Absolutely love reading the truth in your posts , well Iād prefer it wasnāt the truth as Arsenal would be better for it but you know what I mean.
His strengths are his intelligent movement, anticipation and finishing. Currently, he plays as the lone CF in a possession-based system which requires him to play with his back to goal and leaves him no room to run in behind.
Add to that the fact our central midfield area is broken which is the fundamental basis for a possession-based system. So not only has Lacazette been played out of position, the system we are using is fucking garbage anyway. Heās not being found, heās not getting many opportunities to shoot at goal and his confidence is shot to shit.
I view this as Wengerās utter nadir as our manager, so Iāll give a player who has only recently joined the benefit of the doubt. Iām fairly confident a different manager would get a lot more out of him.
The thing I do worry about is how much penalties padded his statistic in previous seasons.
Something like 10 of his 28 goals last season for Lyon were penalties, so in reality he scored 18 goals last season. 18 in 36 games or whatever is decent, but not set-the-world-on-fire decent.
Iām just worried that even when we do sort out our midfield, heāll never be as prolific as weād hoped heād be.
Also Ligue 1 does not have the same level of defending as the PL.
Wenger often buys strikers from Ligue 1 or 2 who turn out not to be good enough,because they look great against not very good defences.
Iām not suggesting Lacazette is as poor as Chamakh, Park, Gervinho, etc, who all looked good in the French league, because I still think he could be a lot better under a different manager, but, like Giroud, he has had the luxury of playing in front of the best midfielders in Europe and is still struggling.
What I will say in Lacaās defence is that he is playing in the worst Arsenal team seen in over 20 years.
That can account for a lot.
Even when he was scoring, he was always taken off before the end of game
I agree with the semtiment of the post but I wouldnāt totally pin the blame on Wenger and his lack of system. Itās pretty clear Lacazette doesnāt have the individual ability to overcome the deficiencies of the poor set up, thatās why it bothers me when people cream themselves over his basic link up, itās symptomatic of him dropping deeper at the expense of more goal scoring opportunities for himself.
Iāve always argued he should focus on poaching goals by working the oppositionās defensive line with constant smart movement. Itās clear he doesnāt posses the pace to run in behind on a consistent basis. It was genuinely shocking when I realise how limited his pace was.
Itās pretty clear Auba wonāt burden himself with link up play. He knows his strengths and will focus totally on poaching hence why heāll always start ahead of Laca and the idea of real competition between the two is a non starter. Seen enough to realise heās a tangible threat in behind even with very limited space.
As for Lacazetteās finishing ability, since the start of his dry period which started after Utd (h) heās had 23 shots on goal spread out over 11 league games and 783ā mins. 11 of those shots were on target and he returned 1 goal during that period. Thatās a poor return for a guy whose strengths is his finishing, his ability to finish chances isnāt affected by the quality of the team or the deficiencies in Wengerās system, Itās on him alone
Not sure what he can offer to this club under another manager with Auba still in the squad. Even in a Lyon system which suited him he wasnāt particularly prolific goalscorer penalties removed nor did he ever have a high shot per game ratio over a season which top strikers hitting 25+ league goal normally have. The only way Lacazette justifies his expense to this club is through a high scoring rate, if thatās not there then question marks on him as a player are more than valid.
If you are the best player on your team and the system is built around you, you will be good.
When the team play to your strengths, you will look good.
I believe Laca is a good forward, just takes time for him, Ozil, Auba, Miki, Jack to get used to play to each other.
The fact is, Laca is quite a miserly striker.
He wonāt create many chances for himself, but the ones he does see, he will finish (the ones at the weekend notwithstanding)
The opposite of Cavani, who will miss a shit ton, but make enough chances that he will score.
For me, his play in tight spaces and his dribbling is his best quality, which is why Iād like to see him out wide with Aubameyang in the middle of one of them does have to make way for the other when they play together.
Heās a confidence player, I remember he scored in the first minute on his debut, confidence was running through his veins, he really just needs a lift and heāll be banging in the goals again
You didnāt give him a chance though, did you? You were on his case massively from day one
I suppose he should have said I wanted to be proven wrong.
Great news!
on how Alex Lacazetteās recovery is goingā¦
Heās doing well. I think he will be ahead of his planned recovery. It should be four weeks from now, maybe three and a half weeks, so his response has been good.
Even though Welbeck couldnāt hit water if he fell out of a boat, he showed you what kind of positions a forward player should be getting into when heās actually producing some movement. He was through on goal 5 or 6 times today. Something Laca canāt accomplish in 5 or 6 matches. Also of note, Welbz got much shittier service than Laca normally does.
Might have something to do with the fact he was playing Oystersons at home, lolā¦Lacazette has a good record at home against the midtablers and bottom feeders (higher level clubs than Oystersons)ā¦of actually, you know, scoring. But keep up the agenda Curty-poo!
Always thought Laca had great positioningā¦
Go back and read my posts I said heās substantially better than Welbeck prior to any of this, also never said heās shit just severely overrated by some.
Fair enough, then.
Anyone who compares Welbeck to Lacazette, must have some problemā¦