The Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud knows all about being criticized in the press (or on forums like JustArsenal!) when he is not scoring goals. It took the Frenchman a couple of years to really get to grip with the Premiership game, and his failure to score in big games, not to mention his hotel-room antics before matches, made him an easy target for journalists and armchair pundits.
The French international rode the abuse and has improved his game out of all recognition after his absence through injury this season, but one bad game against Monaco brought out the boo boys yet again. Giroud was very glad that Wenger gave him a chance to bounce back against Everton and he subsequently scored the opening goal.
“I knew that almost all the eyes would be on me and my performance, so I tried to do my best and it was a better day for me,” Giroud said on Arsenal.com
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“I thank the boss for giving me the chance to answer. I am pleased with that reaction and I felt really relieved after the game because it had been a little weight on my shoulders.
“Nowadays you have to deal with that pressure. There is more media now, and social media as well – it is more than in the 1990s. But I like pressure and the boys do as well.
“I try to keep my distance from it in the good moments and the bad moments too. Everything is amplified when you play well and everything is amplified when you miss one game.
“Everything is questioned. It is part of a sportsman today and you have to deal with that.”
Giroud has since scored in nearly every game since that day and still he gets the criticism (even from our own Thierry Henry) saying that Arsenal won’t win the title with Giroud as our main man. What does this man have to do to get praise for his work?