The season of nail biting – aka the transfer window – is well and truly underway. At this point in time the all too familiar feeling of dread will be slowly creeping in Arsenal fans’ minds as the clock ticks down to the start of the season. Although the addition of goalkeeper Petr Cech is a step in the right direction, again the same old tune is being played out, after many fruitless links, Arsenal are nowhere near to signing that ‘world class’ striker.
Olivier Giroud, the man constantly in the firing line, fired back himself yesterday at Thierry Henry’s comment that Arsenal would not win the league with him as first choice striker. Giroud replied with an undertone of menace: “If I see him we will have a conversation between two men.” While many condemned Thierry for this statement, I think he was right in his opinion of Giroud.
The French forward has been a respectable servant for the club since joining from Montpellier in 2012, but he does not cut it in a potential Premier League title winning side. His lack of pace and mobility severely hinders our attacking possibilities; against smaller sides who sit 11 men behind the ball, his lack of explosive movement can be extremely frustrating. Against the bigger sides, where Arsenal are made to attack on the counter, he cannot be relied on to run in behind the opposition defences and has missed countless opportunities against top teams, showing a lack of a clinical nature. Although he is a decent target man and can provide fluid link up play, he simply does not score consistently enough in the big games.
This lack of goals could be the difference between a top four finish and a genuine title bid. If we compare Giroud with other strikers in title winning teams over the last 4 seasons such as Diego Costa, Sergio Aguero and Robin Van Persie, there is a glaring disparity in ability between them and the Frenchman. Although Cech may save us 10-15 points a season, we don’t have a clinical striker to put away the chances at the other end.
In reality, there is a huge gap in the market when it comes to the cream of the crop in terms of strikers. In addition to the lack of top notch strikers actually around nowadays, the ones that are available are difficult to extract from the clutches of their current clubs. I narrowed it down to two players we should strive to retrieve, one main target in the shape of Karim Benzema and Alexandre Lacazette of Lyon as more of a punt.
Benzema we all know is a class player, whose club and international goal and assists records speak for themselves. However with Benzema it may just be a waiting game to see if new Real Madrid boss Rafael Benitez will include him in his plans moving forward. Lacazette would be more of a gamble, but the Ligue 1 top scorer hit 27 goals in 33 appearances last season and would likely be an improvement on Giroud and a possible solution to Arsenal’s striker problem.
It goes without saying that the burden does not solely fall on Olivier Giroud in terms of title capabilities, with another centre back and defensive midfielder high up the transfer wish list. Vital to the challenge is also the continuation of sound big game tactics from Arsene Wenger, evidenced in the 2-0 away win at Manchester City last season.
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