Arsenal: Zlatan Will Vindicate Olivier Giroud

Arsenal’s much-maligned Olivier Giroud is finding life in England harder and harder, but seeing Zlatan struggle will vindicate Arsenal’s usage of him.

Arsenal will continue to utilize the strength and presence of Olivier Giroud into next year and, no doubt, fans will continue to bemoan his lack of razzle-dazzle and harshly criticize every single missed chance.

But as we have seen for France, particularly in their comeback against Ireland, Olivier Giroud has more uses and more viability than just as a goal scorer. His heading ability is second to none, even when not put on goal. His beautiful header set up the all-important goal to Antoine Griezmann and his presence opened up space for Griezmann’s other goal.

He’s just not a widely appreciated striker and it’s a shame.

Giroud is one of the few strikers in the Premier League today whose primary weapon is his strength. Most other top sides utilize the speedy, flashy forwards that score goals and that’s it.

That is going to be changing as the best strength striker in recent memory is coming to Manchester United. Zlatan Ibrahimovic coming to United will actually do Olivier Giroud a massive favor. While Ibra obviously has that ‘razzle-dazzle’ that Giroud doesn’t, he is still a striker whose primary attribute is his strength and his presence.

Zlatan is not going to find life easy in England. Not by a long shot. He was spoiled by his years in France, playing against a few odd competitive defenses and then a bunch of sub-par French sides. Zlatan has never scored more goals than he did in France.

Similarly, neither has Olivier Giroud. His Ligue 1 Golden Boot year was the most he has ever scored in a domestic competition. 21 goals in 36 matches, was the tally.

Giroud saw a massive drop off when he first came to Arsenal, but since then, it has gradually increased to 16 league goals. Not the worst tally, but obviously room for improvement.

With Zlatan almost 35 years of age, his drop off in goal production will (hopefully) make people appreciate Giroud and the job he does just a bit more. It’s not an easy job to week in, week out boss opposing defenses who are just as big and strong, and more numerous than you.

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It’s even more difficult when Wenger has continuously refused to provide Giroud any sort of viable counterpart to lighten the load.

There is going to be a drop off in Zlatan’s production. Just about every time he arrived at a new home, his goal tally dropped off. In his first years with Ajax, Inter and Milan, he registered his lowest goal production at that outfit. That will continue in England and it will show the world that what Giroud does is not easy.

Former Arsenal great Emmanuel Petit has pointed out his thoughts on Zlatan as well. The midfielder believes that Zlatan could suffer the same way that Rooney has. This isn’t just another adventure for Zlatan, this is the hardest one yet.

Giroud is primed to have his best year ever for Arsenal this year. I believe that with the right competition (which Wenger should be pursuing this summer) and a good campaign at the Euros, which he’s having, Arsenal’s beloved Frenchman will be ready to improve. It will perfectly contrast with Zlatan as he sputters in his start to English football.

Next: Lukaku Proves He'd Be Terrible Signing

What do you think Gooners? Am I going overboard about Giroud yet again or do you also believe that Zlatan’s potential struggles could make Giroud look much better?

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