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Arsenal Should Be Concerned With Olivier Giroud’s Situation
By Josh Sippie
Walking the injury tightrope is one game that Arsenal have fallen into the habit of playing far too often. Another game they play too much is the “keep Olivier Giroud confident” game. The Gunners are engaged in a rousing round of both games at the moment. It is lurking in the shadow of the success they are having.
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Arsenal’s striker situation is in an interesting state. Theo Walcott is doing rather well, as he has scored 12 goals in his last 13 starts. However he still has bouts of disappearing and that leaves Arsenal in a bit of a funk. With no spearhead, your spear is rather dull and confusing. That has not been the case lately, but we have seen it in the past.
And then there is Olivier Giroud. Despite having lost the starting role to Theo Walcott, Giroud has still netted 3 goals this Premier League campaign.
So what’s the problem?
Theo Walcott is incredibly injury-prone and Olivier Giroud’s confidence is deteriorating by the second.
The Frenchman has a known confidence problem. It has plagued Arsenal in the past and in all likelihood it is going to plague them again. And soon.
French National boss Didier Deschamps has made it clear that Giroud’s confidence is rattled right now. After losing the starting job and getting booed off the pitch last international break by French fans, it is understandable that he may be a bit lacking in the mental state of the game. It did not help that he drilled a wide open goal opportunity straight into David de Gea’s arms in one of Arsenal’s most promising performances in recent memory.
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Add that to his red card. That red card stripped him of another starting opportunity.
From first-team striker to disappearing boo-magnet, Olivier Giroud’s horizon has no sunshine in sight. It really is up to the Frenchman to gather his own wits and force himself back into the spectrum. But does he really have the capabilities or the opportunities to do that? Arsenal may be falling into a situation where they only have one viable striker. And calling Theo Walcott a viable striker is still a questionable proposition. The Englishman is incredibly injury-prone.
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Arsene Wenger needs to figure out some kind of solution. Maybe slipping Giroud into a lower level Premier League match would be a good start. Despite the fact that Giroud is not well-loved because he still is not Karim Benzema, Arsenal depend on him. And they need him to be confident. After all, a confident Olivier Giroud scored 16 goals in 21 appearances for Arsenal after returning from injury.
What if Theo Walcott gets hurt? Arsenal would be in a dicey situation. A lacking-in-confidence Olivier Giroud can indeed behave similarly to a lamp post. He also is not the most viable counter-attacking option. That is how Arsenal have been scoring most of their goals.
Olivier Giroud’s situation is worrying. Hopefully a little international break will rejuvenate him.
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