Arsenal: Olivier Giroud Essential Against Particular Opponents
Against a deep lying Southampton side, Arsenal struggled to break down the Saints defence. In such a scenario, Olivier Giroud becomes utterly essential.
It was a frustrating match for Arsenal against Southampton Saturday, While they ultimately won the game thanks to goals for Laurent Koscielny and a very late spot kick from Santi Cazorla after Olivier Giroud was hauled down (that could be contested with some validity) at the hands of Jose Fonte , the Gunners were severly lacking in attacking positions, especially early in the game.
The issue came in breaking down a resilient, but more importantly, deep lying Saints defence. Due to Alexis Sanchez’s absence and the poor form of both Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott in recent matches, Southampton did not need concern themselves with a threat from wide areas.
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Consequently, they were able to – as a structured and rigid side rarely allowing themsleves to be pulled out of position despite the tactics of Arsenal’s possession based system – hold out for much of the 90 minutes bar an inspirational and highly unlikely Koscielny overhead kick and a contentios penalty.
The issues in open play for the Gunners came from the lack of space that the likes of Mesut Ozil and Santi Cazorla could exploit. There was no option to stretch the pitch deep due to how deep Southampton sat and the pace of Lucas Perez, Walcott and the Ox were thereby neglected. There simply wasn’t the space to unleash such lightening pace.
That is where Giroud comes in. Giroud is not a player who requires time to perform. He is outstanding battling up close and personal to opposing centre-halves, is lethal in the air, especially from crosses meaning that the pitch can be made even bigger by utilising proper wide men rather than inverted wingers.
Against teams who are more likely to sit in and counter in an attempt to soak up much of the Gunners’ pressure, one of the more effective goalscoring tactics is to get the ball wide and deliver high quality crosses as great frequency. If Perez is the central stiker, as was on Saturday, such crosses have far less effect. If Giroud starts, then it’s a whole different picture.
If Wenger wants to implement a counter attacking style once more gthen clearly Giroud is not the suitable striker. However, against the lesser sides where Arsenal will dominate possession even in the opposition’s half, having a big, physical and imposing centre forward is near on essential. that is how important Giroud is to this side.
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