Manager Backs Arsenal Striker After Fans Boo Him on International Duty

This is something very surprising to see, as Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud was booed by French fans on international duty after he had a bad day against Serbia on Monday night. The Frenchman was not up to the mark and was eventually replaced by Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema. The striker was leading the front-line alone, as manager Didier Deschamps put his faith in him, yet missed a number of good chances to score, during the 2-1 win in Bourdeaux.

This did not go down well with the home fans, who were not really pleased with his, jeering and whistling as he went off the pitch at half-time and when he was substituted later in the game. The Arsenal attacker struggled to make an impact and wasted some easy chances, which would have settled the tie. Till now, he has scored once this season against Crystal Palace and was replaced after an hour against Serbia by Deschamps.

As the Euro 2016 tournament approaches, so does the competition for places, as players are giving it their all to secure a place in the starting eleven. On thing encouraging for the Arsenal man would be that Deschamps defended his striker and claimed he was unlucky not to score. He said, “He also helped during the game [Giroud]. 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.“