Arsenal are starving Aubameyang of scoring chances

Aubameyang is Starving. by AI

More than halfway through the season, with 23 games played, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has only had 17 shots on target this season. Ordinarily, this isn’t a problem. Aubameyang is only one out of 8 attacking options for the team and 5 goals from 17 shots would be a great return for every member of our 8 attackers.

The problem though is that Aubameyang is our only proven world-class forward out of the 8 attackers. No other person should be getting more shots off than him. Our most decisive final-third player is starving of chances. This is of course why Aubameyang has only 5 goals to his name this season and why Arsenal are 11th on the table. Aubameyang’s problem is not that he is failing to score, but that he is failing to see enough opportunities to do so. His situation is different from someone like Timo Werner who has been missing golden chances to score. Aubameyang has not missed a single golden chance this season, and this is because he has not been getting any.

The art of goalscoring is mostly not that of finishing but of being a volume shooter from good, central positions in the penalty box. If it were all about finishing, Edinson Cavani would not have scored so many goals. Great goalscorers are all about repeatedly getting into good scoring positions and getting shots off from there. If you asked professional footballers to shoot from around the penalty spot twice a game for 38 games, they would probably be breaking the Premier League single season record.

This is why Aubameyang has looked better since January. An improved attack means he can get more shots off. Pepe has mostly been the one getting those chances in the past four games and he’s scored twice. If that was Aubameyang with those opportunities, we could be looking at 3-4 goals instead. But the game is not solely played in the box and Pepe’s game has been better off the left than Aubameyang’s.

Arsenal’s Gabonese striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (2R) and teammates warm up ahead of the English Premier League football match between Arsenal and Newcastle United at the Emirates Stadium. / (Photo by SHAUN BOTTERILL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Aubameyang must come into the side sooner than later. We need his goals if anything good is to come up this season. We need the rest of his 20+ goal potential. That’s why he’s being paid superstar wages. Aston Villa showed that Nicolas Pepe is still not decisive enough despite getting the ball into dangerous areas all game long. We can’t depend on Pepe’s goalscoring potential. Not in this season.

Agboola Israel

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Tags Aubameyang

10 Comments

  1. If Peppe improves on the wing, then Auba is toast. Forget about playing him in the middle because he doesn’t belong there.

    Auba’s game is limited because he can’t create for himself, his teammates or hold the ball.

  2. Unfortunately Aubameyang is only world class in scoring, but not in other aspects. Pacey strikers like Vardy and him are perfect for counter-attacking teams like Leicester, but not so much for tippy-tappy teams like Arsenal

    Ranieri said a coach should’ve created a system that’s suited for his players’ strengths, but Guardiola and Arteta seem to have different philosophy. It’d be interesting to see Aubameyang’s motivation in the upcoming Benfica game

    Despite not scoring regularly, Aubameyang is still useful for defending and linking up on the left side. He surely knows that he could be excluded like Ozil next season, if he loses his place to Martinelli or Pepe

  3. Aubameyang will find his goal scoring form back.

    On Sunday against Leeds, I think Lacazette and Smith-Rowe should be given a rest.

    Let Aubameyang play up front and Ødegaard play behind him. Partey should not be rushed back too.
    Ceballos can partner Xhaka in central midfield.

    I would love to see this selection –

    Aubameyang.

    Martinelli. Odegaard. Saka.

    Xhaka. Ceballos.

    Cedric. Gabriel. Holding. Bellerin.

    Leno.

  4. Bring back Wenger move him upstairs come summer and bring in an experienced manager.
    Just imagine the lift a respected manager would give the squad at this instant. Europe is on the line.

  5. OK, here’s my 6penneth.. Firstly, can people stop calling for AW back at the club as some kind of guru director. He’s said he won’t come back and we’re in the state we are due to him outstaying his welcome by 3+ years, so please end it.

    Auba, today, under MA, is a square peg in a round hole, Yes, like Vardy for Leicester. He needs to play on the shoulder of the last defender and be facing their goal, not ours. His general technique is average at best, his control is modest, his touch clumsey and his passing is poor. He shys away from heading and is just better than a one-trick-pony – but he is quick, he does know where the goal is and he does have ‘the knack’.

    But if we won’t play that way, then better for all if he’s not there.. It was, is and always will be about playing to your strengths, involving your best players as much as possible in a style that brings out the best in them. It’s not rocket science, all the best clubs are doing it.

    As a slight aside, that’s why players like Holding and Bellerin look so bad when trying to play tippy-tappy – cos they’re not good at it cos they’re not confident in doing it so stop it and get it safely forward..

  6. If only Auba was half as good as Kane or Aguero or even Jimenez or Watkins technically, it would have helped his style of play.
    Those players I mentioned, even when not on scoring form, contribute in other ways to help their teams. Auba has a very poor first touch generally and can hardly play in tight spaces, thats why he looks a bit better out wide.
    We lack an all round striker. Lacazette can’t score, but can control and holdup, Auba can’t control but can score, and yet you’d think that after these years even as buddies on and off the pitch, those two would be able to compliment each other. Martinelli needs to play along side either of them as he looks more complete in his development.

  7. let arsenal play the ancient style add in a flavor of attack which brings up communication within players coz Auba ain’t the whole team

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