Özil has the third best minutes-per-assists rate in PL history

He did seem a bit off again yesterday. Was he like this for Real Madrid aswell? I only saw some big matches of RM during his time there, but he was regarded as one of the best of the world, if I recall correctly? Mourinho even called him the best #10 in the world. Now, I'm not sure what he is. Capable of brilliance, but so slow and sluggish at times. It's sad to see really, because his talent is immense.

He did seem a bit off again yesterday. Was he like this for Real Madrid aswell? I only saw some big matches of RM during his time there, but he was regarded as one of the best of the world, if I recall correctly? Mourinho even called him the best #10 in the world. Now, I'm not sure what he is. Capable of brilliance, but so slow and sluggish at times. It's sad to see really, because his talent is immense.

Yes, he always had this slow and calm demeanour, slowly looking for a pass and allowing his surrounding options to move into space. Worked better at Real Madrid with pacey players around him and 17 teams being absolute shit. Having the best player in the world in front of you didn't hurt either.

Ozil is still adapting to the Premier League, and will probably continue to do so for a while. This league has a higher tempo that might not fit Ozil very well. The pressing is more intense so he doesn't have enough time on the ball as he did in Spain.

The 'best #10 in the world' title still holds true though, if you're looking at it from a traditional #10 perspective that is. Best modern #10 in the world? No. Best traditional #10 in the world? If we're judging him on positioning between the lines, ball technique, vision and what areas he operate in, then I'd argue he's the best traditional #10. But if we want to apply modern #10 traits like goalscoring, pace and work rate, then he's far off.

Considering he has had the shitshow that is Olivier Giroud in front of him the last two years this is a very impressive feat.

Considering he has had the shitshow that is Olivier Giroud in front of him the last two years this is a very impressive feat.

Giroud > Diego Costa

Giroud > Diego Costa

If only that were true, Ix.

Still haven't seen him thread a ball into Walcott's feet yet.

If only that were true, Ix.

I'm beginning to think it is true. Giroud has a similar goals-per-starts ratio as Diego Costa (0.81 vs 0.85), and almost twice as many assists-per-starts (0.18 vs 0.1). That's the stats bit. Now watching the two players in action, it's clear to me that Giroud is much better technically with his little fancy flick passes and coming deep to get involved in play.

I'm convinced that if Giroud had the same reputation as Diego Costa and was bought by Chelsea instead of Arsenal, people would be saying he's one of the best strikers in Europe. But alas, he was bought as an unknown by Arsenal, so is not measured by the same stick.

He isn't though. Technically, maybe. Strength wise they are similar and Diego Costa is more mobile. The difference between them is mentality. Diego Costa has a World-Class strikers mentality. He's aggressive, a WUM and a constant threat. Whereas Giroud is mentally weak, a complete pansy and not much of a threat. I also believe that Diego Costa is much better off the ball and a much better finisher.

He isn't though. Technically, maybe. Strength wise they are similar and Diego Costa is more mobile. The difference between them is mentality. Diego Costa has a World-Class strikers mentality. He's aggressive, a WUM and a constant threat. Whereas Giroud is mentally weak, a complete pansy and not much of a threat. I also believe that Diego Costa is much better off the ball and a much better finisher.

Ok, but the stats prove you wrong. They have very similar goals-per-starts. So even if it is true that Diego Costa is a much better player than Giroud, and it might very well be true, his stats aren't reflecting this in the areas that matter. A striker is judged on how many goals he scores and how many goals he creates. Per start, Giroud is arguably the better player - he creates more goals per start.

Yeah but there's more to a striker than just stats. Statistically Podolski's one of the best players for Arsenal in recent years but he is pretty wank when you watch him. I really hate watching Giroud play and I think he's holding us back offensively, but Diego Costa is a different animal.

If Giroud had his mentality then maybe I would think otherwise, but he doesn't; and unfortunately for us it's something he can't learn.

Yeah but there's more to a striker than just stats.

I agree, but the most important stat is surely how many goals a striker creates per game, no?

All-round play has to be excellent as a lone striker. Giroud's hold up play is decent and he's neat for flicks. But I absolutely despise seeing a striker who can't take on a man. I'm not even joking when I say that Giroud is probably just a tad faster than Mertesacker and he can very rarely beat a man.

This overall is very disappointing to watch and something I have never associated Arsenal with before in my lifetime.

Considering he has had the shitshow that is Olivier Giroud in front of him the last two years this is a very impressive feat.

What exactly has led you to making such a statement? To describing Giroud with such an adjective?

Cause he's not a good player and is holding us back if he's the starting striker of our club.

Holding us back by scoring goals. Interesting opinion.

Holding us back by scoring goals. Interesting opinion.

Needs to be more than just goals though. You'd expect any decent striker to score goals for us when we have Alexis, Santi & Özil. We're too good of a team to have such a limited player up front. There's a big reason why he wasn't selected last night and that's because he is pretty useless on the counter.

He has no pace whatsoever, no creativity on the ball and can't beat a man with skill or pace. We need someone with all these attributes with a strong mentality. He is probably the worst starting striker we've had in the last 15 years at the club, that's not a fact to make Giroud look shit but when you think of Arsenal you think of a top class striker, and simply put we don't have one anymore. Ian Wright, Dennis Bergkamp, Nicolas Anelka, Thierry Henry, Adebayor, van Persie. As shit as some of them may have become they were unplayable during their pomp with us.

Giroud is at his peak and it isn't good enough for a team who wants to challenge for the title.

He is probably the worst starting striker we've had in the last 15 years at the club...

Chamakh...

Chamakh...

He was only a starter until van Persie reached full fitness. Don't think he was ever intended for first choice. Although tbf I don't think Giroud was brought in to be first choice either, but the fact we haven't replaced him with someone better suggests to me that Wenger believes he's good enough for a title challenging team; which the whole World knows he's not.

Fun fact: Giroud snubbed Chelsea for us.

Needs to be more than just goals though. You'd expect any decent striker to score goals for us when we have Alexis, Santi & Özil. We're too good of a team to have such a limited player up front. There's a big reason why he wasn't selected last night and that's because he is pretty useless on the counter. He has no pace whatsoever, no creativity on the ball and can't beat a man with skill or pace. We need someone with all these attributes with a strong mentality. He is probably the worst starting striker we've had in the last 15 years at the club, that's not a fact to make Giroud look shit but when you think of Arsenal you think of a top class striker, and simply put we don't have one anymore. Ian Wright, Dennis Bergkamp, Nicolas Anelka, Thierry Henry, Adebayor, van Persie. As shit as some of them may have become they were unplayable during their pomp with us. Giroud is at his peak and it isn't good enough for a team who wants to challenge for the title.

I don't understand how anyone can have this opinion about Giroud. I think he's one of the best strikers we've had in along time. Excellent at winning completed aerial duels (duelling for long passes and managing to head them to a teammate), fantastic on-the-ball technique, wide range of goalscoring (headers, volleys, tap-ins, etc).

Better goals-created-per-starts (assists + goals) and similar goals-per-starts as Diego Costa.

Sure, he's not as fast as Thierry Henry or Theo Walcott, but he's more of an allround centre-forward leaning towards a traditional target man. And yes he misses a few obvious opportunities, but so do the best strikers in the world. I remember seeing Lionel Messi missing an open goal just a few weeks ago.

Of the examples you bring up: Henry > Bergkamp >Wright > Van Persie > Giroud > Adebayor > Anelka

...and I'de even ague you could swap Van Persie and Giroud in that hierarchy. Van Persie was good for half a season for us before he fucked off to Man Utd to become mediocre again.