I’ve been super critical of Arteta for not using Auba correctly but at this point he’s either deliberately designed/stumbled into a formation that seems to work.
Auba could absolutely play that Lacazette role but we probably want a striker in that slot who combines attributes of both players.
no. and we’ve tried like 40 times.
What does Lacazette do that role that Auba (fully fit and focused)can’t do?
He’s not some hold up wizard, he’s just a good player.
Maybe some of the link up passing would fall out but you’d be giving up the some of the passing and getting some running instead.
Not saying Lacazette is trash or that Auba is good in that role but he could play there if he (and the club) wanted him to in a rotation until the end of the season and then leave.
I feel like I’ve explained this plenty of times and no one cares 
so I’m not going into it again. Just, we’ve tried. A gazillion times. He has played that role probably 40 times, it doesn’t work out. That’s all 
I know you’re not saying he is bad, I obv. don’t think he is either. He can definitely play successfully as a central forward, of course. Just that we have a manager who want’s “that role” and that one he doesn’t do well. We either change tactics which ofc is fine, or change player.
He’s terrible at keeping the ball. Talked about it on a podcast I listened to. Laca is better at it and suits our players more even tho he is a worse goalscorer
The ball isn’t bouncing off him like he’s made of flubber. He could fill in as Lacazette’s backup or sub until June. That’s all I’m saying.
Disagree
Has he gone yet?
Fair enough. Not saying he’s good at that role or even ideals but for six more months we could rotate him in so Lacazette isn’t having the sweats at 70 minutes every game.
I mean it sorta does bounce off him a lot lol. But I get your point, and I agree in theory and either way it -should- be like that, I just don’t think it is right here right now. Arteta wants a certain type of football. I’ve tried to explain this for… idno 2 years on OA and I’m tired to death of it, but let’s say under another manager maybe we change tactics a bit - absolutely he could. Then we also maybe wouldn’t be “super short” on midfielders because Guendouzi would still be here etc
I don’t think Auba would have facilitated this play as well as Laca did here.
Laca is just that bit more refined at it, party because he was always molded as a second striker if I am not wrong.
I have seen poster mock about the “hold up play” but what else do you need from a hold up play? Laca retains possession whenever he gets the ball and plays/passes to the player better placed to attack.
‘Auba should be played at CF’ gang should shut it now. it’s proven he doesn’t serve the purpose.
Honestly I feel like those were just really simple and basic passages of play you’d expect most professionals to be able to make. The first pass was solid because he was under pressure but I really don’t subscribe to the idea that Lacazette does anything all that special.
People make it sound like Auba can’t even pass a ball
well it is kinda true…recently when he played for us he couldnt even pass the ball properly 5 yards
Nah man, that’s one of the simplest examples.
I really don’t think Auba has the close control that Lacazette displays in the video below.
Laca also moves the ball along & passes quicker, which improves our overall play.
I am not saying Laca > Auba but Auba is someone who should be used to run onto a through ball while Laca is someone who takes part in the play and right now the team needs that.
I do agree with you he’s better than Auba in that regard I just don’t it’s significant enough to warrant the discrepancy in the amount of goals both players scored.
I also think in defense of Auba he wasn’t getting a lot of time in this new team with Odegaard bringing everything together so well.
Maybe Auba was the reason for the disharmony and poor play I don’t know. I’m just looking forward to life beyond both of them
@Castiel Goals do not need to come from the central striker, that’s outdated.
Listen, Real win the league 2016, the CL 2017, Benzema scores 11 and 5 in the league those seasons.
Liverpool win the CL 2019, the league 2020. Firmino scores 12 and 9 in the league those seasons.
Pep plays the likes of Phoden and KdB as false 9s doing this type of stuff, they don’t score much more.
It is demonstrably true that this works if the rest is done right. Anything else is another myth. Update firmware.
Moreso, these are likely the teams that inspired your great leader Kim Jong Arteta, a managerial student at the time, to convert Lacazette into this type of striker and to throw everyone who doesn’t adapt to this type of ball into the Sun, no matter if they’re the big star (Auba) or the marquee record signing (Pepe).
The season everyone turned on Laca’s goal scoring his scoring rate was up there with the best. He had 12 goals and the best ones like 18 is because he played 2k mins and they played 3k mins. That part isn’t an opinion, it’s a fact. If ppl turn on him here there is no hope because that was unusually good for him.
Is Laca as good as Benzema and Firmino, no. He’s half the price. But are our wide players as good as prime Ronaldo + Bale? Prime Mane + Salah? Not by a country mile. Our £60m and £70m alternatives who can’t get game time over our u21 players? And I mean at this type of football, not something else. Don’t rate round pegs on how well they go into round holes when the manager decides that it is square holes that are to be filled.
Whenever I say Laca is better/more functional etc. I get replies about his shit goal scoring and who we should buy instead who would score more. That’s why I stopped visiting the Laca thread.
Like, do you not get it. If we just wanted one guy to score from central and that’s it we’d play something else than false9ball and put Auba there. If you don’t want the false9ball then change manager first of all. Round pegs, square holes.
When we play this ball, Laca links up play better, wins the ball back better, protects it better, passes it better, covers space defensively better, runs box to box like a fucking moron better, plays better with his back against the goal, takes penalties he wins himself better and is more creative as a support striker for the wide bros. That’s what you want. Because he is told to lie behind the wide players, and to block crosses from opponent full backs down by our corner flag etc. You can literally hear the manager yell at him to do it during the games. He can be upgraded but then you want someone who is better at this stuff ^.
Unitl then, imo that’s why Laca should play out of the players we have in the squad right now.
I’m sorry you took the time to write all that out man because you completely lost me with the first sentence. You cite a bunch of examples where teams have the best wide players in world football bringing them success despite their lack of goals from their striker. I could cite countless examples of a centre forward scoring a lot of goals in a campaign but I’m not going to waste my time because ultimately it’s a CF’s job.
Do we really live in a world where we considering it a “myth” that strikers need to score goals lmao, come on what’s next goalkeepers don’t need to make saves as long as they can play out from the back. Jesus wept.
As for your dig about Arteta, he didn’t convert Laca to shit, he’s making the most of a bad situation because his first choice acted like a twat. There’s a reason we’re looking at Vlahovic who’s nothing fucking like Firmino, or Foden as a false nine.
That’s because you said whether or not it warranted the discrepancy in goals scored.
The tl:dr; is ofc you can win with other types of football. But then start by playing that type of football.
A good counter example of what you ask for is full backs. Who do not need to stay fully back when the team attacks. In fact they could be wing backs in 2021 and fuck all the way up the pitch and score. That’s pretty strange for a defender huh.
So let me ask you this then, are you content to allow our future success of the next few seasons on keeping on Lacazette for two years and ignoring someone like Vlahovic who can potentially score more goals for across that time period?
But now you’re doing the other thing I said. Talk about who we should buy that scores more. That wasn’t the discussion, not what Trion talked about or what you said that made me reply
It was more about who should we play out of the players we have, this is the Auba thread. Everyone in our squad can probably be upgraded, including Laca, sure. I wouldn’t mind getting Vlahovic absolutely, 21yo, Laca entering the end of his contract, turning 31yo in May etc.
I could probably extend Laca for a year because we need heads either way and have both if possible. I’ve sevearl times stated that I think he is fine, he is a 7/10 striker, he can be upgraded.