How Arsenal should use Olivier Giroud

Often-maligned striker Olivier Giroud is fit and back in the fold for an Arsenal club that’s currently firing on all cylinders. With two goals in five minutes on Saturday against Sunderland, Giroud proved that he belongs on the field for Arsenal. How can Arsene Wenger use Giroud’s talents while also not disrupting the flow of a thriving Gunners attack?

A man on this site (me) once wrote that Alexis Sanchez is not a No. 9. Well, Alexis has proved me wrong, most recently with his dynamic showing Saturday at the Stadium of Light, netting a brace as Arsenal cruised over a last-place Sunderland team.

The more Alexis has played as an out-and-out striker for Arsenal, the better he’s gotten, so much so that it’d be strange to watch Arsenal this season without seeing the 5-foot-7 Chilean furiously pressing center backs for all 90 minutes.

Certainly Arsene Wenger has heard the old saying “If it ain’t broke…”, which is why we should continue to see Arsenal employ Alexis up top in front of Mesut Ozil and flanked by some combination of Theo Walcott, Alex Iwobi and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on the wings.

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Alexis’ newfound position leaves Olivier Giroud without a place in the XI, but that’s OK. The Frenchman can thrive as a super-sub, a full-time 12th man, so to speak. His scoring record backs it up. Let’s start with the Sunderland game.

Giroud had made sporadic substitute appearances leading up Saturday’s match, but he’d yet to truly be at full fitness, first having to work his way back from a long Euro 2016 stint and then picking up a toe injury.

But after coming on in the 70th minute against the Black Cats, it didn’t take Giroud long to get off the mark. He opened his account for the season with an athletic volley — his first touch of the game. Four minutes later he headed in a corner kick to put Arsenal up 3-1 — his second touch of the game.

There wasn’t too much surprising about Giroud’s performance against Sunderland. His beard was on point and he’s long been a player to thrive against bad teams. But most importantly, he did it as a sub, a role which he’s always been productive in.

Last year, the low point of Giroud’s season came in the opening match of the Champions League, a 2-1 Arsenal loss to Croatian club Dinamo Zagreb. Much of Giroud’s day was defined by making a comedy of errors in front of goal. Things went to a full-on capitulation when he was sent off late.

Giroud’s disastrous night put him in Wenger’s doghouse and put Theo Walcott in the No. 9 position, a role in which Walcott did little with.

Giroud slowly worked his way back into the good graces of Wenger and Arsenal supporters by flourishing as a super-sub. In a four-game Arsenal winning streak last September and October, Giroud came off the bench in every match, scoring three times over that span.

That Arsenal run of form was defined by a 5-2 demolition of Leicester City on the road and a 2-0 upset over Bayern Munich that ultimately put the Gunners’ Champions League campaign back on track.

An international break also came in the middle of that Arsenal stretch, and all Giroud did in two games for France was score a goal in each game, both times as a sub.

Eventually, Giroud played his way back into the role of Arsenal’s primary striker. He led the Gunners with 16 league goals and had all three goals in the team’s Champions League victory over Olympiakos. While the win and performance were celebrated by Arsenal at the time, the game was soon followed by an ill-fated Knockout Round draw with Barcelona.

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Since his summer 2012 arrival at the Emirates, Giroud has been the most consistent goalscorer for Arsenal and ultimately, that’s the best argument in favor of bringing him on as an every-game attacking sub.

As a rare Arsenal player who has generally avoided injury, Giroud will provide goals. As we’ve seen, he’s not a prolific enough scorer to be the main striker on a team that wins the league, but with Alexis in tow, Arsenal don’t need Giroud to be.

Giroud can score 10-12 league goals in extended cameo appearances for Arsenal. Yes, fans have long shouted that he’s not explosive enough, but maybe that’s a good thing for his new role of a 20-25 minutes-per-game player off the bench.

Non-explosive things don’t require much of a warmup.