News has spread over the last day (or two?) that we have lost Giroud for the next 3 matches. The debate still rages on about whether the tackle was a justified red card or if it was just a response to the Sidwell red earlier in the game (and the FA is full of shite) but at this point it doesn’t really matter. All that matters now is what we do from here knowing that Hey Hey Hey, Giroud is out, we have a void in our hold up game at the striker position and we desperately need 3 points.

Granted, Giroud hasn’t been this giant goal scoring machine but he has put up extremely respectable stats for his first season in the Premier League and I for one think his manly presence in the starting lineup generally has a positive impact on the game. First off, he does pretty dang well in the hold up position. He knows how to incorporate others into this game via touch and go passing and manly chesty layoffs. He has also been a great threat with his head: does well heading out on D to boot.

Personally, I think we are more vulnerable without him and I don’t like the position we found ourselves in with him out of our lineup. IF Podolski was 100% then I might feel OK, but not great, about slotting him in the middle and I certainly am an advocate for him to have more playing time once healthy. But the truth is Poldi has been used erratically this year and his nagging (hidden) injury has kept him from fully integrating and being involved in the lineup on a regular basis. Thus, he is NOT the answer to all life’s (Arsenal’s) questions and my hope is that if he starts in place of Giroud we do our damage quickly with him in the lineup since we all know he will get subbed out 6o minutes into it all.

In the end, the loss of Giroud really highlights what we are really missing right now (and for all damn season): depth at striker. Poldi can be that guy but he is not that guy right now. Thus, we need depth here in order to compete for a full season (in all bloody tournaments) in the event we have guys go down. Case in point: Man U. Aside from the Dutch skunk, they have a guy in Chicharito who could slot in if needed. As a matter of fact, if you look across most of the top tier teams in the other leagues what you see is that they have a bench full of players that would do well enough to start on most other teams (if not all other teams). That is what we are missing and what will probably keep us out of the chase for a title(s) for some time to come (unless we start spending some damn money on players!!!). We have to have depth in our striking options in order to compete and this season shows that one or two injuries really puts us in a bind hoping that other teams will drop points instead of us confidently going into the next game saying: no problem, we got this, give us our damn 3 points.

For the upcoming match against Man U I am partially for starting 3 “true strikers”: a mix of Theo/AOC/Gervinho/Podolski. I would prefer a starting top three of Gervinho (I know… I know…) wide, Podolski middle and Theo wide with AOC acting as our super sub for Podolski and then slotting in Theo, or God forbid Gervinho, to the middle once Podolski is subbed out. That means Santi can’t start up top, an argument I continue to make to no avail, and leaves us a bit thin in the sub department if one of our strikers goes down. With that said, I know that the top 3 will thus include Santi and then a combo of either Theo/AOC/Gervinho with Podolski probably acting as a sub with the other player left out of the starting lineup; and that may actually prove to be the smarter move.

SO, given that Poldi is not 100% here is my suggested (albeit realistic) lineup:

Santi—Gervinho(ugh)—Theo

Ramsey—Rosicky—Arteta

Gibbs—BFG—Kols—Sagna

Szczesny

Yeah, that’s right. I wouldn’t start Jack. The lad has not looked fully fit (or himself) and truth is I think 60 minutes of him not playing well and getting discourage is worse than 30 minutes of him subbing in and working his ass off as much as possible.

Right, on to the weekend where Tater Totts drop points, Chelsea keeps getting distracted (and drops points) by the news and our mighty Gunners welcome Man U’s title anthem with an ass whopping by send them home packing with nothing to show for their efforts at the Emirates.