Former Gunner not impressed with Arsenal attackers against Villa

Ian Wright has faulted Nicolas Pepe and Alexandre Lacazette for their performances as Arsenal lost 1-0 to Aston Villa.

The Gunners were poor and faced a very organised Villa side that was confident of getting something from the match. The Villans started the game brightly and took the lead within two minutes. 

Arsenal needed to respond from then on and never did. 

Instead, it was Villa who looked like scoring more goals in the game.

After having a fine game against Wolves the other night, Pepe was in poor form.

Wright says he should have made better runs to make life easier for Emile Smith Rowe who was playing as a number 10.

He also said Lacazette was playing out of position on the night when he should have stayed up top.

He added that Villa had a better organisation and Arsenal made life easier for them.

“I just thought that the movement and some of the forward play wasn’t very good,” he told Match of the Day as quoted by Mirror Football.

“Pepe has got to do more for Emile Smith-Rowe. He’s that No. 10, he needs something, he needs an option. He could have gone inside, gone outside, he’s running towards it, nothing. It was quite easy for Villa, who were very organised.

“Lacazette, I don’t think he needs to be out there [in wide areas] now. He should be in this position [the box] because you’ve got Saka there, you’ve got Bellerin running.

“If you’re going to have the centre-forward out there [wide], you need somebody to be in there [in the box] and more of a threat. There’s not enough threat in that box.

“Look how deep Lacazette has come there, if you’re coming deep you need someone to be in there.

“I think Pepe should be coming across [more centrally]. If he makes that run [into the box] earlier, he might get something.

“Maybe I’m nit-picking but those things are things I probably would have wanted to do myself.”

Tags Alexandre Lacazette Ian Wright Nicolas Pepe

5 Comments

  1. After watching today’s games, I start to believe that the English premier league is stage managed and fake. Just like WWE.

  2. Arsenal’s defence is the 3rd best in the league.
    However we are not scoring enough goals.
    This despite the most expensive frontline in the league.
    When our frontline starts scoring 2 goals a game we will surge up the table

  3. Instead of faulting the individual players, I would blame the offensive system we played, especially in the first half.
    First of all, our attack lacked width. Without Tierney, our attacking line is too narrow and creates too much congestion in the middle. This is even more so when we are faced with a low block or 4, 4, 2 defensive pattern.
    Second, Laca plays to deep in defense and therefore doesn’t have enough time to get into the box to attack crosses. I concur with Wright on this one. Too many crosses into the box are wasted.
    Since the start of season, the defensive formation has improved significantly but our offense has stagnated. We should probably fire the set piece coach and hire an attacking coach to help Arteta.

  4. I completely agree. Our attackers dont give enough option by being rigid. i saw the way Kane movement to lose his marker, we need more from our CF, a lot of time lacca is out of box 6 when we attack, not enough movement from them. This is personal quality not something the coach have to rain them

  5. Against villa the players don’t charge balls. They were so relaxed and no commitment. We need a ball joggler in the midfield. Play to win not possession and at end still loose the match. Change tactics not one from beginning to end. Try and strick from outside 18yds box.

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