Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang: Black Panther

[Macho]

Really? I did not see many...?

Like I said not necessarily today

 

[Macho]

:bounce::bounce:
How long since we’ve had a striker who can do this?

 

[rich 1990]

Is that his name?

It's my pet name for him. I think he has a far worse name, tbh, something like Archiebald or Dominic.

 

[samshere]

Agree with those saying his runs were ignored. Noticed the same thing, with Xhaka being the culprit most of the time. Don't know why he isn't trusting himself with the long balls, it used to be his forte

 

[KrissKringle]

Don't know why he isn't trusting himself with the long balls, it used to be his forte

Because he's playing higher whenever there's a buildup. Those long balls should be tried on the counter when Auba is the most advanced player on the pitch.
If only we had Fabregas again to play Auba from deep. Now that would have been something to behold.

 

[freeglennhelder2]

Great finish, fairly low key apart from that - otherwise there would be some serious abuse going down in the Laca thread right now, believe!!!

 

[Prawn Sandwich]

Gutted he missed the first one on one.
Pleased he took advantage of the **** offside decision to dink home. Nice finish.

Laca will still be useful. The Europa could help get Champions League and he's our main man for that.

 

[kraphtous]

I’ve heard this complaint about our midfielders missing the runs of our strikers so many times, I thought it would be pretty clear by now. Wenger doesn’t want us to play that way.

I’m pretty sure that Xhaka, Wilshere and Özil are able to play a long ball and they all see the runs most of the time but they are taught to play it short and quick. You see playing a long pass makes it likelier to lose possession, just like taking long shots does. Now the reason Auba and to a lesser extent now Lacazette make these runs is because they are not used to this kind of play yet. Even Giroud used to do them (watch his first goal for us, or his first missed chance when he arrived). He learned to play Wengerball after a season.

It won’t surprise me to see Aubameyang hit a rough patch soon when the quick interchanging does not work out as usual. That’s Wengerball for you, you either like it or not.

 

[Garrincha]

I’ve heard this complaint about our midfielders missing the runs of our strikers so many times, I thought it would be pretty clear by now. Wenger doesn’t want us to play that way.

I’m pretty sure that Xhaka, Wilshere and Özil are able to play a long ball and they all see the runs most of the time but they are taught to play it short and quick. You see playing a long pass makes it likelier to lose possession, just like taking long shots does. Now the reason Auba and to a lesser extent now Lacazette make these runs is because they are not used to this kind of play yet. Even Giroud used to do them (watch his first goal for us, or his first missed chance when he arrived). He learned to play Wengerball after a season.

It won’t surprise me to see Aubameyang hit a rough patch soon when the quick interchanging does not work out as usual. That’s Wengerball for you, you either like it or not.

The midfielders just need time to adjust. They have had Giroud & Lacazette up front without that line breaking speed or Alexis who wants to drop deep. Wengers best strikers have always made a habit of it so doubt he will stifle PEA.

 

[say yes]

Look at his movement/positioning for Ramsey's first (after he played the ball out wide to Mkhitaryan) and Koscielny's.

Right where he needs to be - if either of them miss then he's scoring.

Could have been a hat-trick on another day. Lovely stuff.

 

[TromsoGooner]

Didn`t do much apart from his goals but then again that`s not his game. Took his goal very well and we got a glimpse in the first half of how effective he can be when we win the ball when Özil put him through.

 

[MutableEarth]

So we have one top class CF, another who's a solid finisher - if you ignore Welbeck then you've got the most prolific youth CF we've had since Lupoli. We've gone from Giroud, Welbeck and occasionally Walcott, to Auba, Laca, Nketiah. Exciting!

We should keep Laca IMO. Can't have enough goals in the team.

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

Another day another car. What a guy

 

[GoonerJeeves]

:bounce::bounce:
How long since we’ve had a striker who can do this?

Henryesque that was.

 

[TakeChillPill]

I’ve heard this complaint about our midfielders missing the runs of our strikers so many times, I thought it would be pretty clear by now. Wenger doesn’t want us to play that way.

Don't think that's the case at all! That was Cesc's bread and butter ball as well as Song to RvP in his final full season.

As someone mentioned it's just that we've stopped playing this way because of Giroud and the players don't have the confidence to do so or aren't good enough and take too long to release the ball i.e. Xhaka.

Also this idea that Laca is some how slow. He's quick, just not Aubameyang, Walcott quick, if he breaks the offside trap, not many defenders catching him (He's easily as quick as Kane, whose done it plenty of times). We just need to find him more.

 

[Lady_Gooner]

Another day another car. What a guy

Need to be in sync with the song guys... needs some work

 

[MutableEarth]

Don't think that's the case at all! That was Cesc's bread and butter ball as well as Song to RvP in his final full season.

As someone mentioned it's just that we've stopped playing this way because of Giroud and the players don't have the confidence to do so or aren't good enough and take too long to release the ball i.e. Xhaka.

Also this idea that Laca is some how slow. He's quick, just not Aubameyang, Walcott quick, if he breaks the offside trap, not many defenders catching him (He's easily as quick as Kane, whose done it plenty of times). We just need to find him more.

Laca has good acceleration but he's not an especially pacy or powerful runner. There were times when he was occasionally played in and looked on the back foot compared to his opposing defender.

 

[kraphtous]

Don't think that's the case at all! That was Cesc's bread and butter ball as well as Song to RvP in his final full season.

As someone mentioned it's just that we've stopped playing this way because of Giroud and the players don't have the confidence to do so or aren't good enough and take too long to release the ball i.e. Xhaka.

Also this idea that Laca is some how slow. He's quick, just not Aubameyang, Walcott quick, if he breaks the offside trap, not many defenders catching him (He's easily as quick as Kane, whose done it plenty of times). We just need to find him more.

There's a big gap between van Persie and Giroud though, we've had Alexis play as striker, Welbeck, Perez and all of them were expected to drop deep and combine with the midfielders rather than run in behind. Wenger once played with tall, athletic players but look at him now, he has changed his game so much. And as I said, Giroud himself used to make runs in behind all the time when he first joined but Wenger took that out of his game. It was Giroud who adapted to Wenger's football, not the other way.

As for Xhaka he's not the only midfielder playing (and he has proven that he can easily play a long pass, as that's one of his best attributes), you have Ramsey, Wilshere and Özil all capable of playing a long ball and yet ignoring it because that's not how Wenger sees football anymore. He's become more of a statistician in recent years and long balls means you are more likely to lose the ball just as long range shots are more likely to end up as lost possession. It really has nothing to do with the quality of the players and a a lot more with it being a tactical decision, as all of our starting midfielders can play a through ball.

 

[SomGooner]

People didn't want to believe/accept that Laca's runs were not being picked, and it happened with him today on few occasions. I want to see Jack in place of Xhaka against the scums.

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

Solid debut considering he had just 1 training session with the team. He was fun to watch at 1st half many PL defenders will struggle with his pace