Chelsea Fan View: A Tale of Two Strikers

Chelsea were abject for 70 minutes against 18th placed Southampton on Saturday. The malaise that has seen them win only three Premier League matches since the turn of the year all too evident.

Chelsea had no cohesion and apparently no stomach for the fight and Southampton strolled to a 2-0 lead and were good value for it.

The fact that Chelsea’s record signing and number one striker exemplified their woes will not be lost on the supporters.

This is a man out of form and out of sorts. Having made a superb start to his Chelsea career it all seems to have unraveled for the Spaniard.

The goals dried up; injuries flared up but most crucial of all his mentality has been questioned by the manager and the supporters.

Other than score goals his job is to the lead the line. Right now he looks incapable of either.

Whenever he plays it seems that Chelsea take their cue from him. With Morata unable to hold the ball up, Chelsea has no out ball. When he gets bullied off the ball and loses it Chelsea is immediately put on the back foot; outnumbered in midfield as the opposition swarms forward.

The fact that Chelsea were often second to the ball all over the pitch on Saturday is hardly Morata’s fault alone but you can easily see where the problem starts.

It appears that the players have lost faith in their striker.

Not so the manager, whose curious ambivalence on the touch line is the complete reversal of the jack-in-a-box we saw last season. The reasons for Conte’s miserable demeanour could no doubt fill the chapters of a book, but there is a sense that his mood is not helping the team. Nor is his current starting selection.

But it all changed when Conte brought Olivier Giroud on after an hour.

While the game did not immediately turn around, Chelsea conceded a second shortly afterward; Giroud’s presence changed the way Chelsea were able to play.

Unlike Morata, his physicality troubled the Southampton defence. They couldn’t bully him off the ball and instead he was able to hold it up and play Hazard and Willian in.

Chelsea looked threatening and the team became transformed. The self-belief so clearly lacking recently flooded back.

In a blistering spell of 8 minutes, Giroud scored a fine header under pressure and then scored the winner with a superb snap shot from the edge of the penalty area. Eden Hazard’s equaliser was sandwiched between the two.

But it was not just Giroud’s goals that had snatched victory for Chelsea from the jaws of defeat; it was his attitude and self-belief that had a galvanising effect.

Many supporters have suspected that there might be too many sulkers in the Chelsea team; not least the Manager and his star striker.

Perhaps they need to start Giroud more often. He has yet to make a start in a Premier League game since his arrival. Has he complained or sulked? Absolutely not. He has been the consummate professional; waited on the bench for his chance and grabbed the opportunity when it came his way.

Whether Giroud will be rewarded with a start for Chelsea’s remaining fixtures will quite possibly reveal the current ambition or lack of it from the manager.

Personally I think he should. He has the right mentality; can hold the ball up and face up to the physical rigours of the Premier League and he scores goals.

Morata could do a lot worse than learn from Giroud but one wonders whether he will ever be able to. Perhaps his mentality is simply just not suited to the Premier League.

You can have all the talent in the world but if you don’t have the attitude and application to go with it, it means nothing.

If Chelsea are going to be able to claw something from a season that threatens to disappoint, then they need battlers not sulkers.

In Olivier Giroud they may just have found one.

David Chidgey @StamfordChidge

David Chidgey presents the award winning Chelsea FanCast podcast which can be heard live every Monday at 19.00 at mixlr.com/chelsea-fancast/ or downloaded from Acast, ITunes, Soundcloud or chelseafancast.com @ChelseaFanCast