LEAGUE CUP V COVENTRY CITY

[augie]

Steve O, every striker that joins a new club is eager to get his first goal as soon as possible to lift pressure off his shoulders and giroud would have been aware of that mounting pressure. Our CIC then leaves him out of the starting line up v southampton which not only robbed him off a great chance to get that goal but it also told him that he isnt classed as good enough to start against a poor promoted team and that cant be good for confidence. He then gets picked for a reserve side mixed with young players and granted he should have viewed it as a chance to show his quality, but it could just as easy make him feel that he isnt considered an important player for the club and that wont help a new player trying to settle in with a new club and new country. People can try and defend wenger over the southampton game but lets be honest here, this isnt the first player that wenger has fcuked about and played a leading roll in their demise

I dont claim to be an expert on the guy and all I can comment on is from what I have seen and tbh he has shown me enough to suggest that he can be a good player for us I honestly think that people are jumping to conclusions too fast on the guy and if it wasnt for baba writing him off as shit, then I doubt if people on here would be panicing yet

[Gunnersaurus]

People need to give him a break, he's coming in as a direct replacement for arguably the best striker in Europe, the pressure from outside and even himself must be massive, he's off the mark now bit for him its gonna be a long process if Wenger keeps putting him in and taking him out.

[kiwomyaswetdream]

hi guys, coming from the game last night i got involved in a bit of banter with a fellow gooner about theo. He insisted that theo was the answer up front due to the fact that he scored twice. My point was that coventry was hardly a barometer of any kind and that theo was hardly consistent. that got me thinking. how many other false dawns have we seen after easy first round wins in league cup? carlos vela jog any memories for example... and seriously do we really get carried away this early in the year? have we become spuds?

[Gunnersaurus]

[North-Bank-1987]

I heard there was some kerfuffle in block 1/2 last night, can anyone confirm? Apparently stewards went in heavy?

[SteveO 35]

I heard there was some kerfuffle in block 1/2 last night, can anyone confirm? Apparently stewards went in heavy?

See my earlier post. The kerfuffle made Hugh Grant vs Colin Firth look like a heavyweight bout. And as for 'stewards going in heavy' - it took 2 minutes before anyone arrived before some poor lad that looked like a paper boy separated the handbags

[DB10GOONER]

Sorry, mate - already a league cup thread. Merging.

[SteveO 35]

Steve O, every striker that joins a new club is eager to get his first goal as soon as possible to lift pressure off his shoulders and giroud would have been aware of that mounting pressure. Our CIC then leaves him out of the starting line up v southampton which not only robbed him off a great chance to get that goal but it also told him that he isnt classed as good enough to start against a poor promoted team and that cant be good for confidence. He then gets picked for a reserve side mixed with young players and granted he should have viewed it as a chance to show his quality, but it could just as easy make him feel that he isnt considered an important player for the club and that wont help a new player trying to settle in with a new club and new country. People can try and defend wenger over the southampton game but lets be honest here, this isnt the first player that wenger has fcuked about and played a leading roll in their demise

I dont claim to be an expert on the guy and all I can comment on is from what I have seen and tbh he has shown me enough to suggest that he can be a good player for us I honestly think that people are jumping to conclusions too fast on the guy and if it wasnt for baba writing him off as shit, then I doubt if people on here would be panicing yet

Errr.....I couldn't give a flying what Baba writes about him. I've watched enough football over the last 30 odd years to form my own opinions thanks.

Wenger picked him for our first CL game, so all this nonsense about not being deemed good enough to play Southampton is frankly bollocks. I would argue that Wenger was actually picking him for the bigger game of the two i.e. Montpellier.

Augie - I agree about Wenger being a manager who has hampered players careers in certain instances. FFS - he played my favourite player and natural CAM as a left winger for a year and a half, after coming back from career threatening injuries. But that is not the case with Giroud - yet.

