Olivier Giroud didn’t have the best of nights as AC Milan faced Spurs away from home on Wednesday. In the end, it didn’t matter much, but the average positions have now provided an important clue.
The French striker is a key player for the Rossoneri but he hasn’t found the back of the net in over a month. Against Spurs, he never really got into goalscoring positions, bar one or two shots from tough angles.
Taking a look at the average positions of the game, as you can see in the picture below, it’s clear Giroud was forced to do a lot of work in the middle of the pitch. In the end, that’s where most of the hold-up play took place.
The average position of each #ACMilan player from the draw against Spurs.
[via @Gazzetta_it] pic.twitter.com/pTaQiE3vcl
— MilanData📊 (@acmilandata) March 9, 2023
It wasn’t just hold-up play, though, but also important defensive work from Giroud. He may on a goal drought, but he ran tirelessly to cover for his teammates also in the defensive phase. And that explains some of his attacking struggles.
If you didn’t watch the game you’d think Giroud struggled. If you watched the game Giroud was brilliant and was instrumental in creating superiority in the midfield….as the graphic suggests
agree he break spurs system with his movement respect to him
Isak Möller i dont know where the critics of Giroud came from but he was essential that night. At 37 he run more then a lazy seria A mvp.
“At 37 he run more then a lazy seria A mvp.”
He does that in every match but this time he might have outran even Krunic & Tonali too. 😀