Arsenal’s biggest player before the start of this season was the club captain, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Before he was made the club’s captain, the Gabonese striker was so prolific that it made the decision very easy to appoint him as the team leader.
He also made a strong case for himself with regards to earning a new long-term deal at the club even though he isn’t such a young player any more.
He scored 22 league goals in each of the last two seasons and he almost single-handedly won the FA Cup and Community Shield for us.
Very few players have this much impact on their team but not many players also suffer the kind of sharp decline that Aubameyang has suffered this season.
Aubameyang has just two league goals in 9 games, and only one has come from open play.
At this rate, he would score 8 league goals after 38 league games this season and how terrible would that be.
The narrative that his goals dried up after signing a new deal is one that Arsenal fans hate to think or talk about, yet the truth is that it is happening.
The fans have also called for him to be played centrally, Mikel Arteta listened and played him in that position against Leeds, yet he didn’t score a goal.
I wonder if the manager gets blamed for that performance too.
If this season ends and he cannot score up to ten league goals, who would you blame? Aubameyang or the manager?
Probably be Ozils
😂😂 brilliant!
Yup that makes sense! 😜
The thing is Dan, Sue and lcw, there are “fans” out there who will push this scenario 🥴😂
Of course, if Auba defends like a Gabriel covers the midfield like Partey and scores goals like Kane, we now he will be giving 100% and covering every blade of grass – the criteria required to be seen as earning one’s salary and not bleeding the club dry, then it must be down to Ozil I suppose… as we can’t question MA for fear of being “blacklisted.”
😄 Spot on, Ken, couldn’t have said it any better!!! 👍
PS Ken, there’s an article over on Arsenal Arsenal which may be of interest to you – all about Arsene on Desert Island Discs…..
I listened to the programme last week Sue but thanks.
Some of his choices were an eye opener, especially Elton John’s.
Glad to see he and I both put “Imagine” as one of our favourites❤️
👍🙂
Blame me! 😏
I think it won’t be a big deal if the team ends up in top four (I don’t think that will happen). The problem is this team is not dynamic enough for Auba to have a crappy season. There is no one else in the attack that can step up when Auba is not performing. Auba too is one dimensional players that doesn’t bring anything else to the team other than scoring goals. He will turn into another Ozil. This is Arteta’s team, and it’s on him whatever the direction the team takes
Well they call it a team for a reason, we can’t expect him to score without a real chances and when the only player who can deliver decent passes is Saka while the rest of the team is barely making anything for the attackers. I think Willock and Nelson should play behind Auba with Saka being on the left side
This will leave 6 players in the back, in this way we can free Teirney from his defensive roles and start helping Saka on the left and Bellerin on the right. Gabriel and Luiz and CB’s and two players infront of them will make the right formation, at least for the next match!
Who else..The magician MA who turns everyone in the squad into better defenders. Allow the strikers to do their duty . Stop playing out from back because the ball rarely reaches the other half. Stop possessive game and plan fast counter attacking play because we have very fast wingers. Then complain against Auba or Pepe..Just give both these players to some other PL manager and watch what they can do….
Himself and the Manager.
I was among those who wanted both Auba and Laca sold when the ovation was loudest for both, and we were quickly shushed by the demolition squad fans. Auba misses a lot ( he scores a lot too don’t misunderstand me ), and he is not strong enough to fight for his ball. Most of the time a pass or long cross is coming his direction, he doesn’t come to guard his ball and win it rather he more often than not plays safe by letting the ball come to him freely, which usually don’t happen as opposition players want it more. Auba is not a complete striker.
The Manager too for overthinking, overtinkering, and not giving his players a level of freedom to express themselves. Besides that, he decided to shut out the only player who carries the biggest threat of not just unlocking the power of his mates, but also opposition defense with unmatched intricate passes. You already know who I’m talking about because they are two, and I don’t need to mention name.
My bad. I meant “they are not two.”
Agree with Gily, neither player is getting any younger or sharper and I doubt if Aubameyang is going to go on a scoring blitz under this playing system. Arteta wants to play percentages so he should have had the players who are suited to his philosophy.
