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Olivier Giroud delivered the best ‘have that’ performance to Frank Lampard on Wednesday night.
Chelsea scored four goals against Sevilla in the Champions League and the 34-year-old evergreen bagged every one of them.
It was a timely reminder of the World Cup winner’s class and gives his coach a welcome but troublesome headache ahead of this weekend’s clash with Leeds.
Both Giroud and France coach Didier Deschamps have publicly addressed the fact that the forward’s playing time has been reduced this season.
“It’s worrying,” Giroud told Telefoot previously. “I thought I still had a role to play at Chelsea, but my playing time is reducing a lot. You will have to change or a decision must be made. ‘
Deschamps said: ‘Olivier knows: the situation he is in today cannot go on forever. Before March you will have to find another situation than this.
And even his agent has intervened, criticizing Lampard for unfairly choosing Tammy Abraham ahead of his man, arguing: ‘Sure enough, since the beginning of September, things have changed, but what has not changed is his ability to play matches for France, contrary to what was said by some others.
He told Footmercato: ‘Players worth 150 million euros have been bought. But at the same time, you’d be blind not to see that Frank Lampard has decided to put Tammy Abraham ahead of him. Frankly, it’s not fair when you look at what Olivier did at the end of the season. “
Sevilla are not a takedown team, fifth in LaLiga and usually a difficult proposition away from home, but Giroud made the difference on Wednesday night.
Glenn Hoddle described him as “out of this world” but the man himself was flustered by repeated questions about whether the four-goal display meant he would start against Leeds.
“Let me enjoy the night,” he said. But if Giroud doesn’t do it himself, the stats certainly do.
The two main rivals for the center-forward position are Abraham and Timo Werner, although the German has recently started on the left in contrast to the start of the season.
For a fairly recent sample size, we go back to June to the present. Giroud is averaging a goal every 76.7 minutes, a brilliant comeback from his 11 starts and 22 games overall.
In contrast to that, Abraham averages a goal every 155.8 minutes after starting 13 games and playing 28 in total.
Meanwhile, Werner is still adjusting to life in the Premier League and is scoring on average every 162.6 minutes with 15 starts and 16 games under his belt.
Giroud has played 249 minutes less than Abraham and 304 minutes less than Werner, but he dwarfs both on shots on target.
His shot conversion rate has risen 37 percent with Abraham at 19 percent and Werner at 22 percent.
When Giroud showed up to score a magnificent header goal against Rennes last week, Joe Cole called him the most underrated player in the Premier League.
The goal may be in the later chapters of his career, but he is the second top scorer in French history with 44 goals, behind only Thierry Henry with 51, and he is in top form.
The message he would send not only to Giroud but to the rest of the Chelsea squad if Lampard leaves him for the Leeds game on Saturday would be a poor one.
What more can a player do to earn a start than score four in the middle of the week? There may be concerns about whether the 34-year-old can double from Wednesday to Saturday, but Chelsea have plenty of excellent options on the bench if they tire.
Werner started games against Southampton and Manchester United in the middle, among others.
And Christian Pulisic’s return to fitness could complicate matters further, as his place on the left flank will now be hotly contested.
Giroud may end up getting kicked out of the starting lineup through no fault of his own, simply as a by-product of Chelsea’s sheer strength in depth.
But what kind of message would that be to the other players, the ones who bet on regular starts like Callum Hudson-Odoi, if a four-goal showing doesn’t earn him a spot in the starting lineup?
The fact that he is the swashbuckling Leeds of Marcelo Bielsa as Saturday night’s opponent may further complicate matters for Lampard.
The newly promoted team have already shown a propensity to be countered, as Leicester expertly demonstrated against them.
Maybe Giroud’s lack of rhythm doesn’t suit the way Leeds play and Werner or Abraham could expose them.
In any case, Lampard has an important decision on his hands. The Blues boss described Giroud as ‘the best professional’ on Wednesday, but if he left the forward now, that January move will feel inevitable.
Source: m.allfootballapp.com
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