March 6, 2014

Giroud: The New Fall Guy

There's plenty of blame to go around but at Arsenal all the blame goes to the big Frenchman with a big nose, a big heart and probably a big Ba-donk-a-donk (if the latest rumors are anything to  go by).

The list of the things the man is blamed for is however, bigger than his whole frame.He is blamed for not scoring enough, too many little flicks, having his back towards goal,not having a right foot (dear God!), funny running style, poor passing and whatever else the problem at Arsenal is.

The search for a scapegoat is the easiest of all hunting expeditions.

Passionate 


This is very true of most Arsenal fans, and unfortunately football pundits. 

I am not one of those fans however. I think Giroud is a great player and I know that eventually he can be the 30 goal striker that Arsenal fans dream eventually, of course when surrounded by the proper players. But then maybe not. What he can do is far much better. His strengths lie in holding the ball up front (something the team has been lacking for ages). With the back towards goal, he can pick out the best pass to an onrushing player (more often than not, there's none). He can pick up a great assist. Unfortunately for him at times the recipient of the pass does not score and the blame somehow bounces back to him. He also makes some brilliant runs and is great at peeling off from his marker. He does this so well but at times he is ignored (maybe, like the fans, his teammates don't trust him) or the other players don't see him. (I go with the latter) Then comes his defensive contribution (I am sure there's a game he headed out more of the opponents' corners than any other of our defenders). He helps the defense particularly in defending setpieces. This has always been a weakness. I give credit to the Per-Koscielny partnership but I am sure that they are also thankful that they have Giroud there.

I figure Giroud can improve and he should improve. He needs to improve on his shot accuracy mostly and start taking his chances from outside the box. Other players in the team also need to improve for the sake of Giroud. In this article in French football weekly,Philippe Auclair has this to say about Giroud "And Giroud – he came from Montpellier, from Ligue 1 – come on! And he still scores 20 goals in his first season for Arsenal! And in a team not playing to his strengths! And not exploiting him. And I keep saying to people – just watch, watch him, watch the runs! The number of times he makes a great run and he’s not given the ball – the others are too busy flicking the thing amongst the daisies, doing this little tippy-tappy which is so infuriating when it’s like that. And you’ve got Giroud busting a gut, doing one of his runs to the left side and everyone’s ignoring it! And the number of times he wins a header, and he’s struggling and fighting against a shithouse of a defender and he still wins the ball, but since there’s nobody within 20 yards, nobody is there for the second ball! And if he were in a system that was geared towards his strengths – with people that can cross a ball, for example, for a change!"---Strong words I must say but they contain lots of truth in them.

Giroud may not possess goals in him. He may not be Suarez-who is still accused of only scoring against small teams-proving that no one is perfect, but what he brings into the team is not deniable. Olivier Giroud is the master of the wall pass and is even compared to the legend Dennis Bergkamp or rather Bergkamp's wall. He makes Arsenal play. In another interview on with Philippe Auclair on Arseblog, he describes Giroud as "He’s not just a big guy who is good at holding up the ball with his back to goal. He’s somebody who loves to play with ‘first intention’ as we say in French. Somebody who can flick the ball around the corner, is always looking for a quick solution when the tempo of game has to be accelerated. He’s always looking to create something, a creator in the box. It’s something that Arsenal have been lacking for a while."

It doesn't pay off but when it does e.g. Norwich, Sunderland it reminds all of us that there is still beauty in football.

I can prove anything by statistics except the truth...said George Canning..or was it me. In the big Frenchman's case, statistics are lying and his contribution to the team is more than the 14 goals and 8 assists he has recorded for the team.

He is also passionate and very hard working. And remember, football is a team sport.

Till next time. ATID.

I can prove anything by statistics except the truth.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/statistics.html#e7CuUBmO0aMAqPft.




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