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Has anyone noticed that recently Giroud has become more confident and effective in front of the goal ? Every time he scores ,he looks up and raises his hands up as to thank a certain Divinity .
Has he been converting to any religion ? Has his new faith increased his confidence ?
I have found he has become a different player from the one we signed .
I have always liked him as a player, bit rough around the edges, but a decent player. Sometimes I wonder if we expect too much because we went through a period of being spoilt by having the very best strikers out there? We had Wright, Bergkamp, Henry. There must be a hell of a lot of pressure on anyone coming in that position to live up to what has gone before them.
Fair play to the guy, he is working hard and is getting the goals.
My guess. New club. New team mates. New manager. New system. It's tough. Summer came, Welbeck arrived, Giroud is still Wenger's first choice. That must give him bags of confidence and make him feel more settled. Prior to that the media was always full of who was coming in to replace him, so were most of the fans. This is still true but to a much lesser degree. Moving to one of Europe's big clubs as a relatively unknown player compared to, say, Falcao ( :haha: ) means it has taken time for him to relax into his game. Prior to that it was the anguished look every time he didn't stick it in the net. Plus he's over some big injuries. It's going well for him at the moment and we're benefiting from it. If he can continue to improve and eventually sees off that mythical big name striker we are always rumoured to be bringing in then he'll have done really well.
Also the point about general expectations in comparison to Wright, Bergkamp, Henry, very true. Anyone would face a challenge trying to fill those boots.
Olivier is a very likable player . He might have the bad luck of replacing fantastic players and has raised the fans expectations but he is doing a decent job for us . Look at RVP , so called world class striker , he is struggling now and I wouldn't wish him in our team with his current form.
Not his biggest fan but can't fault the work he's doing right now.
When he's on it, he can be a great asset.
I don't know the stats, but it always seemed like he racked up a fair number of assists for a centre forward, even before this spell, when he was being somewhat maligned.
I've always quite liked him. He seems to have stepped up a gear this season though and he's become very clinical in his finishing. I had two big gripes about him prior to this season, one of them was his mobility, he's not quick...but he's no slouch either so he definitely seems to have made improvements in that area. My other gripe was that he wasn't clinical enough in the big games, he's put that myth to bed this season by scoring against all the big teams. I think he's an important player for us and his record of 10 in 18 this season is pretty top notch TBF.
He's very skilful too and works well with our creative players.
Oh and any doubts about whether Welbz would bench him have been put to bed, right now Giroud is clearly our number 1 striker and he deserves to be too.
Big fan of Ollie, me.
I think he's vital to the way we play, a focal point in attack. He's great at attacking the ball too so he's vital at set pieces. We're noticeably more fragile at the back when he's absent.
He's good enough for our normal fight for 4th with teams that haven't moved from their stadiums with the promise of European domination or with our spending power.
However, if we REALLY are trying to compete for P.L or C.L then ask yourselves would he get in the City, Chelsea, Bayern, Madrid or Barca teams. We have too many players like this & this is why we don't & can't compete & also why we struggle to finish of pub teams after giving ourselves a lead.
He's had a lot of unfair criticism by dint of not being Henry or Bergkamp. His goals/game stats are improving season on season.
Same here. I'm actually starting to come to the conclusion that he's the most vital cog in our (at least on paper) impressive attack. I don't think it was coincidental that our uptake in overall form coincided with his return from injury and that our attack suffered against Leicester when he was on the bench and Wenger tried shoving Alexis up there. All the our AM's and wide players can be replaced with one another but I don't see anyone providing the same qualities that Ollie does. Intelligent hold up play, good awareness to play people in and make the right sort of runs and a good amount of physicality.Quote:
Originally Posted by Douglas Reynholm
As for his lack of pace and mobility, hasn't been a problem this season when he's been surrounded by the likes of Welbeck, Alexis, Theo, Ozil, Oxlade etc etc who can make runs in behind. At the moment he's just in a class behind the elite strikers in the world (Aguero's, Lewa's, Benzema's, Suarez etc etc) and the only thing holding him back is a tad more goals, individual magic and pace/mobility.
Was listening to the Times football podcast last week (I know) and a couple of them didn't have in their top five strikers in the PL which is just madness IMO. Fucking retards thought that Harry Kane was better.
IMHO in the PL
1) Aguero
2) Costa
3) Sturridge
4) Rooney/Wazza (when he isn't being played in midfield)
5) Giroud
And given Rooney's not so great form recently, I think 4 and 5 are debatable.
Yes, yes he is :cloud9:Quote:
Originally Posted by The Emirates Gallactico
This thread jinxed Giroud, he was a mess last night.
