Arsenal: No, Olivier Giroud still shouldn’t start

Olivier Giroud came off the bench to rescue Arsenal against Southampton on Sunday. While he is an asset, no, he still shouldn’t start.

Arsenal were sloppy, wasteful, and wayward against Southampton. Defensive errors, slow and lethargic passages of play in midfield, loose first touches, misplaced passes. All were present; all undermined the Gunners’ progress, at both ends of the pitch.

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Southampton scored early. They hung on for almost all of the game. If not for a clipped Alexis Sanchez cross and deft Olivier Giroud header, they may have just seen the job through. But Arsene Wenger saw his players achieve the equaliser that they pushed for relentlessly, if without the cutting edge that they have played with in recent weeks.

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Giroud has now scored four Premier League goals this season. He has averaged 1.4 goals every 90 minutes, which is the best in the league, and with four goals in his last three appearances, some are suggesting, with Wenger agreeing after the match, that he deserves to start more games moving forward. But while Giroud is most certainly a player of unique utility, he should not be starting games for the Gunners.

The draw with Southampton may have provided more proof that Giroud that has a special ability to score goals — he just has that knack that only pure goalscorers have. But it did not do enough to sway me into thinking that he should start ahead of Alexandre Lacazette. And the reason is a very simple one.

Both last year, when Alexis Sanchez started in the central striker role, and this year with Lacazette, Arsenal have shown that they are a far more potent attack with a mobile centre-forward. Their best is unlocked when they have someone capable of stretching the play with their movement. Giroud is not that player.

He is a big, strong, powerful player. He is brilliant in the air. He excels with his back to goal, holding up play, bringing runners into the game with little touches, soft and subtle lay-offs, flicks into their path, even when the space is painfully restricted.

But he does not have the natural mobility or athleticism to stretch teams with his movement. He struggles with the ball at his feet in wide areas; he cannot dart past defenders with a drop off the shoulder; he lacks the requisite speed to make long runs looking for lofted through balls from deep. Those are things that Lacazette offers. He has displayed that ability plentifully this season.

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Arsenal, as a collective unit, are so much more dangerous with Lacazette, and not Giroud, starting. That does not mean that Giroud is not needed. He has vindicated his worth from the bench on more than enough occasions. It just means that he should not start, no matter how loud the shouts may become.