Olivier Giroud

[ESFSAFC]

We don't need just an upgrade on Giroud we need a different style to Giroud, someone who is quick enough to get on the end of through balls, join in on a counter attack, dribble with the ball, run at players and actually shoot and score from outside the box.

Also I don't believe any of this confidence or mentality stuff with Giroud, he doesn't seem like the type of player who that affects. He could play 10 games and score 10 goals then not score in the next 4, his all round game won't change, the ball will either go in off his shin or heel or it won't nothing to do with confidence, has he ever really looked short on confidence.

He takes up the same positions, hits the ball the same way and does the same runs.

Also Giroud for £10m > Bony for £30m

[sweggeh]

Mate, Giroud even for £30m still > Bony £30m

[Zedie]

Good mentality from Giroud yesterday he didn't hide. Delighted for him.

51 Goals in the EPL I think they said; sure Dzeko only reached 50 with his against Liverpool. Not a bad ratio considering.

Hardly a fair comparison. Dzeko plays in a formation that has 2 strikers up top, and he is more of a super sub than a nailed on starting striker like Giroud.

At City, Dzeko has been way down in the pecking order: Aguero, Tevez, Balo, Negredo, Bony --- all of them would start before Dzeko.

True. If we had Dzeko for all those years, i think he would have outscored Giroud comfortably. Dzeko is class.

[Walcott14]

90% of the members on this forum prefered strikers like falcao,rvp,bony,benteke,remy and many more over giroud....i wonder how they are doing....i have to Check it...i also wonder how it feels if you critize a player daily never Mind how he plays and then he answers the haters with great goals And motm Performances. That feeling must be shit...

90% of the population (the percentage with brains) feel we could benefit from having 2 good strikers rather than 1, cos that's all we have.

We have the strikers(Alexis, Walcott, Wele, Akpom, Gnabry), All fast strikers. It is just that we don't play them. Don't think we don't need slow strikers like Falcao, Rvp, Bony or Benteke. Giroud is better than them all. Remy good though.

Alexis, Gnabry and Walcott's best positions are wide, Welbeck can't finish and Akpom is nowhere near ready. So, 1 striker.

Alexis, Gnabry and Walcott are wingers who can also play as strikers, just not as lone target man upfront. They can play alongside powerful striker like Giroud and make up for his lack of pace. By the way Alexis is clearly better in mid than wide. He plays there regularly for the national team and he played as winger in Barca only because of Messi. When Özil was out, Alexis was so good in the middle. Even Wenger said he is more dangerous there. Wele and Giroud might not work, at least going from how bad they have been when playing together this season. They look too similar, dropping in to midfield, hold up and bringing others to play. Giroud-Alexis, Giroud-Waclott, Alexis-Wele, Alexis-Walcott or Wele-Walcott.

Le Coq - Cazorla

Özil Chamberlain

Alexis - Giroud(Walcott/wele)
442-formation

[JordanTheGunner]

If you're playing 2 strikers, we can only play with 2 central players and 2 wide players. In this we probably cannot accomodate Ozil/Walcott who are 2 of our best players.

3 bodies in the centre of midfield is necessary against the big sides, I feel you're playing Giroud just cos he is big and a ST and enables Alexis to play better, rather than what he actually brings to the team.

We would benefit much more from having our most skilful and pacey players in wide positions and a proper finished up top over pairing Giroud and Sanchez. Not to mention we'll have no ST back up.

[Walcott14]

Good points. Only reason I would like striker partner for Giroud is that our style of playing through the middle with 1-2 passes and sometimes hoofballs to the striker works better if the striker is fast, tall and strong(Aubamayang?). He could then win duels in the air, bring other attacking players into play and also take advantage of open spaces created from combinations by basically just sprints into spaces and taking shots on goal. Giroud can't do that ***, but he is very strong, good vocal point in attack, can score headers, tap-inns, good when defending set-pieces. Despite his lack of pace, he is best our striker and also in the league. We can't play Wele on the wing when Giroud is upfront. Wele Would play too central like Özil does when he is playing on the wing. Wide-men Walcott and Sanchez need to vary their game. First they need to play wide and not cut inside all game. They would need to beat full backs, cross more often to Giroud, also cut inside and score goals.

[JordanTheGunner]

I do think we need a finisher who is a little physical but is fast to go with it. Cavani would be perfect, he is pacey like Sanchez with the physicality of Giroud. Cavani would be a lot better (as a lone ST) than playing both Giroud and Sanchez as ST's.

[sweggeh]

Well Cavani will most certainly be leaving PSG this summer. I will be very interested to see if we make a move.

[Walcott14]

Agree. Cavani is perfect ST and Wenger is a massive fan of his, but Cavani is too expensive. PSG bought him for around 64 million. Will Wenger be given enough war chest to buy Cavani + DM(Schneiderlin) after speeding close 100 million in last summer + january(Gabriel)? Not so confident on that.. Giroud is very good ST, would be a waste to just drop him after getting him for so little We have more than enough players to make his lack of pace irrelevant. It really shouldn't be a talking point in this season. He many important qualities which only he posses in our squad and he is class at them.

[Zedie]

The burden of expectation on Giroud to replace RVP was huge and he had a difficult time settling in the Premier League and because of that people started to get on his back and he really couldn't deliver. His second season was actually good but because we had no other striker to rotate with him - Sanogo doesn't even count, he just played 2 or 3 matches and he wasn't ready - he was barely rested and had a pretty difficult time towards the end. I always felt that despite the criticism he got last season, he had a good year and that fantastic piece of play in the FA Cup final was very important and a bit overlooked.

This season has been very good. He's becoming a better player and he's starting to deliver in big matches. He's improved quite a lot as a player and he's becoming more consistent in front of goal. It's true he's quite frustrating at times (I called him all sorts of names against Monaco) but that's becoming a lesser fixture now.

Basically. Yet people still hold a grudge against him regardless of his form. The guy had a stinker v Monaco, yet somehow this defines him as oppose to the many games he has scored and assisted, surrounding that game.

[Walcott14]

At least he is less hated now. I like the fact that he is shooting happy and has the hunger to score lots of goals. Way too many misses to my liking ofc, It reminds me a bit of Suarez who was basically shooting from every possible angle in last Liverpool season. He had very high number misses. Even Ronaldo and Messi have normally ridiculous number of wayward shots and missed sitter by the end of every season. Giroud shoots from inside the box, but I think he tries too many fancy finishs(yes missing sitters too). Still much better than Wele who does not look like he will ever score a goal again.

[Va-Va-Voom]

You could win the league with Sanogo up top if the rest of the team were amazing Top 10 world class players.

No... no you could not.

We'll never have 10 world class players in the starting XI so it's pointless to entertain such an unrealistic notion.

[Walcott14]

Maybe no with Sanogo at the moment, but Giroud Yes. Remember last season, 7 points off top. Giroud is also one the few players in squad without fitness problems even though he has quite high workrates in matches.

[Va-Va-Voom]

Maybe no with Sanogo at the moment, but Giroud Yes. Remember last season, 7 points off top. Giroud is also one the few players in squad without fitness problems even though he has quite high workrates in matches.

I think Giroud is one of the reasons we didn't win the league last season.

[Walcott14]

Guy clearly needed help. No Walcott, Chamberlain, Özil.