Chapter 49: Sparring Goalkeeper Big Giroud!

Chapter 49: Olivier Giroud, Sparring Goalkeeper!

The Champions League match was scheduled for Wednesday.

Therefore, immediately following the North London Derby, Arsenal was granted only a half-day off.

On Sunday afternoon, the entire squad boarded a plane bound for Germany, wasting no time at all.

Upon arriving in Gelsenkirchen, the Arsenal players settled into their hotel, while the coaching staff immediately convened for a tactical meeting concerning Schalke 04.

Schalke 04 was by no means a pushover.

During the 2009-2010 Champions League season, they had surged all the way into the semi-finals, only to be eliminated by Manchester United.

However, the mastermind behind that Schalke 04 side was Jupp Heynckes, who is now the manager of Bayern Munich.

Then, during the 2010-2011 season, news broke midway through the campaign that Heynckes would leave Schalke 04 at the end of the season to take charge of Bayern.

This revelation caused Schalke 04 to collapse mid-season, resulting in a dismal finish where they managed only 14th place in the Bundesliga, a meager four points above the relegation zone.

By the 2011-2012 season, Dutch manager Huub Stevens took over the reins at Schalke 04. He rallied a squad with a solid foundation and propelled them back to the upper echelons of the Bundesliga table, finishing that season in third place behind only Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich.

Schalke 04 was also in stellar form this season, at one point even surpassing Bayern Munich to claim the top spot in the standings.

After nine rounds of Bundesliga matches this season, Schalke 04 still sat comfortably in second place.

Within their ranks, they boasted Dutch international Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, alongside prominent names such as Benedikt Höwedes, Joël Matip, and Jefferson Farfán.

They also featured highly touted young prospects like Julian Draxler.

Moreover, the Veltins-Arena was renowned as a fiercely hostile away ground.

Facing a team like Schalke 04 away from home was undoubtedly a daunting task for Arsenal, especially considering they had just contested a high-intensity North London Derby over the weekend, and upon returning to England after this fixture, they would face the challenge of hosting Liverpool at home.

Faced with this grueling sequence of tough matches, Wenger and his coaching staff inevitably had to make some tactical fine-tuning.

For this specific match, for instance, Wenger's plan was to deploy a defensive counter-attacking strategy away from home.

"During the latter stages of the match against Tottenham, Li's performance as a lone striker was quite effective. He is now capable of holding his own in physical duels, and his pace is good..."

Wenger placed a tactical marker at the very front of the board.

"Furthermore, he is the forward with the strongest finishing ability in our squad. Therefore, we can consider starting Santi Cazorla and Jack Wilshere together!"

As he spoke, he placed two more markers behind that first one—one directly behind Li Mo, and the other positioned on the left flank.

Brian, the tactical coach, immediately caught on and addressed the right flank: "What about the right side?"

"I plan to play Theo Walcott," Wenger replied.

"If we are considering a defensive counter-attack, we must ensure we maintain a certain level of pace."

"Both Li and Walcott possess good speed..."

"With Wilshere and Cazorla functioning as two attacking midfielders, we can deploy two defensive midfielders behind them..."

"That looks promising. Whether through the center or down the flanks, we can feed Li with a multitude of passes."

The members of Arsenal's coaching staff began to discuss animatedly.

During training the next day, the Arsenal players quickly noticed the changes.

First, Theo Walcott seemed to have reclaimed a spot in the starting lineup, while Olivier Giroud was relegated to the substitute group.

Second, the coaching staff demanded an increase in through balls and crosses from the flanks.

During the tactical meeting, Wenger had also emphasized the team's fundamental strategy for the match: defensive counter-attack.

Whenever an opportunity arose, the ball was to be moved forward swiftly, channeling it as often as possible into the zones where Li Mo could directly threaten the goal.

Horizontal passing was minimized, while vertical passing and forward breakthroughs—primarily spearheaded by Walcott down his flank—were increased.

In short, the objective was to ensure defensive solidity while creating as many opportunities as possible for Li Mo to face the goal directly.

