Arsenal: Ticking Off Olivier Giroud A Masterful Tactic

Arsenal inexplicably benched Olivier Giroud again, and the only possible explanation is that Wenger has discovered the art of ticking him off.

I was quite surprised to see Olivier Giroud on the bench against Chelsea and against Hull City. It’s pretty clear that this Arsenal is not the same Arsenal that he helped through four years of mediocrity. Now, he is just a supporting cast member of that mediocrity.

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Olivier Giroud was on a tear for the Gunners. From Boxing Day until January 14th, just a 20 day span (which is often a hellish period for Arsenal), Giroud started five consecutive games, scored a goal in each game and added two assists in his solo effort to manage a draw against Bournemouth.

It put Giroud in some elite company (yet again) in terms of goal production. It brought his season tally up to ten goals across the Premier League and the Champions League in just under 900 minutes of play.

No big deal, Giroud just scores all the time. He has only not scored in one of his last 12 starts.

But that one game was the reason he was benched.

Starting against Burnley, Giroud managed to not score, which apparently was all that Wenger needed to yank him out of the starting XI and stick Alexis back up where he doesn’t belong.

This is all foreign territory for Giroud and Arsenal. It used to be that you couldn’t pay to have the Frenchman benched. He went on that ridiculous goalless streak last year, but he kept playing. This year he goes one game without scoring and he’s hitting the bench.

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My optimistic side is telling me that Arsene Wenger has just at long last mastered the art of ticking Giroud off. Not only was the bearded forward shafted from winning goal of the month, but he was also dropped. And then he didn’t even feature against Hull City after he was the only guy that managed to get a ball past Thibaut Courtois.

The man just can’t win. Which could be the point. If Wenger sends Giroud out there against Bayern Munich and he pokes home two goals in a shock Gunners win at the Allianz, everything will make sense.

There really is an art to winding Giroud up. We have seen bits and pieces of it in the past, but only this year has it truly been unleashed.

Early on in the season when Giroud was slow to return from the Euros, he spoke out about not being a priority. It took some time, but when he finally got back into the squad, he was a raging bull.

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I can only hope that is the plan again here.