pokemon, remember people used to get stabbed for them pokemon cards.
i grew up in the ‘pogs’ era.
god pogs sucked
Pokemon logic had no effect on fatman, fatman uses Roar. :O
Is that the same santi ozil and Ramsey that have been part of an 8game winning streak ?
If you want to be the best, you need to compare your self with the best. I dont care about the 8 game winning streak, but rather do care, us not winning once the Cl, which a weak Chesela team under Roberto Di Matteo could do. 9 years withut the epl, and us not being eable to beat Moro once, is also a problem.
What’s that got to do with santi ozil and Ramsey ?
C Here we go again !! Wenger out parade !! Loser !!
Wenger is the Messiah and you like so many others need to leave Arsenal and go back to the Lane !! sad twats support my backside wouldnt know the meaning of the word !! the Man Wenger has taken us so far and even stayed and agreed to the financial restrictions to better the club and build a new ground !! to make us stronger in the long run…. Clubs like Barcelona and real and PSG wanted him so badly !! but loyal as the man is he stayed !! even if the offered double what he was getting at Arsenal !! the way you guys go on makes wish you all f off…. My god what wiould you have saiud under howe and Graham after him !! seems most of you came to be fans of ARSENAL WHEN WE WERE WINNING !! jokers thelot of you !!
4 Players needed Begovic? have u seen his mistakes this season. How is he better than Ospina? Whats a joke really?
Who is available and clearly better than Giroud? It is easy to say we need a hypothetical world class striker. The reality is such player won’t sign for us.
an you sir have just hit the nail on the head. removed said nail an jabbed it back in both eyes.
ur certificate is in the post 😉
Great point only Higuain and falcao(who’s flopped) Are available and superior
Higuain is worth a shout he is half French aswell 😉
Dont understand people going off Higuain and Cavani. Higuain has a one goal in two games record for over five or six seasons now… thats top class finishing and he is a clever player can assist. Cavani may not be worth price mentioned (i reckon allot less now) but he gets decent amount of goals playing Sanchez pos and when centrally his numbers are huge.
I understand targets do change but i also understand a bad spell of form doesnt make you a bad player outright. I agree with you JB also i think hed fit the Arsenals game nicely.
I see we have an article saying Wenger orders Lacazette signing, if true would be very excited – not because i watched regularly and think wow brilliant – its more a case of Wenger being an excellent judge of talent especially concerning Frenchmen.
Giroud is a worthy squad player of a team that can win the PL but we need a new striker if we’re gonna win it . But who ????
Are you guys seriosly thinking that Giroud is a better striker then Alexandre Lacazette or Higuain? Giroud is a player who plays to his fullest, better then that he can not play. We need a player with more potential.
In EPL? Of course Giroud is million time better than Lacazette. Unless you talk Ligue 1 thats it. And even in Ligue 1 there was this guy Giroud from Montpelier who became the top scorer above a certain Lacazette and more importantly, he won himself the title for them.
Sometimes I wonder if people here write comments under the influence.
You guys are to biased, thats the problem with us Arsenal, always overrating our players to much. I think that Lacazette is the right player to give us an another dimension in the game. He can run, beat players, and shoot very good, 22 years old. At that age Giroud was playing in 3rd french devision. Listen to Henry man, he knows best.
An Higuan?
Exactly… an youd think the guy was in love.
KS you can talk Lacazette up all you like, but when someone thinks otherwise they are not wrong, neither are you though as its only opinions. They are not in same league playing for same team, we are not certified talent spotters… we have our opinions and that is all they are.
I agree 100% !! but i think its we gained so many fools ( Glory hunters when we were winning in style !! shame the fckers never went away !! most would favour the lane over the Emirates but wont admitt it !!
The only, and I mean the only reason why I don’t trash Henry is because he is King Henry. That’s it.
So, treat my comment as it is made for (let’s say Carragher). I hope you can do that.
First of all Giroud basically started the season with a fu cking fracture. He leveled at Everton and howled it home in the Charity Shield. Then pause. Now, any other player (see Walcott or Ramsey) will not enter the game in such a good form. But not Giroud. He basically converted almost everything he touched. He is basically the only striker we have played day in day out. Remember the times when he missed? How many goals din Welbeck score? If it wasn’t for Alexis we’d be fighting Liverpool for the 4th place.
I say Giroud is class. I say Giroud could have been in 20+ goals if not for his injury. I say Henry got it wrong. Punditry is not for everyone. It looks like only 10% of the pundits playing football have meaningful opinions. Henry forgot the time when everyone waited for him to confirm in EPL. Henry forgot that the man trusting Giroud today is the same that trusted him before. I though Henry remembers that much. I got it wrong. Just like he did.
I agree with you @Budd. There are a lot of key players that we missed in the fall that got us to where we are now. One of them is Giroud.
