Chelsea conceded a late equalizer in Rennes before super substitute Olivier Giroud came on and netted the go-ahead goal for the Blues.
Chelsea was rescued in extra time against Rennes by Olivier Giroud, who came off the bench—once again—and sent Frank Lampard’s side into the next round of the Champions League. It was a lackluster performance by the Blues against an inferior opponent and again begs the question, is this club ready to beat the iron in Europe? They certainly didn’t look it, but still registered three points.
As usual, however, Lampard continued to run Timo Werner into the ground. Werner started on the left and Tammy Abraham played at center forward against Rennes. Werner’s fatigue was evident as he continued to miss sitters with one that almost defied the laws of physics. This match would have been an absolutely perfect time to rest the German flash. But again he was run out, played much of the game, and looked exhausted. His overuse is clearly impacting his shooting effectiveness. Back to the hero of the hour.
Giroud continues to be overlooked inexplicably by the Chelsea manager as he sits on the pine at the start of every game only to come on late in garbage time usually. Today, however, he came on with Chelsea ahead 1-0 with about 23 minutes left in the game. For Giroud that was a heavy playing load, but once again, he scored a winner for the Blues who had little offense whatsoever to show prior except for Callum Hudson-Odoi’s goal at the midway point of the first half.
As more and more being written about Giroud leaving in January, Lampard persists in grinding his other two center forwards into the ground while keeping the Frenchman on the bench. The Rennes contest was indicative of the fact that the 35-year-old still has plenty of petrol left in the tank. Should Giroud depart in January and one of either Werner or Abraham suffers a tough injury, this team is going to struggle for depth. One healthy striker can lead to no healthy strikers in a hurry. Overuse can ultimately erode the effectiveness of even a young, tremendous athlete and make that player more susceptible to injury. Though Lampard continues to indicate that Giroud is important to the club, why is he still being kept on the bench?
The schedule is going to get much tougher beginning Sunday against Spurs. So, instead of starting Giroud and resting Werner to have him fresh for that big and important game, Werner played much of the game again today. The Blues will move ahead to play Spurs on Sunday and see if this club can beat another top five team in the Premier League. Unless Lampard intends to start Giroud on Sunday (which wouldn’t be a bad idea actually, but it won’t happen), he may just have weakened his squad in advance of that key tilt in five days.
Yet, it is abundantly clear there should be a role on the squad for Giroud, and it’s not on the bench. One guarantee, if he’s shipped out in January, we’ll be hearing about his goal-scoring ability elsewhere—and you can take that to your nearest bank.