Charlie Nicholas, Sky Sports pundit, claims that Arsenal would be better off starting Theo Walcott over struggling striker Olivier Giroud this weekend at Stoke City. Nicholas has based his assessment of the two striking options mostly based on the recent form of both players.
Giroud hasn’t been in good form and that’s why I’d pick Walcott ahead of him against Stoke.
Giroud’s movement has been pretty static. When he’s on form you see him getting in behind people, taking shots early but I don’t see him doing any of that so far this season. He looks easy to mark and is very predictable.
Nicholas views such a move as both a wake-up call for the French striker as well as a motivational tactic that Arsène Wenger may deploy to improve his play. Giroud has scored only once thus far this season for Arsenal and was booed heartily in France’s friendly against Serbia early this week after missing a trio of significant chances in the first half.
He has struggled a bit with the criticism that has come his way but it’s up to him to prove the doubters wrong.
I would leave him on the bench and simply say to him: ‘it’s up to you to respond well to this criticism’.
Nicholas’s comments underscore the need for improvement in an area that many Arsenal fans believed critical during the summer transfer window: a more clinical striker to finish the plethora of chances regularly created by the Arsenal midfield:
Arsenal will make chances for him it’s up to him to take his chance.
However, despite his criticism of Giroud’s current form and play, Nicholas believes that an in-form Giroud is capable of providing significant goal support to a title-contending team.
Giroud was never going to be the player who is going to win you the title but he’s one of the players who could help you win it. This season I still expect Giroud to score 15 to 20 league goals. If Walcott stays fit I’d expect him to score 15-20 league goals, too. Combine both of them with Sanchez and others then Arsenal should do ok.
For that plan to work, however, Nicholas emphasised the improvement Giroud must show to make his contribution. Nicholas further implored Giroud to shake off the criticism he has taken by both France and Arsenal fans and get on with his job of scoring goals for both club and country.
But Giroud has to work on his sharpness and the movement in his game and if he doesn’t get that back people will be constantly on his back because of his style. He’s just out of form. I’m not sure if it’s the criticism he’s had or not but he has to man up and get on with it.
Nicholas’ preferred striker option, Theo Walcott, has also started slowly for the Gunners and has failed to score in the Premier League this season. However, Walcott did score twice for England in a 30-minute cameo appearance against San Marino, and may currently be the more confident of the two striking options at Arsène Wenger’s disposal.
Arsenal take on Stoke City tomorrow at the Britannia Stadium. Kick-off is at 15:00 BST.
