Alexandre Lacazette: Laca the Net

[Likemusic]

First wanted this lad summer of 2015. Always felt if we signed him then we would won the league instead of Leicester.

Chuffed at this signing.

I am calling it now. Laca will outscore the Lukaku lad and Morata if United manage to sign him.

He is better than Vardy ever was and will prove that next year.

Lacazette will not out score them.

 

[Likemusic]

I think the truth is, our lukewarm feelings towards signing Lacazette over the last few years has probably been the same as wengers.

We've wanted a world class CF and were so close to Higuin and Suarez. I think wenger has always hoped maybe a world class CF would become available but the reality is, there haven't been any and Lacazette isn't a player that gets you off your seat.

However, I'm looking at it differently now. Like the Les Ferdinand of the modern age. It seems will always get you 20+ goals a season without any fuss or bother, with consistent 7.5 out of 10 performances.

Those types of players are invaluable. Happy to have him on board. Hope he proves his worth and bangs in 30 this season and beats Kane to the golden boot.

Suarez is world class, Higuin and Lacazette are far from that level.

 

[Zaza]

Suarez is world class, Higuin and Lacazette are far from that level.

Higuain IS world class

 

[Song Billong]

I don't see him outscoring Lukaku, but I would be confident in him outscoring Morata. Having said that Morata brings other things to the table.

 

[Ash10]

Lukaku has speed, height, body strength, and a bit of tricks. He can use all these attributes to help the team play, to keep possession or to get in a good shooting position.
Lacazette finishing ability is great, but other than that, he only offers speed and maybe a bit of body strength. He won't be able to do what Morata or Lukaku can do.

Forgot about the nightmare inducing first touch that lukaku posseses

 

[Taylor Gang Gunners]

Lukaku has speed, height, body strength, and a bit of tricks. He can use all these attributes to help the team play, to keep possession or to get in a good shooting position.
Lacazette finishing ability is great, but other than that, he only offers speed and maybe a bit of body strength. He won't be able to do what Morata or Lukaku can do.

Lacazette's linkup play is every bit as good as Lukaku's, if not better. It only seems more obvious for Lukaku because of his stature. He still has flaws in his game.

For one, his first touch is poor. He also has an annoying inconsistentcy where he can go several games without bagging a goal. He was what, four goals clear in the top goal scoring charts with like 5 games to go? He ended up finishing second to Harry Kane.

I rate Lukaku and I think he'll be a good signing for Yanited/Chelski but I'd rather Lacazette any day of the week (I genuinely believe that btw.) Especially for the price we got him for.

Morata probably has the best combination play out of all three strikers mentioned but a clinical finisher he is not (yet.) It's always a risk paying big bucks for a striker who's yet to bag more than 15 goals in ONE season.

 

[Sanchez11]

Still cant believe hes here wasnt my first choice but i dont care.

 

[tcahill]

Lukaku has speed, height, body strength, and a bit of tricks. He can use all these attributes to help the team play, to keep possession or to get in a good shooting position.
Lacazette finishing ability is great, but other than that, he only offers speed and maybe a bit of body strength. He won't be able to do what Morata or Lukaku can do.

Lukaku isn't the aerial threat that his size and strength would suggest, and is almost invisible in buildup. He lacks the explosive acceleration in the penalty area, but when he reaches full speed in a long run he's unstoppable.

Lacazette is the best finisher, the best at link up play, and the best at pressing the defence. He may not be a 'world class' forward but he's the perfect fit for our style of play.

Morata seems to be a blend of the two from the limited time i've seen him actually play.

 

[sammyvine]

Lukaku is better than Lacazette

Lukaku has been amongst the top scorers in the league and Everton are not even a great side.

The French league isn't as good as the PL and Lacazette doesn't even start for France ahead of Giroud.
Lacazette is being overrated big time

 

[MutableEarth]

Lukaku is better than Lacazette

Lukaku has been amongst the top scorers in the league and Everton are not even a great side.

The French league isn't as good as the PL and Lacazette doesn't even start for France ahead of Giroud.
Lacazette is being overrated big time

He's being underrated IMO. Lots of people down on this signing so far with no idea of how effective he could be for us. Don't know what most people were expecting in terms of who we were gonna bring in.

I'm gonna wait and see him actually play games for us and retain my optimism.

 

[Jury]

I feel we got the better deal output wise. I'd put good money on Laca scoring more. PL experience is overstated. We'll see.

