Football’s Least Respected Man
When Cesar Azpilicueta hit a low cross towards the near post it towards Olivier Giroud it was obvious what was going to happen next. Giroud would drift in from the left and shoot first time, 1–0. Perhaps it wasn’t so obvious David de Gea would spill it the way he did, but all strikers rely on a bit of good fortune. He has done this so many times throughout the course of his career. Despite some of his more outrageous efforts, the near post first time finish is his signature. After all, you can’t score that many scorpion kicks.
Still, Giroud’s reputation is of a player who just isn’t quite good enough. This isn’t really his fault. When Arsenal bought him from Montpelier in 2012 he was brought in to replace Robin van Persie who, and no pressure, scored 30 goals the previous season. Giroud had scored 21 for the French champions, but the Premier League is a real step up in quality, and an big opening day miss in a 0–0 against Sunderland colored how he’d be looked at for a long time.
It’s not as if Giroud doesn’t score any goals though. He scored 105 in all competitions for Arsenal. Between Arsenal and Chelsea he’s got 84 Premier League goals which is just as many as Cristiano Ronaldo and Giroud has the better goals per 90. It’s three less than Dennis Bergkamp. He’s not Sergio Aguero, but if it were easy to be Sergio Aguero it wouldn’t be so impressive to be Sergio Aguero.
He isn’t as clinical as he could be, admittedly. Giroud’s best goal tally was 16 in the 2015–16 season which also happened to be the season he had a 15 game goal drought. This also happened to be the best season of Mesut Ozil’s career. Ozil had 19 assists that season, it’s not like Giroud wasn’t getting service. It’s also a particular sore spot with Arsenal fans as they were the only team to beat Leicester twice that season. They finished 2nd that year, 10 points off the top, and all you can do is wonder what might have been with a 25 goal striker instead of a 16 goal striker.
Giroud’s true strength is his hold up play. Take two minutes and watch this compilation of assists. If there were any justice in this world, Olivier Giroud would be remembered as the best hold up player of his generation. He was the calm in the storm on the edge of the penalty box. He provided the assist in two of the best Arsenal team goals of all time. One for Tomas Rosicky against Sunderland and the famous Jack Wilshere goal vs. Norwich. The Norwich goal was basically the culmination of Arsene Wenger’s life’s work. This was the goal he tried to get his teams to score his entire career, and it was a supposedly oafish 6'3 Giroud’s one touch passing that made it happen.
Watch the THREE identical lofted through balls he plays over the top the volleys scored by Lukas Podolski, Kieran Gibbs, and Lucas Perez. Those would make Andrea Pirlo’s career highlight reel. Look at all the knockdowns he can play. He’s got such an incredible range of passing in the attacking third. He has 29 Premier League assists which is a lot for a player who has spent the majority of his career as a lone striker. Ruud van Nistelrooy only has 15.
Most importantly, Giroud is a big game player. Did he have a single shot on target during the 2018 World Cup? No, but he left with a winner’s medal, and number 9s who don’t score in the World Cup wins is now a sort of bizarre French tradition after Stéphane Guivarc’h.
Olivier Giroud has only been on the losing side of one cup final from the six he’s played in. He’s scored in a Europa League and FA Cup final. He scored in two FA Cup semifinals. He’s assisted the winner in two FA Cup finals and he’ll be playing for a 5th FA Cup winner’s medal on August 1st and just as soon as that’s over he’ll be replaced by the incoming Timo Werner. He’s the Premier League’s least respected great player. You’ll miss him when he’s gone.