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he will not end with 10 goals or less….
its still early…he will start scoring eventually
Blame his wage
😂🤣😂🤣👍👍👍👍🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT RESPONSE BARON😂🤣😂🤣
This article aint necessary in any ramification, strikers often are in a slump, can anyone remind me the last time bobby firmino got a goal, gebriel jesus, bernando silva, martial, i mean your forecas is a cheap insult on our captain, club and very few mature fan base!
Our captain is in a slump, its our obligation giving him all posative vibes required, again at game week 9? Why the rush whe we know, pretty well that the so called clubs who we may think are better off than us will be rocked by inevitable injury crisis and burnt out as a result of massive fixture conjestion
Both Auba and Arteta.
The bug stops with the Manager. His style of play, where everyone is a defender. The best way of defending, is to attack
Beetle 🪲?
It’s by no coincidence that all our forwads are performing so poorly however average people want us to be convinced.
These are players who were brought in for a certain philosophy (the arsenal way) and that’s offensive play and freedom of expression.
I don’t believe MA is serving the same philosophy.
Blame it on the Bossa Nova!!🎼🎸🎺
Yes,, Aubameyang and Arteta will of course carry the blame on their heads for Auba’s slum in goal scoring in the PL if it continues to match day No.19 which is the half the PL season. More so, if Auba stays on 2 or 4 goals scored during this spell.
For, this wouldn’t be what Arsenal have bargained to have from Auba when Arteta persuaded the AFC board tp give him that reported vastly improved lucrative contract extension deal last summer window.
But having say all what I have said above, to be on the optimistic side of things for Aubameyang and for Lacazette as well who regular goals scoring form in the PL is also looking to have deserted him this season.
I think the duo Arsenal forwards can redeem their somewhat trodden down goals scoring form image for the Gunners as the Wolves visit to the Ems today’s afternoon for a PL match against Arsenal will present them with opportunity to seize it and make good use it by scoring a couple of goals in the match for Arsenal to win the match.
But let me add to say that on no any accounts should the rest of the Gunners who will play in the match leave or abandon the responsibility of scoring goals in the match for Arsenal to Auba and Laca to shoulder the burden alone.
The entire Gunners playing in the match must play as a compact team helping each other out in defending, tracking back, creating chances and attacking to sore. And not fail to take their chances to bury them into the back of the net whenever those chances present themselves to them to convert or they carve them out to score.
I’d blame Wenger. It’s not his fault but it would still feel good anyway.
I blame Dein and Usmanov toooo.
Not their fault but it would still feel good to push the blame to them
😂😂 Good one @John Ibrahim
😂😂😂
Wenger knows some people enjoy blaming him for everything that goes wrong. That’s why he said he was never going to step into the Emirates again until further notice. All these could have been termed his interference.
Anyway it doesn’t matter, he’s stil being blamed nonetheless.
I don’t think it’s fair to blame Auba for his recent drought. For one, he hasn’t got many chances in front of goal because our build up and transition are too slow. I attribute it to the system used by Arteta. At the end of last season, the 3-4-3 formation solved our defensive problem wonderfully. When attacking, it becomes a 4-3-3 formation and we achieved success by overloading the left hand side with the combination of Auba, Saka, and Tierney.
The problem is, other teams has caught up and figured out how to nullify that. For example, Pep used three defenders and instructed Walker to man mark Auba. He has pace and I remember one instance when Auba got a clear-cut chance but Walker was very quick to close down and block his shoot. Saka and Tierney were busy defending and hence their starting position was too deep to start any real attack.
Also, we were often outnumbered in the middle of the pitch. By sacrificing one midfielder, it becomes two holding midfielders against 3-4 players. So, the issue is more with the system rather than the player.
To back my point, here is the comparison of shots per game between top PL strikers: (retrieved from whoscored)
Auba 1.4
Kane 4.2
Vardy 2.3
Salah 3.9
Arteta is to blame.
The system, the formation, the strategies and ideologies are all is responsibility.
We blame the manager who failed to use Auba well. He is doing experiment too much in my opinion.
The questions are:
How did Auba become a top scorere seasons ago?
How comes now over saddently he can’t score goal?
What system was responsible to help Auba score many goals last season? What formation is arsenal using now that has dried all goals from Auba?
All these questions point towards the manager as a culprite number one before any other factors is considered.
Thanks