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Olivier Giroud Kickstarts Campaign To Win Arsenal’s Striker Role Back
By Josh Sippie
Throwing out the first half, you would be hard-pressed to find an Arsenal man that did not impress against Watford. The second half was a master showing with everyone shining. Mesut Ozil woke up, Aaron Ramsey found the net, Santi Cazorla was mesmerizing and the defense held tight. Olivier Giroud even made an incredibly strong statement.
But one man that did not shine was Theo Walcott. The speedy forward was given the start for Arsenal but his impact was essentially not even there. It was another game where Theo Walcott was rarely seen. He would appear every so often, make very little impact and disappear. And this was not the first time this has happened. Nor will it be the last.
As the point of a spearhead, you need to be the sharpest point of the attack. Too often was Theo Walcott drifting out wide or failing to push the attack in the direction it needed to go – forward. Watford was not a team that Theo Walcott could do much with.
In the 63rd minute, after Arsenal finally broke through, Olivier Giroud was brought on. The impact was obvious from the start. Giroud came to prove a point and he proved it. In half of the time, Giroud managed the same amount of touches and treble the shots as Theo Walcott. Plus he scored a great goal and almost had another but for a great save.
Giroud did not lose possession once. He sent on a nice key pass and he looked very similar to the Olivier Giroud that scored 16 goals in 21 games. Except for the beard. His hold up play was flawless and Arsenal built around that hold up play like they had been doing for years.
The result? Two more goals and a lot of breathing room.
Olivier Giroud is not going to win back the No. 1 striker spot by scoring against Watford. A lot of it comes down to Watford playing a style of game that is much easier for Giroud to conquer than Walcott. But he had to start somewhere.
Instead of wallowing in self-pity like we have seen him do in the past, Olivier Giroud picked himself up by the bootstraps and came to play. The Frenchman mentioned over international break that he needed to harden himself mentally. He appears to have done just that.
Chances are, we are going to see Olivier Giroud start against Bayern Munich. There are not many better chances than that. Drive Arsenal to a crucial three points and Giroud could find himself in the driver seat once again.
Next: Arsenal's Top 10 Prospects