France showing Chelsea what else they can do with Olivier Giroud

Chelsea bought Olivier Giroud so they could have a true striker to focus their offence and score goals. France, on the other hand, use him to create openings for their other, even more potent goal-scorers.

France’s embarassment of riches has taken them through to the semifinals of the World Cup. Only a squad with this depth could have Olivier Giroud playing a subtle supporting role, one that has made him a crucial member of the XI without scoring a single goal so far in the tournament. Whereas Chelsea increasingly relied on his production in the second half of the season, and will do so in 2018/19, France rely on him to set the conditions for Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann.

Giroud has played every minute since coming on in the 70′ of the opener against Australia. Playing at the top of a 4-2-3-1, Giroud is a typical centre-forward when France are on defence or in transition. When the opponent cycles the ball back to their centre-backs, Giroud applies varying levels of pressure. If Griezmann or Mbappe join the press, Giroud runs towards the deepest centre-back or the goalkeeper. Otherwise, he hangs off the back of the play on defence, ready to start a counter-attack.

In transition, he receives the ball and holds up play while France’s faster players swarm up on the attack. Once this happens, though, he often finds himself behind the play rather quickly, as his speed does not compare to Mbappe’s, Griezmann’s or Paul Pogba’s. Against Uruguay in the quarter-finals, he would rejoin the play on either side of the box. Instead of moving immediately to the usual centre-forward position near the penalty spot, he positioned himself for Griezmann and Mbappe to do the most with the space.

Only two of his 49 touches against Uruguay were in the box. He had as many touches on either wing as he did in the centre of the pitch in Uruguay’s half.

On both stages of France’s attack, Giroud is a combination target man, reference point and decoy. He occupies the centre-backs’ attention and draws the ball to himself, but does so to facilitate his wingers’ scoring chances. Whereas most strikers – including Giroud when he is playing for Chelsea – bring themselves back into the attack centrally, Giroud does not. In some ways, he is playing like a pivot man in midfield, one who rejoins the attack where he is needed to counter-balance the play and split defenders’ attention.

This is a remarkable retasking for a player of Giroud’s age, experience and goalscoring nous. He still has the pure hunger for goals as any striker of his calibre. When he is in an open position and the ball does not come to him, he has the pained, aggrieved face of someone who feels he was denied his due. This is what France and Chelsea always need him to have, even if the road to victory requires him to make scoring a secondary priority.

French manager Didier Deschamps talked about how he and Giroud are approaching this role:

"[I]f he could have scored, it would have been good but he has always had an important role for us – he is always extremely generous and he does not complain when it comes to working hard. He is useful in attack but also, because of his game, in defence too. He does many things for the team to be balanced, and it is the players around him that benefit from his presence because he attracts a lot of attention from the defenders. – BBC"

France have had only four goal-scorers in this World Cup. Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappe each of three, and Benjamin Pavard and Raphael Varane – both defenders – have one apiece. Giroud leads the team with six key passes, has taken seven shots and registered one assist.

Chelsea will give Olivier Giroud the opportunity to do what he loves the most: scoring goals. They need his offensive production far more than France does. His role at the World Cup, though, opens up new possibilities for how Chelsea may use him in the Premier League and Europa League.

The Blues will need more than just Eden Hazard to re-create what France have. They would need an abundance of attacking and creative talent that would allow them to de-emphasize goal-scoring by the striker. One possibility, though, would be in a two-striker system, where one is “traditional Giroud” and the other is “World Cup Giroud.”

It also creates another dimension to the battle for the starting spot with Alvaro Morata. If Giroud is a more potent goal-scorer and has more dimensions to his game, he can stay ahead of Morata. Morata’s biggest advantage, then, is the effects of fatigue weighing on the older Frenchman. He can handle seven games in a month for the World Cup, but could not sustain it across a four-competition season.

Next: Chelsea's academy / youth exodus has only just begun

If Antonio Conte and the club are smart, they will look to Giroud’s World Cup experience as a way of creating new options on offence and to teach the younger strikers like Michy Batshuayi and Tammy Abraham new facets of the position.