Olivier Giroud may be the most polarising player in Arsène Wenger’s squad these days. A somewhat streaky scorer, Giroud inspires eloquent praise as well as virulent derision, sometimes all in the same game. All in all, however, despite what Arsenal supporters may think of him, he has generally performed far better for club than country, and his France form, until recently, has been positively dreadful.
He was roundly and loudly booed off the pitch when Didier Deschamps removed him in the 62nd minute in their win against Serbia after a series of tantalising misses in front of goal and the turnover that started Serbia’s move that led to their only goal of the match. Up until their most recent match against Denmark, Giroud had only scored 10 goals in 42 appearances with the French national team.
However, his recent performances for both club and country have encouraged many fans. Leaving aside his misses against Tottenham Hotspur over the weekend, Giroud has been in very good goal scoring form and leads the team with eight goals in all competitions. He also scored twice in France’s most recent match against Denmark.
With two very intriguing friendlies coming up during the current international break – on Friday evening against Germany and 17th November against England – and with top-choice striker Karim Benzema unavailable for obvious reasons, it’s no surprise that Deschamps has recently come out in support of Giroud in recent comments to media outlets.
All players may have difficult times. A striker, when he lacks a little confidence and playing time, it’s complicated.
He already had the opportunity to show his qualities in the France team.
Deschamps’s comments seem to indicate that Giroud will have ample opportunity to continue to show his quality in the team’s upcoming matches and that Deschamps may prefer him currently to Manchester United striker Anthony Martial. Giroud and Martial will likely be very keen to impress Deschamps in Benzema’s absence with Euro 2016 roster spots potentially in the balance.
