He scored some good goals against Benfica - but considering he was injured for most of last season I think it's a bit early to say he's the worst player in 30 years, considering we've had players like Wreh, Jeffers, Linighan ect Surely give the player a decent crack at it before condemning him, especially as it's sensible to assume a 19 year old will improve as well... Though I agree with the general consensus on here that we should have aimed to loan him out and brought in another player - I would have been happy if we'd gone back in for Ba... or even Remy
IMO Giroud is waaaay better than Sturridge. I would pick Giroud over him every time, by a wide margin. I haven't seen much of Costa, but in his first year in England, I would be surprised if he does better but I can accept why people think he is better. RVP was better, but I am not at all convinced he still is. Aguero is better. As for the rest, simply no contest, seriously Adebayor? The other thing is, that Giroud is far more of a "false 9" than many of the others and he plays on his own up front. He has a slightly different role and one that provides him with fewer good scoring chances. Sanogo, is raw and unready, but so was Anelka, Adebayor, and several others. He will look raw and unready until he isn't and then everyone will proclaim Wenger a genius and say they knew all along Sanogo was brilliant. I think we are well set having Giroud, Sanchez, Podolski, Sanogo as the line up. I think once we start getting people fit, Sanogo will not play as much.
Anelka was far more accomplished than Sanogo even at a younger age, not sure why you've mentioned him
I appreciate you are an ardent Arsenal fan, but seriously? Also I might be sticking up for Sanogo and giving him the benefit of doubt as he does have talent, but to compare him to a young Arsenal Anelka who had it all, is really going over-the-top. Anelka may have gone off the rails a bit due to his indiscipline, but Sanogo is not in his class.
I'd say that's football language for saying Giroud's role is to bring in the other attacking players, hold up the ball, link up with them and create changes for them as well as scoring goals and providing a threat - all things he does. Strange that the scoring rates of our other players has increased since he was playing and our system changed since RVP left.
I wouldn't say Giroud is better than Sturridge. He's good though and offers his own unique style. That being said we should get a Sturridge-esque striker as Sanogo is far too raw
Giroud is fairly effective in our system because he is hardworking and powerful and has decent link up play but from a technical perspective he has a lot to improve. His finishing is vastly inferior to many of his contemporaries. In fact he averages a 12.5% (0.12 or roughly 1 goal to every 8 shots on target) conversion rate. That's been the same for the last two years at Arsenal and frankly its below the standard needed for a team looking to compete. Anything over 20% is good. Around 30% is deadly. Last Season.. Diego Costa 38.8% Higuain 31% Sturridge 29.5% Ronaldo 24.9% Suarez 22.9% Van Persie 21% Sergio Aguero 21.5%. Lukaku 21.7% Messi 21.9% (although he averages well over 30% for Barcelona) Remy 21.3% Negredo 18% Rooney 16.9% Also Zlatan was insaine last year boasting a 45.5% conversion ratio.
the very fact that Giroud is being discussed shows that he's nowhere near the calibre of a striker required for a supposed title-aspiring team. Many cite his hold-up play, assists, aerial defensive abilities et all as the benefits of including him in the team but here's a question: are aguero costa sturridge etc used for such useless benefits? Fact is, GOALS WIN YOU GAMES AND THAT'S THE JOB OF A STRIKER. We can't let sentiments rule over common sense. Chavs & Citys & pools strikers (and yes including Torres and Lambert) are all better than our over-hyped first choice CF. As for Sanogo, he's a no-go area for me, it pains me to think about him let alone envisage him leading the line of a top team. FFS Campbell is better than both. why not give him a chance? mobile, pacey, skilful, good movement & finishing. Giroud's lack of pace enables the top teams to suffocate us in our half of the pitch. Alexis has to play that CF role IMO. I know this is a brutal but vital assessment of Giroud and might offend his worshippers but it's the honest truth
I agree that he needs to improve, but I would like to see a comparison of what are being assessed as "Chances" and the quality of those chances. If hopeful balls being launched into the box where Giroud is being marked by both CBs, and is looking for a knockdown more than a header on goal is being registered as a chance, then obviously the comparison isn't entirely fair. Giroud is not the sort of striker that gets in behind defences. It would stand to reason that he would get fewer gilt-edged chances. If he had missed that shot in the CS, would that have gone down as a "Missed chance"? Finally, up until now he has been handicapped by playing with a lot of non-strikers in the wide positions. Cazorla and Rosicky are good, but they hardly inspire fear as goal-scorers or hold up players. I will enjoy seeing his numbers when we start playing him with Alexis and Campbell on either side. I would also like to see what the calculation is. I get the impression that Giroud gets a fairly low number of "chances" for a striker, my suspicion is that it wouldn't take much for his statistics to improve dramatically, and does he get credit for setting up a tap-in, instead of actually putting it in himself? So while (obviously) I accept the statistic, I also think before we condemn a player, we need to look behind the statistic to make sure that it isn't giving a false impression. Sanogo's attempts at replicating Giroud seems to indicate to me that Giroud does a better job than we all give him credit for.
I sometimes struggle to see what AW sees in Sanogo. I want him to do well, in fact I am desperate to see him do well, however I have not seen anything to be excited about. I sometimes wonder what the guys at the Arsenal Academy are doing, if they cannot develop a home grown talent for that position. AW must obviously rate him to bench Giroud for him. After seeing all the teams play, I am beginning to think, the striker position may be our Achilles heel again this season. As we might have to rely again on Giroud as the main striker this season. We seem to be top heavy with wide players but no main striker.
I agree with much of that. Though it's worth remembering that the Cup final only really started turning our way when Sanogo came on. As for the Academy, there have been problems in recent seasons and there was a massive clearout last year, I heard rumours of parent power at the training ground but that's changed now so hopefully that glitch is done. I often look at these decisions (AW playing Sanogo ahead of Giroud) and think he is trying to build the players confidence....
The Giroud better than Sturridge and RVP comments are absurd... Just watch tonight game for more evidence.
