Alexandre Lacazette: 2019/20 Performances

[Toby]

Think he is more of a false 9 than a number 10 imo, think our midfield would get overrun if we played him behind Auba...but our midfield gets overrun in every game these days no matter how many we have in it so why not try it!

You'd probably have to play a double pivot of Torreira/Willock behind him to stabilize things. But then the question is again who gets the ball forward centrally. Would be a very wing focused approach with Laca as more of a decoy, wallplayer and hard working 10/9.5 but who at least would be an attacker up there instead of a DM.

 

[Trilly]

I didn't watch the game but he seemed dangerous on match of the day.

Forced the GK into a really good save, got an assist, created another big chance with a lay-off and then hit the bar/post towards the end.

Haven't watched the game and probably won't but isn't the above quite a good performance for someone still shaking off rust?

 

[gunner4lyfe]

I didn't watch the game but he seemed dangerous on match of the day.

Forced the GK into a really good save, got an assist, created another big chance with a lay-off and then hit the bar/post towards the end.

Haven't watched the game and probably won't but isn't the above quite a good performance for someone still shaking off rust?

Not according to some people here. He should just come back from injury and be firing. Btw I actually dont think he should have started so soon after coming back.

 

[progman07]

I don’t understand the people who defend him.
.

What the actual **** did I just read about a player who has just scored on the NLD to get us back into the game (playing injured), and won the PotY award for the Club in May.

Welcome to the Arsenal fan base.

 

[Maybe]

Think he is more of a false 9 than a number 10 imo, think our midfield would get overrun if we played him behind Auba...but our midfield gets overrun in every game these days no matter how many we have in it so why not try it!

Laca proved many times with us that he has great attitude and helps a lot in different situations including tracking back and helping our defense. I was wondering why something like this never happened because, on paper, this looks like a setup that gets the best out of both of them. Martinelli/Saka on the left would provide much needed energy in the final third, Auba would score more goals and Laca and Pepe would both add goals and chance creation.
Double pivot behind that wouldn't be a problem because most of our midfielders work better like that than in more specialized roles. Douzi - Chambers would work fine IMO.

 

[Riou]

Laca proved many times with us that he has great attitude and helps a lot in different situations including tracking back and helping our defense. I was wondering why something like this never happened because, on paper, this looks like a setup that gets the best out of both of them. Martinelli/Saka on the left would provide much needed energy in the final third, Auba would score more goals and Laca and Pepe would both add goals and chance creation.
Double pivot behind that wouldn't be a problem because most of our midfielders work better like that than in more specialized roles. Douzi - Chambers would work fine IMO.

Want to try it tbf, not sure if our midfield could cope long term though...give me a pivot of Vieira and Gilberto and anything we do would work!

 

[Underhill]

18/19: voted player of the year.
19/20: injured and 2 bad games with 50% fitness

verdict: useless

 

[Ewarwoowar]

18/19: voted player of the year.
19/20: injured and 2 bad games with 50% fitness

verdict: useless

Tbf they were saying he was useless last season.

 

[drippin]

I didn't watch the game but he seemed dangerous on match of the day.

Forced the GK into a really good save, got an assist, created another big chance with a lay-off and then hit the bar/post towards the end.

Haven't watched the game and probably won't but isn't the above quite a good performance for someone still shaking off rust?

He had some bad attitude in the game again I think, not nearly as bad as first game after injury.

But overall I think he had very good moments. Much better performance than last game (When we heard that was the same Laca as always from Hydro, so an impossible thing happened.)

People can say what they want about "stats", but here is again something to think about. With stats we can get more objective information (good to beware of course) in addition to personal estimations.

https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/1...emier-League-2019-2020-Arsenal-Crystal-Palace

You can see that Lacazette got 7.3 rating in whoscored, Pepe 7.9, Auba got 6.1. Against Guimaraes Laca got 6.2 (Which I think reflects well on his performance.)

Auba was pretty invisible today, but he gets basically no comments in his thread. No one dares to criticize him.

And if he is good it has nothing to do with Emery, and when he is bad it's Emery's fault.

Anyway, I hope Laca gets out of his bad mood. He has that strong quality in his personality that he sulks over many things at a game and almost nothing goes right after that. There is some good trajectory after the injury in these two games.

 

[Arsenal1508]

I want to see Martinelli start. It is pointless playing Laca PEA Pepe...they don't compliment each other like Liverpool's front 3.

 

[Batman]

I want to see Martinelli start. It is pointless playing Laca PEA Pepe...they don't compliment each other like Liverpool's front 3.

Liverpool's front 3 have a settled midfield and defense behind them as well as an absolutely top class manager. Our front 3 should work very well together. There is absolutely no reason that they can't except for the dysfunction behind them and on the touchline. Mourinho, Wenger, Pep, Rodgers, Tuchel, etc. would have them clicking.

 

[Highbury]

What the actual **** did I just read about a player who has just scored on the NLD to get us back into the game (playing injured), and won the PotY award for the Club in May.

Welcome to the Arsenal fan base.

