Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud has a good goalscoring record (Picture: AP Photo)

On Tuesday night, against Besiktas, Olivier Giroud had an absolutely shocking game.

He was slower than normal, his passing was terrible and his decision making, if I’m kind, was suspect.

This sent Twitter in to a meltdown as many Arsenal fans declared him ‘s**t.’ I tried to point out that he wasn’t ‘s**t’ but was just having a s**t game and that there is a difference. The replies I received were less than friendly.

In his first season at Arsenal, Giroud failed to convince many people of his quality and that he possessed the ability to lead the line for Arsenal. Arriving from Montpellier in a deal worth around £12m, he came with neither the name nor the price tag that would suggest he was a ‘big’ player.




Of course, that hasn’t mattered before when it came to a number of great players who arrived as relative unknowns at Arsenal and went on to become club legends, but Giroud was tarred as a flop by the press who ignored even worse performances from Roberto Soldado when he arrived at Spurs despite his significantly higher price tag.

Giroud has spent his time fighting against the perception that he is rubbish, a view formed in his first season in a new country playing in a new league at a new club.

His second season delivered 22 goals in all competitions and 12 assists. He scored 16 in the league and was the seventh highest goalscorer in the division ahead of Dzeko, Lukaku, Hazard, Remy, Van Persie, Adebayor, Benteke, Eto’o, Schurle, Soldado, Mata, Ba, and a host of others who all come with more attractive names and bigger price tags.

So just what, exactly, does he have to do to be seen as a good forward?

What price would you put on him if you didn’t know his name? A 27-year-old French international with 101 appearances and 40 goals from 80 starts in the last two seasons.

A player with five starts in the FA Cup and five goals and four assists. Five goals and seven assists in 14 starts in the Champions League. Two goals and one assist from one start in the league cup. A striker in his prime years who has had a direct hand in 64 goals in 80 starts and 101 appearances overall.

How much more would he have to do to not be seen as ‘rubbish’? How much would you pay for that striker if his name wasn’t Olivier Giroud? How much more would you rate Giroud if Arsene Wenger had paid £22m for him? Or £32m?

The fact is that he was an absolute bargain for just £12m. Arsenal fans should be lauding the fact they got him for practically peanuts, not crying that he isn’t good enough.

The problem is not that Giroud is a bad option for Arsenal, it is that he is the only real option.

Abusing him won’t fix that and it’s unlikely to make him perform better either. You’d think some fans might have learned that after Aaron Ramsey.

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