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Arsene Wenger has paid tribute to Olivier Giroud after the French striker bagged his second brace of the week to help Arsenal overcome a spirited Brighton side in the FA Cup.
The summer signing a fantastic goal in each half and could have had a hat-trick as he tirelessly led the line in an enthralling match at the AMEX stadium.
Speaking to the press after the match, the boss touched on how much the former Montpellier man has improved in recent weeks:
“It’s good for his confidence [that he scored twice]. He’s scored four goals this week and he had a few more chances today. He gets there.
“He has a presence in the box, he’s dangerous and his physical presence was very important today.”
Asked if he might try and sign another striker during the January window, 24 hours after pretty much dismissing suggestions he’d be active before it closes, the boss admitted that his squad was a little short of options in attacking departments with Gervinho away on international duty.
“Quality-wise no [we don’t need another striker], number-wise, we could be a bit short maybe. Gervinho is not here at the moment.
“We have Walcott, who can play through the middle and then of course Giroud.
“You do not find them in the street, the strikers that can play for us and strengthen our team. It’s difficult in January.”
Reflecting on the 3-2 win, which sees the Gunners into the pot for the 5th Round draw tomorrow afternoon, Wenger also spoke of his admiration for Gus Poyet’s side.
“Brighton are a good team. They made it very difficult for us. We had a little bit of a slow start.
“They were sharper than us in the first half. In the second half, we were much more in the game and created chances. They [Brighton] play a game that is a very positive, technical game and they had a great spirit today.
“On their right flank, they gave us many problems. In the end, we’ve got that extra bit of quality that got us through. It’s a cup game – you need to go through and that’s what we did.
“We did our job but we needed to fight until the end.”
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Not on street boss no, but there is one in Fiorentina.
I agree. That dude from Fiorentina could be a good signing. I can see why Wenger is reluctant to buy another striker, though. When our offense clicks, it can get the work done. The question is consistency, and Wenger appears to be not convinced that bringing in another new striker will solve that problem.
That said, I have been saying this for a long time: a striker, defensive midfielder, and a backup LB. Santos is a disgrace as a defender. If, god forbids, something happens to Gibbs, we are loyally screwed. Even the like of Brighton saw the weakness in Santos for the entire time, and he got well exploited, well, the entire time.
Loyally screwed. That’s an amusing idea.
That’s a good point, I just hope AW’s gamble on finding our consistency pays off. He wants Giroud to be our main man, and I think it is beginning to happen. He was awesome today. As for Santos, we need to get another LB and now. He was an absolute disgrace today. He’s a funny guy sure, but an Arsenal quality player? Hell no.
If I ever make it as a footballer i’ll have Santos to thank. He’s so shit it makes being a footballer look easy…….hehe He’s my inspiration.
Agree. And if you bother searching further in Italy you’ll find another one at Napoli. Try further in Spain you’ll find a few. The only reason you won’t find quality is if you don’t look hard enough.
And that gets a thumbs down how? Completely rational comment.
May I ask who you are referring to? Jovetic?
Yeah but he’s technically sound too, as his Bergkampeque flicks have shown.
His first goal today reminded me of Rvp’s curler against sp*rs and his second looked a bit like Rvp’s volley against Everton/Liverpool with the Diaby lofted through ball. Not comparing the two, just pointing out that Olli is more than just a body in the box!
Bergkampesque*
What a body in the box though
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Daja = Clive Allen. Or maybe Elton Welsby.
Oh ho! Oh ho! Yes yes!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWz9VN40nCA
I think Giroud has had a pretty decent first season. Enough to shut up some of the brainless tabloid tools, anyway.
And he seems to be improving too.
Shuts up the doubters on this blog too. You know who you are…..
I wouldn’t hold much hope of that, especially the next time he goes two or three games without a goal. The fans need to decide their loyalty to the club.
santos played like someome randomly picked from a street today
The accepted football cliche here is, he played like a competition winner.
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How old are you, twelve?
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Zax. None of that. Thanks.
lol good one
How Wenger explains the signing of Park is beyond me.
13 goals, 9 assists so far? Best Flop EVARRRR.
I like how he make torres look like shit. Both with his looks and his overall play.
Hoepfully he is not too blind to see the problem on the left hand side and if we are fortunate he may try to get rid of this problem and correct this chubby error
Giroud set himself 12 goal target.. He already scored 13 with quarter of season to go.. He could end up with more than 20 in his first season..
Now, Who would have thought of that?
aber nur in verbindung mit poldi !! oder ?
