Why Giroud is end of beautiful game for Arsenal

Van Persie and Giroud make unlikely pairing upfront

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  • Staff
Published

Montpellier's Olivier Giroud (centre) kicks the ball in front of Toulouse's Etienne Capoue and Aymen Abdenour (right) during their French Ligue 1 match in Toulouse. (REUTERS)

Olivier Giroud wants to be Arsenal’s new Thierry Henry.

He should know Henry was not 6 ft 3 and was not brought in to Arsenal to ensure they are not bullied and bruted on a rainy Tuesday night playing Stoke down in the Potteries.

He should also know that Henry perfected a silken run down from the flank, cutting inside and side footing the goalkeeper to such an extent, that even teams expecting him to do that could not stop him.

Most importantly, he should know that the last big man to play for Arsenal up front – Nicklas Bendtner flopped.

Bendtner has shown elsewhere that he still has the skills and lethal finishing Wenger first saw in him, but memories of some horrific misses, and a hat-trick notwithstanding, saw the Emirates dump him.

Emmanuel Adebayor is the other big man Arsenal have used, and can claim some success in his style of play.

But the fact is Arsenal are not set up to play the hoof and carry style of football that say Liverpool don’t mind indulging in with the likes of Andy Carroll up front.

The arrival of Giroud, therefore, suggests two things.

Arsene Wenger is ready to play tough, ugly and direct. Gunner diehards who allowed the glow of Arsenal trying to walk the ball into the goal to dull the pain of not having won anything for seven years might see a different Arsenal.

Giroud might also discover that if Robin Van Persie stays at Arsenal, he might be reduced to playing second fiddle, unless of course, it is on a rainy Tuesday down at Stoke.

Van Persie is the kind of point man the traditional Arsenal tiki-taka style is built around.

Van Persie does not and has not played with a big striker up front – not for Holland and not at Arsenal (cue the Bendtner flop).

Can and will RVP and Giroud play together?

Not unless Wenger throws all we know about Arsenal out of the window and ushers in a completely new gameplan.

Who knows, Giroud with only one headed goal last season in the French league might not be all brute force, but just the ‘new Henry’ Arsenal badly need. 

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Comments

  • Alayo Nasr 27 June 2012 20:30 0 0
    Lets keep faith in Arsene, he knows the best for the club and at last we are going to praise him for this signing, I hope.
  • Ronald 27 June 2012 16:15 0 1
    RVP and Giroud can play together since it seems they are all pontetial strikers.
  • Ambrose 27 June 2012 15:38 0 1
    Silverware on the horizon next season.coyg!
  • a 27 June 2012 13:18 3 1
    he should be judged at the end of the season to see if our style changes. Arsenal fan since 88... Wenger makes players better and play our style.
  • mutabazi 27 June 2012 12:05 11 0
    RVP played with ADEBAYOR up front and they did well.
  • Arsenal Future Manager 27 June 2012 12:04 6 0
    When did Giroud say he wants to be Henry?? You should also know that out of Giroud goals in Ligue 1, he only scored once with his head, his not Carroll or Crouch... More Gomez, his got Technique, Long Shot & Finishing, So Arsenal style of play wont be hurt IF he does start in front of RvP....
  • whaleboy7 27 June 2012 12:02 5 0
    Giroud is 6ft 3, but of his twenty odd goals last season only one was a header. That hardly suggests he's the new Kevin Davis does it?
  • Ryan 27 June 2012 11:44 2 0
    Hi from South Africa Why do you highlight the worst of the situation,yet i see Giroud being a good signing.no one can compare one player to the next,Henry was an all star,but he also started of scrambling,but through the guidance of AW,look at what he turned out to be. Me as a Gunner,supporting them for nearly 20 years tend to look at the positive possiblities,a real chance of winning some sort of silverware.
  • Phil C 27 June 2012 11:25 5 2
    I don't accept the basic premise of this argument. Giroud is more like a (very large) fox in the box who can be on the end of the passing movements which have until now often failed for lack of a cutting edge at the end. Many of his goals have been tap-ins or deflections in the six yard box or latching on to a threaded pass. He can turn our beautiful game into a beautifully ruthless game. That will really be worth watching.
  • El Twig 27 June 2012 11:24 2 3
    I like the title. The certainty that Giroud's signing is the end of Arsenal's beautiful football. That there is no way a team could play attractively, and have someone tall in their team.
  • Mark 27 June 2012 11:22 5 0
    Players adapt and change styles due to their positions and teams.

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  Team P W D L GD PTS
1 = Man Utd 38 28 5 5 43 89
2 = Man City 38 23 9 6 32 78
3 = Chelsea 38 22 9 7 36 75
4 = Arsenal 38 21 10 7 35 73
5 = Tottenham 38 21 9 8 20 72
6 = Everton 38 16 15 7 15 63
7 = Liverpool 38 16 13 9 28 61
8 = West Brom 38 14 7 17 -4 49
9 = Swansea 38 11 13 14 -4 46
10 = West Ham 38 12 10 16 -8 46
11 = Norwich 38 10 14 14 -17 44
12 = Fulham 38 11 10 17 -10 43
13 = Stoke 38 9 15 14 -11 42
14 = Southampton 38 9 14 15 -11 41
15 = Aston Villa 38 10 11 17 -22 41
16 = Newcastle 38 11 8 19 -23 41
17 = Sunderland 38 9 12 17 -13 39
18 = Wigan 38 9 9 20 -26 36
19 = Reading 38 6 10 22 -30 28
20 = QPR 38 4 13 21 -30 25

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