Benzema mugs off Giroud for no reason - Instagram interview

mancan92

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Giroud wasn't in his prime either and he was still more consistent, they roughly have the same age. Benzema has simply not been good with France, he wasn't particularly good when Giroud was his backup and Giroud would routinely outperform as a starter or coming from the bench.
I have always liked Benzema and I rate him highly but people are totally misguided when they talk about France, Benzema wasn't good, he should have been benched way before the Valbuena story and Giroud deserved his spot. Giroud is a lesser player at club level, there is no discussion about it but with France he has always been the better performer.
To be honest I think it's really weird to dismiss Benzema based on the fact he never played with this French team. The team he played with was very disfunctional. I believe he would of fit this team more than Giroud who's to say he wouldn't of clicked and scored a wealth of goals.

Especially considering he can bring exactly what Giroud brings and much more.
 

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To be honest I think it's really weird to dismiss Benzema based on the fact he never played with this French team. The team he played with was very disfunctional. I believe he would of fit this team more than Giroud who's to say he wouldn't of clicked and scored a wealth of goals.
I'm not dismissing him, so I'm not sure about what you are on about. I'm simply stating the fact that Benzema wasn't good and definitely not better than Giroud when they both played for the previous french team and Giroud has played at a high level for this french team at the exception of one tournament. So I would say that the people who are in fact dismissing Giroud and dreaming about a Benzema that has never existed for France are the ones with a weird idea.
At best you could say that maybe Benzema could have turned things around but you can't claim with certitude that he would have outperformed or even matched a player that he failed to outperform when they were both in the same team with Giroud being in a worse context since he was the better performer but mainly benched due to Benzema's name.
 

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Benzema is undeniably better than Giroud of course. If he wasn't a blackmailing, child prostitute using scumbag he would probably have a world cup winners medal to add to his collection.

Sometimes being a better player is not enough.
Right, 'Child' is pushing it. She was under age. 16 at the time of the events and Benzema denied it. He was found not guilty as well.

And it was not just him, but Ribery as well. But notice how no-one talks about that when discussing his talent.

Blackmailing scumbag I give you that. That he is.

Didn't JT sleep with bridges' wife ? Didn't [Irrelevant point] literally kill a young girl by speeding while drunk ? Did their careers at Chelsea suffer for it ? The second one even escaped prison by paying a week's worth of salary.

If this isn't double standards with Benzema I don't know what is.
 

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Right, 'Child' is pushing it. She was under age. 16 at the time of the events and Benzema denied it. He was found not guilty as well.

And it was not just him, but Ribery as well. But notice how no-one talks about that when discussing his talent.

Blackmailing scumbag I give you that. That he is.

Didn't JT sleep with bridges' wife ? Didn't [Irrelevant point] literally kill a young girl by speeding while drunk ? Did their careers at Chelsea suffer for it ? The second one even escaped prison by paying a week's worth of salary.

If this isn't double standards with Benzema I don't know what is.
16 is a child. They go to school, can't vote, can't drink, can't drive and can't even go to see the latest Deadpool film.

He was found not guilty because the judge decided there was not enough proof that he knew she was a child, not because he didn't do it. Ribery is just as much of a scumbag for sure.

You don't really seem to know what you are talking about with the "whataboutism" examples you give but this is not the thread for that.
 

BalanceUnAutreJoint

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Benzema has generally be bad with France and Giroud has always outperformed him. So while Benzema is a far better player, it's not true with France.
That's just a narrative that has been told for too many years.

Giroud does not even have better numbers than Benzema for France.
He does have a slightly better goal/game ratio thanks to playing with a golden generation for the past 5 years
But when you count in assists Benzema has the better goal involvement.

Nothing Giroud did at wc 2018 (which honestly wasn't much) couldn't have been done by Benzema.
 

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That's just a narrative that has been told for too many years.

Giroud does not even have better numbers than Benzema for France.
He does have a slightly better goal/game ratio thanks to playing with a golden generation for the past 5 years
But when you count in assists Benzema has the better goal involvement.

Nothing Giroud did at wc 2018 (which honestly wasn't much) couldn't have been done by Benzema.
Giroud has better numbers, even when you count assists Benzema doesn't have a better goal involvement. Giroud has 1 G+A(39+10 in 5518 minutes) every 112.6 minutes while Benzema has 1 G+A(27+18 in 5130 minutes) every 114 minutes. And that's without taking into account the fact that Benzema performances were bad and often disruptive for France because he was trying too much to be THE guy, at least that's my theory.
 