Lu-Lu-Lu, Lu-kas Podolski
In other news:
André Santos!!! @Andre_Santos27
)
After almost 2 months without playing, because of an injury, today i returned as a starter.Thanks God I need to keep working hard
As we say in Belgium: self-knowledge is the beginning of all wisdom
I hope Giroud keeps improving. We sure do need goals which should lead to wins, 3 points, and the “fourth place trophy” and maybe, just maybe a cup or two if i may be optimistic. COYG!
Na na na na na na na Giroud!
And who are those lucky gooners having to caress that fine young man….
Oh Bergkamp, grant my wish to be at the Emirates someday..
Hes some sexy man
i really hope you are a girl.
Because being gay is wrong right? What a stupid comment. There are gay Gooners everywhere. Grow up.
well, i didn’t say it was wrong did i?
Do gays know what offside means?
Honestly my comment was a cuntish one. But whats right and wrong is very individually, for me it is wrong. And for some people it’s right and i respect that as well, so if anyone was offended, i apologize.
This guy seriously strives for the team. I don’t think every striker would throw himself around like giroud does. Putting his body on the line with orthodox, bicycle kicks e.t.c. Anyone else would be like “me? do that?…..no thankyou”
Developing into the real deal, something I honestly thought would never happen. HFB baby!
“Quality-wise no [we don’t need
another striker], number-wise, we
could be a bit short maybe. Gervinho
is not here at the moment.”
So Wenger believes we can’t improve quality-wise upfront??? Why aren’t we challenging for the league then?
shit start of the season as usually.
I found this irritating as well. Even if for example we signed someone who has similar traits to giroud (Ba who wenger admitted was giroud mkii) that would allow those TRAITS to be present on the pitch more consistently. If giroud gets injured god forbid we have no one that can do the job he does.
Theo is a different striker, off the shoulder pace man whos quite clinical of late and to be frank I haven’t a clue how the pod monster plays centrally. I still think we could use another striker
And a left back for fucks sake
I’d rather jenks play lb and coquelin rb if it had to be done, santos is a serious liability.
Poor start to the season, integrating new players, over – optimistically pitting hopes on Diaby’s fitness.
I think we do need a couple more bodies for depth and rotation, but i kind of agree with Wenger. I’d rather get the best out of this squad, which we’ve seen can be devastating when everyone applies themselves and has confidence, than another round of deadline day panic buying. Perhaps our targets are there, just not ready to move in January.
Also new players would have to integrate, further changing the chemistry of a team learning to play with each other.
We’re not that far off fourth considering the poor start we’ve had, and the squad shows promise. I’ll wait til the end of the season to pass judgement but as bad as things have been there are really promising signs.
Keep banging them in Olivier! Bouldy, have a word mate!
Most players need a season to adapt and it’s weird coz this is almost common knowledge with premier league. But everyone still seems to Giroud is shit, you gotta give them time. Watch how good podolski and Giroud are next season. There’s a reason why Wenger choose them
When you look at how OG has developed over the past 6 months you realise how foolish certain fans are who believe the media nonsense that was written about him. It’s a shame we don’t have another big name striker to compete with him and sometimes play together.
I’m eternally grateful to Olivier for his goals today, my best mate for the past 20yrs is a Brighton fan who always said he’d love to play us in the cup. If we’dhave lost or even drawn my life would have been unbearable.
While I know it’s probably not a popular opinion to have after a magnificent four goals in two games, I have to say that I still think Giroud is a bit limited as a player. Obviously, he brings a lot to the squad with his physicality and work rate (something Arsenal have lacked in the striking department over past seasons), but if I wanted to win the English Premier League, is Giroud the kind of forward I would want to rely on for clinical finishing and goals?
Can he be an impact player in big games against the top English clubs and in the Champions League like our previous centre forward? It remains to be seen.
Or, let’s put it this way: do you really think he is a “top 1″-calibre striker or is he more like a “top 4″ striker? If you complain about Arsenal FC setting their goals too low for treating top four like a trophy, then if you think Giroud is only a “top 4″ striker, you should want to see a more clinical striker come in.
That being said, as an Arsenal fan, it would be churlish not to applaud his effort, efficiency, and finishing today.
if, as the pundits say, it takes at least a season for players to get a grip on the premier league, I for 1 will be investing in a lifetime supply of tena lady to prevent jizz patches on my Calvins.
Has anyone noticed, hes quite good looking??
just sayin…..
How many “top 1″ strikers do you think there are in the premiership at the moment? RvP? Aguero? Suerez? Is clear we don’t have the funds to buy a “top 1″ striker, however we can buy “top 4″ strikers with the hope they can get there eventually.
Not saying Giroud will become that, but love the start he’s made to a hopefully long career in red and white.
Seriously I don’t think I can take this crap anymore. You doubters, he’s proved you wrong, just accept we’ve got a star striker on our hands. First season, a hat full of goals and assists, quality movement. He’s class, just accept it.
