quote:
but if he gets the ball 1v1 anywhere but at the top of the box where he can shoot, we know he's not having a go at things because of his lack of pace.

Considering how rarely he gets the ball on the half-turn, it's way more important that he acts like a post player in basketball. With the way most teams play us, it's just not all that often he gets the ball where he has space to turn, or even run at defenders. It's not what he excels at, and it's pretty silly of us to ask him of doing things of which he isn't capable.

quote:
Plus I wish he would be a bit stronger and not go down so easily, but I guess that's the French in him.

He's extremely strong, but he goes down hoping for fouls since he's getting mugged quite often. His ability to hold off defenders and bring the ball down off a goal kick is pretty incredible. The refs rarely offer him protection since he so often has superior body position on a defender, yet he gets none of the protection other strikers do despite CB's being all over him.

I think he's at least a top five target striker, and outside of the Monaco first leg, there isn't a game that I remember him being absolutely profligate in front of goal (this season). If his conversion rate can hover around 30%, I'd be pretty happy, especially since his positional play is pretty much superb.

This post was edited on 3/19/15 at 6:33 pm

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Posted by cwil177

Baton Rouge

Member since Jun 2011

28594 posts

Posted on 3/19/15 at 9:33 pm to crazy4lsu

Yeah, I agree with all of that. But what I was saying earlier wasn't me hoping for him to do something of which he isn't capable. We all know where he excels and where he struggles. I'm thankful for what he does offer us, and I agree he is a superb hold up man. I just wish we had the type of player who could be more direct. We would be an even better countering team if our 9 had some pace too. I like the idea someone here mentioned of trying Welbeck up there. I would be all for that if nothing more than to give Giroud's body a rest.

Unfortunately teams know they can pack the box against us and we won't shoot from deep, and then we try to tiki taka through that packed box and it usually doesn't work out because the space is just too cramped. Another pet peeve of mine is that we don't put enough players in the box when we make crosses. Giroud is left to fight by himself. What's the point? It's frustrating to watch.

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