Arsenal: Olivier Giroud’s Devaluation Must End

Arsenal’s fearless front man Olivier Giroud is arguably the most criticized man on the planet. Will this nonsensical devaluation ever end?

Olivier Giroud is back in training with Arsenal, which means it’s time for my tri-annual defense of our big Frenchman and what he means to this team.

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Nothing drives me crazier than hearing someone bash Olivier Giroud, saying he has to go and that he is what is holding Arsenal back. Every time I hear it I just want to take a rubber hose and beat whoever said it. That’s not an exaggeration (although it is a movie reference. Guess the movie, win a prize).

To me, it’s just a matter of people finding the easiest target to point at. When things go wrong, blame the striker for not scoring enough and the boss for not buying enough. It’s easy, requires no research or knowledge, and you will always find someone else doing the same thing.

These two should absolutely be held accountable, particularly Wenger when he leaves Arsenal short-staffed, but the blatant and wholly illogical devaluing of Giroud is something I do not see ending any time soon, and that is something I find tragic and unfair to the big Frenchman.

Nothing displays this chronic devaluing more than at the Euros. I have used this example many times before, but I can think of no better. French fans were literally booing Giroud simply because he was not the sex-tape bandit Karim Benzema. Yet without Giroud, the French golden boy Antoine Griezmann does not score three of his goals.

Twice Giroud pulled the entire defense and the keeper with him and left Griezmann wide open and once Giroud used his excellent knockdown ability to spring a run for his counterpart.

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The devaluing only gets worse when irresponsible journalism bites on farcical lures that Arsenal are so willing to part with Giroud that they are going to send him and cash to buy unproven strikers. Get real.

I get where the frustrations come from. Giroud doesn’t score as much as we’d like. But Giroud isn’t just at Arsenal to score. So much of what he does cannot be put into statistics. These instances of pulling away the defense or occupying an extra defender – those instances open up space for guys like Alexis to score and steal all the glory. But Giroud’s contribution to that goal is lost in translation as, unless you make a conscious effort to see what Giroud was doing, you probably missed it.

No one else could do what Giroud does for Arsenal. Physical strikers are seemingly being phased out, as managers prefer the quick-strike guys like Griezmann and Aguero. Giroud’s contributions are therefore irreplaceable and Arsenal would be damned fools to let him go. Which is why I’m not worried, because Arsenal are not damn fools.

Giroud has established himself as the premier physical specimen in the toughest and most physical league in the world. In any other division in football, he would be raking in the goals, but so much of his actual goal production is reliant on service, which isn’t always reliable, seeing as how Wenger does not have traditional cross-first wingers.

That being the case, Giroud has to find other ways to help this attack, which he does with his hold-up, knock down, flick-on and decoying ability – all of which do not get the credit they deserve.

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Giroud doesn’t have the name value that Arsenal supporters want and he doesn’t have the tricks, flare and dazzling ability that supporters want. He isn’t a world class goal scorer or striker but he sure as hell is a world class piece of a world class team, and that should be good enough.

All that being said, Arsenal does need another striker and fans are right to be upset that Wenger has not pulled the trigger on one yet. But that isn’t Giroud’s fault. The big man has said himself that he welcomes the competition and would love to have another striker there to compete with.

Which brings me to another point I use to defend Giroud. For four years, he has not had proper competition. So much of growing and developing in a league revolves around having competition at your position to push you, but also to cover for you when you’re in a cold spell (everyone goes through cold spells).

Wenger has never provided that for Giroud. Podolski and Welbeck were the two closest things but the former was phased out and the latter can’t stay healthy. So it’s always been a case of, even when Giroud is struggling (everyone struggles) Arsenal has no one else to turn to. So the struggles continue and frustration gets directed at Giroud.

Again, that is not Giroud’s fault. He doesn’t make the signings.

There is no one on this Arsenal squad that I respect more than Giroud. Through all the criticism, he continues to do the grunt work to free up space for the good of the team, knowing damn well that in all likelihood, it will go unnoticed.

I can’t think of another player in the world of football that does so much for the club he loves and still gets hit with so much disrespect. And it makes it even worse that it happens at the international level as well.

Being a physical striker in the Premier League is not easy, and that’s why so few people do it anymore. Watch Zlatan struggle this year, it will happen at times. Defenders are bigger, stronger, and have less running to do, so for a physical striker like Giroud to consistently win aerial duels and hold up the defense in their own box is a matter of pure willpower and physical strength.

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By all means, keep lobbying for another striker, I’ll be right there with you. But give credit where credit’s due and don’t withhold credit just because you don’t know what else to do. Olivier Giroud is a fantastic asset to this team and to think otherwise is to just be plain wrong.