I agree he’s a little limited but he does what he does well, plus he plays that little Bergkampesque dink to Prince Poldi beautifully.
Do you remember when Drogba first joined Chelsea, he was a bit of a joke for the first 18 months. I genuinely feel OG can be the same player for us.
Witoldo – if the last week hasn’t been enough to shut you up, what will? His goals have absolutely been “Top-1″ caliber. If his scissor-kick had gone in, I bet you would have nothing to say at all. So back off and enjoy our striker improving with every game.
Sorry wiltodo…….now’s not the time. Anyway, after he tucks in yet another two against liverpool will that be a big enough game for ya?
Oh I see it’s liverpool, we will have to wait for a “bigger game” then. Can’t be spuds too, everyone knows how little they are. We’ll have to wait…..yawn
Once he gets into the groove 100%, hes a top 1 calibre striker, for sure!
Could evem become better than Rubin Von Traitor
Witoldo do u think Torres is a 1,2,3,4 class striker and after all his stay in the premier league who has done the job he and giroud. Lets learn to give credit where credit is due.
very classy performance today from OG. I like him a lot BUT its not to say we dont need other options!!! what if he’s injured/tired/a bit jaded?? give the man some help please!!
Chim chim-in-ey, chim chim-in-ey
Chim chim Gi-roud
Who needs van Persie, when we got Giroud?
Van Judas*
Two things that are obvious. Giroud is quality, I simply haven’t understood the criticism, he scores goals and has improved. Even when he’s got a slating in the press n pundits he has been in the right places just missing narrowly, now he’s getting better and better. What do people expect for him to be called a success? 20+ goals at least? And secondly, Santos is a nice bloke and a fairly good squad player but he is not a left back, so we do not ‘have 2 players in all positions.’
We have only proper striker – Giroud. Ironically, Poldi is not considered by Wenger as one of the options for the striker role and Gervinho is. Walcott I am sure has still to convince as the main striker. Sure as a supporting striker or playing off Giroud he seems fine.
The point being that I am sure you need more than one proper striker to get by in a season.
Also I am sure Wenger needs to reinvent Santos. I think mentally he was not quite there. He seemed unsure and totally lacking confidence. We need to support him. Having said that, Wenger needs to reinvent him in a wide att role and sign a LB. Santos once he gets some of his confidence still would be useful as a cover in att.
The defence as a whole needs sorting, though no radical changes are needed there. They are all quality, they just need to step up as a unit and get more organised. The middle of mid still appears to be the strongest and Wilshire and Cazorla are going to be quality for quite a while. Arteta in the mix would be awesome, though an proper holding mid fielder being bought would not be a bad idea.
And dare I say it….Ramsey has been top class in Arteta’s role the last 2 games. Let’s see what he does against a top team in that position, but coming from a Ramsey doubter, he has been great in the center. He’s not a damned winger Arsene!
Whisper it quietly, Ramsey is starting to play himself into some form. The last four games playing centrally without the expectation of being the new Cesc and his confidence is coming back.
Hopefully it carries on!
Yes even Wenger said the same about him doing well in the centre..
We have 18 games to go in all comp it will be nice For OG to score in every game it is possible & I hope he does it
“The summer signing a fantastic goal in each half … ” What?
That extra bit of quality being Gibbs for Santos haha!
A proper striker. What a signing he and poldi are turning out to be. We have a very potent front three, its excellent. If santi and jack can start to add the odd goal more consistently well we would be a very formidable offensive unit. The dream of course is to tighten up the back and we are the complete team. We are gettimg there. The forward steps starting to outnumber the backward steps. Looking forward to the next game now! Feels good..
Surely this calls for a new chant…
“Metal Giroud, is it you?”… and repeat
The only spoilers were the Amex stewards trying to rip Olivier away from the quite frankly outstanding Arsenal support, and that particularly clueless rule that forces referees to book players for doing what any one of us would also do when scoring for The Arsenal in front of the aforementioned super Gooners behind t’nets.
Bebe?
It’s always annoying when i read here gooners go about “man u would never do this, man u would never do that…. ” ‘if this was red nose this would never happen’. “we missed up on player x and now he’s at man u”
but now it’s time to have a laugh at you lot, shopping on the streets. Are we buying Bebe?
Ollie g. Sticks in goals. Who woulda thought that this bloke would……turum…turum. To the tune of Billy jean by M.J.
Please give me some of your MDMA powder.
He’s a great player and had been all year. Unfortunately over the last few months he’s had no quality/creative supply. He is always trying and stretch defensives, pure quality. .
I’m not gay, but I wouldn’t mind him stretching my back line.