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wonder if him and Rooney will look back their careers and have a bit of a regret that they had to sacrifice themselves during their physical peak to support Ronaldo.
That’s not really true though is it? Benzema had his best scoring seasons with Ronaldo by his side. He also has 4 Champions league trophies mostly thanks to him too.

As for Rooney, Ronaldo left United when Rooney wasn’t even 24 yet and he actually made more assists to Rooney than the other way round so how did he sacrifice most of his physical prime for him?

Both players benefited immensely by having Ronaldo by their side in terms of silverware than if he never played with them.
 

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Giroud has better numbers, even when you count assists Benzema doesn't have a better goal involvement. Giroud has 1 G+A(39+10 in 5518 minutes) every 112.6 minutes while Benzema has 1 G+A(27+18 in 5130 minutes) every 114 minutes. And that's without taking into account the fact that Benzema performances were bad and often disruptive for France because he was trying too much to be THE guy, at least that's my theory.
I believe he was trying to be THE guy because that's how the team was set up, he was the one we pretty much depended on to make things happen in these dire years, especially the last couple he was a part of the squad. So, certainly we haven't seen Benzema in this current France squad, but I think it'd be a stretch to think he couldn't bring as much, if not more, than what Giroud has done in the last few years. It's a pointless exercise in the end, because he's never going to be called back up at this point, but even the very slight difference in numbers you've listed, given the context, tells a lot. Despite the circumstances, and the demand of Benzema's role (along with the pieces around him), he's still very close to what Giroud achieved in a period of time where France were terrible compared to the last few years Giroud has been a part of.
 

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France would have won the Euros aswell as their world cup if he was in the squad. He is levels above Giroud and he would have been licking his lips seeing a line-up of himself alongside Griezmann and Mbappe.

It's his own fault that he was dumped from the squad and never got a look again and he is not liked by many French football fans because of his actions.

He won't look back with too many regrets though due to his club career but a WC and EC would have made his resume extremely impressive.
 

JPRouve

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I believe he was trying to be THE guy because that's how the team was set up, he was the one we pretty much depended on to make things happen in these dire years, especially the last couple he was a part of the squad. So, certainly we haven't seen Benzema in this current France squad, but I think it'd be a stretch to think he couldn't bring as much, if not more, than what Giroud has done in the last few years. It's a pointless exercise in the end, because he's never going to be called back up at this point, but even the very slight difference in numbers you've listed, given the context, tells a lot. Despite the circumstances, and the demand of Benzema's role (along with the pieces around him), he's still very close to what Giroud achieved in a period of time where France were terrible compared to the last few years Giroud has been a part of.
No. Neither Deschamps nor Blanc based the team on one player and if you really wanted to find one it would Pogba and before that Ribéry not Benzema. I think that it was coming from himself, I think that sometimes it's difficult for players to relax and just play football for their national team, they put extra pressure on themselves.

And Giroud was outperforming him when they were in the same team too, so Benzema has zero excuses when it comes to context, he was just extremely inconsistent between 2011 and 2015. During that period of time, If I'm not mistaken Benzema registered 24 G+A while Giroud registered 16 G+A which leads to respectively 1 G+A every 120.5 minutes for Benzema and 1 G+A every 113.9 minutes for Giroud. And again Giroud was actually better in game, I hated his style but he was better.

Edit: Since I'm sounding like a Benzema hater, I want to say that I really like him and I would trade Giroud for Benzema even if it's not deserved.
 
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No. Neither Deschamps nor Blanc based the team on one player and if you really wanted to find one it would Pogba and before that Ribéry not Benzema. I think that it was coming from himself, I think that sometimes it's difficult for players to relax and just play football for their national team, they put extra pressure on themselves.

And Giroud was outperforming him when they were in the same team too, so Benzema has zero excuses when it comes to context, he was just extremely inconsistent between 2011 and 2015. During that period of time, If I'm not mistaken Benzema registered 24 G+A while Giroud registered 16 G+A which leads to respectively 1 G+A every 120.5 minutes for Benzema and 1 G+A every 113.9 minutes for Giroud. And again Giroud was actually better in game, I hated his style but he was better.