Henry has been there an done it,he knows what it takes.Hes got no ulterior motive hes just telling the truth,be a man an face up to it,Wenger to
I doubt he knows what it takes. All he has to do is to look at the time he came at Arsenal. It took a Bergkamp to have Henry scoring. It took a Vieira to protect his back and most importantly it took a manager to have confidence in him. People forget very easily. Henry is no exception. We tolerate everything to him and rightly so. But that doesn’t mean he is right.
Skys contract demands for Henry and Lee dixon and keown !! dont say nice things about wenger and arsenal !! enough said !!
One week Henry is praising Giroud, the next he’s saying that we need a new ST.
Can someone tell me which ST is willingly gonna come to Arsenal that’s better than Giroud? Because in spite of all our competitors and teams in better form, people are making it seem like signing someone easier than boiling water.
Henry is a poor pundit.
Giroud has been on top form this season.
whoa hold up, u dont diss king henry, hes not a poor anything bro.
if he sleeps with ur missus, thank him pat him on the back, an keep it pushin
Yeah but this is Giroud. Henry took it too far
Henry complimented Giroud for doing his best, but his best is not good enough, which is true. Me fails to understand fans sometimes.
The best analysis if seen.
“Arsenal need to buy four players, they need that spine,” Henry told Sky Sports. “They need a goalkeeper, they still need a centre-back, they still need a holding midfielder and, I’m afraid, they need a top, top-quality striker in order to win this league again.
“The best example for me today was Chelsea. They struggled last year and they were still competing to win the league. They now have [Thibaut] Courtois, [Nemanja] Matic, Cesc [Fabregas] and Diego Costa.
“For me that speaks volumes, and we saw it today. A team didn’t and a team did, and Chelsea are about to win the league.”
Henry is spot on. I’ve been saying similar for some time.
on the turn of the year if you look at the table it is Arsenal who are leading the charts ,chelsea did everything when we had ozil,rambo,kos and giroud all been sidelined and young bellerin learning his trade ,by the way how much goals did costa score in this year and assist from fabregas? why do Arsenal need goalkeeper we have ospina ,scz(i doubt he is that good),martinez if you look at bayern and barcelona their try their level best to look into their youth squad and then go to market for the players that arent available with them.
Sorry but Henry was just re-hashing the same kindergarten “analysis” that has been done to death several thousand times before. Yes of course Mourinho is the genius – he fixed it all within a year of coming back. Coming back to perhaps the best back 4 unit in Europe, an established group he has leant on relentlessly this season – and not one of them a player he bought. That is the bedrock of his success. Courtois was already a Chelsea player so there was no genius there. Matic a player they sold and bought back for 10x the price. Fabregas handed to him on a platter and Costa a deal done with the Atletico/Mendez mafia connections yonks before and a year too late.
Henry also ignored and/or disrespected the reality of what has been happening at Arsenal and spoke as if nothing had changed. Ospina has been roundly dismissed from our team by half a dozen pundits now as if it was just a given, with no explanation or justification, and no-one pin-pointing why the guy is not good enough and will invariably fail. Last week Henry had le Coq down as the “policeman” and a big part of the reason our form had improved – this week he discards him – Arsenal need someone better. Maybe they do – but maybe someone should explain how and why precisely he needs to be replaced and rationalise how he will never improve. Similar narrative for Gabriel – Henry must know AW has just spent £27M on two CBs – are they both consigned to the rubbish bin already? And whilst Chelski got Costa we got Alexis who incidentally has scored more and assisted more – is this just a minor detail, something that doesn’t warrant discussion or even mentioning? And then he re-booted the whole Cesc saga and ingloriously jumped on board the Ozil-basher bandwagon – totally unnecessary and to suggest we should have bought Cesc regardless, benched Ozil and pass up on Alexis as a purchase just doesn’t make any sense whatsoever to me and can only be based on personal bias and a distinct lack of info as to what really happened. Sorry Thierry – rubbish formulaic punditry.
Bob, good evening. As Arsenal failed to beat Chelsea yesterday at the Emirates Stadium, it is expected we will get a lot of negative and little positive reactions from the Gooners. I think Henry spoke out of his disappointment of Arsenal failing to beat Chelsea yesterday as all we Gooners have hoped. And Henry turned his wrath on Olivier Giroud for failing to score a goal in that game. Giroud disappointed me too for allowing himself to be tailored around by John Terry’s purported impregnable defending. Giroud did not take the bull by the horn and wrestle it down. But he allowed the bull to bully him around. Thereby got neutralized of any threat he possesses to harm Chelsea. Giroud is not a scapegoat for Arsenal not beating Chelsea yesterday. I think the wrong and very late substitutions and the lack of precision markmanship by the attacking Gunners caused the failing of our not beating Chelsea as the Gunners looked less confident of themselves scoring a goal or goals by allmeans. The boss should have allowed Giroud to continue playing to the end of the game. And he should have brought on Walcott instead of the goal profigator Welbeck at the time he brought on Welbeck for Coquelin. This is my personal opinion as a top Gooner. I am not a football expert neither am I a top coach. So, the boss should not take any offence on my last comment. I can’t help it. Because I am too Arsenal.
