Arsenal: Giroud remains rubbish as Olympiakos rival Liverpool
The plaudits are fulsome for Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud, whose hat-trick in Greece secured more Champions’ League football for his club.
The Mirror leads with ‘Our Hero’, praising the “much-criticised Frenchman.
John Cross praises the “sensational” Frenchman, before cranking up the tabloid-obot: this was a “Greek tragedy” for Olympiakos (you just know he’d have used the same cliche had Arsenal lost); Giroud exhibited “Gallic flair”, as all French players who score must.
The Sun calls Giroud a “GREEK GOD”, although which one is unsaid. We’d go for Morpheus, what with his having sent Arsenal into “dreamland”.
Charlie Wyett evokes May 1989, when Arsenal had to defeat Liverpool by two clear goals to win the title. I was there – and beating Olympiakos by a similar margin comes nowhere close to that magic night. Olympiakos are an ordinary team playing in a weak Greek top flight; Liverpool ’89 were mighty.
Back then Arsenal had Alan Smith up front. Was he better than Giroud? Did ‘Smudger’ play with Continental flair or English grit?
Wyett adds that that Arsenal “cannot win the Champions League”. But, of course, they can. You have to be in it to win it, and they are. Odd that having evoked that unlikely night in 1989, Wyett should dismiss the underdog’s chances.
In a column called ‘Five Things We Learnt”, the Sun says Giroud will “never be a world-class striker”. Readers are then told that Hector Bellerin has been “Arsenal’s stand-out player for the past 18 months” – which he hasn’t been. The Spaniard has been good, often remarkably so, but to say he’s made more of an impact that Sanchez or Ozil is absurd.
And you can add Giroud to that list of top Arsenal players.
Posted: 10th, December 2015 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Sports Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
