The French national team have rallied after a section of their support booed Olivier Giroud during their friendly against Cameroon.

Despite scoring a great goal, Olivier was on the end of boos and whistles from a small section of the fanbase with one even holding a banner up wishing that he’d get injured.

The criticism is nothing new for Giroud, he’s had it from both barrels from the UK press because he dared to arrive at Arsenal without a mega-price tag. After what was seen by many as a poor season (even though he scored 24 goals) he came in for intense criticism from some Arsenal fans as well.

Andre Pierre Gignac was the first to come to the defence of the forward. “If there were boos, then it is ridiculous. He scored, he played his match, that is what is most important. He continues on his run, I am happy for him.”

Didier Deschamps added “Talk about it, write about it, it would be good if you [the press] did that. It is certainly a minority [that booed Giroud]. It is unfair, certainly. Olivier is here. To prove the contrary, he scores goals with us, which is what we ask him to do. This team is counting on him and his qualities.”

While an unnamed teammate and an unnamed member of the coaching staff said, respectively, “Frankly he [the guy with the banner] must be really stupid. The fans should be behind every player before Euro. You can boo a player after a match, not before the competition. He will be our main goalscorer, we need Oliver to be full of confidence,” and “Olivier is determined, but in his heart it must hurt. We are trying to support him because he has always had a good mentality with the national team.”

A third unnamed member of staff added “Karim is not here because that was the decision that Didier and Noël Le Graët, the President of the FFF took. Olivier has always behaved in an exemplary fashion and never tried to create a problem with Benzema, it is unacceptable what is happening to him.”

It’s not clear why so many of these people were unnamed, but the sentiment doesn’t change.

Get off his back.

Constantly slating him, especially during matches, is hardly going to do anything other than help fulfil your negative expectations.

I sometimes think that is what these people want, that being right is more important to them than winning.