Olivier Giroud: The true lone striker

Giroud has had a huge burden to carry this season

A lone gunman cannot win a war. That is exactly what Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud is – a lone gunman trying to fight a losing battle. Arsenal started the season with much promise but that quickly begin to evaporate in December after Theo Walcott‘s injury. The Gunners are now suffering from a severe shortage of firepower which could end their trophy hopes for the ninth year in a row. Giroud has been a superb worker who goes about his business without complaining but he is not capable of leading Arsenal to glory all by himself.

The 27-year-old was signed by Wenger from Montpellier in 2012 and ended his season with 17 goals in all competitions which was a promising figure but if this season is anything to go by then Giroud is incapable of being a prolific striker. Getting the tag of “Robin Van Persie’s replacement” didn’t do the Frenchman any good either. It can be safely said that Wenger failed in his quest to find a formidable replacement for his former captain.

Don’t get me wrong Giroud is an amazing player with incredible work ethic and can work perfectly along with a strike partner but looks completely lost when he is left alone. For example Giroud could do nothing but watch in the 6-3 defeat to Manchester City in December and could not do anything to trouble City. Giroud’s weaknesses were once again exposed in the 5-1 drubbing against Liverpool where the striker once again disappeared in a big game.

The France international was all over the pitch in the following game against Manchester United but did nothing noteworthy except for missing a goalscoring opportunity. The Frenchman had some success in the North London derbies but besides that has done nothing of importance in the big games.

The only way to help Giroud is to get a world-class striker to work along side him. In a way Arsene Wenger is at fault for Giroud’s decline as he failed to sign a forward in the winter transfer window choosing to go for an injured midfielder instead. Had Wenger signed a striker then Giroud would have had a huge weight lifted off his shoulders which could have bettered his goalscoring form.

Arsene must be feeling incredibly jealous of Tottenham as his former striker Emmanuel Adebayor can’t stop scoring and is now a key player in the team which is just what Arsenal need.

Wenger should learn from his mistake and sign a Robin van Persie-type striker in the summer if he has any hope of winning the league without comfortably. Chelsea and Arsenal are now the only big teams who have misfiring strikers but the latter is more affected by the problem. Hopefully Wenger will put an end to Giroud’s misery next summer but now the only thing left for Olivier to do is keep up that amazing fighting spirit he has and kick on.