Football - Ligue 1. Is Olivier Giroud already indispensable to LOSC?
Having scored in Brest last weekend, Olivier Giroud is already a key player at Lille, who intend to make him their starting centre-forward this season, and will host Monaco on Sunday (8:45 p.m.) on the second day of Ligue 1.
From the moment he warmed up, comically, on a mat in the parking lot of the Stade Francis-Le Blé , the cameras were fixed on Olivier Giroud , the top scorer in the history of the Blues (57 goals in 137 selections), who returned to France this summer.
A few minutes later , the Isérois proved that he deserved to be one of the attractions of Ligue 1, by opening the scoring with a left-footed cross shot in the box, scoring his first goal in this championship for thirteen years and 107 days, according to the statistician Opta.
The start of a complete match where the solid attacker (1.93 m) weighed on the Breton defense, offering a solution to his partners with his passing game, on the ground and in the air.
Back in the bowels of the Stade Francis-Le Blé, he expressed his "real happiness to return to the pitches of Ligue 1" . So much the better, because he is likely to tread all of them this season as a starter, if we are to believe the speech on Friday of the other Olivier of the northern club, Olivier Létang.
"We have six attacking players: Marius Broholm, Edon Zhegrova, Félix Correia, Osame Sahraoui, Matias Fernandez-Pardo and Olivier Giroud," listed the LOSC president. "Six players for three positions seems logical to us. We are more actively looking for players in defensive positions."
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The Lille president has therefore closed the door on the arrival of the "versatile striker," the profile Bruno Genesio wanted to recruit during this transfer window. However, none of the players he listed are true No. 9s, which makes Olivier Giroud the Dogues' regular striker , at almost 39 years old.
As things stand, only Matias Fernandez-Pardo can occupy the center forward position, but Bruno Genesio seems to consider him more on the wing, as his entry into Brest, to the left of Giroud, or his speech before the match against Monaco, suggest.
"Matias can play in all three forward positions," he says. "His two best matches last season were on the wing, on the right in Bologna and on the left in Nice. He can play in the middle, he can perform well there. [...] He's a young player, he shouldn't set limits or restraints regarding the position he occupies, simply apply what is asked of him, exploit his potential [...] and stop listening too much to the people around him who make him believe that he should play center forward, that that's where he's best."
Making Giroud a starter necessarily involves skillful management of his playing time, especially since Lille will be playing in the Europa League in addition to domestic competitions this season.
"I'm used to having a relationship of trust with this kind of player," comments Bruno Genesio. "I have regular discussions with him, to find out if we need to calm down in certain training sessions, if during the match, for example on Sunday, several times, I asked him if he could go all the way."
The question will therefore arise again against Monaco on Sunday (8:45 p.m.), a team built to compete in the Champions League, against which the entire LOSC attack will undergo a major test.
Le Dauphiné libéré