The lad is wandering around looking forlorn and as if the world is against him. In the tunnel before the Montpellier game he looked like he wanted to be somewhere else.That is not a healthy sign. He has the fans overwhelming onside - the reception he got yesterday was fantastic throughout and carried on when he got taken off. He trudged off looking like he wanted to be on the next plane home. I was sat directly opposite him. I'm not listening to some shitty newspaper reporter or taking some other fucker's word for it - I am saying what I can see with my own 2 eyes.

I'm not writing him off Baba style and just like I've said with other players they need a consistent run of games to be proven especially when coming from a substandard league like the French one.

But please....lets not convince ourselves of 'encouraging signs'. He has been very poor - more so last night than in the other games, despite the goal

[Babatunde]

People need to give him a break, he's coming in as a direct replacement for arguably the best striker in Europe, the pressure from outside and even himself must be massive, he's off the mark now bit for him its gonna be a long process if Wenger keeps putting him in and taking him out.

But Gunnersaurus, who was it that put all that pressure on him by selling the best striker in the league, and then citing Giroud as his 'replacement'?

[Babatunde]

Steve O, every striker that joins a new club is eager to get his first goal as soon as possible to lift pressure off his shoulders and giroud would have been aware of that mounting pressure. Our CIC then leaves him out of the starting line up v southampton which not only robbed him off a great chance to get that goal but it also told him that he isnt classed as good enough to start against a poor promoted team and that cant be good for confidence. He then gets picked for a reserve side mixed with young players and granted he should have viewed it as a chance to show his quality, but it could just as easy make him feel that he isnt considered an important player for the club and that wont help a new player trying to settle in with a new club and new country. People can try and defend wenger over the southampton game but lets be honest here, this isnt the first player that wenger has fcuked about and played a leading roll in their demise

I dont claim to be an expert on the guy and all I can comment on is from what I have seen and tbh he has shown me enough to suggest that he can be a good player for us I honestly think that people are jumping to conclusions too fast on the guy and if it wasnt for baba writing him off as shit, then I doubt if people on here would be panicing yet

Errr.....I couldn't give a flying what Baba writes about him. I've watched enough football over the last 30 odd years to form my own opinions thanks.

Wenger picked him for our first CL game, so all this nonsense about not being deemed good enough to play Southampton is frankly bollocks. I would argue that Wenger was actually picking him for the bigger game of the two i.e. Montpellier.

Augie - I agree about Wenger being a manager who has hampered players careers in certain instances. FFS - he played my favourite player and natural CAM as a left winger for a year and a half, after coming back from career threatening injuries. But that is not the case with Giroud - yet.

The lad is wandering around looking forlorn and as if the world is against him. In the tunnel before the Montpellier game he looked like he wanted to be somewhere else.That is not a healthy sign. He has the fans overwhelming onside - the reception he got yesterday was fantastic throughout and carried on when he got taken off. He trudged off looking like he wanted to be on the next plane home. I was sat directly opposite him. I'm not listening to some shitty newspaper reporter or taking some other fucker's word for it - I am saying what I can see with my own 2 eyes.

I'm not writing him off Baba style and just like I've said with other players they need a consistent run of games to be proven especially when coming from a substandard league like the French one.

But please....lets not convince ourselves of 'encouraging signs'. He has been very poor - more so last night than in the other games, despite the goal

I think SteveO the thing is here, people are desperate to delude themselves into thinking the opposite of reality is in fact, true. Take for instance after the Stoke and Liverpool and Montpellier games - all matches in which Giroud was abysmal. I kept reading people were 'pleased' with his performances? Is that truly what their eyes showed them?
Like I've said before I will happily eat my words if Giroud goes on to score over 20 league goals and helps us win something.

But it isn't going to happen.

