Bakary Sagan has come out in defence of Alexandre Lacazette as the Frenchman continues to be criticized by Arsenal fans.
Lacazette has been dividing opinion this season with most fans thinking he doesn’t do enough for the Arsenal team.
He has scored less than ten league goals this season and fans seem to judge him by the number of goals that he scores.
However, Sagna has defended the former Lyon man’s contribution to the team and described him as an amazing player.
He claimed that Lacazette may not be the one scoring the goals like Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang does, but he works very hard for his teammates and his hard work makes it easy for his other teammates to shine.
He claimed that Lacazette does a lot of pressing on the opposition defenders as well as holds the ball very well for his teammates to get into goalscoring positions and score.
‘Laca is vital. He is the type of player who gives everything for the team,’ Sagna told Goal.
‘Of course you always see the one scoring the goals, like Aubameyang – who is a goalscoring machine – but the amount of work Laca puts in is amazing.
‘The way he holds the ball, the way he fights for the ball, the way he presses the defence.
‘This is invisible work that not everyone will see. But for Arsenal’s system and the way they want to play, he is amazing.
‘He can score many goals, in front of the goal he is clinical. But most of the time he has his back to the goal.
‘When he receives the ball, he is trying to protect and defend the ball for other players.’
He added: ‘He is getting kicked for his team-mates and this is why, for me, he is vital to the team’s system.
‘He is running a lot. You know how tiring it is to run all the time and press from the front? It’s very tiring, people don’t realise how difficult it is.
‘On top of this, yes you have to score goals. People will ask to score goals because we only remember goalscorers, but he is doing a lot.’
