Isnt the biggest contribution more as a natural/unofficial captain though?
Aerial dominance, hold-up play, reducing selfishness and carelessness from his teammates, making the team switch from Suso to him as reference point. Those are his biggest/best contributions in my opinion.
I was thinking about this last game for the 30-40 minutes where the team looked both exhausted and scared shitless. I didnt see your first half of the season, but I can imagine that was how it looked. Last game was the first where Ibra didnt pick up the pace in this situation (maybe tired or off for some other reason), the other games he has been on fire as soon as the team gets stuck and it seems to spread quickly when it happens. In practice, on the ball, he does this from midfield rather than from a poacher position.
The team has looked exhausted in all the 2nd halves since Rebic became a starter.
I brought this issue up in
the Torino match-thread before the game.
It's a new issue, caused by the intensity of the 4231/442 and the lack of bench options that can re-energize the team. Rebic used to do that in January, when he came off the bench for Leao.
Paq, Bona and Leao haven't been able to have that impact as subs.
Ibra helped reducing this problem by winning every aerial duel around the center circle in the 2nd half against Torino.
This issue did not exist under Giampaolo. There was no drop in performance or decreased intensity at the end of the games. How come, you might ask? It's because there was no intensity to begin with. The team was lethargic from the beginning to the end.
Things improved with Pioli. The team started creating chances and playing with at least a little bit of intensity and urgency. However there was still the likes of Suso to slow things down. The lack of pace and threat from the wings(Hakan & Suso) seriously hampered us. Piatek would mess up the first touch or make a terrible dribbling attempt, dive and not win the foul. Despite all of this, the team still created a lot of chances, but Paqueta, Piatek, Hakan and Kessie would miss them.
I think the poor results in Pioli's first months had very little to do with mentality. It was a lack of quality, but also the wrong personnel(on some spots) for a nice platform with a huge upside.
We more or less have the same platform now, but Piatek, Suso and Hakan(as LW) have been upgraded.
Personally of course I love the skill he brings to the game, but technically he is probably my favorite player of all time looking at a whole career. If I look beyond that, I don't think his biggest contribution here is kicking the ball in the net. And if he goes I think you need someone that is not Giroud to replace him.
The Giroud role is not just being a poacher. That would be the Pippo role.
Giroud has an excellent hold-up play. He's just as dominant in the air, and even better at scoring off of headers.