My biggest gripe with Giroud is that he seems absolutely and utterly incapable of dealing with pressure. Wenger even said himself 'pressure is making him freeze up'.
Pressure?
What pressure? This is a club that's won nothing for 8 years, and where players like Alex Song and Eboue have been given fan chants FFS! Pressure? Jesus Christ he should have tried signing for ManYoo, Real Madrid or Barcelona perhaps. Or even AC Milan. H'ed understand what real pressure is

Arsenal have played Stoke, Sunderland and the worst Liverpool team of the past 20 years (just 2 league points and no wins). Oh and Montpellier. These are the games in which Giroud had significant involvement.
So if that's too high pressure for him, then how will he deal with the business end of a season? Or perhaps he thought we could play Coventry every week...

[1989]

SteveO also said Mertesacker was shit...I wouldn't worry.

[Babatunde]

SteveO was Mertesacker was shit...I wouldn't worry.

Oh have those two league matches proven him wrong already then?

[augie]

Steve O I wasnt trying to dismiss you or your opinions at all (although the diaby obsession is a worry ) but was merely putting up a defence for the guy. I admitted that I havent seen enough of him yet and wasnt there last night to witness his demeanour but if it was as bad as you say then I would be more worried about that than a lack of goals. Football is littered with cases of footballers who fail to settle in a new country (reyes anybody ?) and I would be worried that he is going down that road judging by your comments

[SteveO 35]

Seems like I'm the only person round here to have criticised a player that has then turned out some half decent performances. Wow - how accurate everyone else's judgment is. I mean we all know that when Diaby plays well its because Liverpool were shit, we all know how much support I received on here over 2 years ago when I said we should have signed Mikel Arteta (a player that most on here then continued to rubbish a few weeks into the season). On the flip side when every one was creaming themselves over Vela I seemed to remember taking a contrary view that was proved right.

Oh well never mind about all that

Baba - you're spot on mate. People are kidding themselves Giroud looks good. If looking good consists purely of winning a lot of flick ons and having strength with back to goal, then by those standards Niall Quinn used to look back in the late 80s too. Lee Chapman won a lot of flick ons and played well with his back to goal.

I am making a simple point that Baba has backed up, which is that the guy looks like he is totally out of any confidence and is showing worrying body language. If he hadn't worked out that coming to Arsenal for £14m (stattos feel free to correct) would put him in the public eye just a little bit then more fool him. Podolski joined for a not dissimilar fee from a small relegated German team and the press were quick to bring up his lack of goalscoring record when he was at Bayern Munich. Has the pressure affected him? Not one bit.

Mike Arteta had the issue of being our new midfielder after Cesc left and was constantly derided (including by many on here) for not being good enough. Did he wallow in his own misery and walk around like a lost soul - did he fuck. He proved himself as a vital player to the team.

We all want Giroud to work out. It needs to for the good of the team. But lets not try to convince ourselves that on present form he looks anything other than a French Jonathan Walters and that is being generous

[SteveO 35]

Steve O I wasnt trying to dismiss you or your opinions at all (although the diaby obsession is a worry ) but was merely putting up a defence for the guy. I admitted that I havent seen enough of him yet and wasnt there last night to witness his demeanour but if it was as bad as you say then I would be more worried about that than a lack of goals. Football is littered with cases of footballers who fail to settle in a new country (reyes anybody ?) and I would be worried that he is going down that road judging by your comments

Its how unhappy and scared he looks that worries me mate. Anyone can have a few shit games but he looks like he's wishing he was elsewhere. He got a fantastic reception last night and when he left the field, it was like he wanted the ground to open and swallow him up. If he scores a goal, and has the fans onside, fuck knows how he'll cope with a run of say 10 games without a goal and a few moans and groans from the stands

He was a total passenger for the majority of last night. Our crossing was poor but he looked unable to shift his very limited markers from his back. He scored a very tidy finish and I thought - "that'll do him the world of good" - and sat and watched him wander around looking lost and the most reluctant of penalty takers. I just knew he'd miss.....and if he feels that pressure taking a penalty 1-0 up in the Whatdoyoucallit Cup against Coventry, then how will he feel taking one in a CL shoot-out