Olivier Giroud

Arsenal's Olivier Giroud has his sights set on the Premier League Golden Boot after his outstanding start to the season.

Whilst many feel the Gunners are short of a striker, Giroud has shown off his own credentials and is currently top scorer with four goals from four games.

Now the France international firmly believes he could be in line to finish on top of the goalscoring charts this season, and thinks the addition of Mesut Ozil will only help his cause.

"I must have a chance," said the Frenchman.

"That is something I aimed to achieve when I joined Arsenal. Now that we have Mesut Ozil, it can get even better."

"I feel good and, with these players giving me chances, it has to be a possibility.

"That is something I aimed to achieve when I joined Arsenal. Now that we have Mesut Ozil, it can get even better."

Giroud would be the first Frenchman to claim the honour since Nicolas Anelka in 2009.



set your sights high olivier!!!!

fuck i love this guy..this is the attitude we need in the team..i would love to see it!!!

Mario wrote:
On May 24, when he arrived at Clairefontaine to prepare for Euro 2012 with the rest of the French squad, Olivier Giroud shared his room with his best friend Laurent Koscielny, the Arsenal defender.

They played together for a year in Tours back in the 2008-09 season. At the time, Tours were competing in Ligue 2 under Daniel Sanchez, one of Arsene Wenger's closest allies. Koscielny was voted best defender of the year and Giroud, who signed 12 months earlier from Istres after one campaign in the third division, was already starting to make a name for himself there with nine goals in 23 league appearances.

It didn't take long for Koscielny and Giroud to become good mates. They were almost the same age (Koscielny was born on September 10, 1985 and Giroud September 26, 1986), had the same strong-valued education and hard-working mentality and more importantly, they were going through the same atypical journey to reach the top level. In the same way he had faith in Koscielny, Sanchez was really the first one to believe in Giroud, who went through the Grenoble Youth Academy but never got his chance there.

He never gave up, though, as he kept fighting and finally, following his move to Montpellier, made it right to the top with a French league title this season after scoring 21 goals in Ligue 1, sharing the Golden Boot with Paris Saint-Germain's Nene.

Back to Clairefontaine just a few weeks ago. Koscielny had these words for his old friend when I saw him there: "I always knew he would become the great player he is now. He always had something more than the others.

"I am delighted that he won the French title and finished the league top goalscorer because he deserved it. He has worked so hard for it. And the best is yet to come."

While they were room-mates in the France training camp, you would have thought that the two friends may have had time to speak about perhaps becoming team-mates again, this time at Arsenal. But there was probably no need.

They will see a clever footballer, brought up by an affluent family near the Alps, with a great left foot and intelligent movement. They will see an athlete who has improved immensely in the last five years, from the third division to Euro 2012. They will see a versatile striker who can play on his own up front, with two wingers, another forward next to him or a playmaker behind him.

They will see a man who had to work so hard to get to where he is that he has become very solid mentally, and drew a lot of self-belief and confidence through his journey. However, he is not a selfish player; more a team player, one capable of making goals for his colleagues. And all that for €12 million ... a bargain for Arsenal.

There is no need to remind anyone that Wenger rarely gets it wrong when it comes to signing a French forward. Gilles Grimandi, Arsenal's scout in France, has watched Giroud many times this season and each time, he loved him more and more.

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896/premier-league/2012/06/14/3172548/laurens-arsenal-bargain-giroud-should-learn-from-van-persie

Seems like these words are proving to be right after every passing game.

http://arseblog.com/2013/10/oliviers-giroud-awakening/
Thought this summarized well what I think of Giroud (and even Bendtner)

Luis Suarez, Wayne Rooney, Gonzalo Higuain and Karim Benzema were all Arsenal targets in the summer.

Arsene Wenger’s failure to sign a world-class striker left supporters fearing the worst.

Few reckoned on Olivier Giroud establishing himself as Arsenal’s main man with a string of excellent displays in the lone-striker role.

But Giroud’s influence on Arsenal’s current crop is growing.

The Frenchman had a reasonably successful first season at Arsenal: 17 goals for a player who cost £13million was a decent return.

Giroud isn’t blessed with the natural ability of, say, Thierry Henry. But what he lacks in flair, he makes up for in sheer work-rate.

And he’s getting his rewards, scoring his eighth of the season in another tireless display against Palace.

‘Olivier always puts a shift in, that is what makes him great,’ said Wenger. ‘He misses some chances but he always gets the support from our fans because he shows he is ready for a fight.

‘The fact that he kept going against Palace got him the goal.

‘How much he has improved, I don’t know. But he has, that’s obvious to everybody. If he keeps working like that then he will improve again. I like his spirit.’

The fear is that he could suffer burn-out. Given the club’s lack of striking options, Giroud, barring injury, is certain to start the club’s Premier League and Champions League fixtures.

Wenger has decided to scale back the 27-year-old’s training schedule to ensure he does not move into the ‘red zone’ and can re-energise fully between fixtures.

‘We have to adapt the training. This week he didn’t practise a lot, just on Friday, really. That was to prepare for the Palace game.

‘It’s always a bit different at the back where you have to respond to the run and in attack you have to provoke the run.

‘It can be physically more demanding for forwards. But he has improved through training and the fact he has played with top players. They put a pressure on you to take care of every pass because if you don’t do that then players like Mesut Ozil, Jack Wilshere and Santi Cazorla will let you know.’

Saturday’s win kept Arsenal top of the Barclays Premier League.

But November is likely to provide the Gunners with a true test of their domestic and European staying power.

Clashes against Liverpool and Manchester United will provide a clear indication of whether Wenger’s side can launch a realistic title tilt, while games against Borussia Dortmund and Marseille will have a huge bearing on their prospects of reaching the Champions League knockout stages.

