Olivier Giroud providing crucial guidance for Tammy Abraham at Chelsea

On Saturday, Tammy Abraham notched the first two of what will hopefully be many, many, many goals for Chelsea, repaying fairly quickly the faith shown in him so far by Frank Lampard and the rest of the team. It was only his second start, after all, even if the concerns and criticisms and other abhorrent nonsense was starting to pile up already.

Fortunately, Abraham doesn’t have to go at it alone, on or off the pitch. There’s a wonderful support structure behind him, from the coaches who believe in the youth to the teammates who provide crucial guidance even as they themselves lose out on minutes. These two themes, the youth revolution and Chelsea’s older players taking on mentorship roles, have been most prevalent so far this season.

In Tammy’s case, some of that advice comes from Olivier Giroud, who chatted with talkSport radio about his new role this season prior to the win at Norwich City.

“I have been talking with Tammy a lot. My main role is to look after these young players like Tammy and try and help them to improve.

“When you’re a striker and you miss some chances or you miss a penalty, you must carry on and make sure you never give up. This is one of the best values you can have as a striker. Tammy has got the quality and talent, he just needs to practice more and more. I keep telling him this. I have been [practising] all my career and I still do. Even at 32 I believe I can still can get better and improve as a player.

“I believe Tammy can get to a very good level. He is listening to the advice that is being given to him, and he knows how important it is for him to make the most of this opportunity he has and make the step up.”

-Olivier Giroud; source: talkSport

That advice paid off this weekend. Long may that continue!