Wenger was determined to maximize Li Mo's knack for capitalizing on scoring chances to the absolute limit.

Walcott was naturally thrilled, as he saw an opening to return to the starting eleven.

Lukas Podolski felt a touch of disappointment, knowing this might relegate him to the bench, though he understood that opportunities would not evade him entirely—Podolski could operate both as a forward and track back to play as a wide midfielder, offering superior defensive work rate compared to Walcott when the situation demanded it.

The one experiencing the deepest sense of crisis, however, was Giroud.

He had no way of knowing whether this was merely a temporary tactical adjustment tailored specifically for Schalke 04, or the foundational tactical blueprint for the matches to come.

People often praised Wenger as a practitioner of beautiful football, but the Arsenal of the past had also been capable of playing with immense toughness and ruthless pragmatism.

Giroud realized that if Arsenal permanently adopted a 4-2-3-1 formation moving forward, he would likely be reduced to serving as Li Mo's backup—at least Walcott possessed the blistering pace required to drift out wide.

As for Giroud drifting wide...

The mental image was too absurd for even him to entertain.

His technical characteristics dictated that he could only operate centrally.

Yet, having transferred from Ligue 1 to the English Premier League, to find himself reduced to a substitute almost overnight...

How could he possibly resign himself to that?

Upon returning to the hotel, Giroud remained consumed with anxiety over his standing in the team.

His roommate, fellow Frenchman Laurent Koscielny, sensed Giroud's unease.

"You're worried about your place in the team, aren't you, Olivier?"

Koscielny asked, lying on his bed while scrolling through his phone.

"Shouldn't I be worried? With Li in such stellar form right now, and the boss wanting to play with a single striker, I'm afraid I'll be glued to the bench," Giroud sighed.

"Actually, I think you might still have a chance."

"Oh?" Giroud quickly turned his gaze toward Koscielny.

"Haven't you noticed? Li is the one with the best finishing ability right now, so the old man has only one thing on his mind: whoever can feed Li the best passes gets to start," Koscielny said, putting his phone aside to analyze the situation for Giroud.

"Therefore, if you can put in more running and shoulder more of the responsibility for linking up in midfield... and more importantly, if you can help Li score goals even better than Cazorla or Wilshere can, your spot will be waiting for you!"

"At the very least... your playing time won't be any less than Cazorla's or Wilshere's."

Koscielny's words gave Giroud food for thought.

"Feeding Li..."

"Right! If you can develop a telepathic understanding with Li, do you really think your chances of playing will dry up?"

"Understanding..."

Giroud murmured thoughtfully, a plan already taking shape in his mind.

The next day, Li Mo had an unexpected companion joining him for extra training sessions after the regular drills concluded.

"Olivier, are you sure... you want to train with me?"

"What's wrong with that?" Giroud grinned broadly.

"I figure we need to build a bit more chemistry. You understand how I pass, and I know how you make your runs. That way, won't we be able to help the team much better?"

"What you're saying makes a lot of sense!"

Li Mo rubbed his chin.

"It's just..."

He scratched the back of his head with a slight look of embarrassment.

"I was actually planning to work on my shooting practice..."

Giroud froze for a moment.

Then, gritting his teeth, he declared, "No problem, I'll be your goalkeeper!"

"You probably didn't know this, but I used to practice in goal specifically."

Without missing a beat, Giroud pulled on a pair of goalkeeper gloves.

Li Mo blinked slightly.

It wasn't because of Giroud's sudden transformation into a goalkeeper outfit.

Rather...

The system's chime rang out in his mind once again.

"Ding! [Football Bond System] triggered. You have acquired a new module. Please review the integrated training schedule!"

Companion Bond: Big Giroud wants to build chemistry with you.

Acquired Module: Giroud's Heading Ability Module

Integration Difficulty: C

Integration Progress: 70% (The Grade A Basic Shooting rating already incorporates a portion of heading technique)

Estimated Time to Full Integration: 2 days