Graeme Souness unimpressed with efforts from Aubameyang and Lacazette
Arsenal endured a frustrating afternoon at Turf Moor as they were held to a goalless draw by Burnley.
The Gunners were lucky after a Jay Rodiguez shot just failed to cross the line as they fluffed their lines away from home yet again.
However, Arsenal started the game as the better side and they could have taken the lead after just two minutes. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang played a delightful cross to his strike partner, Alexandre Lacazette and the Frenchman couldn’t make the most of it when he should have scored.
David Luiz then set up Aubameyang for a goal and the club’s top scorer blew the opportunity shooting wide.
Those misses didn’t sit well with former Liverpool manager Graeme Souness who slammed the attackers for missing the chances that could have given Arsenal the lead and probably swing the game in their favour early on.
At half time, Souness said on Sky Sports as quoted in the Express: “They started the better, had several good chances, three good chances,
“This is Ozil on the ball, finds Aubameyang, takes a couple of chances, gets it out his feet, whips it in and Lacazette’s got to do better there.
“Try and hit the target, you’ll see it from this angle, it’s a good bit wide.
“You’ve got to get closer than that from that sort of header.
“This is a delightful ball here, we criticise him for a lot David Luiz but he can certainly pass the ball.
“Aubameyang tries to put his laces on it and his body shape’s all wrong when he’s got the strike.
“He should have opened his body out, a la Thierry Henry.
“Again [Granit] Xhaka, great ball in, at that moment you’re thinking it’s only a matter of time but Pope the goalkeeper does well there.
“Gets out and makes himself big, does enough.”
Arsenal now has just 31 points and remain far from their goal of ending the season inside the top four.
Too much of the scoring responsibility is on Auba and Laca. Midfielders should chip in everu now and then.
Torreira, Xhaka, Özil and Guendouzi have what, 1 goal between them?
Ozil actually has great finishing ability, but he always choose not to engage in one-on-one situations nowadays
If he can’t split the opposition’s defense with his passes, he should have carried the ball to the penalty box or to the byline
If he can’t dictate the tempo and can’t control the flow, he should have been able to do counter-pressing, retrieve the ball or intercept the threats
If he can’t do all those stuffs, it means he can’t be our main no 10. Better try someone else there for several matches or replace no 10 with a real central midfielder instead
Another Ozil apologist.
Since when, if ever, did Ozil possess finishing ability? He cannot even shoot to save his life!
Agree with Souness. But their bad performances are understandable, because Aubameyang is rusty after missing three games in a row and Lacazette’s confidence is very low after being barren for so long
Arteta had no other choice, because Martinelli and Pepe are not consistent either
The only one who hasn’t got enough chances to play in his natural position is Ceballos. The upcoming home game will be ideal to assign him as no 10 and I believe we will not play like ten men anymore if he starts there
Am all for given arteta chance but what is wrong with him, how can we be looking for goal and you will instead introduce wilock instead of ceballos, he waited till the 88th minute to use Nketiah, I don’t care how average Pepe might be he is way better than auba in the wings,use Martinelli on the left, Pepe on the right and auba centrally it’s not rocket science. Using wilock and Nketiah ahead of Pepe and ceballos is ridiculous.
Front 6 still not balanced in my opinion. Play a front 2 with Auba and Laca both starting centrally – Laca coming underneath to get it while Auba stretches things.
Pepe LM and on the left side. Guaranteeing service into the front two. Martinelli RM. Dani and Lucas centrally. Ball player and a ball winner.
Simple. Build from this. Score goals. Win games.
Absolutely spot on. I’m over two thousand miles away from arsenal but I can see that the only realistic way this lots can play decent is a 4-4-2 counter attacking football ala Leicester style. Why? Because our midfield is poor and one dimensional and Ozil is useless as ever. Lacazette plays just behind aubameyang and pepe, martinelli flank them but no, I am not a coach.
No Laca, PLEASE! We can not afford to keep him in the team the way he is playing. Martinelli, Auba, Pepe up front and NO Özil. Then MAYBE we will see goals like against Bournemouth.