Us Arsenal fans, we always need someone to have a go at don’t we. Someone to dig out. Someone to boo. Someone to take the blame for everything.

In recent times, that person has been Emmanuel Eboue, Gervinho & Yaya Sanogo. Now the boo boys have a new target. And it is disgraceful.

Olivier Giroud had a poor game for France last night. He missed want some called a sitter after a smart turn (it was not an easy chance), and was booed off by French fans. And then the abuse began.

His name begun trending on Twitter after numerous tweets starting in France, and it was not too long until Arsenal fans jumped on the bandwagon.

https://twitter.com/Aaron_jackson21/status/640992489688727552

https://twitter.com/LouuKW/status/641002610879819776

 

The attacking of Giroud by Arsenal fans is disgusting. Yes, he might not be everyone’s cup of tea, he might not be the world class player we all dream of, but he is an Arsenal players. And should be supported.

What do we want to happen? Boo and abuse Giroud, so he loses confidence and plays even worse, so we boo and abuse him even more, and he gets even worse, and so on and so on. Are some of our fans really so stupid that they think continually getting on Giroud’s back is the right thing to do?

Since being at Arsenal, he has scored 42 goals in 101 games. It might not be up there with the likes of Aguero and Suarez, but it is amongst the best of the rest in the league. He has not too far off what you would probably class as the leagues top strikers…

League goals	Games	Goals	Goals per game
van Persie	86	48	0.55
Kane	49	24	0.48
Benteke	92	43	0.46
Rooney	93	41	0.44
Giroud	101	41	0.41
Lukaku	108	44	0.41

 

So he is a tad behind the likes of van Persie, Benteke & Rooney, but many would class these as excellent, even world class, performers. They are players who cost £30m+. So Giroud isn’t perfect, but he is the best we have.

Yes, some will say “but he plays in a better side so gets more chances”, which to an extent, as true – but the others are boosted by penalties, and van Persie and Rooney get plenty of chances in a match.

And compare then look at who he keeps out of the French side. Karim Benzema.

Benzema has scored 44 goals in 95 games. That is playing in an easier league, for a better team, than Giroud. So if Giroud is ‘shit’ what is Benzema? And he also kept out Manchester United’s new £60 million wonderkid Martial out of the side.

Giroud, like Yaya Sanogo before him, is getting the abuse for the manager not acting in the transfer market.

https://twitter.com/craigvpower/status/641163311728472064

Wenger did not buy another striker, whether that be someone who is better than Giroud (in my opinion there are not too many available) or someone to compliment / compete with him. It is not Giroud’s fault.

People got on Sanogo’s back due to him being 2^nd choice striker. That was Wenger’s choice, not Sanogo’s. It is the same case as Giroud. Do not blame him for being the only decent striker at Arsenal, blame Wenger.

And that is the crux of the matter. Giroud is a decent striker. And he is an Arsenal striker. We should be getting behind him, backing him, cheering his name, not getting on his back for missing a half chance whilst playing on international duty.

Even if you do not like Giroud, or rate, him, whilst he is an Arsenal player, let’s back him. Calling him a lamppost is just silly. Getting on his back will not help him.

I do wonder sometimes, some of our fans want to erode the confidence of players, want to get on their back, want to see them fail, for their own motives, their own agenda. They would rather Giroud not score so that they can say “You’re shit Giroud, Wenger’s a c**t” then him getting a goal like against Palace, or going on the run he went last season.

No matter if you like Giroud or not, you should want him to score goals. Giroud scoring goals increases the chances of success of Arsenal. If you get on his back, want him to fail, then you want Arsenal to fail.

Back Giroud. Back Arsenal.

Keenos

Follow @KeenosAFC

Last night is was announced that Olivier Giroud was on the verge of signing a new contract with Arsenal, paying him an astonishing £130,000 a week. The first thought is “Wow! That’s a lot of money” and it is.

But is he worth it?

In football, players are a stupid amount. They are all on too much money. But that is life. When TV revenue is as high as it is, and the TV companies are paying for those footballers on the pitch, the money will always flow down to those footballers. Every time a new TV is signed, agents up and down the country knock on the managers door of their clients and demand a bit of a slice of that pie. And more often than not they get it.

You only have to look at James Milner. He is on £150k a week. Raheem Sterling has just signed for Manchester City for £200k a week. When Manchester City signed Adebayor, they paid him £170k a week. Nasri £185k.

At Manchester United, Wayne Rooney earns a reportedly £275k a week. He has scored 49 goals in the last 3 years. Olivier Giroud has scored 58 goals in the same period. The previously mentioned Adebayor also got 58 goals in his 3 full seasons at the club.

Many Arsenal fans want the club to sign Karim Benzema. He gets paid around £240k a week. Olivier Giroud keeps him out of the French national side.

The money footballers get paid grossly high. Rather than compare Giroud’s £130k a week to that of the normal man (or soldiers wages) it should be compared to his contemporaries. You do that, and you realise that £130k a week is probably right for someone of his talent. A first choice international striker, playing for a top European side, scoring consistently.

It is not just footballers that have crazy salaries though. Lewis Hamilton is paid £32m a year (£615k per week) to drive a car round in circles. Top cricketers in the Indian Premier League can earn over £1m for just 6 weeks work – £166k a week. And then we have America, where NBA, NFL and baseball stars can earn into the hundreds of millions throughout their career.

Sport has become such a commercial vehicle, TV companies and sponsors are willing to pay billions to be associated with it, and these billions end up in the players pocket.

So is Giroud worth £130k a week? In the inflated, bloated, cash rich would of football, you would have to say that is his par salary.

I agree, it is sickening.

Keenos

Follow @KeenosAFC