Olivier Giroud

Meh, just another Chelsea prick to me now. :laca:

Id suggest to you Spain sacking and having no manager fucked this squads entire world cup over. Talent alone is not enough which was highlighted in every Spain match here.
Its not just about tactics and style of play in a month long tournament. Its about other pressures and keeping egos happy and handling and embracing the challenge.
Spain for one failed here as they had nobody capable of doing that. One of the biggest own goals in world cup history that.
This is not hating on Spain but pointing out the virtue of needing the required leadership that you are dismissing.

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England wouldn’t have got to the semi-finals if it was all down to talent :unai:

#forevergrateful

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You’re arguing a total non point. No one ever said international success translates to club level for managers. We know the nature of club and international football are totally different and uncomparable

No one said Deschamps would make a great club manager based on his France record or his methods either. He does deserve major credit for utilising the talent at his disposal and winning the WC condidering thier run.

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Having to play with a couple of pricks like Griezman and Pogba, Ollie deserves his World Cup…Go on Ollie…

Delighted for him. Yet another player that Wenger didn’t use to his strengths. I think we were right to sell him though. You can have the best striker in the world (which he isn’t) and you put him in the wrong system and he will look average.

He’d suit a team like Newcastle or West Ham (where he usually goes in each version of Football Manager strangely), he’d get them a top six spot too.

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Hold on now. Unlike Deschamps Wenger didn’t have an incredible talented squad at his disposable to compensate for Giroud’s lack of it. Giroud in a situation like France or at Arsenal is very different. I’d say Wenger did maximise his potential.

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England won precisely the games they were expected to win and nothing more. And the one game where they were closely matched talent-wise they won on penalties after being outplayed.

Yes, an international manager can have marginal influence on this front. But in comparison to the role the talent on the pitch, the matchups you get thanks to the draw/the bracket, and luck/variance play? It’s very very small. A manager’s influence is really limited on the international level, and when you win a World Cup as France did with an immensely talented team, without really playing well, more despite your tactics than thanks to them, it’s naturally a massive stretch to give much credit to the manager.

Rubiales’ decision was idiotic, but I don’t think it was determinative. The group was united with Hierro too. Any of the tactical work was already done. Could Lopetegui have been more successful in getting the likes of David Silva, Asensio, etc. to make more interesting movements in between lines, to take more initiative? Arguable. Could he have got the referee not to make an extremely speculative penalty decision and not call a stonewall penalty in favour? Unlikely…laugh if you like, but these are basically the things that decide in a one match knockout cup, Croatia would’ve been out in the round of 16 too if they had similar luck, and France might’ve too if a CB didn’t score a one-off wonder strike.

Yeah, this is the part I disagree with.

I know that he’s shit. :slight_smile:

Don’t begrudge him at all his achievements, I love Giroud as a character, being so good looking is the one thing I can actually relate to with him :wink:

If you was half as good looking as you think you rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, Ollie would have a rival,

However its no wonder Rooney left these shores…

Disagree tbh. Spain and France went into the knockout stages under a bit of a cloud. Spain where drawn down the easier side and limped out as nothing changed.
France progressed and improved as a side and controlled for the most part all the games that came their way.
You simply have to credit Deschamps for a big part of that. He had 4 different challenges and styles to overcome and managed to set his team right in each game.
Only in the final could you really say that fortune in anyway helped him out.

I’m not saying that fortune helped them out; as probably the most talented team in the tournament it makes sense that they would win it. I’m saying that luck/variance is always at play in a one match elimination cup. Bad luck against, such as the type that Spain had, could’ve easily eliminated them against Argentina, or against Belgium.

Control is not a word I would describe France’s performances with, barring Uruguay.

I’m geniunely pleased this guy now a World Cup winner. I know it’ll piss off and bug a lot of people, but what he brings to a team is so under valued. Sure on the outset, not scoring or even having a shot on target looks terrible for a WC winner.

But it takes a special player and personality to acknowledge that you have to sacrifice your own game for the sake of the team to play to their best strengths. Giroud’s always been a great team player, the way he introduces other players into the mix up front. His defensive side too.

To think, had Wenger not sold him, he might’ve not been picked for the WC. But anyways, good on ya Olly. Stick it to the haters! :giroud:

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If you substitute Brazil for Spain in your post it would give it more relevance for me. Id personally say Spain suffered greatly because of the sacking pre tournament.
Be interested to know how you viewed Pogbas performances at the tournament. Do you think he was as good as people say, or would you have wanted more.
Genuinely interested in your view point here.

Brazil for me was twofold:

-Not enough talent in midfield (crazy how wide open their midfield was in that game) in comparison to France

-Not got that bit of luck you need in a single elmination tournament (as you allude to)

Pogba, I don’t know, the obvious problem, despite his obvious and enormous ability (the technique on that pass to Griezmann was insane, of course), is that he struggles to make his mark in terms of stamping his influence and being a factor in the area of the control of games. This is mostly just down to the systems he plays with for France and United, though. It’s hard to criticise him for something the system basically just isn’t designed for him to do, or he’s even asked to do. Still, when I’m watching him, I do get the sense he doesn’t have that tempo or progressive passing ability to his game that a Kroos, a Modric, or a Thiago has. But it’s really impossible to say given the systems he’s playing in…he did have some stinkers in games where he needed to show more these qualities for United, though. In short, he’s probably not a natural at this but put him under Pep or Tuchel and he’d probably look like de Bruyne.

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What did he sacrifice then? He actually played his own game. He’s a terrible goalscorer.

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Pithy platitudes with less depth to them than papier mache will take you a long way with Giroud.

Nothing to be gained by leaving this thread visible. Someone tag me back in if I’m needed to dish out some punishment for food based nationality insults.

Why not close this one then like the RvP thread? @shamrockgooner