Olivier Giroud is a very difficult player to rank or quantify when it comes to the modern greats of the premier league so I won’t make much effort to do so.
He is one of the most useful players in the world, ready made for almost any tactical setup, with very little construction required.
This is why I find it slightly bizarre that Chelsea may be set to get rid of him this season.
In 2020 Giroud scored more goals than any other Chelsea player even whilst being in and out of the team.
This ability to fit into any team, playing any system and be ready to go makes him a pretty enviable asset for more or less any team in the world.
Giroud has always been a hard player to rate because he often falls into Damian Lillard or New Zealand cricket team territory whereby we tell anyone who will listen about how underrated they are, thus ensuring that after some time they become overrated.
Timo Werner is another player that is pretty difficult to fully measure at present.
Werner scored at a silly rate for Leipzig across all competitions and since coming to chelsea he – um – hasn’t.
This COULD be due to a number of factors but realistically you can ignore most of these, hop off the Twitter hyperbole machine and suggest that he’s had a slow start in a new country where he has played less than half a season (suddenly it doesn’t seem so bad does it?).
Werner at the moment seems to be almost the opposite of Olivier Giroud, he has only ever really played in one system, one that suited him and his game perfectly.
There is no criticism here, sooner rather than later Chelsea will figure out how to correctly use him and once the goals start flowing, the rest of the league will struggle to stem the tide.
Werner’s style of play is one that generally works best played in a specific system, as is the case with most young attacking players, when first taken out of the system that they grew up in, they struggle initially.
That is not to say he will not adapt but it is the situation in which he currently finds himself.
Werner is too good a player to not adapt and come good but in the meantime it is imperative that Lampard helps him find his feet by putting him in a system in which he feels at home.
This is where Giroud can come in.
Since Giroud is such a good player across the board, fitting most systems (that actually use a striker) he is the best person to help to integrate Werner correctly.
At Leipzig Werner was used in a two striker attack in what can unfairly be branded a “big man, little man” partnership with the enormous Youssuf Poulsen whose goalscoring record doesn’t tell the full story of his worth to the side.
Since Werner’s strengths come through his willing and intelligent runs and his penchant for taking snapshots whilst at speed, it makes sense that he be provided with a similar focal point and facilitator who can enable him to make his trademark runs to full effect.
Sound like anyone we know?
That’s right, how about the ready made, experienced big man at Chelsea who is so valued for his build up play that he has survived several eras of French international turnover and still plays regularly to facilitate the runs of players like Kylian Mbappe?
There are certain caveats to my superb suggestion – firstly – it isn’t quite this simple for Chelsea who have made big investments in areas that a 4-4-2 or 4-2-2-2 formation wouldn’t necessarily allow.
I do however suggest that they immediately start utilising Giroud in tandem with Werner up front, with Giroud holding his position and acting like a “proper” big man as he can so well, Werner can time his runs in behind and cause havoc with his intelligence and pace.
In this formation Chelsea would have to figure out what to do with Pulisic since leaving him in front of Ben Chilwell or Reece James with less midfielders to support him may hamstring his defensive capabilities a touch.
This is an easier problem to solve however when your star striker is scoring 25 goals during the season however (a tally that I fully believe he is capable of repeatedly attaining when utilised properly).
The only person who this formation may totally push out for the time being is Kai Havertz.
Chelsea’s other new German import is a wunderkind with bundles of talent but I don’t believe anyone, probably even himself, has a clue quite what he is as a top level player yet.
He has the tools to succeed out wide in an attacking midfield three or on the right of a 4-2-2-2, he is much larger than you would expect of a player of his position therefore playing him as a second striker seems like a viable – if potentially – wasteful option.
The key here is it is too soon to know so for now he may have to be content being more of a bit-part player when the likes of Werner, Pulisic and Ziyech have more complete games and seem to be the footballing equivalent of a win now trade.
The point is, Timo Werner will be just fine.
Use Olivier Giroud as a facilitator/focal point whilst nurturing Tammy Abraham to perform a similar partnership in the future.
With Hakim Ziyech and Christian Pulisic already pulling up trees creatively, this Chelsea team can perform at new levels with Werner at his full potential.
Michael Vince on Sport 