Giroud is a good player. PL is hard to adjust for a striker. He has stepped up a level too - he has done that through his career so far and always succeeded. Also, the France league is not awful or slow. It is very quick and some of the best young players come from there.
Actually Bendtner's movement was quite intelligent, it was his execution that let him down. And to say that Giroud was a major reason for our first goal is a bit over the top. He was there and he dragged the defender, but any other striker in his position would have done so. The jury is still out here, and the most worrying is not that he missed two chances, but his lack of pace. RVP was faster and could operate on a much wider space.
I have not been particularly impressed so far but he has shown glimpses of strength, hold up play and movement. Think he probably needs a goal to start gaining some confidence as he is currently snatching at every opportunity that does come his way. I would say we are not doing him any favours with our woeful crossing, he is meant to be a very good player in the air. Also bar liverpool every game the opposition has sat back and defended in numbers making it very hard for him to get much space. Do think he will come good, just have to be patient. Much easier as well if Podolski and Cazorla keep playing the way they are.
He's actually one of the quickest tall strikers I've seen, he has very good acceleration from a standing position for his size.
My personal view is that I prefer Giroud in there even if he doesn't score any goals. I think it gives the opposition CBs something to worry about. As long as the guy keeps moving and running intelligently, he should be in the team.
Yeah. For example for the Podolski goal his movement pulled the defenders away from Pod, giving Pod time to shoot.
In actual fact Bendtner's record for us isn't that bad, goals per minute wise. I still think he is a decent striker. If he had stuck to his guns, and kept his mouth shut he might have got a chance this year.
I have it recorded and just watched it again - Giroud pulled no one from Podolski. He just ran to the right could not even pull Agger from Cazorla. Santi had two Liverpool players on him when he passed the ball. And Giroud moved to the right so far that he could not help, had a ball rebounded from a keeper.