But midfielder Mathieu Flamini is a major doubt for Saturday’s top-of-the-table clash against Liverpool because of a groin injury. He went off in the opening 10 minutes at Palace and could even miss next week’s match in Dortmund.

Flamini is definitely out of Tuesday’s Capital One Cup tie against Chelsea.

‘The games we have coming up will be the test,’ said defender Per Mertesacker.

‘We know for sure that we have started well this time. We have improved a lot over the last two years.

‘When you compare this to the last three seasons we are in a better position and it feels much better to be where we are now.

‘We don’t have to get any points back and it gives us more safety. But I think there will be many more tests to come which will be crucial for the rest of the season.

‘I think we have surprised a few people already this season and we want to surprise them more and more. That’s what we need to do.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2478013/Olivier-Girouds-Arsenals-main-man.html

A brilliantly written article by Roger Bennett on ESPN Soccer net comparing Suarez and Giroud.

http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/relegationzone/id/1476?cc=3436

'...and Suarez has become the Premier League's equivalent of Jaime Lannister from "Game of Thrones" -- a loathsome character who ultimately wins you over with his adroit swordsmanship. '

Love it!

Laurent Koscielny admits Olivier Giroud is tiring under the pressure of being Arsenal's solitary striking option.

With the Gunners having failed to bolster their attacking ranks over the summer, Arsene Wenger finds himself short on goalscorers.

Giroud has helped to shoulder the burden, with a bright start to the season seeing him net eight times.

He has, however, shown signs of fatigue of late - with out-of-favour Nicklas Bendtner his only back-up - and Koscielny acknowledges that the demands of leading the line in every game are starting to take their toll.

The French defender told The Sun: "It's true that he's not scoring but he is setting them up, like he did against Dortmund.

"But he's also playing game after game and hasn't had a rest, so maybe he's feeling a bit of fatigue.

"He's very important for us - strong and always answers the call on the pitch.

"If you look at the games, he weighs enormously on the opposition's defence. All the balls he wins are in the air with his back to goal. He works very hard up front."

Giroud and Arsenal drew a blank in their last outing against Manchester United, but Koscielny is backing Wenger's men to offer a positive response to a 1-0 defeat against fellow Premier League title hopefuls.

He added: "We are still confident. The lessons to learn are that we were too shy in the first half and we weren't able to play our game.

"The second half was better, even if Manchester United let us have the ball.

"But we'd played a lot of games so maybe we dropped off a bit physically. Now we have 10 days off and we will have to get the fire going again at home to Southampton."

http://www.transfermarketweb.com/?action=read&idsel=131175

53 - Percent of aerial duels Arsenal are winning this season
50 - Percent of aerial duels Southampton are winning this season
28/32 - Aerial duels Arsenal won against Southampton today
4/32 - Aerial duels Southampton won against Arsenal
87.5 - Percent of aerial duels Arsenal won against Stokehampton
24 - Headed clearances Arsenal made against Stokehampton*
8 - Number of Southampton players who didn’t win a single aerial duel they contested (went at least 0/1)
0 - Number of aerial duels Rickie Lakembert won
5 - Number of aerial duels Giroud, Mertesacker, and Sagna won (1 lost, Giroud, yes 15/16 from those three)¹
4 - Number of headed clearances Giroud made
0 - Successful dribbles by Giroud (of 3)
5 - Ball recoveries by Giroud
1 - Successful tackles by Giroud (of 1 attempted)
1 - Ball recovery by Giroud in the box on Artur Boruc after Giroud’s successful tackle
1 - Shot on goal by Giroud after a ball recovery from a successful tackle in the box on Artur Boruc
1 - Shots on goal by Arsenal in the first half against Southampton
1 - Goal by Giroud after Arsenal’s only shot on goal in the first half taken by Giroud after a ball recovery from a successful tackle in the box on Artur Boruc
49 - Passes received by Giroud, which looked like the image below and along with his defensive work defined “being all over the place”

From Arseblog's by the numbers. What a monster Giroud is.

It's funny that after a goalkeeper error and penalty, Giroud is getting so many plaudits from commentators right now. He was in better form at the start of the season.

That said, he's contributing well, and I think will start knocking more goals in soon.

I bet on him to be top scorer in the league at the start of the season so I think he will too although it'd be ncie to have Podolski back or Bendtner to find some sort of form to give Giroud a rest every now and then.

I don't care what commentators say, I am giving him credit for winning 15/16 headers in one match, 5 ball recoveries, 4 headed clearances. He's a gladiator out there.

Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud has reportedly been ordered to get a move back to France ...by his wife.

Last month Jennifer Giroud shut her Twitter account after the Arsenal and France striker admitted to cheating on her.

Just hours before the Gunners' FA Cup clash with Liverpool last month, the 27-year-old apologised following allegations that he had slept with model Celia Kay.

A source told the Sun on Sunday: "She's agreed to take him back, but only on the condition they leave London and England.

"He's desperate to save the marriage because he knows how stupid he's been - so he is going along with what she wants."

The report adds to speculation over the future of the France striker, 27, after he was apparently spotted on Thursday meeting with 'super agent' Muzzi Ozcan.

Giroud had his breakthrough season in Ligue 1 at Montpellier.

His goals pushed the club to a first-ever league title and they also won him a call up to the France national team for the European Championships.

Giroud is a very good, useful player, but compare his performance to that of Adebayor's (who wasn't too great himself) then you can see how much we're lacking in the striking department. Whilst I'd like him to stay and be backup and provide genuine competition to the new striker we get in the summer (hopefully), I wouldn't mind seeing him go as well.