Despite Olivier Giroud’s excellent scoring record for Arsenal of 42 goals in 84 Premier League appearances, he has never really convinced the fans of his quality. He often goes through periods where he seems to miss every chance that comes his way (remember the Monaco game?) and he annoys the fans with his expressions after every miss, which makes them stand out more.
Although he is the only player that has scored a League goal for the Gunners this season, he has missed plenty, and after another unproductive game for his country yesterday, he was booed by his own countrymen and taken off by the France manager Didier Deschamps.
The coach tried to dismiss the performance as just a bad day at the office. “He helped during the game,” Deschamps said. “He got unlucky on a few chances because the goalkeeper made a great save and he got three clear opportunities.
“One was not on target, a header close from the goal-frame. Obviously if he had been more efficient the score would have been much higher.”
“In his role he made a lot of effort. I always leave a lot of freedom to the three attacking players so he also had to counterbalance.
“He knows about his performance. He’s the first to be sad about his lack of efficiency.
“But it happens sometimes. If it’s not Olivier, it might be Karim Benzema.
“The performance of the entire team remains of a great level.”
Giroud responded to the jeers by admitting that he was misfiring and vowed to bounce back,as he has done many times in his Arsenal career. He said: “As a striker, what you get used to on a daily basis, it is to be applauded when you score goals. When the opposite happens, it’s difficult. Everybody gets criticised at one point.
“That’s not the first and surely not the last time it happens. I have the mental strength to bounce back. Now I am going to focus on working. I am everything but worried about that. I will bounce back.
“(Against Serbia) I wasn’t very efficient. I cannot focus too much on it. I have to think about the victory of the team and the good form we are currently experiencing.
“I am going first, to enjoy our victory and then obviously I will have to correct a few things.”
Although it may not be recognized by many Arsenal fans, it must be said that Olivier usually does bounce back when he has had a particularly bad game, so I would not be at all surprised if he improves in Saturdays game against Stoke. Also Arsene Wenger normally backs Giroud so it is unlikely that hewould be left on the bench. The fans need to get behind him and try to increase his confidence in front of goal…