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Giroud is good with his back to goal or when the ball is out wide. To best use him we have to make use of the wings. In the air he is pretty much the best striker in the PL and with his back to goal I wouldn’t want anyone else. He is highly aware and great at playing in tight spaces. What he can’t do is run at defenders and get behind them. That is why Alexis is the perfect foil to be playing wide of him – he can go beyond the defender. On the other side we need someone similar. Rambo does a job there but will come inside. Welbeck does a job there but will come inside. The only two players who can play that position for the benefit of Giroud are Theo and Ox. That to me ends this debate of Giroud not being good enough.
I just want to know who people want us to buy. I think Wenger took a risk with Welbeck because among managers he is highly regarded. I think he sees a spark that could transform him…I don’t see it. He saw the same spark with Sanogo…it’s not really there. He’s taking risks on these players and it’s not coming good. Maybe the next one will be the one but honestly tell me which strikers are guaranteed to come into the Arsenal team and be world class? Lacazette and Dybala – both look like good players but are unproven at the highest level. I’d give Lacazette a try as he seems to be a Wenger type and could be a good foil for Giroud. 26 in 30 is not to be sniffed at. That said I still think with width and Giroud we could be great – I want the second striker for competition, options and most importantly so we don’t rely on 1 guy to be fit all season!
He doesn’t just point out Giroud in the interview. He said we need 4 quality players to win the league. A goalkeeper, central defender, centre forward and a holding midfielder. I agree except I really like Ospina. I can easily name three players that will improve our squad. Mats Hummels, Morgan Schniederlin and Marco Rues. I know Rues isn’t a center forward but a lot of the top strikers aren’t available although I do like Benteke but is he better than Giroud. Henry also said that players like Ozil aren’t stepping it up in the big games and how much better Fabregas has done at Chelsea. I can’t disagree with him there either.
I dont care how Giroud does it. .. any striker who scores nearly a goal a game in the toughest league in the world is top class. But Welbeck is a clumsy finisher, we need a better backup for Giroud. Early defensive errors ( Flamini) cost us the season, so we need a better backup for Coquelin. Chambers will do although a specialist cdm would be better, but Flamini should never make the bench. Never! We need a better backup to Ospina, Szczesny is not good enough. So I give King Henry 75% for his comments, our spine needs some re-enforcement.
what Henry should have said is Giroud needs someone to challenge him. Welbeck is just not the answer.
Henry is correct, he was only a bit harsh on the GK part.. Ospina has been brilliant only doesn’t have a big name yet..
We need Godin/Varane to partner Koscielny in defense.
Pogba/Kondogbia in midfield
And Lewandowski/Higuain/Muller up front.
We wont see the best of alexis,Santi n most especially Ozil if we have Giroud striking..
Get someone that knows the back of the net like its his palm, not sum1 that ll get you eliminated from UCL knockout stage vs Monaco at home.
Get someone that can trouble defenses not someone that escorts Terry n is of little or no threat to an organized defense..
Yesterday Giroud had as much impact as Abramovich.
Maybe we have played good footie so much we forget its about goals and the most important position is the striker as defense gives u cleansheets, its a goalless draw without a striker.
If wenger can spend 42.5m on a Midfielder , 35m on a Winger..
He should spend even more on a striker like Aguero.. Even if its 50m, he is worth it.
Muller,Lewy,Higuain,Aguero,Tevez,Rooney,
All I’m waiting for is Wenger’s summer purchases if he adds genuine quality then I’ll enter next season with hope. if he pulls a typical Wenger then I’ll just shut up and hope for top 4 & a FA cup trophy
I have been reading comments of fans on here,especially those who have chosen to appreciate the average in ability that a striker like giroud possess,my question for ya all is,when did arsenal become a team so low on profile to sing praise of a striker who no one can rank among the top 3 striker in the league,I have seen an arsenal team with a striking force with players like,anelka,Wright,Henry,v persie,no one can rank giroud or whatever his name is in the category of my mentioned strikers.we all have got to face it,giroud is not good enough to be leading the attack of a team dreaming of winning the league,and Henry is right saying arsenal can’t win the league with giroud as our striker,,,check this out,man u won league titles with strikers like Rooney,van nisteroy,v persie,man city won with aguero,Chelsea with drogba and now Costa,giroud stand no chance against any of those.let’s stop appreciating mediocrity,wenger should get us a good striker as giroud is damn too average for arsenal
Henry seems to have Michael Owen syndrome of late (a habit of saying stupid things). Being a former player doesn’t make you a good TV analyst. Most of the young TV analysts are pretty bad. The older guys are much better.