Arteta hints at playing Aubameyang down the middle against Man Utd

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is suffering from his worst league goal drought since he moved to Arsenal.

The Arsenal captain is one of the club’s most reliable goal scorers and he has proven that over the years even before he moved to the Emirates in 2018.

He has, however, been struggling to find the back of the net recently and some fans think that he will be scoring more if he plays through the middle.

For much of the time that Mikel Arteta has been the club’s manager, he has been playing from the left side of attack.

Now that the goals aren’t coming for him again and Alexandre Lacazette has similarly been struggling to score as a centre forward, calls have intensified for Aubameyang to be played through the middle.

Arteta has now hinted that the change might happen when we see him play next for the Gunners.

Express Sports claims that there is a possibility that he will be rested for the game against Dundalk tonight, but on Sunday, he might be played through the middle against Manchester United.

“Yes that’s a very possible thing,” Arteta said as quoted by the Express.

“It will depend on the games, it will depend on who he’s surrounded with.

“I think it’s very important to see who is around him and why we’re doing it.

“Not just the fact we’re doing it, why we’re doing that and what we’re going to get by doing these positive things.

“Of course, there’s a very strong possibility to play him as a No 9.

“If you’re asking me about any other player I’d say we have to do some work with his confidence, with Auba I don’t think it’s a case of that.”

Tags Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

7 Comments

  1. Long over due..he isn’t lacking confidence at all what he is lacking right now is service from midfield, fix that then you will see auba in his real form

  2. This kind of decision will be the most stupid decision to be taken by a manager who has Manchester United as next game. The last setup against Leicester should be consolidated.

  3. Agree, one of the best strikers in the PL and h does not even get played up front.
    Gets isolated when he is wide and should be playing like Leicester plays Vardy, down the middle and ball in front of him to run straight to the goal. They’ve bought Pepe to play wide anyway.

    1. @gunner89, yea Pépé is there to play wide, Auba should be played as the No9, AMN/Elneny/Willock should be paired with Partey and Ceballos for some daring runs/creativity, Xhaka seems too slow, he should be a 2nd half player for now, Saliba needs to play, Luiz isn’t mobile but yet has an eye for passes, Gabriel seems to fill that spot also and he’s fast,

      Arteta needs to gear-up the boys to attack, they have become to defensive.

  4. Auba has not the hold up ability to play as the central striker in our rough, tough Prem. In some leagues abroad he would do well there but our Prem is completely different and we ignore that fact at our peril. He needs to run on to a ball, not play with his back to goal.

    I would keep him where he is and never play him where this article suggests , in the centre. I give you his two previous seasons with a mountain of goals scored from wide as evidence to my view being correct.
    What is holding him back this season is that our midfield is far too slow, too static and just not creative enough. Put that right and the goals will come again, many from Auba.

    I am tired of repeating it but I would have neither Elneny nor Xhaka as regulars and ideally not at our club at all. I also realise that will take time to accomplish(KROENKE!!!) and being a realist, will allow MA the time he needs to achieve this, which he will, imo.

  5. Taking Auba to the center of attack is move that is popular with the fan base but it addresses the symptoms and not the root cause. The root cause is simple ‘we lack creativity’ in the middle of the pack.

    Aouar or the Hungarian may address this.

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