Roberto Soldaldo

I'm a big fan of Giroud and I think all the criticism he gets is ridiculous beyond belief. People need to consider a few things in relation to Giroud:

1. First and foremost he is in his first season, and needs to be given respect and the time to settle into his role as a centre forward at Arsenal. Some players don't always fit in straight away and need half a season or a full season to settle. If he still hasn't impressed come the end of the season, then the majority of the criticism could perhaps be justified.

2. On top of the previous point, he also hasn't had much of a succession of starts for us, with Gervinho coming in between any run Giroud has had, playing up front and scoring quite a few goals. This is only really going to hinder Giroud's ability to settle in and get used to playing at a new club with new team mates. Once he gets a consecutive run - without being ripped apart for every game he goes without scoring - then we may see the best of him.

3. Wenger has obviously seen something in Giroud that suggests he think he is able to add something to our team, or at least adapt to the Arsenal way of generally playing with the ball on the floor. Despite this, I can't imagine Wenger has directed Giroud's teammates to completely ignore his obvious strengths, which I believe are crosses being played in the air to him, and players playing the ball to him while his back is to goal, and then making intelligent runs for Giroud to, in turn, lay the ball off.

His teammates certainly haven't been playing aerial balls into him, in fact it seems as though there is too much intricate passing from the centre of midfield, out to the wings and back again - very few times are there balls whipped into Giroud to attack. Admittedly when he's been put through on goal with an incisive through ball, he's flunked most of his chances. But I've no doubt he'll improve in this respect. The more through balls and good crosses he receives, the more he will score. There aren't enough being played in. His goal at West Ham came from a great delivery. It's no surprise that a large reason as to why we didn't score at Norwich was due to the midfield (Cazorla being marked out of the game in particular) being poor and not offering Giroud many chances on goal.

4. Finally his record in France speaks for itself. He played for what was previously a fairly mediocre team but was instrumental in leading them to the French league title last season, finishing top goal scorer while he was at it. He's not a poor player as so many people are claiming. I think that's obvious.


On to my main point, if he turns out a flop, we should sign Soldado as he looks quality and isn't at a top team... yet.