To be fair to the Arsenal and France international centre forward Olivier Giroud, his goal scoring form for club and country since breaking the long drought in front of goal that was plaguing him earlier this year has been very good. And although the big man did not score in the game against Albania yesterday he was playing in a team that struggled as a whole.
So chances were a bit thin on the ground and Giroud was unlucky to see one excellent header crash against the foot of the post. However, that did not stop the French fans from getting on his back once again. It must be hard to have the fans jeering you when you are trying your best.
They were chanting for him to be replaced and when he did it produced a massive cheer which has got to hurt, even though the man they wanted was the well loved centre forward for the local side Marseille. It remains to be seen, of course, but I think that the France boss Didier Deschamps is reasonably happy with the Arsenal striker and will probably start him again against Switzerland. It is not as if Gignac did any better after coming on.
Whatever happens, at least Giroud knows that his team will be in the next round after two late goals from Griezmann and Payet secured their progress. The Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny had a good game at the heart of the French defence and if they can repeat their clean sheet in the next game they will top the group, so maybe we shouldn’t feel too sorry for Giroud.
But should we worry about how the grief from his own fans will affect the confidence of our centre forward?