Edit: Since I'm sounding like a Benzema hater, I want to say that I really like him and I would trade Giroud for Benzema even if it's not deserved.
Pogba was a young player, he wasn't really a focal point when Benzema was around for most of his NT career. Ribery perhaps, but he wasn't around when Benzema was with France at the WC for example, and there wasn't enough around to depend on anybody else to make things happen up front, so he was essentially the focal point of the offense with a team that's nowhere near as good as France is now. Giroud has always been a target man for Deschamps, it's a thankless job at times but let's not overrate the ability it takes to do what Giroud does. His stats for France are impressive, but Benzema's are pretty underrated especially when you take into context the kind of team and teammates Benzema had.

Looking at your edit, we essentially agree that Benzema should be in the team ahead of Giroud if we're just talking about abilities. Whether you want to debate if its deserved or not, that's another matter, but we're essentially on the same page if that's your final take. I think it's a shame that he never got to be around players like Mbappe, or spent more time around Griezmann because they are far more compatible than someone like Giroud and he would show just how good of a player he could be for France. In the end, we're world champions without him and that just shows how good the NT has become in the last few years.
 

JPRouve

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Pogba was a young player, he wasn't really a focal point when Benzema was around for most of his NT career. Ribery perhaps, but he wasn't around when Benzema was with France at the WC for example, and there wasn't enough around to depend on anybody else to make things happen up front, so he was essentially the focal point of the offense with a team that's nowhere near as good as France is now. Giroud has always been a target man for Deschamps, it's a thankless job at times but let's not overrate the ability it takes to do what Giroud does. His stats for France are impressive, but Benzema's are pretty underrated especially when you take into context the kind of team and teammates Benzema had.

Looking at your edit, we essentially agree that Benzema should be in the team ahead of Giroud if we're just talking about abilities. Whether you want to debate if its deserved or not, that's another matter, but we're essentially on the same page if that's your final take. I think it's a shame that he never got to be around players like Mbappe, or spent more time around Griezmann because they are far more compatible than someone like Giroud and he would show just how good of a player he could be for France. In the end, we're world champions without him and that just shows how good the NT has become in the last few years.
But you see the problem is that I'm talking about whether it was deserved because people are making claims about Benzema and Giroud that shouldn't be made. Benzema has never been better than Giroud for France regardless of the context, even when they were both playing for the same team. I also said quite clearly that Benzema is by far the better player but that he never performed at a high level for France which is true and none of you can argue that.
What we can all say is that we prefer Benzema and that he is far better at club level, there is no debate about that.
 

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But you see the problem is that I'm talking about whether it was deserved because people are making claims about Benzema and Giroud that shouldn't be made. Benzema has never been better than Giroud for France regardless of the context, even when they were both playing for the same team. I also said quite clearly that Benzema is by far the better player but that he never performed at a high level for France which is true and none of you can argue that.
What we can all say is that we prefer Benzema and that he is far better at club level, there is no debate about that.
I completely get where you're coming from and it's a legitimate point; I think most people who talk about Benzema and Giroud are usually referring to their abilities as players based on their club form. I agree with you that Giroud has been better for France but I don't believe that Benzema suddenly puts on a French jersey and becomes a lesser version of himself all on his own. I also remember some performances Benzema had for France where he was the best player on the field, where I thought he showed more than Giroud ever did in the range of impact he can have on the game beyond just scoring goals, he's also had complete stinkers which was more often than not a reflection of the team performance as a whole. It's very seldom that the team was clicking and Benzema dragged it down. I think there's a lot more context that goes into it where saying that 'Benzema has never been better than Giroud for France' is not true or fair IMO and I really believe Benzema in this French NT would only improve it over the version we have with Giroud.

In the end, it's always going to be a what if's though that we could debate to no end, and it's been a page turned for some time. Deschamps was able to validate his decision with a Euro final and a WC win, so I can't say anything about it. We can only dream about how he would slot in with the studs we have now on the team. Maybe we'll get to see what Mbappe and Benzema looks like sometime soon at club level at least.
 

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16 is a child. They go to school, can't vote, can't drink, can't drive and can't even go to see the latest Deadpool film.

He was found not guilty because the judge decided there was not enough proof that he knew she was a child (1), not because he didn't do it. Ribery is just as much of a scumbag for sure.

