Is Aubameyang enough to solve Arsenal’s problems?

Will Aubameyang Solve Arsenal’s Problems? Soorya Thavaraj

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has joined Arsenal for around £59m and Arsenal fans are getting very excited about their supposed saviour. For the most part, who can blame them; the Gabonese striker has an incredible striking record, scoring 141 goals 213 games for his current club, Borussia Dortmund. The charismatic striker will attempt to recreate this kind of goalscoring form at Arsenal and with his explosive pace and clinical finishing, he will surely score lots of goals. Nevertheless, as always with Arsenal, the problems are deeply rooted. Although the semi-final Carabao Cup win against Chelsea suggested a change in the team’s character and game-management, there are still massive question marks about whether their defence can hold up in the big games against the likes of Manchester City and Manchester United.

Therefore, there are still many questions about Arsenal. Where will Aubameyang fit in? Is their defence good enough? Does the team lack leaders?

Arsenal, as we all know, rarely struggle going forward. With iconic players like Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp it is in the club’s DNA to play free-flowing, attacking football; Wengerball if you will. Additionally, the recent addition of Mkhitaryan alongside Ozil and Wilshere have seen that football be recreated; a joy to watch in any match. But surely, the addition of Aubameyang adds an extra dimension to our play. Lacazette is a top quality player, who when full of confidence, should really be a guaranteed starter possibly alongside Pierre; but the former Dortmund man brings an extra level of class that oozes confidence as he steps out on the football field. Some may call it arrogance, but like Troopz said ‘Our team has missed swag’ and he brings charisma in abundance. As well as this, he has the numbers to back up; scoring on his first Arsenal start, albeit an offside goal against a poor Everton side, but the quality is there for all to see. The nonchalance with which he finished that chance is there for all to see.

However, is he enough, to propel us to some sort of success this season; Carabao Cup, Europa League and Top 4? I don’t think so and that’s because of our defence. It’s as open as a shop on Black Friday; we need some reinforcements. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to bring any replacements in and I think that will eventually cost us. Our away form this season is atrocious and this is partly down to our defence. Mistake after mistake have cost us match after match; and valuable points in a tight Top 4 race. Ultimately, we aren’t the Harlem Globetrotters and we can’t outscore every team. As a result, we need to improve our defence drastically in the summer if we want to challenge next year.

The other main question lingering over Arsenal is the lack of leaders. We still haven’t replaced Viera, Campbell and Keown from the past Arsenal teams who were born leaders. Whilst the January transfer window has to be seen as one of Arsenal’s best ever; they didn’t sign any leaders. One player that could blossom into that role is Jack Wilshere. The injury-plagued midfielder has seen a resurgence like no other which started in the Europa League but now has seen the Englishmen become a regular starter and put together a string of impressive performances. With him reportedly on the verge of signing a new deal Arsenal fans have repeatedly called for him to be captain and it’s clear to see why. A Gooner through and through; he shows passion and pride on the pitch, rumoured to have stood up to Alexis and very well could develop into Mr Arsenal.

As a result although, Aubameyang is a quality signing and a step in the right direction, he might not be enough to cure all our problems.

Soorya

13 Comments

  1. Nice comment and that is your personal opinion.

    Attacking force is the best way to defence without making an error at the back If Arsenal can manage no tolerance of an error at the back, they will get there.

    1. Hi, I agree but my personal thought was that against the likes of Man City and Man United our defence would be found out as a result of a mixture of a lack of quality and a lack of instruction from the coaching staff.

  2. Our problem lies in lack of defensive organization of the whole team, when the opponents have the ball, and therefore we could Messi, Ronaldo, Aubameyang or whoever playing for us, we would still loose out most of time to top teams and too often to mediocre teams.
    What we have is a managerial/tactical problem, and there is no way, that will be solved by any player.

    1. I agree, there is a lack of defensive instruction from Wenger and I genuinely most of the time we are found out because of a lack of tactical knowledge on the manager’s part. But, looking back at previous teams with the likes of Campbell, Keown and Dixon you can’t help but think our current defense isn’t up to scratch.

  3. The guy has played one game for us. This article seems kind of premature. It’s far too early to say yay or nay but having a world class striker on the team is a hell of a way to start on our quest to get back to being a team that will put dred in our opponents.

    Liverpool were terrible defensively the season Suarez carried them and nearly won them the title.

    What I will say is that for Arsenal it will be a team effort not one man. Aubameyang will probably have a great impact and influence as he will encourage the other players to raise their game as seen in Rambo’s performance against Everton. We will probably see the best of Mkhitaryan and Ozil now we have Aubameyang leading the line. Im optimistic but it still far to early to know for sure. Other teams will continue to strengthen as well.

    1. I agree with most of what you said. Don’t you think however that if Liverpool had a better defense they would have the league that season under Brendan Rogers. That’s what I mean, I think it’s a great signing, a step in the right direction and maybe the catalyst for change we needed but it’s not going to change much yet. I understand what you are saying about it being too early but these were just my initial thoughts

  4. Spot on AndersS. Arsene Wenger’s assistant coach is Steve Bould, a man of considerable experience and expertise in the techniques, tactics and discipline to organize the team’s defending. The big question is what input is Wenger allowing him to provide to earn his salary?

    1. I agree, I don’t think Wenger lets Bould have any say. I think his ego is far too big to let a player who previously played under him dictate how his team plays. But it could be suggested that with better quality defenders it doesn’t matter who’s choosing, Wenger or Bould; we would improve defensively.

  5. Hi, this is my first article. Leave feedback and constructive critiscism as well as thoughts and opinions.

  6. We always look vunerable to whoever we play. I don’t think Aubaneyang is our saviour but he’s the closest we’ve got, let’s give him the benefit of the doubt, it’s only his first game , when he’s up to speed, he’ll bang em in for fun. Xhaka is lazy and useless, Harry Kane was climbing all over Kos for their goal he should of gone over but we don’t seem to cheat like other clubs like when Lamela went down like a dying swan there seemed to be a swarm of spuds players trying to get Jack booked. No need.

    1. Agreed. Today’s performance was very poor but we have to remember we could have nicked a draw, Aubameyang wasn’t offside and Harry Kane was cheating.

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