Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud booed off the pitch by his own fans as France beat Serbia in Euro 2016 preparations
Giroud was given the nod ahead of Karim Benzema, but missed a number of chances in front of goal to draw the ire of the home fans
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Your support makes all the difference.Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud was booed off the pitch in Bordeaux on Monday night after he failed to find the back of the net in France's 2-1 victory over Serbia in an international friendly.
Having struggled for form early in the new Premier League campaign, Giroud was given a chance to fill the lone striker role for his country after head coach Didier Deschamps selected the Gunners’ forward ahead of Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema.
But having missed a number of chances, Giroud was booed by the Tricolour support at half-time, and when Benzema was introduced in his place after 62 minutes, the fans made their assessment of his performance clear as a chorus of jeers rung out around the Stade Bordeaux-Atlantique.
Giroud may have felt a touch hard done by given that France went into the break 2-1 up courtesy of a two-goal haul from Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Blaise Matuidi, with Serbia’s response coming from Newcastle striker Aleksandar Mitrovic.
Giroud was guilty of missing a clear-cut chance set up for him by Atletico Madrid’s Antoine Griezmann, when he managed to put the ball wide from just six yards out despite already beating goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovi.
But Deschamps was in no mood to throw Giroud in to the fire, and defended the striker despite his slow start to the season.
“He also helped during the game,” said Deschamps.
“He got unlucky on a few chances because the goalkeeper made a great save. 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 offensive players so he also had to counterbalance.
“Obviously he knows about it. 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.”
There were strong reports during the summer transfer window that Arsenal were attempting to sign Benzema in a bid to add to the goals supplied by Giroud last season. The 28-year-old has only managed to score once this season for Arsenal after their sluggish start to the campaign, and he was dropped to the bench for the 1-0 win over Newcastle in the last round of Premier League fixtures as manager Arsene Wenger preferred Theo Walcott in attack.
However, with Benzema failing to leave Real after claiming a move to Arsenal was never on and the latest injury news surrounding Danny Welbeck ruling the striker out for up to six months, Wenger will heavily rely on Giroud to return to his goalscoring best.
Despite criticism in recent years, the Frenchman has always managed double figures since arriving in the Premier League, and he managed an impressive haul of 19 goals in all competitions last season despite suffering a broken leg in August 2014.
With Giroud under pressure to secure a first-team place for next year’s Euro 2016 hosts, he faces further opposition from new Manchester United signing Anthony Martial. The 19-year-old is yet to make his first start for his country, but won his second cap on Monday night after replacing Mathieu Valbuena with under 15 minutes to go.
Having cost United an initial £36.3m that could rise to an incredible £58m, Martial is already the most expensive teenager in the history of the game, and he looks set to make his debut in the Premier League this weekend when they take on rivals Liverpool.
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