Laca and Auba aren't the problem
Laca scored 28 goals in his final season at Lyon. You don't get those numbers if you're not good at taking runs. At Arsenal, he ends up going back to win those balls because we have an absolutely pathetic excuse of a midfield that doesn't function on its own. He is being forced to go back. Look at the number of goals scored by Auba when Laca is not on pitch. Buying a winger is not going to fix that.Agree that Giroud has 3 years on Laca which are supposed to be the prime years of his career. But it's not like he is a 21 year old. He's now 28. To be elite he'll have to really improve a lot. Make more runs, be ruthless. Generally not a fan of strikers who are constantly attracted to the ball especially with our poverty options outwide. If we had good inside forwards making runs he'd be ideal because his play style like Firmino. Or maybe a goal scoring 10 like Fekir/Griezman.
We have playmaker style wingers. It's better to have someone who moves away from the play with his movements. Don't think Laca offers that. You can just tell by the type of goals he has been scoring, difficult goals but his xG is always low because he doesn't get himself into good positions. Also for someone with elite finishing he takes very few shots in a game. Even at Lyon.
Don't think hes suddenly going to change his game at 28.
If 3 years ago someone had told me that we'd have both Auba and Laca but are debating on if we should sell one, I'd have thought you were mad. But that's what unbalanced recruitment does I guess.
The team desperately needs wingers. Plus a massive improvement on Kolasinac, who hopefully will be sold. I cannot stand the over-reliance on him to create our chances. We need more unpredictability in our play (not performances).Laca scored 28 goals in his final season at Lyon. You don't get those numbers if you're not good at taking runs. At Arsenal, he ends up going back to win those balls because we have an absolutely pathetic excuse of a midfield that doesn't function on its own. He is being forced to go back. Look at the number of goals scored by Auba when Laca is not on pitch. Buying a winger is not going to fix that.
Sell our dross like Xhaka, Mustafi, Elneny etc. and buy good replacements for those positions. Then check if Laca/Auba partnership works. Right now, selling Laca means trying to fix a problem that doesn't exist.
Our team has scored more goals than both Chelsea and Sp**s in the PL. Though wingers are necessary, we are not in desperate need of them. If buy good midfield and defense instead, we can do even better in our attack. Laca and Auba literally carried our team to 5th position this year.The team desperately needs wingers. Plus a massive improvement on Kolasinac, who hopefully will be sold. I cannot stand the over-reliance on him to create our chances. We need more unpredictability in our play (not performances).
He has what, 9 penalties that season. One's that he didn't win like say Pepe. Scored 19 then 20 non penalty goals in those prolific years. He was also known as a flat track bully in those last years in France(he's improved in big games).Laca scored 28 goals in his final season at Lyon. You don't get those numbers if you're not good at taking runs. At Arsenal, he ends up going back to win those balls because we have an absolutely pathetic excuse of a midfield that doesn't function on its own. He is being forced to go back. Look at the number of goals scored by Auba when Laca is not on pitch. Buying a winger is not going to fix that.
Sell our dross like Xhaka, Mustafi, Elneny etc. and buy good replacements for those positions. Then check if Laca/Auba partnership works. Right now, selling Laca means trying to fix a problem that doesn't exist.
Wish people would stop comparing Lacazette to trash footballers. He has 32 goals + assists this season despite sharing minutes with Aubameyang / not being our number 1 man up top. His work rate is fantastic and he’s done it in the big games too. Fully deserved to be our player of the season.
If you think we should sell him for £60m+ to rebalance the squad / fund some wingers then (while I don’t agree) fair enough. But let’s at least be happy that we’ve got a player in our squad who’s worth that amount of money and has big clubs interested.
This and one more thing you forgot to mention, the impact of his goals and assists were mostly crucial for those games. It wasn't like he scored half of the goals when we were already 2-0 up. You could also mention that beside goals and assists, he is important for moving the ball forward, very often coming deep which makes it even harder for him to have better numbers, and that's something we won't see in statistics.More productive (considering minutes played) than Adebayor or Fabregas in 07/08 and Sanchez in 14/15. And that’s despite our most effective creative weapon being a ****ing LB all season.
Put some respeck on his name.
Where did I mention that it would solve our defense problems? And why bring up Mhki or Özil like I am advocating for them to stay and play. I said a fast winger on the flanks who stretches teams, which they aren't
I said it would help alleviate some of them problems on the flanks. So you think of we had a wide player in the profile of say Leroy Sane/Mane Maitland-Niles would be facing 2 against 1 situations for 90 minutes all season?
You think if this Sane/Mane esque players was our creative outlet outwide instead of the full back we wouldn't face more counter attacks?
Auba played on the wing 17 times this season in all competitions, not to mention the times he played there when Laca was subbed on but he still almost scored double Lacas tally.
You honestly don't think that a primarily Centre forward Auba, a faster wide player and generally a better balance wouldn't outweigh the 13 goals of Laca?
None. But you might theoretically trade 700 minutes for more goals and those goals could help achieve more points.
Laca scored 28 goals in his final season at Lyon. You don't get those numbers if you're not good at taking runs. At Arsenal, he ends up going back to win those balls because we have an absolutely pathetic excuse of a midfield that doesn't function on its own. He is being forced to go back. Look at the number of goals scored by Auba when Laca is not on pitch. Buying a winger is not going to fix that.
Sell our dross like Xhaka, Mustafi, Elneny etc. and buy good replacements for those positions. Then check if Laca/Auba partnership works. Right now, selling Laca means trying to fix a problem that doesn't exist.
Fabregas, Alexis and Theo really shouldn't be on that list. They weren't ever centerfowards. Them having such numbers highlights how good they were those seasons.Wish people would stop comparing Lacazette to trash footballers. He has 32 goals + assists this season despite sharing minutes with Aubameyang / not being our number 1 man up top. His work rate is fantastic and he’s done it in the big games too. Fully deserved to be our player of the season.
If you think we should sell him for £60m+ to rebalance the squad / fund some wingers then (while I don’t agree) fair enough. But let’s at least be happy that we’ve got a player in our squad who’s worth that amount of money and has big clubs interested.
ideally I would prefer if Kroenke released more funds
Mate, how often do people have to say that this isn't possible anymore under current FFP rules? Owners can't gift their own money to their clubs anymore for transfers, only for things like infrastructure.
https://arseblog.com/2019/05/can-ar...-clubs-fortunes-by-investing-their-own-money/
Just off the top of my head, there's an article by lawyer who deals with the kind of thing. There's other articles out there.
There are ways to get around this as long as it's not full blown state sponsorship like in City's case. The fact that only Arsenal in the last year or so is the only team with 0% in the league shows that you are wrong.
You could probably take time and read more about it. Swiss Ramble is a good start.
Exactly and give Eddie the backup striker role.Really depends on how much we can get for Laca. Anything under £70m and he should stay IMO. I'd much prefer to keep a CF of his caliber but replacing him with a wide player who can replicate his output potentially might work for the better, as risky as it would seem.
It's not just about quality, though. The whole system is meant to work that way. Wingbacks as main threat, attacking mids pushed to the sides to interplay with them, two 6s sitting deep most of them time with the central CB pushing almost between them at times, the outside CBs of the 3 pushing out wide, Lacazette being essentially a weird and often isolated number 10 behind striker Auba.