Arsenal and Olivier Giroud: ‘It’s not you, it’s me’

Olivier Giroud started against West Ham United on Wednesday night; Arsenal’s attack suffered as a result. The Frenchman should not be starting, not that that is necessarily his fault. As the saying goes, ‘it’s not you, it’s me.’

Arsenal travelled to London Stadium on Wednesday evening to face an embattled West Ham United side hoping to right the wrongs of their many away flops of the season to date. They were not able to. As the 0-0 scoreline suggests, this was a game devoid of quality, from sets of players.

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Specifically, the Gunners’ attacks lacked the same fluency and speed in the final third that had been present earlier in the year. Their passing was slow and sluggish, there was no ingenuity or creativity, other than a few short, sharp bursts from Jack Wilshere, and they were unable to open up West Ham, engineering just three shots on target throughout the match.

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There are many reasons for their attacking tepidness. As is ever the case with football, it would be naive to suggest that this was because of one player or one tactical nuance or one sub-standard aspect of the team. There are many reasons for the lack of attacking potency, from something as simple as a lack of width to the more complex question of the directness and purposefulness of their passing.

Having said that, there was one key issue that was evidently noticeable after the draw, and it centres on the use of one Olivier Giroud. Arsene Wenger dropped Alexandre Lacazette for his French compatriot, perhaps with an eye on the upcoming fixture congestion that he must wade through, hoping to keep his squad fresh for the remainder of the year.

In doing so, though, Wenger badly exposed Giroud’s limitations as the starting centre-forward. Arsenal’s key issue was a lack of movement off the ball, especially from Giroud. He was painfully static, unwilling to drift beyond the width of the penalty area and unable to stretch the game into the channels because of a simple absence of speed.

Now, Giroud has never been that type of player; it is not a surprise that he was unable to provide subtle and sharp movement off the ball. Arsenal used him wrong. There was no width, they made only 23 crosses, nine of which came from Ainsley Maitland-Niles, who is a right-footer playing at left-back and is not exactly renowned for his delivery.

The type of players that Arsenal possess in the midfield areas suit a more mobile centre-forward. They want someone to move defenders out of their position. It is then, in the cracks of the defence, that their guile and creativity comes to the fore. Giroud does not offer that.

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But Wenger knew that. It is not Giroud’s fault, that’s just the type of player that he is. The problem comes in his usage. He is being used wrongly and it is hurting both him and the team. It just isn’t working; ‘it’s not you, it’s me.’