C’mon dude, let’s be practical and not emotional. There is more to a season than the NLD and winning the PoTY for Arsenal today means absolutely nothing until we start winning things again.

I will explain what the problem with Lacazette is. He is just an Emirates Stadium merchant who can barely score 5 goals away from home, and as a result, he is yet to hit the 15 goal mark in the Premier League in two full seasons.

That is not remotely good enough for a starting number 9, especially when he is also not good enough technically and doesn’t have the vision to play false 9 like Firminho.

He is a just a thoroughly average ST who has found the jump from Ligue 1 to the Premier League too big. It is not possible for Arsenal to go up a level with him leading the line.

Aubameyang is one of the best poachers in the world. He is not a great all-round number 9 like Aguero, Kane, Lewandowski, Suarez etc., but playing him on the LW is not justifiable unless you have someone like the aforementioned players at your disposal.

Lacazette does not have that quality and it is ridiculous to play Aubameyang on the LW so that we can accommodate Lacazette’s mediocrity in the middle.

Can you please explain how Arsenal would not benefit from playing Aubameyang in the middle and replacing Lacazette with a quality LW?

We don’t need to sign Ronaldo or Hazard. What we need is someone who is at the same level as Aubameyang (in his respective position) and that would immediately make our attack look more balanced and expressive.

Aubameyang himself offers nothing on the LW except for diagonal runs and the one chance that he gets per game (and converts) thanks to Emery’s crap system.

I really don’t see why Guedes-Aubameyang-Pepe won’t be an upgrade on Aubameyang-Lacazette-Pepe.

 

[DasBootist]

Aubameyang himself offers nothing on the LW except for diagonal runs and the one chance that he gets per game (and converts) thanks to Emery’s crap system.

You wrote quite a long post but it could be summed up by the quoted section. The manager doesn't know what he's doing, and after he's gone and a superior replacement is brought in can we really judge Lacazette imo.

He won POTS for a reason, despite missing out on 10 league starts, so clearly he is not the problem.

 

[Highbury]

You wrote quite a long post but it could be summed up by the quoted section. The manager doesn't know what he's doing, and after he's gone and a superior replacement is brought in can we really judge Lacazette imo.

He won POTS for a reason, despite missing out on 10 league starts, so clearly he is not the problem.

Emery is poor but I think we should refrain from giving underperforming players a free pass because they are playing in a poor system. Lacazette’s goal output has been the same under two different managers. It is pretty obvious that 14-15 goals seems to be his ceiling in the Premier League and that is not good enough.

He is slow, his touch is poor, his finishing is erratic, he doesn’t have an aerial threat.

(1) Technically not good enough to play false 9

(2) Physically not imposing enough to hold the ball and play as a target man

(3) not quick enough to play of the defender’s shoulder and get in behind like Aubamayeng.

He is a jack of all and master of none. He is not terrible at anything but he doesn’t have any stand out qualities either, and I don’t see how a better manager is going to elevate him. Ligue 1 is his level in my opinion, and it is quite easy to see why the major European powerhouses weren’t in for him.

As I said earlier, the signing of Aubameyang 6 months after signing Lacazette made the latter surplus to requirements, and it was Wenger’s last blunder in the transfer market. He should either have bought Aubameyang in the summer of 2017 or he should have bought a winger instead of Lacazette.

He is 28 and we should cash on him while he can still recoup a decent fee in the market. Clearly not worth the 50m we paid for him 2 years ago.

 

[Ricardinho]

I'd actually try him at 10 /9.5 behind/beside Auba.

Im sure he played a similar role against Tottenham at home last season and looked very good doing it. Then never saw it again.

 

[Taylor Gang Gunners]

He looks extremely frustrated. Two poor games and like Auba, is suffering from non existent service. He’ll play himself into form though, it’s what he does. Starting with a beauty against Liverpool I hope.

 

[Riou]

He looks extremely frustrated. Two poor games and like Auba, is suffering from non existent service. He’ll play himself into form though, it’s what he does. Starting with a beauty against Liverpool I hope.

Genuinely amazed when I see a positive post about Laca in here, everyone seems to hate him...love him, his relationship with Auba is one of best things I have seen at this club.

 

[Furious]

Genuinely amazed when I see a positive post about Laca in here, everyone seems to hate him...love him, his relationship with Auba is one of best things I have seen at this club.

Best thing how? To what use?

Both are rubbish footballers outside the box. There's only room for one, and since Auba is a couple of levels above Laca, he wins.

 

[Rex Stone]

Genuinely amazed when I see a positive post about Laca in here, everyone seems to hate him...love him, his relationship with Auba is one of best things I have seen at this club.

I like Laca. Sometimes he looks world class others he looks average.

He’s done alright for us and while he’s probably not going to ever score 30 goals in a season he’s still a very good player.

 

[Furious]

Do they ever interchange passes between them during a game?

Laca's had a headed flick on away at Valencia, that's all I can remember.

Their relationship is purely bromance based. In terms of football between them there's zero connection.