Ah, Olivier Giroud. For much of his time at Arsenal, he has appeared to be a Marmite player – fans either loved him or hated him. However, this does now appear to be changing a bit, with most recognising both his qualities and his weaknesses while a smaller group of fans sit apart and complain that he’s definitely not good enough. Perhaps oddly, given his position as an easy scapegoat, Giroud appears to be one of the few Arsenal players who fans feel safe to express moderate views about, rather than simply an outcry of love or hate.
The fact that even most Arsenal fans are capable of sitting on the fence about Giroud is revealing, and actually of great credit to the player himself given what the situation used to be. He has managed to win over, at least partially, a large proportion of the fanbase that used to call for his head on regular occasions – many still do of course, but it is a far less mainstream view than it once was. Giroud has succeeded in persuading fans of his usefulness, his performances and hard work have displayed what he brings to the team, and his absences – such as a prolonged stretch out at the beginning of last season with a broken leg – have made even clearer exactly how important he is when it comes to allowing players like Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez, Santi Cazorla and Aaron Ramsey to play with the freedom they desire.
Giroud’s ability to hold up the play before sending a teammate on their way with an often superb pass or flick is something unique to him in this current Arsenal side – increasing the fears over any potential injury and its subsequent effects – and it is absolutely crucial to the team. Without Giroud as their focal point Arsenal often struggle to penetrate the opposition defence, and are forced to become incredibly one-dimensional and easy to defend against, simply passing around and hoping for space to open up while the opposition get ten men behind the ball. With the Frenchman on, not only are the wide players able to cross the ball with a reasonable chance of someone actually getting on the end of it, but his positioning and presence often means that attempts to fill the box with defenders are bypassed by one of his little flicks.
His importance shows up in the statistics too – last season, Arsenal won 67% and lost only 14% of the games Giroud was involved in, compared to winning 50% and losing 25% of those he missed. Even in his first season at the club his importance was obvious, Arsenal winning 61% of the games he played, compared to only 40% of those he didn’t. He is more than simply a goalscorer, and indeed that is not even the strongest part of his game (an odd thing to say about the 2011/12 Ligue 1 top scorer), but even his statistics in that regard are good – in 84 Premier League starts for Arsenal, he’s scored 42 goals, exactly one goal in every two starts. He has scored more goals than Wayne Rooney in every single one of his seasons in the Premier League. So for a centre-forward whose game is largely built around holding up the ball and creating space and chances for others, his goal-scoring record is actually pretty good.
Giroud suffers from the fans largely because of his tendency to miss some easy-looking opportunities (not always actually as easy as they look), his lack of speed, and the less obvious impact he has than a striker such as Sergio Aguero. He is almost a play-making centre-forward rather than the traditional, and by most fans desired, free-scoring striker, and because of this more subtle role it is harder for supporters to pick up on the job he’s doing and just how important it is. That, is largely the explanation for the minority group of fans who take any opportunity available to insult him and demand he be sold.
An increasing number do however seem to be becoming more and more aware of the duty he performs, how it frees up the players behind him and causes all sorts of problems for opposition defences. More and more fans seem to be gaining an appreciation for him, and even a sympathy for the situation he’s in – he is not helped at all by the complete lack of backup at centre-forward in this current Arsenal squad. Giroud is a rare example of a player who most Arsenal fans are able to praise without hailing him as world-class, and criticise without going over the top. He has inadvertently created a greater ability for fans to hold moderated views. For that, and for everything he does for the team of the pitch, I thank him.
