Giroud Discourse

[GP]

Out of interest, how many better strikers in the league can you name?

This is not a leading question. I am Giroud agnostic.

Just Carlton Cole and Danny Graham.

[Gooner23]

I'd go with (in no particular order);

Aguero, Tevez, Djeko (just), RVP, Hernandez, Ba, Suarez and Michu.

Rooney probably as well, although hes been utter crap this season.

[Power n Glory]

Well no, it hasn't. Clough had a lot of success with Forest and Derby in the 70s but then won very little after that (OK, a European Cup in 1980 so his success crept into the 80s, but very little after that). And he ended up taking Forest down. No-one doubts he was a great manager in his day though.

For all his failings over the last 7 years Wenger has kept us top 4 every year, we haven't dropped into mid-table, or worse (yet!). You may not value that as an achievement the board clearly do and so to most of football - clubs like Liverpool and Spurs have spent a lot of money trying to get into the top 4 without much success. Given that he has kept us up there he should have won a few trophies but it's no mean feat in an era of billionaires.

Ferguson will go down, rightly so, as an all time great manager. Possibly the all time great manager. Fergie was Wenger's competition when he joined Arsenal and Utd were already established as the dominant side of the 90s. For the first half of Wenger's time with us they stood toe to toe, Wenger arguably got the better of him in the early noughties. He has failed to maintain that, partly because of the billionaires, partly because other clubs have caught up with his training methods and scouting which initially gave us an edge, partly because of his own damn stubbornness. But let's not get all revisionist about it, in his day he was brilliant and transformed the club from a boring mid-table club into the best team in the country playing a fantastic style of football.

It's being called into question right now. Like it or not. When his story is told, this is part of the chapter that will be told and won't be brushed over. He's never successfully defended a title or won a the Champions League and that's going to put him down as one of the good managers but not elite. When polls are done on the greatest managers, he may come outside of the top 10 and that's a real shame. It's not a bad thing to be where he is but I always considered him as one of the elites and bragged when talking to other fans about his skill. That's just not the case anymore.

Clough had that period where he fell off but he also took that team to win the highest honour and was pretty dominant in his time. Wenger hasn't been dominant over Fergie, he's never won back to back titles as said and while we have the Invincible season, he has the Treble. They were on par at a certain period where it was a debate over who was better, it's not even a debate anymore, Fergie has gone clear of Wenger and surpassed him. We never used to praise Fergie in this way before when we were going head to head with his team. We always thought we had the better manager. Now we're admitting defeat. No shame in Wenger's record when you look at it but if it all ends tomorrow you get a sense that he didn't quite reach the heights we expected. In fact, I'm sure when he's retired and reflects back, he'll have regrets about not winning Europe as his peers have done. It's got to sting his ego a bit.

[Özim]

Out of interest, how many better strikers in the league can you name?

This is not a leading question. I am Giroud agnostic.

Aguero, Tevez, Dzeko, RVP, Rooney, Hernandes, Ba, Michu, Benteke, Balotelli, Suarez.

That's without even thinking about it.

[Power n Glory]

Giroud is easy to mark out a game and that's why he won't get many chances on goal. A fast more mobile and nimble striker will be able to lose Cahill and slip behind the defence.

[Gooner23]

Aguero, Tevez, Dzeko, RVP, Rooney, Hernandes, Ba, Michu, Benteke, Balotelli, Suarez.

That's without even thinking about it.

Disagree with Balotelli, and Benteke hasn't really proved anything yet IMO.

Agree with the others though, and can't understand why we didnt go for Ba.

[Özim]

It's being called into question right now. Like it or not. When his story is told, this is part of the chapter that will be told and won't be brushed over. He's never successfully defended a title or won a the Champions League and that's going to put him down as one of the good managers but not elite. When polls are done on the greatest managers, he may come outside of the top 10 and that's a real shame. It's not a bad thing to be where he is but I always considered him as one of the elites and bragged when talking to other fans about his skill. That's just not the case anymore.

Clough had that period where he fell off but he also took that team to win the highest honour and was pretty dominant in his time. Wenger hasn't been dominant over Fergie, he's never won back to back titles as said and while we have the Invincible season, he has the Treble. They were on par at a certain period where it was a debate over who was better, it's not even a debate anymore, Fergie has gone clear of Wenger and surpassed him. We never used to praise Fergie in this way before when we were going head to head with his team. We always thought we had the better manager. Now we're admitting defeat. No shame in Wenger's record when you look at it but if it all ends tomorrow you get a sense that he didn't quite reach the heights we expected. In fact, I'm sure when he's retired and reflects back, he'll have regrets about not winning Europe as his peers have done. It's got to sting his ego a bit.

Exactly right, you can't not question a man's record when he's gone so long without delivering any success (half his Arsenal time), if he was that great he'd have reproduced something. In recent years he's been shown to be tactically inept, unable to adapt, unable to spot and fix problem areas in the team, unable to blend the different attributes in a team required for success.....in now way is any of that great

IMO he has way too many flaws in his management style to be considered great and his record doesn't make for great reading anymore either, he's been regularly out thought by managers of smaller clubs as well.

[Gooner23]

Giroud is easy to mark out a game and that's why he won't get many chances on goal. A fast more mobile and nimble striker will be able to lose Cahill and slip behind the defence.

But conversely he can do things other strikers can't. Back to goal he is very good at holding the ball up and playing in others around him. Ok hes not that pacy, but I think he will get chances with the right service. He always seems to get on the end of crosses, just needs to improve his finishing. But thats different to saying he can get marked out of games.

[Power n Glory]

But conversely he can do things other strikers can't. Back to goal he is very good at holding the ball up and playing in others around him. Ok hes not that pacy, but I think he will get chances with the right service. He always seems to get on the end of crosses, just needs to improve his finishing. But thats different to saying he can get marked out of games.

He's a relic and there are very few top teams that have a bulky slow player that holds up play. It's not needed and we don't need that sort of striker. Name a top team that plays regularly with a target man type striker?

[Fist of Lehmann]

Balotelli is hugely talented but a colossal twat, complete numbnuts. Sort of like a distilled Bendtner.

If someone could sort his head out he's potentially be one of the most dangerous forwards in the league. Sadly for him, his character flaws make him untouchable, 10ft barge pole style.