I would trust Wenger with that pressure over Pellegrini and Moyes, considering that neither of the latter have won anything of note in a major league before.
17 Goals in first season in a new league. Yeah so terrible Yet if we did get Higuain an he put up similar numbers we'd all be creaming our pants here
He didn't score 17 goals in the league. Most of his goals were not important or against weak opposition. 1 league goal away from home all season, in fact if you take out every goal he has scored for Arsenal this season, we will only be 2 points worse off in the league. Then you consider his sitters missed vs Sunderland (H&A), Stoke (A), Liverpool (H&A), Chelsea (H&A), Spurs (A), City (H), Everton (H), the fact he has a 1/10 shots to goals ratio, has a passing accuracy worse than any of our outfield players (by a considerable distance), is weaker in the air than Bacary Sagna who is not even 6 foot tall, and is one of the worst offenders in our squad for being dispossessed and offside then the only conclusion to take is he is a massive hindrance to the team. Certainly the worst 1st choice striker Arsenal have had in the last 25 or so years. As for Higuain, he is infinitely better than Giroud so we won't have to worry about him contributing a mere 11 league goals in his first season.
1. Equalizer vs WHU. Assited the game winner. 2-3. Brace vs Fulham. Rescued a point 4. Put Spurs game out of sight 5-6. Scored Game Winner vs WHU 7-8. Superfluous goals but it helped GD 9. Got us back into Pool game (Helped rescue a point) 10. Superfluous (Comfort Zone+GD Help) 11. Game Winner vs Norwich Yeah didn't ****ing help us at all So useless There is no useless goal. Goal Difference can be the key between a title winning tea (See Man. City EPL win) And you only beat who's in front of you. If we treated goals vs smaller teams as less important we get complacent and get shocked (See Norwich loss, Villa draw, etc...) And I haven't even mentioned his assists, and that's just in the Prem. He helped us immensely in exiting our CL group and saved us in some FA Cup and CoC games. Would I take Higuai? Hell yes. Do I think he's an improvement? Yes. Does that mean Giroud is useless or our worst "first choice striker?" Hell no, absolutely ridiculous.
Harsh to be calling Giroud the worst striker we've had for 25 years. However, he shouldn't be first choice striker for a club like Arsenal with it's large resources and aspirations of winning the league or competing in the Champions League. Who knows, he might reach the required level, but at the moment, we need a top center forward to be competing with the best.
I think you are being harsh saying he doesn't deserve his place. He earned his dues and has a league title from France to his name. Higuain can play down the right as well as through the middle. Don't be surprised if we see Higuain and Giroud in the line up, at the same time.
His net spend was zero when he got União de Leiria and Porto into Champions League positions. Uniao are now in the fourth tier of the Portugese league and have a capacity of 2,500. Jose took them to third in the top tier. Of course he would never last five years at one club. But I think he would take your current squad to 80+ points and win you a cup
I didn't say that. I said, right now as it stands, he is not at a level that will help Arsenal take it to the next level. To compete with the best, Arsenal need that prolific striker, he doesn't fit that mould at the moment. I would be quite happy for him to do it come next season, but at the moment, he isn't more than backup striker for the likes of Arsenal.
There are some useful stats in here, such as his lack of scoring in away games, and the lack of importance for those goals (2 points worse off? Sheesh). I respect your opinion on Giroud and I wish others would too. There seem to be a group of troublemakers who lay into anyone who criticizes players. I don't understand it... you made a perfectly good post, backed up by a plethora of statistics, and you get anger and swearing in return. There was no need for them to take your criticism of a player so personally. We barely scraped 4th. Obviously some of our players are not good enough. They can't all be of the quality we need.
I've noticed the same. Not sure what some people are trying to prove about Giroud. Yes hes a good player but is he the answer to our CF position, a position that is one of the most important positions for any team? I'll be estatic if Giroud became a top quality CF that Arsenal need, but the bare fact that we are chasing a few top CFs tells you that Wenger thinks his current crop can't fill that spot.
The only away fixture he scored in last season. One of the 2 games where his goals put points on the board. Yep, scored in a game we were already winning vs 10 men. 2 goas in a 5-1 victory. The only other game this season where his goals put points on the board. He didn't score the winner, we won 3-1. The goal was a tap in anyway and I am dubious if it was even scored by him or not. However, despite the previous 80 minutes he played in that match where he was an absolute shambles, I will concede we probably would not have won that game without him. Only made 3 all season, West Ham (away), Liverpool (H) and Swansea (A) (when he failed to control the ball and it ended up at Monrael's feet). He was very average in the CL. He did make a few nice passes to be fair and scored a header vs Schalke. Actually come to think of it one of his assists in the CL was when he kicked the floor when through on goal vs Schalke which ended up with Walcott scoring. It goes down as an assist when the truth is it was a massive blunder. As for the FA Cup, yes he played a very good game vs Brighton but they are a Championship team, lets not forget his performance vs Blackburn when he may aswell have not been playing. The 1st choice strikers Arsenal have had over the last 3 decades are all considerably better than Giroud, that is why he is the worst.
Some indepth analysis on Giroud there. I guess you backup your dislike of Giroud with facts. But one season is a little too early to make judgements on a player. We will get a better view on him this coming season, but this all depends on whether we get a new striker. Should we get that top striker, then I can see Wenger relegating him to the bench, only using him for 5-10 mins Prem spells and or Carling Cup games.
lazarus2000, I hope you are right on both counts. It was ridiculous and unfair on him just throwing him in and expecting him to replace RVP. He needs competition and he needs help, hopefully it will help him improve next season. What I have seen in his 1st year though has given me very little hope.
Wenger probably thought that by bringing in Podolski and Cazorla would adequately supplement our scoring rate. The fact that Podolski and Walcott can play CF, he thought it would sort of workout. So he went out and experimenting with those 3 during last season but failed to get either Walcott of Podolski nailed into a CF position. So he chose the only logical player to be CF, that was Giroud. He can hold up play, has good strength and power and would allow our attacking players to be brought in.
One thing for sure is that Walcott, Podolski and Cazorla all shared the scoring burden to fill the void left by Van Persie. You could say that last season we didn't really have a star player (although Cazorla was probably a class above) and as a team we functioned quite well and every player had a shared responsibility, particularly in the last 10 games of the season. The problem is, that is only going to get us so far if we want to win things. We now need to make that marquee signing that can slot into a well functioned team and take it to the next level. Giroud for me is definitely not that man.
Not necessarily. Juve won the league last season despite only two of their players scraping double figures.
We definately function better as a team, highlighted by all our attacking players sharing the goals. But I do agree with you, we really need that prolific CF to take us forward. All previous successful Wenger teams had that one super striker, and it's something we could do well with. I'm sure a man like Higuain would fit the bill. He would thrive from the support he would get from our midfield.
