Chelsea manager Frank Lampard has admitted that he may be required to use attacker Christian Pulisic as a false nine after Olivier Giroud failed to make much of an impact during the club’s recent Premier League loss against West Ham. Losing to the Hammers is not the end of the world for the Blues who have a very young side, however they should have really got points from the game considering that the Hammers headed into the contest in atrocious form.
“We’ll see,” Lampard said as quoted by Goal.
“He’s got an ability to run behind the line and to be sharp in central areas, which will naturally get him more goals but I’m not going to say right now that’s the solution. We’ll see going forward.”
On Giroud, Lampard added: “It was a difficult game for him. He didn’t get enough of the ball and then the couple of chances he had didn’t go in for him.
“It was a tough match for him but he wasn’t the only one who came into the team and the performance was slightly off it. It was not the easiest game.
Pulisic has been in great form recently after having made a slow start to life at Stamford Bridge and has been finding the net on a regular basis. The American has proven that he is capable of becoming a world-class player. Despite only still being in his early 20’s, one can argue that Pulisic is already nearing the level of American compatriots Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey, both of whom are considered to be two of the greatest American footballers of all-time.
Giroud is not the player that he once was
If one thing is certain, it is that Giroud is not the same player that he was a few years ago. While the Frenchman is still good enough to play at the highest level, he cannot be relied upon to score goals on a regular basis and it will be dangerous for Lampard to rely on him too much between now and the end of the season if first-choice Tammy Abraham needs someone to deputize for him as was the case against the Hammers.
Lampard should experiment with Pulisic as a false nine
If there is a time for Chelsea to try and experiment with different options, it is now. In lieu of the two window transfer ban, the West Londoners are not expected to win anything this season. This season is more about attaining a top four finish and focusing on building a side which can win major silverware next season.
Comments are closed.