Lacazette Can Do Better
Lacazette is in the midst of a horrible goalscoring form. While he’s still giving everything on the pitch, nothing is going his way in front of goal. Aubameyang’s suspension would have proven the perfect opportunity to get his shooting boots on but it was an 18-year-old Martinelli who picked up the load, contributing two goals and one assist.
The Frenchman has deservedly come in for criticism. But that criticism has been overblown, as though he were solely responsible for the team’s attacking woes. Against Manchester United, for example, he created two brilliant chances that, on a normal day for Alexandre Lacazette, would have been finished off with emphasis. But it was not a normal day and that erratic streak in front of goal has been running into months by now.
This can happen to anyone. If the team were capable of scoring goals without Aubameyang (that is, if Ozil and Pepe have been contributing their own fair share), this would be less of an issue so long as he continued to give his all on the pitch. Eventually, he would return to form and nobody would remember his streaky stretch. But that is clearly not the case. Only Aubameyang and Martinelli are scoring. Ozil has been frustratingly ineffective and Pepe has been inconsistent. As the team’s number 9, the floodlights from unhappy fans will rest harshly on his back.
But Lacazette can do better. When he’s at his best, scoring goals while helping the team out defensively, running hard for ninety minutes and creating chances left and right, Lacazette can only be compared to a few strikers in the world. This is why calls for him to be sold on in the summer are misinformed. On form, the 27-year-old is as brilliant as they come and most of us know this deep in our hearts.
The question then is not a matter of if Lacazette will return to form but when he will. A mid-season break spent down in Dubai can reinvigorate the Frenchman’s legs and if Alexandre Lacazette goes back to banging in goals on the regular, Arteta’s Arsenal would surely be a team to fear.
Agboola Israel