You don't really seem to know what you are talking about with the "whataboutism" examples you give (2) but this is not the thread for that (3).
(1) I thought that it was innocent until proven guilty? What if he really did not know?

(2) How so ?

(3) You're the first one that started talking about what a scumbag he is ? suddenly, when i started giving other examples pertinent to the discussion, it became not the thread for it ?

There is no whataboutism here. Did i say that it was okay because others did it ? You'll find that nowhere in my post.

Is he a scumbag ? of course he is, you don't need to know anything more than what happened with Valbuena and the Blackmail case to know that. Everything points to him being a Scumbag. You'll find that in my first comment in this thread, i aknowledged that.

I'm merely pointing to the fact that when it comes to him, people put forward what an a**hole he is outside the pitch and let that influence their judgement of his footballing abilities. The two examples i mentionned are just examples to prove my point. You never hear what a cnut or a racist Terry is when we talk about him as one of the best defenders of the premier league. You never hear people talking about what Alonso did when they're heaping praise on him.

Even here, you don't hear people judging Ryan Giggs on what an awful brother he was when discussing his football abilities. Yet, you'll find that people in here seem to be mixing Benzema the person with Benzema the footballer.

I'll follow your advice and leave it here. Good night.
 
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duffer

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(1) I thought that it was innocent until proven guilty? What if he really did not know?

(2) How so ?

(3) You're the first one that started talking about what a scumbag he is ? suddenly, when i started giving other examples pertinent to the discussion, it became not the thread for it ?

There is no whataboutism here. Did i say that it was okay because other did it ? You'll find that nowhere in my post.

Is he a scumbag ? of course he is, you don't need to know anything more than what happened with Valbuena and the Blackmail case to know that. Everything points to him being a Scumbag. You'll find that in my first comment in this thread, i aknowledged that.

I'm merely pointing to the fact that when it comes to him, people put forward what an a**hole he is outside the pitch and let that influence their judgement of his footballing abilities. The two examples i mentionned are just examples to prove my point. You never hear what a cnut or a racist Terry is when we talk about him as one of the best defenders of the premier league. You never hear people talking about what Alonso did when they're heaping praise on him.

Even here, you don't hear people judging Ryan Giggs on what an awful brother he was when discussing his football abilities. Yet, you'll find that people in here seem to be mixing Benzema the person with Benzema the footballer.

I'll follow your advice and leave it here. Good night.
1) "innocent until proven guilty" is a load of bollocks, courts get stuff wrong. John Terry went to court and was found not guilty.

2) You said " Didn't JT sleep with bridges' wife?". He didn't.

3) "You never hear what a cnut or a racist Terry is". Are you being serious? Also, Alonso rarely goes a game without the crowd chanting "murderer" at him and he is never talked about on here without that being brought up. Just do a search on this site for Terry or Alonso and it's always brought up.

As for Giggs, his sexual deviancy has certainly tainted the way a lot of Man United fans view him.

Benzema is not hard done by, he's treated like all the other scumbags you mention.
 

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(1) I thought that it was innocent until proven guilty? What if he really did not know?

(2) How so ?

(3) You're the first one that started talking about what a scumbag he is ? suddenly, when i started giving other examples pertinent to the discussion, it became not the thread for it ?

There is no whataboutism here. Did i say that it was okay because other did it ? You'll find that nowhere in my post.

Is he a scumbag ? of course he is, you don't need to know anything more than what happened with Valbuena and the Blackmail case to know that. Everything points to him being a Scumbag. You'll find that in my first comment in this thread, i aknowledged that.

I'm merely pointing to the fact that when it comes to him, people put forward what an a**hole he is outside the pitch and let that influence their judgement of his footballing abilities. The two examples i mentionned are just examples to prove my point. You never hear what a cnut or a racist Terry is when we talk about him as one of the best defenders of the premier league. You never hear people talking about what Alonso did when they're heaping praise on him.

Even here, you don't hear people judging Ryan Giggs on what an awful brother he was when discussing his football abilities. Yet, you'll find that people in here seem to be mixing Benzema the person with Benzema the footballer.

I'll follow your advice and leave it here. Good night.
I thought it was proven that she lied about her age, IIRC she even admitted it herself. I mean nowadays you should just check ID (assuming you don't land on someone with a fake one) if you want to be safe because there are underage girls who have no problems lying about their age to get with someone, and the repercussions will always damage the adult, regardless whether they were lied to or not.

