The Nostalgic Gooner

For the average Arsenal fan who has been supporting his dear club for the best part of two decades, one name comes to mind when he hears the word ‘striker’ – Thierry Henry. If he gives it a second or two more, a Flying Dutchman who now plies his trade in Turkey springs up. Wind back the clock a few more years and he reminisces about Ian Wright and another Dutchman, the non-flying type.

Fast forward to 2016 and he would be as likely to be going bonkers when Giroud scores a screamer as he would be to grimacing with a “Great, Wenger’s not going to sign anyone else now”.

For a 6’4” centre forward who had come from Montpellier with a Ligue 1 winner’s medal, he seemed to fit the Gaffer’s bill perfectly. He was French, fresh off a twenty-one goal season and at twenty-five, just about to get into the best years of his career. To top it all, he came at a moderate fee of GBP 9.6 million.

So what do the Emirates faithful make of their current centre forward? For starters, they have borrowed from The Beatles’ “Hey Jude‟ to gift him his personal chant. But have they had enough opportunities to sing “Na naa naa….‟? The answer would have to be in the negative. This is in no small part due to what Gooners have been served with in their silvery plates in the past (Not to forget that one golden plate, but that‟s a topic for another day). He is perennially compared to the greats of the Premier League, and understandably, falls short of those heights.

But it is probably evident to everyone who follows the club that it is not for lack of trying that he has not reached the heights that the fans expect him to reach. It could possibly be because of the role that he has been given in the team. It could also, as harsh as it may sound, be because he is not world class. Either way, Arsenal have a striker problem.

The case for a second striker

Giroud is always there or thereabouts in the list of top goal scorers every season. Herein lies the problem. He is not at the very top with the likes of the Agueros and van Persies, and more recently the Vardys and Kanes of this world. But arguing a case for his departure from Arsenal would be one that is highly prejudiced.

Consider the hat trick he scored against Olympiakos when his team needed to win by two goals at least. The brace at Anfield, the cushioned header to Walcott in the Leicester game and the assists to Antoine Griezmann at Euro 2016. These bring me to the argument on why he should remain a Gunner.

The Arsenal of old had 4-4-2 written all over it. Why Arsenal, the whole league seemed to prefer it. As years passed, Arsene Wenger decided to forego this formation in lieu of a more fluid passing game. As it were, this formation did not necessarily allow for two strikers up front.

To prove the point, let us count the number of times Theo Walcott and Giroud have started together. Filter that down to the number of times that Walcott was not played in the wings. Not too many times, is it?

Wenger’s experience in football may be more than my age, but for what it’s worth, I would love to see him tweak his tactics to make use of Giroud to his potential. Giroud is very patchy and his best strength does not seem to be in finishing. But what he lacks for in pace and finishing, he tries to make it up with his hold-up and link-up play. He intelligently draws defenders to himself, thereby creating space for others to get into the box.

For set pieces, he provides height in the box. He is a decent target man for the likes of Ozil to whip in his crosses and long balls. Even with all these attributes, he is still not the answer to Arsenal‟s goal droughts. He could however, be supplemental to the solution.
For quite a while, Arsene Wenger was accused of organizing his team the same way regardless of whether the opposition was Wigan Athletic or Barcelona. Of late, he has shown that he can marshal his troops to sit back, defend and play on the counter. With Plan A firmly etched on to the players‟ ethos, Plan B being deployed when the situation is deemed necessary, it is probably time that Plan C is put into place – the case for a second striker.

–  Siddharth Madathilkatt