 

[Gooner Zig]

Any half decent striker should be banging 20 goals a season (in the league) playing behind Alexis and Özil

 

[Majora]

Think regardless of who you rate higher, Lacazette is currently a better fit for Arsenal than Lukaku is. Really telling of the current striker market though when both United and us have spent 75+ and 50+ million respectively on a striker and both fan bases seem split on whether they've got the right player. From the admittedly little I've seen of Lacazette I'm quietly optimistic we've bought what we have spent years crying out for, a mobile deadly finisher up top. Time will tell, I'm excited to see him play and show us what he's got.

 

[hyruga2]

Higuain IS world class

Higuain is world class except when he is playing in the final. He always choke in the final.

 

[The Clock End]

Any half decent striker should be banging 20 goals a season (in the league) playing behind Alexis and Özil

Let's just hope he will be playing behind Alexis.

Great signing but more to do in my opinion.

 

[RoadrunnerReloaded]

Lacazette will not out score them.

If you are around at the end of season we can revisit this and see who was right.

Lacazette is, imo, a superior player and will outscore them and have more goals+assists in total.

 

[Sniper Mik]

Lukaku is better than Lacazette

Lukaku has been amongst the top scorers in the league and Everton are not even a great side.

The French league isn't as good as the PL and Lacazette doesn't even start for France ahead of Giroud.
Lacazette is being overrated big time

Benzema doesn't start ahead of Giroud anymore either. It's nothing to do with quality. It's about the setup France have. They prefer a target man like Giroud and Gignac because it maximizes the effectiveness of runners from midfield and most importantly Griezmann.

 

[Trilly]

I saw your comment and decided to see if with some research, I could assuage your fears. I think I can.

When looking at his shots per game ratio of 2.8 it might look unconvincing against other players until you dig into the numbers. For this, I used some of the top strikers in the league and Sanchez. Those strikers were Kane, Costa and Lukaku.

The key to this analysis is where shots are being taken from. Also of note, is that only Kane played as little games as he did, 30 apiece. Sanchez - 38, Costa - 35 and Lukaku - 37. All those guys outside of Kane played 700+ more mins of football.

To begin, we know that shots from outside the box are low success shots. And this is where Lacazette stands apart from these other players, he limits himself taking shots like these.

First up, Sanchez. Lacazette took 45 less shots than Alexis (83) but only 6 less shots from inside the box. Alexis took 51 shots from outside the box and only converted on 3 of them. Yes, terrible. That's a conversion rate of 6% in comparison to Lacazette's 17% on 2 goals from 12 from outside the box.

Up next is Costa. He took 111 shots total and 20 of those were from outside the box. He scored 2 of them for a conversion rate of 10%. Not bad.

Next up is Kane. He took 110 shots in total and 42 of those came from outside the box. He did convert 5 of those at a 12% conversion rate. Pretty good from him.

And lastly is Lukaku. He took 110 shots and 30 of those were from outside the box. He only scored one of those. That's a 3% conversion rate. Frankly, it's terrible but should be expected from such low percentage shots.

Once we switch over to per game averages, Lacazette actually averages 2.37 shots per game from inside the box. Only Costa who averaged 2.6 while playing 5 games more did better than him. Sanchez is the worst of the bunch averaging just 2.03.

To conclude, when push comes to shove in a tight game, only Costa averages more shots per game from inside the box. What makes Lacazette good is that he converts 35% of his shots inside the box per game average. Only Kane betters him at 35.24%. Costa comes in at 19.61%, Lukaku at 30.1% and Sanchez at 27.1%. Essentially, guys like Sanchez, Kane and Lukaku spend too much time trying to score wonder goals from outside the box. And that's why their shots per game average is so much greater than a player like Lacazette.

Really good post, so nice I had to like it twice.

 

[MutableEarth]

Benzema doesn't start ahead of Giroud anymore either. It's nothing to do with quality. It's about the setup France have. They prefer a target man like Giroud and Gignac because it maximizes the effectiveness of runners from midfield and most importantly Griezmann.

Also, when did Giroud get so many fans?

 

[Likemusic]

Benzema doesn't start ahead of Giroud anymore either. It's nothing to do with quality. It's about the setup France have. They prefer a target man like Giroud and Gignac because it maximizes the effectiveness of runners from midfield and most importantly Griezmann.

The reason Benzema didn't play for France is that he was charged with conspiracy to blackmail relating to an extortion scam over a sex tape.