It’s too early to brand Giroud a flop
Arsenal are at the beginning of a new chapter in their history. The departure of Robin van Persie and Alex Song has left a gaping hole in the crux of the Arsenal team, which Arsene Wenger has attempted to fill with the purchases of Lukas Podolski, Santi Cazorla, and Olivier Giroud.
Both Podolski and Cazorla found their scoring boots at Anfield, with two well taken goals. Giroud, however, is yet to open his account despite having good goal scoring opportunities against both, Sunderland and Liverpool.
This failure to find the back of the net has led some sections of people to doubt his ability and wonder if he’s just another flop buy.
Added to that is the additional burden on his shoulders to emulate the form van Persie showed. People expect the next striker to pick up where van Persie left off and start banging in the goals. And if he doesn’t do so right away, he’s branded a flop.
Indeed, a leading newspaper in England has already labelled Giroud a flop. Two games into the season.
Those people, however, could not be farther from the truth. Not for nothing was Giroud the top scorer in the Ligue 1 last season, which lead Montpellier to the league title. Ever since he has joined Arsenal, Giroud has contributed in ways other than scoring.
His impeccable movement has lead to the opening up of defences. Case in point; Arsenal’s first goal against Liverpool. It was Giroud who pulled Agger with him, which opened up the space for Cazorla to pass to an unmarked Podolski, who went on to score.
It is also very pertinent to note that all of Arsenal’s recent goalscoring legends took their time getting off the mark. Thierry Henry, a compatriot of Giroud went eight games without a goal before he finally opened his account for Arsenal. And we all know how that story ended.
There is also a huge significance in Arsenal’s game against Southampton. Wright, Bergkamp, Henry and van Persie all scored their first Arsenal goals against Soton. There is hope yet.
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