Chapter 787： let them compete for starters

Portugal's offense should not be underestimated. After Arsenal gave up the ball, their advantage in intensive attack was established.

During the ten-minute attack, they threatened Arsenal's goal many times.

On the other hand, Arsenal's counterattack made frequent mistakes.

The cooperation between Giroud and the two wingers is not so tacit. The cooperation between the three always feels like it lacks a lubricant, and the success rate is not high.

Can't play the sharp scoring feeling that Mourinho wants.

Even after Giroud retreats, in many cases he will be stared at by opposing players, or lose the ball, or be unable to score the ball.

This is the result of hesitation and slow moves.

But in order to increase the success rate, it is necessary to play a little slower.

Once you get up quickly, you will return to the situation of making mistakes.

"It's still not enough to run in!" Mourinho shook his head.

Portugal Sporting's offense continued continuously, and finally at the end of the first half, their main striker Dost scored a wonderful escape shot.

It was the Argentine player Acuna who assisted.

Sporting Portugal equalized the score, but they are always a little unhappy.

They knew in their hearts that Arsenal was practicing a new lineup and did not enter the game with a safe posture.

They are more in the test, rather than care about the outcome of the game.

And Arsenal's previous goal is their complete state.

Under this kind of emotion, the Portuguese sports stadium always feels a bit aggrieved.

They tried their best to score a goal, but the opponent's attitude was somewhat understated.

"Don't care about conceding the ball, focus on tactics and lineup cooperation. Giroud, don't be afraid of making mistakes, keep trying. Aubameyang and Mane also cooperate with Giroud more. You need to communicate more!"

After Le Kai shouted at the three of them, he continued to participate in the game.

But the situation is still not ideal.

After the start of the second half of the game, this tactic always gives people a feeling of stagnation.

Mourinho and other coaches on the sidelines also gathered together, although they thought that the advancement of this lineup was not so easy.

But there are obviously more problems.

"Lack of lubricant!"

Arteta said seriously; "Those three lacked a player who was like a lubricant before."

"Someone needs to help them get through the coordination, or in other words, add a support point in the rear, which may be able to play better results!"

"Who will be the lubricant?"

"Wilshere?"

"Then who organizes the rhythm of the frontcourt?"

"Then let Kay be the lubricant!"

"You're reckless. Kay has the ability to shoot long distances from the outside. If you let him do the work of distributing the ball, isn't it killing Kay's long-range shooting ability?"

The coaches are arguing, they think about the lubricant type of players.

At this moment, Mourinho waved his hand and said, "Stop arguing, there is no hurry now! This is the end of today's tactical drill, and the other substitutes are still waiting!"

Hearing this, the coaches turned their heads and looked over.

On the bench, a group of substitutes including Xhaka were staring at them eagerly.

It was only then that they realized that the game time had almost entered 80 minutes.

79 minutes, Arsenal made a large-scale substitution.

Except for Giroud and Lucky, everyone else including the goalkeeper was replaced.

Goalkeeper: Petr Cech.

Defenders: Holding, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal.

Midfielders: Ramsey, Lucky, Xhaka.

Forwards: Welbeck, Giroud, Lacazette.

Five minutes later, Le Kai and Giroud were also replaced, and the three little ones also got the chance to play.

The final 90-minute warm-up match ended, and Arsenal drew with Sporting Portugal 2:2.

After the game, Arsenal returned to London and immediately started the post-match summary.

There are two sets of lineups, the first set is undoubtedly more dominant.

However, after 79 minutes, Luckai and Giroud's cross to grab the goal was also very good.

Giroud's sense of smell in front of the goal is extremely sensitive, especially good at headers.

And under Lucky's precise passing, this ability is infinitely magnified.

The most important thing is that Arsenal not only has Lucky, a player who is an excellent passer.

Robertson, Wilshere, Mane, Aubameyang are all fine.

And in the counterattack, their arc pass can help the center forward.

In this respect, Giroud's characteristics overlap somewhat with Lukaku.

And Giroud's physical confrontation feels no less than Lukaku.

The most important thing is that Giroud still has the tactical characteristics of being able to retreat and play the ball. Once he completes the development of this tactic, it is estimated that Lukaku will give up his main position.

For this reason, Lukaku is anxious.

His performance in training and warm-up matches has also become more active.

Not only in offense, but also in defense, he also frequently launched threatening steals in the frontcourt.

A lazy Lukaku began to work hard, full of threats.

And seeing the changes in Lukaku, Mourinho is very satisfied.

"Is there any possibility of Lukaku and Giroud coexisting?"

Everyone shook their heads, the characteristics of these two players overlapped a bit.

"Let them compete for the starting lineup like this!" Mourinho said; "Whoever is in better condition will be the main force!"

The recent competition between Lukaku and Giroud is benign. Both of them are secretly competing with each other, and the cycle is upward. This is an extremely ideal state.

If the two center forwards are in an excellent competitive state, this will help Arsenal configure more tactical lineups.

You can play different styles according to different opponents.

And this season Arsenal must fight on two fronts, the Champions League and the league must be taken care of. The two centers are in excellent condition, which is also a great contribution to the team.

"But Giroud's retreat tactics"

Arteta sighed; "Who is suitable to be this lubricant?"

In recent training matches, Ramsey, Wilshere, Kanter, Xhaka, Lucky and even substitute Sam have all tried lubricant work.

Among them, Ramsey and Wilshere have the best effects. If you insist, Wilshere can make more threatening passes.

But the effect is still not ideal.

To this end, the substitutes are also constantly working hard.

For Ramsey, Xhaka and other players, they know very well that as long as they can cooperate with Giroud, they may be the main players in another lineup.

What a tempting option.

They are not like Lucky and Kanter, who have absolute main attributes in the midfield.

Even Wilshere is trying to get into the role.

"What kind of pass do you want?"

Wilshere took the initiative to ask Giroud.

Hearing this, Giroud looked at Wilshere and said, "What I want is not a pass, but a breakthrough!"

"Breakthrough?"

Wilshere froze for a moment.

Giroud nodded and said; "The speed of passing the ball to the wall is really fast, but it will firmly suppress me in the middle position and cannot form a richer running position. So my idea is that the midfielder passes to the winger, and the winger Wait for the opportunity to pass to me, when I hold the ball, the two wingers and the midfielder quickly run forward with three arrows, so that I can have three passing options, and I will also make moves based on this choice!"

Soon, Xhaka, Ramsey, Kanter and Sam all ran over to communicate.

In this regard, Giroud also treats them equally.

"how do you feel?"

After the training, Le Kai took the initiative to find Giroud, and it is the captain's responsibility to help new players integrate into the team.

Giroud is an unsmiling character.

"Very good!" Giroud said; "Everyone is working hard for the victory, and I can feel that everyone wants to improve quickly."

Lucky smiled and said, "Our goal is to be the champion!"

Giroud: "This is why I am willing to come to Arsenal to compete!"

Lucky nodded; "I will not favor any of your centers, nor will I not pass the ball to you because Lukaku and I have been teammates for a longer time, as long as you run to a threatening position, I will pass the ball , what I need is a center who can score goals for the team!"

Although what he said was somewhat disrespectful, this was Lucy's inner thoughts.

He will not favor anyone, goals are king!

"I wish I could!"

Giroux nodded with a smile.

For a player like him, a level playing field is rare.

Lucky nodded with a smile; "There are still two warm-up matches to come, and then we will wait for the league to kick off. Looking forward to your Premier League debut!"

Giroud; "I'm looking forward to it too! And I'll score!"

Lucky; "Let's talk when you score a goal."