Why Gooners should worry about Arsenal’s France strikers?

It is perhaps unlikely that the France international players from Arsenal will not be in Russia next summer for the 2018 World Cup, but it could still happen, especially if they play like they did against Bulgaria the other day. Anything but a win at home to Belarus could leave then facing a play-off.

You would expect Les Bleus to beat Belarus who are bottom of that WCQ group, but there could be some real nerves and the French have suffered with them before. The pressure will be on Olivier Giroud, Alexandre Lacazette and every French player, especially now they have lost the two main midfielders Kante and Pogba.

I worry a bit about how disappointment against Belarus could affect the two Gunners, and they be in for some harsh words from the French media. Giroud had little time to impress in their narrow win over Bulgaria but Lacazette started and did not cover himself in glory, which is another concern from an Arsenal point of view.

Another factor would be the possible extra risk and effort the French players would have if they were involved in a fiercely fought two-legged play-off rather than a friendly or two.

We need both of these two strikers in form and feeling confident if the Gunners are to do well, so let’s hope they get the job done. Allez Les Bleus et Les Gunners!

Bob.

5 Comments

  1. France will struggle against very defensive teams, if they keep playing with quick tempo. They had players with similar quality in World Cup 2002, but they struggled against Senegal in the opening match.

    France’s tempo is similar to Arsenal, they play with haste, without waiting for better chances to unlock the opponent’s defense. The faster tempo also often lead to a lot of misplaced passes.

    Giroud and Lacazette cannot improve their games in a system with a tempo like this, because they are not as fast as Mbappe. France and Arsenal should change the way they play, to accomodate slower players and the ones with low stamina.

    1. Or we can ditch the slow players, get fast ones and continue to play the enjoyable high energy football and leave tiki taka to Barcelona and Bayern who actually have the quality to play such type of football. Honestly, do you think Walcott and Ramsey can do tiki taka? They misplace a lot of passes and their best attribute is simply running around.

      1. I support any idea to go back to the Invicibles’ high energy and fast football. But to do that kind of football with Ramsey and Walcott is a suicide, because they would misplace a lot of passes, like what you have said.

        Faster tempo football is definitely much more entertaining than the tiki taka, as it is much more attacking and requires the players to run a lot. But it still needs skillful players like Mbappe to beat the opponent’s defenders and the ones that can pass well.

        If Arsenal plan to go back to that style, they should follow Mourinho’s, Simeone’s and Ranieri’s pragmatic style. To dominate the Premier League, they just need to buy fast, tall and strong players, like Pogba, Matic, Lukaku, Fellaini, Martial, Rashford, Bailly, etc.

        Score a very quick first goal, switch to a fully defensive mode, then try to score from set pieces. Do you guys prefer this type of football show?

        1. So we just need to buy most of the Man Utd team and we’ll be ok! Wonderful! I see you’re still spouting your usual drivel such as ‘be pragmatic’ (whatever that means in the context of football) and ‘play at a low tempo’ (what – like Liverpool did against us when they beat us 4 – 0? They played nice and slow against us that day did they?). Are you some kind of mad professor, constantly inventing crazy new theories to try out? If so I’ve got news for you – we already have one. Name of Arsene Wenger.

  2. I don’t care if France qualify or not. I’m worried about Arsenal. I support the Dutch maestros, where football is played with skill and pace. Even if they lose, I still support them because football is entertainment to me, as I’m not a shareholder

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