Arsenal fans: Give Giroud time, he will come good (Video)
Ah Olivier Giroud. It isn’t quite the dream move you were initially hoping for. When it was announced that the giant Frenchman had signed for Arsenal, fans were excited at the prospect of the 26-year-old leading the front-line with similar prolificacy to what he showed with Montpellier.
Giroud fired in 21 league goals to help La Paillade to their first ever Ligue 1 championship in their history and despite a misfiring summer with France during Euro 2012; many Gunners fans were confident he would succeed at the Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal chief scout in France and former Gunner Gilles Grimandi insists his signing was to replace Robin van Persie, who left for Manchester United in the summer. As if the £12m fee wasn’t pressurising enough, the prospect of replacing the striker responsible for 56% of the Gunners league goals last year certainly was.
However, his start isn’t exactly what many Arsenal fans were expecting of the burly front-man. Giroud has just one goal to his name, a solitary strike in the recent 6-1 win over Coventry City in the Capital One Cup encounter in a game where he also missed a penalty.
His three assists go some way to paving over the cracks, but with any striker, fans wants to see goals, especially from the man expected to hit the back of the net on a regular basis. Nevertheless, despite spectacular misses against Liverpool and Chelsea, the movement and positioning of Giroud still has fans feeling confident that he can succeed.
Many were weary that Giroud would be Marouane Chamakh MK: II, but the Frenchman is going the opposite way of his Moroccan team-mate; the former starting well before fading into mediocrity and becoming the butt of many jokes.
The fact is, regardless of the lack of goals, Giroud has certainly shown enough that he will come good. Yes, with the £12m price-tag, fans are expectant from the off. However, having come from a league that is stereotypically easier than the Premiership, it was always going to take time for the Frenchman settle. Give him the patience to do so, and Arsenal will have a striker firing on all cylinders in no time.
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