Fans shouldn't have booed him off. That was shitty in the extreme. Then again, the home fans are shit.
And to your post I say BOOOOOOOOOO! :fingers: *Quote:
Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn
*i sent my book via ticket exchange as couldn't make it <_<
I mean as a crowd, not as individual obviously.Quote:
Originally Posted by Injury Time
Worst home crowd in the league except for the chavs.
Our fans are spoilt brats. Compare and contrast.Quote:
Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9ANBrUFLDg
By no means nowhere near my favourite player at the club and admittedly had a very poor night, but booing him off was out of order. Didn't even know it took place.Quote:
Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn
Everything about this Club is dysfunctional now. And it is all down to Wenger.
The players, manager and club have had year upon year of patience from the fans and you've got cheeky fuckers on here saying we're spoilt brats!
I don't even blame the players anymore, as they are either:Quote:
Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory
1. Not good enough - but bought by the manager
2. Not motivated enough - but have no manager to inspire them
3. Not disciplined enough - but have no fear of a soft manager who can't and or won't give them a real kick up the arse
4. Not game smart - but have no tactical game plan from the manager
.....a manager given deity bhudda status by a financially driven and moronic board who we couldn't trust to sack a potato, let alone hire a taxi
The manager and the board are the real problem, can't even blame the players anymore.
'WHEN HE HAS A PLAN, WE BACK HIM, WHEN HE DOESN'T......WE KEEP QUIET'
Fuck'em all.
Brat!Quote:
Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory
:gp:Quote:
Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory
Brat lover!Quote:
Originally Posted by fakeyank
The spoilt brat argument is total nonsense, the fans pay for the privilege of watching football, the players and managers get paid. In that respect fans are allowed to vent their opinions, especially with sky high ticket prices.
Amazing how much leeway managers and players get when you consider how easy life is for them.
http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/im...0080-large.jpgQuote:
Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory
Thats you, that is.
tbf, gypo shirt - must be zimQuote:
Originally Posted by Bob Loblaw
Have they had year on year of patience? Plenty of people on here and the old board have been moaning their tits off for years. The people in the ground have been more patient but it helps that, in general, we've had good home records and it's not going to get ugly in the ground when we're winning most games.Quote:
Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory
I'm not talking about GW posters. I'm referring to the boos at the ground, as what was being originally discussed.Quote:
Originally Posted by Letters
I don't have a problem with booze at the ground.
These days its the only way to get through a match.
Fair enough, but our home record tends to be pretty good. Even this year when we've been pretty poor it's W8 D3 L1.Quote:
Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory
You're not going to get loads of protests while you're winning.
Include all competitions because we haven't just lost once at home.
Also, the travelling supporters have been pretty vocal this year. Are they spoilt brats as well?
Its not Girouds fault, he's simply not very good - a million miles away from the quality strikers we face in the C.L. - its the French fuckwit that buys mediocre players in key positions over the pitch.
How many of Girouds 5 sitters would Berbatov have tucked away the other night & he's a Spud/Fulham reject.
OK. W13 D4 L3. Still pretty good.Quote:
Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory
My point is frustration is obviously going to be more evident when results aren't good and at home they generally have been good.
Away they've been more patchy so of course the fans will show more dissent.
So you think fans are discontent with what happens in this season alone? Is that's what's going on?
When is a straw the last one? Don't see why Wednesday night shouldn't be the last straw? There are plenty of results before it that qualify, plenty to come if Wenger stays. So time to pick a last straw.Quote:
Originally Posted by Letters
Our record doesn't matter any more. It just doesn't. Win, lose, draw. The sum of it all will be 4th place and the odd cup run (excluding the CL of course). Some might say that's fine, most teams don't achieve as much. That's the decision fans have to make for themselves. Does a club like Arsenal settle for that? Serious question.
For myself, after 10 years of flat, dull Wengerball pockmarked by catastrophic and humiliating failure whenever a genuine challenge presents itself it's just time. No recrimination, no animosity, just thanks and see you later. Doesn't matter if we've won 99% of the games at home, there's no progress. We are becalmed. On the 1% of occasions when a wind gets up and there's a chance of momentum the captain immediately scuttles the ship. It happens time and time and time again. Of course football is a funny old game, like the time the captain fell asleep and the crew sneaked a win against the gypos. The fact we view a single win of significance in 10, 20, 30 matches as progress tells us everything we need to know about where we are as a club.
Let's try something different now.
Cracking post.Quote:
Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn
For me, to not show a single sign of improvement despite signing a worldie like Alexis tells me everything I need to know.
:gp:Quote:
Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn