Arsenal fans...Oliver Giroud heard you. He's been training all summer for the chance to prove you wrong. Inconsistent? Wasteful? These are adjectives that Arsenal fans lobbed at the Frenchman last year. Now all of a sudden the guy is a much improved player in all areas of his game. You Arsenal fans wanted Luis Suarez to come in and fix Arsenal's striker woes when the answer was right under you noses the whole time? Don't you know that the bid to get Suarez was just an elaborate ruse to force Real Madrid to pump more money into signing Gareth Bale thus forcing them to try and recoup that money by selling one of their star midfielders? Theres only one Arsene Wenger, remember that. The same Arsene Wenger that the fans were blasting last year for continuing to start Giroud. The guy knows football, that's already been established. It's time that the fans stop questioning and begin admiring.
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| Goals like this illustrate how much Giroud has improved |
First off, Giroud is the perfect fit for the Arsenal style of play. He's a big, strong striker who is very good with the ball at his feet. His first touch is incredible for a player of his size. His vision is excellent and he is capable of assisting and scoring in any situation. Arsenal fans saw last year that he was great at getting himself into scoring positions. It was just his finishing that needed work. Now all of a sudden Giroud has that element into his game and it suits Arsenal perfect. Arsenal plays a 4-2-3-1, a formation that leaves Giroud all alone up top to lead the line. Many times Arsenal's offensive play revolves around their three front attacking midfielders (normally Cazorla, Özil, and Walcott) working the ball in the box and finding scoring chances. Giroud is great at getting himself into the perfect positions where one more pass seals a goal. Think of him as the ultimate reward for Arsenal's attacking play. The midfielders work the ball in and lay it off to a guy who taps it in with one touch. That kind of thing is so important, especially for an Arsenal team that missed many of those opportunities last season. That was Robin van Persie's game when he was at Arsenal. Arsenal's style of play opens teams up defensively, it's just a matter of working yourself into the right positions to make a play. Giroud has elevated himself to that level this season. Just watch videos of his goals against Aston Villa, Sunderland, and Napoli. Those are chances Giroud would have put wide last season. This season he's finishing them. In an offense that revolves around quick, fluid passing; something like this is invaluable. This isn't a product of Mesut Özil's arrival at Arsenal. This is simply the product of a player who made it his goal to improve himself this season and Arsenal is benefitting greatly from it this season. However, it's not just his positioning thats improved. Other times, Giroud uses his big frame to hold the ball up so that Arsenal's midfielders can get behind him. After that, it takes one beautifully touched pass from the Frenchman to seal goals for guys like Walcott or Lukas Podolski. I have to give a huge amount of respect to Giroud for working so hard to improve himself, even Arsene Wenger has noticed this.
So yes, all the Giroud haters seem to be gone as are most of Arsenal's haters this season. Let's face it, without Giroud or Aaron Ramsey this season, theres no question that Arsenal is in a whole lot of trouble. I hope that Arsenal fans really begin to appreciate the brilliance of the Frenchman. It really is amazing what one year of experience in the Premier League can do for a player. Remember, it took Arsenal legend Thierry Henry a long time to adjust to playing in the Premier League and look how he turned out. Even Robin van Persie took his time to come good for Arsenal. It's a matter of patience and it looks like that patience has finally been rewarded for Arsenal. Let's celebrate how hard Giroud has worked at this and enjoy how great his form is.
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