Olivier Giroud is Still An Elite Striker and PERFECT for Arsenal Despite Monaco Debacle

I’m not at all surprised where the Arsenal blogs and pundits are placing the blame for the loss – Olivier Giroud. And he deserves a huge helping of the blame. I identified him as one of the four players who lost us the game. But now we’re all jumping ship on the Frenchman saying he isn’t good enough?

Calm down.

Everyone has a stinker from time to time. It’s human nature. Literally every single person in this world has had a bad day, maybe even two. Giroud had that bad day. Did it come at a very inopportune time? Sure. But it was just a bad day.

Charlie Eccleshare of the Telegraph penned an article that really irked me on how Giroud is only good against the lesser teams based on this chart, showing his goal scoring tallies.

What this goal chart does is reaffirm that better teams play better than worse teams.

Or, consider this chart:

This chart proves that there are far less top four or Champions League teams than there are other teams. Strange.

In case it wasn’t obvious, Arsenal struggle against the big four. As a team. They aren’t reliant on Giroud or Alexis or anyone. Against big teams, they always seem to fall apart as a team. It’s not like the entire team is doing well, feeding Giroud, and he’s launching the ball into the third row on a regular basis.

The only times this year where Arsenal have looked really good against a big four team and come away with a win were both against Manchester City – in the FA Community Shield and recently in our comprehensive 2-0 win. In both scenarios, Giroud scored. Against Liverpool in our 2-2 draw, who scored? Giroud.

Other than that, he hasn’t had many opportunities this year against big squads because of his broken foot.

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Giroud has been getting better and better since he came to Arsenal, so to throw him under the bus for a bad game against Monaco is just irresponsible. It’s the easy thing to do while ignoring the bigger picture. Arsenal have made it a habit to turn runs of consistency into complete fall outs.

I keep referring to FourFourTwo’s article on Olivier Giroud to back up my claims that he is perfect for Arsenal. Giroud isn’t a No. 2 striker. He doesn’t need to be backing anyone up. He needs to be up front day in and day out.

My confidence in Giroud was shaken by his performance at Monaco, but by no means will I be any less thrilled to see him up front against Everton this weekend. If anything, I’ll be moreso thrilled because I know what he’s capable of and I know he’ll be looking to rebound.

Robin van Persie was great during his time at Arsenal, but if you look at the goal scoring numbers, Giroud is not far behind him. Olivier Giroud was not a “cheap” replacement, he was a smart, team-centered replacement. And he’s made Arsenal a better team than van Persie ever did.

Consider for instance that van Persie scored .47 goals per appearance for Arsenal, whereas Giroud scores .43 goals per appearance. Not that different when you consider how much Arsenal relied on the Dutchman and how little they rely on Giroud.

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Now consider why Arsenal sold van Persie and the result. Arsenal got Giroud for 13 million pounds. They sold van Persie for 24 million to the vultures, Manchester United. Since then, van Persie has scored 57 goals compared to Giroud’s 50. However, van Persie’s goal scoring frequency has been going down while his injury frequency goes up. Giroud, however, has been steadily increasing. When it’s all said and done, Wenger will look like a genius for the switch.

Mull over another stat (via FourFourTwo) for a second: Since coming to the Premier League in 2012/13, no striker has scored more headed goals than the Frenchman (11). Not Wilfried Bony, not Robin van Persie, not a soul. He is the best aerial striker in the league.

But yes, of course, he should be playing second fiddle to someone else.

Olivier Giroud is the perfect striker for Arsenal, one of the elite strikers in the league and an asset to Arsenal’s successes. He isn’t a hindrance, a second-rate forward or a let-down and anyone who paints him as such is ignoring the big picture and focusing too much on single performances.

Don’t be one of those people.

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Next: Reviewing Arsenal's Loss to Monaco