That's the risk you run when you don't have proper cover for the CF position. Giroud has had a good run of games but every player goes through a lull in form. Its also horrifying to see Bendy come on after not having much football against Manure at OT. We only had Wilshere and a green Gnarby (who did good) to really change things. We really should have a better bench!
I've been one the loudest defending Giroud on here, but at the moment he's simply not doing enough. We can't go through the rest of the season relying on him to get us the goals we need as his form is patchy. Great when he's on, but almost non existent when he's not. It's frustrating, because he can still produce a moment that can change a game, like against Dortmund. But we need more consistency up front and we need a killer instinct striker who's going to get us the goals in games like the one yesterday against Utd.
Look at the options that our rivals have . Suarez / Sturridge Rooney / Van Judas Dzeko / Sergio Aguero / Stevan Jovetic / Negredo and we have Giroud /Bendy ..we will have to be mighty lucky to see real success with those 2 . we might come close but it WILL elude us again ...unless we step up to the level of our rivals on the striking front.
Chelsea - Torres, Ba, Eto, Shurrle, Lukaku (loan - god knows why) Man U (full) - Rooney, RVP, Welbeck, Hernandez We have the worst selection by a significant margin for CFs. Podolski and Walcott have played the majority of games on the wings and is clearly their best positions. Both Walcott and Podolski have been tried in the CF spots and have failed to shine. Also factoring them as CFs reduces our choices in the squad department. You need a good squad to win the Prem and we are at least 1 CF short.
The thing is, Giroud gets a lot more chances when Walcott, Oxo and Podolski are playing, as they supply him. It's no coincidence that his goals have dried up since these players have been out. That said, we still need a clinical striker to get us the goals in those tight games.
But then he has a world class midfielder Ozil lining them up for him. He's going through a dip in form at the moment and hopefully he'll pick it up soon.
This, I think you lot have missed Walcott big time, Rosicky too was a huge miss at OT. I guess it is the initial worries even when you were doing well, the depth of the squad. For me with those two in the side Arsenal are a different beast altogether. It is two key players though, take out Rooney RvP or Sturridge and Suarez or Aguero Negredo and all the other sides would struggle a bit too in some games
Decent option, defo not as bad as people on here state but he can't do it on his own and we need another option.
I didn't vote until today to give Giroud time, but we're basically almost half way into the season, although he started better than last season, in general it's kind of the same story with him. He has a period of good form, then goes missing for 4-5 games (1 month), and continues to miss clear cut chances that he should be scoring. He hasn't scored for us in the league and in general, since the 2 goals he scored against Southampton (1 of them a penalty) back on November 23rd.
For a team that plays one upfront that essentially means he's not good enough. Stop defending players just because they play for arsenal. Not many are saying he's rubbish, just that he's not good enough.
Giroud is not rubbish, he is a solid Prem centre forward. Is he a world beater? No. Will he ever be a world beater? No. Is good enough to be our first team CF? No. Is he good enough to be playing for us as backup? Yes. The truth is, he is good but not quite the standard that we require to challenge the best head-to-head.