Arsenal: Olivier Giroud can’t do anything more for himself

Arsenal were bailed out yet again by the superman/lamppost that is Olivier Giroud. And he has no intention of leaving. He literally can’t do any more for himself.

Every time I talk about Olivier Giroud now, all I want to do is gloat over how much I’ve stood with him. But I won’t (even though I kind of did). I’ll save that for another article when he bails out Arsenal again.

I’ll admit, I was disappointed to see Alexandre Lacazette out there on his lonesome and not slotted in behind his big countryman. Of course, that disappointment dissipated in two short minutes, but there were still points in the match where I thought it would be best for the tandem to be up there, rather than the solo show.

In the end though, Giroud bailed us out. And before you say something about how he couldn’t have done anything without a fantastic assist from Granit Xhaka (which is only partially true) watch how strong Giroud was on that corner. He didn’t have a free header. His shirt was being pulled and torn all over the place and in the end, the only person in that fracas left standing was the man that headed it home. The lamppost himself.

And all of this on the back of Marseille saying outright that Giroud doesn’t want to leave North London and Arsene Wenger praising his favorite striker for remaining true to the club.

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There is nothing else Giroud can do for himself. Not a thing. He keeps scoring goals, and not just goals, but crucial goals. He sees the future ahead of him, a future of battling with his countryman Lacazette for the starting job, which is clearly being handed to Lacazette early on.

And when Alexis Sanchez comes back and the option to drop Lacazette back to Alexis’s position is gone, Giroud is the one who loses out on that opportunity. And he will seal his fate on the bench.

When that happens, he will continue to come on, score goals, and rank as one of the most efficient strikers in the world.

He is doing so much for this club, even more than he has done in the past, that you almost have to feel bad for him that he can’t play a bigger part. As in, a part from the opening whistle.

He might simply be so dynamic coming on off the bench that the idea of starting him isn’t appealing because it may potentially deaden the urgency he plays with when coming on late in a match.

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As I said, he can’t do anymore for himself. He has said he will fight for more playing time, and he has essentially declared that he won’t settle for the limited role he had last year, but he can’t do anymore to prove that he deserves more. The rest falls on Arsene Wenger.

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