Still need a front man… HFB gets injured we’re fucked… Gervinho…don’t make me laugh. Theo…completely different type of player… If you can’t see it arsene and the rest of the world can then I’d like to know why your being paid over 7 million pounds a year…? Your 2 quality players in each position is a crock of shit arsene… Us fans are not fuckin fools….
Andre Santos makes me believe I have a shot at the ballon d’or, if he made it as a footballer
HFB is terrific.He’s going to light up the Premier League next season because he has the quality to do it. I just wish we had another striker to compete with him.Can you imagine David Villa and HFB linking up?!? It’d be the closest strike partnership we’ve seen since Dennis et Thierry.
Also, RE Santos, i think Wenger should look for another leftback now or in the summer so that Santos can replace Arshavin in the summer as one of our wing options in the squad because let’s face it,his attacking is his best asset.
Santos was definitely the weakest link today. I hope he reflects on his performance and works hard to be the player that we all hoped he would be. Maybe Wenger/Bould sees the potential. While we are awaiting this miraculous transformation,we always have to option of using the Verminator as our backup to Gibbs, with Kos playing CB alongside the BFG.
Who is HFB?
Handsome French Bloke aka Giroud
How many assists Podolski have to give him before we see the kiss..
giroud hits the crossbar once he gets a brace….
next time it is a hat trick…
the guy is good
isnt it the same hype that was sang to chammakh for scoring a meagre 10 goals in his first half season? really hopes this guy comes good coz m still not impressed.he has limitarions that his good looks alone will not erase.nor ready to join in the bandwagon of praises as yet going by past experiences.get us another stricker!!
“Quality-wise no [we don’t need another striker], number-wise, we could be a bit short maybe. Gervinho is not here at the moment.”
Is this a joke? And when that guy Gervinho come back from ACN he’ll be put right to the position of striker, and of course, get a lot of abuse from the people here.
Wake up, dude. It’s not Gervinho’s fault, it’s not Ramsey’s fault. It is the guy who made the BLATANT LIE ABOVE who is responsible for all the shambles now.
What the fuck is a “stricker”?
Gervihno is really class at the AFCON. I think he will come good some day soon.
Wenger and I are very alike. I have high standards and good taste. I would rather freeze my fucking ass off and suffer in the winter with no warm jacket (because I will only buy a top, top quality jacket) than dare buy something functional and useful that would see me through.
He ain’t nuthin’ but a loc’d-ass OG!
according to some: ” we don’t have a ‘top, top, top 1 quality’ but we have ‘top, top, top-4 quality’.
if twitter was to be invented or there was arseblog in 2000-01 season people would be saying the same shit about henry as they are saying about giroud.
in the past forwards of his calibre would not even get a place in the reserves.sorry to say but there are no top, top top quality fans anymore who demand more of the team.
Enough of the negativity. If you’re going to keep doing down our players then do it while supporting another team. You’d probably be more abusive to our players than any of the opposing fans. To quote a line from a Bob Dylan song: “If you cannot bring good news then don’t bring any.”
its called positive criticism friend.you are not more of a gooner than I am.
It’s not positive criticism. It’s negative. Positive criticism would be along the lines of “the team are doing reasonably well, Giroud is scoring goals, the new boys are settling in well but, in my opinion, we could add to the squad in this position or that one”. Instead, what most of the whiners and moaners say is “player X is shit, player Y isn’t fit to wear the shirt and Wenger is just taking money out of the club”
nothing more than sugarcoating obvious shortcomings.i prefer to err on the side of cautious optimism than make ‘safe’ comments which betray blind faith.yours m afraid is see no evil hear no evil about our team.
Considering we’ve just had two consecutive blood-pumping victories, i must say it is surprising to see so many negative comments.
Santos has like 30 caps for Brazil FFS… give him some regular playing time and he might actually come good (at least he can cross&shoot better than Gibbs).
Ramsey is guilty of ‘cluelessness’ 80% of the time but… these last two matches he’s been looking like David Silva!
Szcheney made an awesome one-handed save early on. And his distribution is not that bad (5th goal vs. West Ham started with Schezny throw to Wilshere; and 1st goal vs. Brighton similar throw to Rosicky).
If we can’t win the League (yet again) this year, it’d be nice to at least witness the following bfore it ends:
1) beating ManUre 1-0 at Wembley in the FA Cup final
2) beating ManUre 4-0 at the Emirates with all there summer signings + Theo scoring a goal each
3) thrashing Bayern Munich 3-0 at the Emirates on back of Podolski hattrick
4) Beating Spuds to 3rd place – with Spuds again missing Champions League football because 4th-place ‘trophy’ is taken by Everton!, and
5) watching the pure joy spread over Olivier Giroud’s face when he finally gets his much-desired hattrick