Seriously need to consider whether or not to start Giroud here as well as for the next couple of games coming up.
Normally, I’m for rewarding players who are in form but we’re going to be down to one or no experienced center midfielders to use if we’re not careful. We’re overworking our center midfielders (not to mention our defenders) the way we’ve been playing recently and if we continue to play as we have been we’re going to lose Xhaka and/or Ramsey the same way we lost Coquelin. As I don’t want to deny Giroud his starting spot which he has rightfully earned, I’ll propose two ways to approach this game, one with Giroud and the other without.
Option 1:
Cech
Bellerin Mustafi Koscielny(c) Monreal
Xhaka Ramsey
Alexis --- Ozil --- Lucas
Giroud
Subs: Ospina, Gabriel, Jenkinson, Jeff, Iwobi, Chamberlain, Welbeck
The strategy here is to just keep possession. We pass the ball amongst ourselves until openings present themselves. Otherwise we keep the ball to the point of frustration on their part. The point of this is to avoid giving away possession needlessly and take some of the pressure off our defensive players. To make doubly sure our players don’t stray away from the game plan, subtract a certain number from a player’s wages for each misplaced pass that player makes.
Option 2:
Cech
Bellerin Mustafi Koscielny(c) Monreal
Xhaka Ramsey
Lucas --- Ozil --- Iwobi
Alexis
Subs: Ospina, Gabriel, Jenkinson, Jeff, Chamberlain, Welbeck, Giroud
I think we’d be better off going with this lineup as it seems we’re incapable of adjusting our style to suit Giroud. With this strategy, we let the front four do the work. Relentless pressure and constant movement from the front four and let the midfield pair worry about defending and starting attacks from deep. We have offensive players on the bench ready to come on in the second half and capable of changing a game so the starting forwards can let loose without worry