Why Chelsea must not offload Olivier Giroud at any cost in January
Maurizio Sarri’s Chelsea overpowered Bournemouth 2-0 over the weekend to secure their fourth consecutive win of the ongoing Premier League campaign.
The new manager’s free-flowing and attacking football has been a treat to watch and all the new signings have settled into the team. Mateo Kovacic has, by far, been the best for Chelsea in the midfield since making his debut against Arsenal. Jorginho, on the other hand, has kept things ticking in the midfield with his impressive range of passing, delightful touches and elegant flicks.
While the midfielders have been at the top of their game, the defenders and the strikers haven’t performed to their potential. Eden Hazard and Pedro, playing as the left and right forwards in Sarri’s 4-3-3 formation, have shown a lot of intent in the final third and have successfully shouldered the lion’s share of the attacking workload. Although the wingers have excelled in the attacking third, Alvaro Morata has not made much of an impact inside the penalty area.
When the Spaniard scored against Arsenal, it looked as if he had finally found his touch. His display against the Gunners was quite decent but those who took that as a sign of better things to come were left disappointed.
In the next game against Newcastle United, Morata struggled to find space in the attacking third due to the opposition’s ultra-defensive tactics. Given the fact that the Spaniard is not good with his movement off the ball, the defenders found it quite easy to mark him inside the box. The striker suffered the same fate against Bournemouth as well. He was poor with his positioning inside the penalty area and did not show any significant movement off the ball. He looked rusty and sluggish and was unable to get his shots away from the heavily-crowded penalty box.
The Spaniard hasn’t been able to justify his price tag. Not only has he struggled with his fitness but he has also lacked initiative on the field.
While Morata relies more on support from the midfielders and wants the ball to be laid on a platter for him to find the back of the net, Olivier Giroud is just the opposite. The 31-year-old Frenchman, who joined Chelsea for a fee of £18m, is the perfect team player. With his excellent work rate, Giroud has not only shown commendable movement off the ball in the attacking third but has also tracked back to his own half to help out the defenders.
Chelsea looked like they would be unable to break Bournemouth down but Giroud’s introduction changed the whole scenario. The Frenchman linked play beautifully to set Pedro up for the opening goal.
Giroud is the perfect target man for a team like Chelsea. Not denying the fact that he is a man of limited abilities, the towering Frenchman makes up for it with his amazing ability to read the game and his presence of mind.
While it is true that Giroud will probably not score 20 goals in a season for Chelsea, he is the game changer that the Blues need desperately. He is also renowned for his poaching abilities inside the box and his aerial presence is extremely resourceful during set-pieces.
Sarri has not opted to start with Giroud so far but given Morata’s lacklustre performances, he must toy with the idea of deploying the former Arsenal man. With Mitchy Batshuayi out on loan, Chelsea do not have too many choices for the No.9 position.
Hence, offloading Olivier Giroud would be a major blunder for Chelsea as it could be detrimental to their title-winning hopes.
