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'Same old Arsenal' rings around every newspaper, tv station and radio network across the sporting world. They go to a moderately tough opponent – one they're expected to beat by a margin. They create a flurry of chances in the opening minutes and then concede an unfortunate – or not – goal that ruins the whole fixture.
Arsene Wenger was furious before half-time and looked visibly distraught in the post-match press conference. His side were supposed to beat Dinamo Zagreb easily and save the losses for when Bayern Munich host and visit the Gunners but he – and his team – have it all to do in the remaining matches.
The underlying problem
Olivier Giroud hasn't had the best of months. First he gets booed by his Arsenal fans, then he gets booed by his French fans, then he gets booed some more of his Arsenal fans even after scoring against Stoke. What's happened to HFB?
His finishing has been off, his one-touch chance-creation has been very predictable and some would say his new hair style isn't the most attractive. Wenger is very protective of his players but knows when to blast them – unlike some Portuguese guy across the Thames – but is always seen defending Giroud more than actually spurring him on.
Why is that? Is Giroud such a sensitive player that the slightest of criticism drives him home to under his bed? Or is it that Wenger sees something in Giroud that most of us don't? Giroud is a good striker, he's scored a lot of goals for Arsenal, in fact, he's scored more goals in 100 games for the Gunners than Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp did but is he the kind of striker Arsenal could use to mount a semi-serious title challenge?
His speciality is to set up teammates – it worked in Montpellier, it even worked in his first two seasons at the Emirates but defenders now know his strength and they're more than capable to nullify him in the big games.
The problem with Giroud is not his work rate or his gameplay, the problem with Giroud is his mentality. He's got to be more ruthless, more arrogant – a little bit of Diego Costa, a little bit of Sergio Aguero and with his physique, he'll flourish. Time and patience is running out and if he doesn't start scoring soon, Wenger will have no choice but to look for someone else to permanently replace the Frenchman.
But who could Wenger get?
What I'm about to say might piss off a lot of Arsenal fans – it pisses me off, too – but I say this because of the market scenario and the ridiculous amount of blank cheques flying around the world.
Arsenal should re-sign Robin van Persie. He's in Fenerbahce, his value is highly depleted but yet he remains a striker we could potentially still use – at least for the last 18 months of his career should we sign him in January.
Paul Scholes – who is monstrously biased towards United whenever he's on the tele – said it was, indeed, a massive mistake by Louis van Gaal to let van Persie leave. The striker couldn't replicate his first season at Old Trafford again but that's partly because either of David Moyes and LvG hadn't the slightest of clues as to how to use van Persie.
Remember back in 2011-12 when we had Robin van Persie dictate the season for us? Everyone labeled us a 'one-man team', that we'd only click if the Dutchman wore his favourite pair of moon socks and as hard as it is to argue, they were right. Robin van Persie is an out-and-out striker – something I feel Manchester United didn't capitalise on. He's one of the best in the world when he's in the groove. His movement, his finishing, his attitude – unmatchable and he'll be able to ably assist Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez and Theo Walcott given the chance.
He's 32 yes and we all know Wenger's policy on 30+ players, but even the old strict man is changing. He offered a shiny two-year contract to the then-32 Tomas Rosicky, he's offered Santi Cazorla, Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker new contracts and the same goes with Mikel Arteta, so why not Robin van Persie?
I, for one, would be delighted if he came back to Arsenal. He's Judas and all that yeah, but look at United now, they're a mess and this is hardly the time to hold grudges given we could suffer the same fate without immediate quality backup.
If Wenger does sign him in January, he actually might not get a lot of backlash from the fans. We're desperate for a finisher and someone who can utilise Ozil's, Alexis', Theo's and Ramsey's strengths and I don't see a better buy at the moment than Robin van Persie. (Excluding paying £50m for a 29-year old Edinson Cavani or a 28-year old Karim Benzema).