I have no problems with the Benzema issue in regards to Zahia Dehar, and those that do are just talking shit with no concept of what that kind of life is like. The blackmail thing is the one thing that he can take the blame for, even if that was overblown a bit as well as if Benzema was the lynchpin and not just some dummy still hanging with the wrong crowd.
 

duffer

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I thought it was proven that she lied about her age, IIRC she even admitted it herself. I mean nowadays you should just check ID (assuming you don't land on someone with a fake one) if you want to be safe because there are underage girls who have no problems lying about their age to get with someone, and the repercussions will always damage the adult, regardless whether they were lied to or not.

I have no problems with the Benzema issue in regards to Zahia Dehar, and those that do are just talking shit with no concept of what that kind of life is like. The blackmail thing is the one thing that he can take the blame for, even if that was overblown a bit as well as if Benzema was the lynchpin and not just some dummy still hanging with the wrong crowd.

What do you mean, "that kind of life"? Paying for sex with teenagers?
 

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What do you mean, "that kind of life"? Paying for sex with teenagers?
The kind of life where you have women you never had a shot with before you made it as a star come at you from all angles. Most of these guys are socially awkward, spent their formative years we did flirting with girls and going on dates training to become professionals, so when they become a target for those women, some just won't handle it well and make mistakes. Regardless whether they're paying for it or not, and at that level they don't pay them to have sex with them (there's plenty of free sex for celebrities out there), they pay them so they can leave as soon as they're done.
 

duffer

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The kind of life where you have women you never had a shot with before you made it as a star come at you from all angles. Most of these guys are socially awkward, spent their formative years we did flirting with girls and going on dates training to become professionals, so when they become a target for those women, some just won't handle it well and make mistakes. Regardless whether they're paying for it or not, and at that level they don't pay them to have sex with them (there's plenty of free sex for celebrities out there), they pay them so they can leave as soon as they're done.
I think you are being very generous to a man who paid for sex with a 16 year old. You're a better and more forgiving man than I!
 

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Benzema is not the best striker in the world as I've seen posted above - he's a great all round talent with a decent record stats wise. Personally I think Benzema was seen as a good forward but then he went through a bit of a image revival (around the time I think Zidane defended him against Lineker saying he was overrated) and now you have people saying he's one of the best in the world which I don't think is true.

A very good player but nowhere near being the best striker in the world.
You cannot play that long for a club like Real Madrid, win all those trophies, if you aren't one of the best in the world at your position. It just doesn't happen
 

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You cannot play that long for a club like Real Madrid, win all those trophies, if you aren't one of the best in the world at your position. It just doesn't happen
Benzema is the CL 4th best goalscorer of all time. He is one of the best ever and it's not negotiable. :D
 

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I think you are being very generous to a man who paid for sex with a 16 year old. You're a better and more forgiving man than I!
I'm just more realistic about the trappings of that lifestyle than you are judging someone with a life on a completely different level in temptation and trappings than you and I. I blame Benzema for being an idiot with the Valbuena case, but I'm not going to cast stones from my glass house at someone who's life I can't even comprehend.
 

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I'm just more realistic about the trappings of that lifestyle than you are judging someone with a life on a completely different level in temptation and trappings than you and I. I blame Benzema for being an idiot with the Valbuena case, but I'm not going to cast stones from my glass house at someone who's life I can't even comprehend.
Speak for yourself!
 

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@JPRouve Even if you don't take Benzema into account, put literally any other manager in charge of this team and Giroud doesn't even make it to our WC 2018 squad, his club career has been DEAD since 2016, he hasn't been a starter at club level in 4 years, his statistics with France are the result off playing 5 years as an undisputed starter amongst the likes of Mbappe,Griezmann,Pogba,Kante,Martial and so on.
He was never world class, he used to be a good player years ago, right now he's far below that though, the list of French strikers who play on a higher level than him right now is quite extensive and although I totally expect Deschamps to still start him in Summer 2021 that doesn't mean players such as Martial and Ben Yedder don't deserve it more than him.

That said I don't understand why Benzema and his fans are trying to go at Giroud's throat the way they do, honestly will all due respect to Giroud I think they're more likely to lower Benzema's legacy than anything by doing that, someone with a career like his and 10+ years at the top really shouldn't be comparing himself to Olivier Giroud.