Olivier Giroud: The Frenchman needs to up the ante to cement his Gooner status

Arsenal fans tend to be hostile sometimes. The frustration of not winning a silverware for eight years seems to be taking its toll on them. And when you criticize their players – you are dead meat.

Olivier Giroud, as I have said countless times, has struggled to replicate the form Robin van Persie once displayed at Arsenal. He is nowhere near RvP’s class and quality, but he can be deadly if given enough space to fire and convert.

But then you ask, what space?

We have seen cases of Giroud having enough time, space and room to either make a forward pass or even take a shot, but the Frenchman strangely opts for the ridiculous.

In the Fulham game, after Giroud was sent off for what looked like a red card, the Frenchman insisted that “he slipped and went for the ball.” But in the way Sidwell was sent off, a red card for him was highly inevitable.

Arsenal fans on social networks didn’t hide their excitement on his dismissal. In fact, a section of the supporters suggested Wenger shouldn’t appeal for the red card. During that spell on the sideline, Giroud will miss the Manchester United, QPR and Wigan matches.

Unfortunately, the same set of fans, when asked about Giroud’s poor finishes, don’t waste time to remind you about his impressive stats “17 goals and 13 assists”. Then they console themselves by also reminding you that RvP in his first season at Arsenal couldn’t score as much as that. Furthermore, they also remind you that Giroud is the main striker in the team and the pressure is always on him to produce goals, so expecting too much from him on match-days is just plain selfish.

Yes, I can agree on the point that Giroud is the main striker in the club – not just an ordinary club, but a big club, and the pressure on him is always gigantic. But I believe it’s ostensibly a privilege for a player of his calibre to start week in and out for a big club like Arsenal. So, is this privilege and honour in representing such a prestigious side enough reason for him to give away silly passes and waste decent attack opportunities when he could have created something useful?

Take for example the West Brom game: his only decent effort was in the 35th minute, when his low shot hit the bottom of the post and eventually went out for a goal kick. Other than that, he was poor and the red card summed up his poor performance. The fact is, the French international hasn’t been consistent enough and needs to up the ante if he wishes to succeed at such a top side, and avoid the destinies of flops like in the cases of Chamakh and Park.

If Arsenal get a a quality striker like Jovetic in the summer, the so-called main-man pressure is sure to be reduced, but his place in the starting-line up could be threatened.

Maybe when he is sitting on the bench with a grim face we could chant about his 17 goals and 13 assists – whilst Jovetic utilizes the opportunity he once wasted.