Olivier Giroud: The Permanent Goat of Arsenal?

Arsenal looked bad against Liverpool in the first half. They looked like downright filth. Santi Cazorla was giving the ball away, Francis Coquelin would win it back and then give it away, Calum Chambers would bungle onto the ball and give it away and then it would be up to Petr Cech to pull off an inhuman save to keep the scores level.

But in the second half, Arsenal looked spot on until, lets say the 72nd minute. They were pressing the Liverpool goal, providing a constant threat and looked absolutely certain to score a goal.

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Until the 72nd minute.

What happened in the 72nd minute? Olivier Giroud came off the pitch for Theo Walcott. From that time on, the forward position became irrelevant for Arsenal. Four touches and one pass, that is what our forward did in the last half hour of game play (via WhoScored.com).

When the time came to play the weekly blame game, the candidates were limitless for who should shoulder the bulk. Candidate number one was Arsene Wenger. He yet again deployed too many central midfielders, which hindered the attack due to a lack of pace and not enough width. Four guys vying to play one position is a losing endeavor. Cheers to Le Prof for trying to be innovative, but my cheers is now over and he needs to realize it is not working.

Candidate number two is Calum Chambers. He played abysmally, giving the ball away like he seriously did not want it. He looked fragile in the center of the defense and that is probably the last place where you want a fragile player.

Candidate number three is Santi Cazorla. He gave the ball way just as frequently as Chambers and looked completely lost in the midfield, being caught in possession and failing to orchestrate much beyond the run he picked out of Aaron Ramsey.

Candidate number four is Theo Walcott, who in nearly 30 minutes of play failed to influence the game one single solitary bit. He came onto the pitch, dug a hole and covered himself in that hole for the rest of the match.

Somewhere down the candidate list, way far down, where Cazorla cannot even see, is Olivier Giroud. Olivier Giroud was and is one of Arsenal’s sole consistent threats to the goal. He managed two of the teams’ five attempts on goal, neither of which were flubbed efforts by any means, and he occupied the attention of Martin Skrtel and Dejan Lovren, allowing for Arsenal to create space during the girth of their attacking spree in the second half.

That is, until Wenger took him off, at which point Arsenal had no space to create.

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So who got the blame for Arsenal being unable to score? Olivier Giroud.

The simpleton argument is “he’s the striker, if the team does not score, it is his fault.” But you show me a striker that requires no outside assistance and it will look like Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo or Zlatan Ibrahimovic. There are three of those in the world of football. But what do the pundits say? “They still need a striker.”

Who? Karim Benzema? Edinson Cavani? Gonzalo Higuain? Karim Benzema is not available, Cavani is holding out until Zlatan moves on and if inconsistency is the gripe, than Higuain would be the worst idea in the world. And while we are on the topic of Karim Benzema, the Real Madrid man has netted 43 goals in his last 94 appearances in all competitions. His countryman, Olivier Giroud? 42 in his last 100. So you say he is in a different class?

“They still need a striker.”

Olivier Giroud last year put in 19 goals in 36 appearances. Diego Costa put in 21 in 37. Yet Chelsea fans are not griping about Diego Costa when they cannot score.

Olivier Giroud is just the easy guy to pick on. He is the goat, and he may always be, seeing as how nothing looks to change. Nobody will pinpoint Alexis as the guy that missed his chances, even though he did. Few will call out Santi Cazorla for failing to impact the season so far in any big way. A few stray complaints will say Aaron Ramasey is bench worthy or that Mesut Ozil was a terrible buy but the gross majority of people out there still think Olivier Giroud is primary reason for Arsenal’s troubles.

Ludicrous.

Olivier Giroud is responsible for Arsenal’s only two goals this season. He scored an absolute beauty against Crystal Palace that has promptly been forgotten and he took up the Palace defense in the play that sprung Alexis Sanchez onto the ball for Arsenal’s second and final goal of the match and the season thus far.

But yes, lets keep saying that it is Olivier Giroud who is holding up the Arsenal attack.

Ian Wright is the only person out there with the gnads to do the unpopular thing and defend Olivier Giroud: “One player up front cannot win you the league anywhere and that is why you need the team to help you. When you are averaging double-digit goals every season and you got help around you, then you should be able to do enough to win the league,” he said via ESPNFC.

Please, Mr. Wright, keep going: “I love him [Giroud]. He is a fantastic player. He doesn’t get a lot of credit and even Thierry [Henry] is saying that we won’t win the league with him which is very unfair, because it’s the players you have around you that helps to win games. It’s not just the one player up front.”

Thank you.

Thierry Henry and Martin Keown are both on record saying Olivier Giroud cannot do it. I understand the call for competition to Giroud, Arsenal desperately need that, but that is no fault of his, all he can and will do is keep doing his job, keep scoring goals and keep receiving the brunt of the “what is Arsenal doing?” outcries.

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Arsenal have Theo Walcott and Danny Welbeck to provide competition for Olivier Giroud. Many have been wallowing for Theo Walcott to start ahead of Giroud, but that is quite ludicrous (the word of the day). Walcott scored three against against West Brom and one in the FA Cup final. That is all well and good but if those are all your credentials to be a striker than something is missing.

The speedy Englishman has been irrelevant this season, plain and simple. Any time he has been brought onto the pitch, you could make a pretty solid argument that he was never on the pitch at all.

Danny Welbeck could provide some competition for Olivier Giroud but he is hurt. That is probably Giroud’s fault as well.

Olivier Giroud scores goals. He scores more and more each year at a greater rate each year. This year will be no different. But until that time comes, it is the yearly ritual to blame Giroud for Arsenal’s troubles.

Don’t be that person. Be like Ian Wright and appreciate what this man does for the team.

Next: Arsenal Greats need to back off Giroud

Olivier Giroud to be the Permanent Goat of Arsenal?

By Josh Sippie | Aug 26, 2015

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