Olivier Giroud: Time for him to step up

Giroud needs to step up

Olivier Giroud has his obvious qualities but sometimes lacks sharpness, energy and crucially the ability to finish.

He has struggled for goals recently – scoring just once in five Premier League appearances. While he has also looked laboured and lethargic up front. At the weekend, Yaya Sanogo showed a more energetic performance against Liverpool at the weekend, something which perhaps worry Arsenal’s number 12. But with Bayern coming up, Giroud will have to up his effort and be more clinical if Arsenal are to advance past the current European Champions.

With the first leg being at the Emirates, Arsenal need a positive result to stay in the tie. For that to be the case, Giroud needs to make the difference in a big game like this, something he has struggled to do since his £12 million move from Montpellier. The Gunners are unlikely to control the game, so when Giroud does get the ball, he needs to hold it up and keep it, allowing others to join him further up the field.

However, in recent games against Liverpool and Man United – fixtures which many would classify as big games, the Frenchman completed just 57% of his passes. Furthermore, perhaps more worrying for Gunners fans is the fact Giroud has a 17% shot accuracy from the games against Liverpool and Man United – meaning of his four attempts, three have been off target.

The French striker has also had the second hight amount of shots in the Premier League (78), but has only converted 16.4% of these into goals. However, one should take into note with ten league goals he has the seventh most goals in the Premier League, a respectable, but far from remarkable tally. He has netted twice in six Champions League encounters. With the Arsenal midfield likely to be busy with defensive duties, Giroud must take the initiative upfront and try to create something from nothing.

As well Giroud’s shooting and passing, when Mesut Ozil is on the ball, he needs to make forward runs for the German to pick out. Ozil picking out these forward runs has been the source of a large portion of Arsenal’s goals this season. He opens up the game and exploits space, but this creative genius can be nullified when nobody is making those runs for the Gunners.

With defensive and more central wingers likely to be selected for this fixture to help the possession battle, the burden on Giroud will be greater than ever, who needs to adapt his game to reap the benefits of Arsenal’s £40 million man.

Tonight provides the perfect platform for Olivier Giroud to silence his critics and prove that he has the quality to lead the line for Arsenal in the biggest of games. Giroud’s form in the last five Premier League games has been questionable and as stated above, his sloppy passing and woeful shooting has left Arsenal light in attack. The Frenchman needs to up his game tonight, as this is the game where Arsenal need all their big players to stand up and be counted.