Lacazette can be Arsenal’s secret weapon against Atletico Madrid

Alexandre Lacazette was given a rest today at Man United to keep him fresh for Thursday’s big game, but he has been in splintering form since he came back from injury and has scored in nearly every game. Jack Wilshere thinks that the French striker will be Arsenal’s key man in the return leg against Atletico Madrid. “Alex has been great since he came back,” Wilshere said.

“We missed him a bit when he was injured. He has that natural goalscoring instinct. He can be out of the game for 60 or 70 minutes and then he comes alive. I am happy for him. We are going to need him now in the second leg. Hopefully he can continue his form.”

Our Jack was disappointed that Madrid got a late equaliser from a breakaway, but he feels that we were far the better team. “Definitely not the result we wanted,” he continued. “But the performance was good and we have got to take confidence from that and take that into the away fixture.

“It is half time. We cannot be too disappointed. We created a lot of chances. If we create chances and put them away then we have got a chance.

“We know what we have got to do and we have to take that as a positive. We have to go there and score. And we have to defend like we did for most of the game last night.

“We know we are going to have a lot of possession. They sit in and counter attack and we have to be clinical when we get opportunities.

“We are confident we can do that and take to game to them when we are there.”

We really have little choice but to go for a goal, and if Atletico drop back and defend again it could play into our hands. But Jack is right, if Lacazette continues in this rich vein of form we still have every chance of going through to the Final.

Sam P

8 Comments

  1. If there is ever the right time for the Gunners to rise to the occasion, I think that time is Thursday Night. Looking forward to101% concentration, Ruthlessness and Hunger as i expect the lads to Fight like a wounded Lion… its going to be though, the i Believe we are going to sing a song of Victory.

  2. Mtcheew! Just the headline and I didn’t bother reading the rest.

    We shouldn’t rely on one player getting goals for us. No one man has to be a secret weapon, we all know he’s quality, Atleti know too … The whole team simply needs to be spectacular – from GK to CF.

  3. The next manager has to find a way to play Laca and Auba together next year. We have Nketiah who can deputize as well and Welbeck if he is not sold. Since we do not have any natural winger I would play with wing backs and 3 defenders. 3-5-2 or 3-5-1-1 or 3-4-1-2 or 3-4-2-1
    without any natural wingers pushing Ozil and Mhki to the wings is not getting the best from them, Mhki can play RW but Ozil can not play anywhere except the middle.

    1. Agreed.. not sure why Ozil on left wing. He Mikhi and Welbz as 3 to support Laca… if we go 1 down or its still nil nil and we need to score then out on Nketiah up front and play with a back three
      I would have Koz on bench as he seems to be a liability in every match. Leave him for last 10 mins if we need to defend so he knows his role rather than sitting on half way line !

  4. In my opinion Lacazette didn’t receive the credit for the headed goal he scored against Atletico Madrid. He also was criticized for not scoring additional goals in the same game. Similarly I have not heard any criticism of Aubameyang for not making more of the chances he had against Manchester United. Unfortunately Arsenal didn’t play to his strength by playing balls in behind the defence.
    I agree that Arsenal require a committed disciplined approach by the whole team, but the form of Lacazette (post knee operation), Mkhitaryan, Maitland Niles, Mavropanos, Chambers and Holding look positive.
    For Thursday all players, particularly Welbeck and Xhaka will need their shooting boots on.

    1. Welbeck bro?? please he should sit on the bench and let Mihki start. I can point out 3 to 4 occasions during the first leg where Welbeck and Ozil could’ve taken a shot like Mihki always do bit they both went ahead with their bloody sideways passing.
      We need Mihki on Thursday not Welbeck, and please Ospina on Thursday not Cech

      1. I wouldn’t argue about Mhikataryan starting on Thursday, now he has recovered and shown the form he did against Man U. I was speaking generally about Arsenal’s need to be clinical.

  5. lol it made me laugh. our tiny stricker will go under everyones armpit n no one will notice.may be thats why he is secret

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