There has been much discussion amongst Arsenal fans lately over whether Mikel Arteta should be persuading Alex Lacazette to sign a new contract extension or not, considering that he will be 31 years of age at the end of the season.
Although Laca was rarely used by Arteta in the recent unbeaten run of matches, we have seen him galvanise the side when brought on for the last 20 minutes against Brighton and Crystal Palace. Those performances persuaded Arteta to give Laca a starting spot against Villa for the first time since we were demolished by Man City.
Again, the Frenchman was influential and was many pundits Man Of The Match, but he couldn’t play the whole 90 minutes. As Arteta explained after the game: “Laca was fatigue. He hasn’t played that many minutes. He worked so hard and at some stage he just said ‘I’ve had enough’ and he was cramping.”
We are surely not surprised, as even back in Wenger’s day Laca rarely played a whole game, and this season, the only time he finished 90 mins was against lowly Wimbledon in the League Cup, so I not suggesting anything radical really.
I personally just think we should we should keep him and use him sparingly, and it seems I’m not the only one. As Paul Merson said in his Daily Star Sport column, Merson said: “Arsenal need to keep hold of Alexandre Lacazette – but only as a supersub.
“It must drive Mikel Arteta up the wall because he comes on the other night against Crystal Palace and you think how is he not playing.
“He’s intelligent, he’s sharp, he’s lively. He gets involved. He’s not just a goalscorer he gets involved in the build-up.
“Arsenal fans must wonder why he’s not in the team. But the problem is he doesn’t do that when he starts. He wants to do the basics.
“Arteta will pulling his hair out, one hundred per cent. If you’re not playing, you’d like to think Lacazette would want to move on and get more minutes.
“But I look at it and I think that if he can come off the bench and do that on a consistent basis, you can’t let him go, because it’s priceless.
“If he can accept being a sub and coming on to change a game, I think Arsenal have got a fantastic player again.
“He can give them something off the bench and Arteta needs that. They’re struggling. If I’m the manager I’m keeping him.”
I am sure that at his age, he will accept being on the bench as back up to younger faster strikers, and we know he can influence the game when he comes on. For me it’s a Win-Win situation…
What do you think?
Arteta has made people to believe that Lacazette is not a good player, and most of us bought that idea. I’ve never believed that because I know that Arteta is the main problem not Lacazette
Oh my goodness, what did I just read? Laca went over a year without an away goal! Never crossed 15 goals a season, wrong signing by Wenger.Gonzalo Higuain should have been the one signed when the opertunity came. Laca is a flop considering he is on 180K/week or our standard has been dropped so low to accept such returns from heavy investement. Every player shopuld give his 110%, however others do not do so some think Laca is some clone of Salah just because others are average. Shame on the seniors, lads like ESR & Saka drive our game.
What the heck is this! Cannon. Laca is a flop?😳 For me it’s a big No. You mentioned *higuain* who played nothing while he was at chelsea. Lacazette is a kind of player who if he doesnt score he would surely create chance for another to score and that I deem acceptable. His link-up play is so majestic and he is often not found missing in big matches unlike Aubameyang. And as far as I am concerned Lacazette has always gave his all in an Arsenal shirt if you cannot see that, then you need a check-up( very sorry if that sounds rude).
No issues mate, but if a 180k/week striker fails to score an away goal for over a year and that too for a club with ambitions, then I rest my case. I feel we need better and trust Mikel to unearth a gem
A club with ambitions!
And we have Arteta in charge ,good
One LC ,keep em coming buddy .
Koma Lacca in talks with West Ham and we will miss him like Saliba and Guendouzi who both had excellent games against PSG on Sunday
Lacazette is key to the way Arteta’s wants Arsenal to play. How he keeps being on the bench I do not know. It’s not Auba’s style to come deeper or hold up the ball so he should be playing. I wish we would see more of Balogun too.
OT
Its funny seeing Mavropanos and Saliba dropping a masterclass week in week out.
The former represent the typical poor Arsenal business
No. Laca starts. Martinelli should be the supersub and come on as sub much more than he is now
The idea of him not doing enough when he starts, not correct in many games such as the A.Villa game.
Lacazette’s unique strengths as an attacker in our team:
– Eager to risk his legs in 50/50 challenges
– Good in making technical fouls and faking out fouls
– Possesses good close ball control, hold-up and link-up skills
He might be slow and can’t last for ninety minutes due to his high work rate, but our young attackers should’ve been able to do the high pressing job instead
God will bless you! Reasonable comment. Whoever doesn’t see the influence of Laca in Arsenal is blind.
Thanks bro. I’d understand if Arsenal are unwilling to give him a long contract extension, because of his age
Ya it’s understandable. But we can at least give him 1 or 2years contract. . Especially that Auba is really improving his all round game as a CF.
There are older CF still playing well, so why not give Lacazette more time he already understand how Arteta plays. As long as he is ready to come most times from the bench.
Laca is essential to the Arsenal cause. He not only does score, but also creates chances, brings other forwards into goal scoring situations, generates positive energy does not hide in big games and runs hard all game. Probably that is the reason he does not finish the game. Laca has got to start games, along with Auba. Also, I notice Auba plays better when Laca is around. We could use the 4-4-2 formation. Also the younger players must learn to press like Laca.
As we have average ballers, have we also average commenters who give gibberish thoughts on issues. Laca is as good as any striker in the premier league if he is playing with the best players, boldly asserting is I.
I’d like to see Lacazette play more often ahead of Odegaard in the space behind Auba.
…………………Rowe….Lacazette….Saka
………………………Lokonga…..Partey
OT. Look like Conte is going to be Man u manager. Read breaking news from ESPN soccernet.
Once again, the issues surrounding Laca aren’t that he contributes nothing or that he couldn’t provide us with some much-needed depth moving forward, it’s that he hasn’t lived up to his side of the bargain, financially-speaking…now if Laca understood this fact and was willing to stay on for a vastly reduced rate, then that might be a sound investment, but we all know that there’s little to no chance that this would be an amenable course of action for our diminutive forward…that said, it’s best that we don’t fall victim to the same trappings of the misguided Willian decision, when we paid starter’s wages to someone who was clearly best-suited as a “super” sub…as I’ve said on multiple occasions, it’s imperative that we start to heed the lessons of our more recent past
Let me speak on this for the millionth time wishfully thinking fans and management alike will hear me (God help me). I would put Lacazette in the same bracket as Roberto Firmino. Only difference is our wingers aren’t beasts like Salah and co. Unfortunately we expect our CF to get the headlines and all the goals. Lacazette’s movement, tenacity and work rate create problems for oppositions. Also unlike Auba he can compete with opposition defenders receive the ball with his back to goal and continue the movement higher up the pitch.
We average more chances with Laca and without a consistent goal scorer you’d rather play someone who makes the TEAM more likely to score than reliance on one man to get the goals.
Lastly I will stick my neck out and say if lacazette replaced Firmino at Liverpool you would hardly notice a difference coz he’d fit in seamlessly. They don’t focus on striker talismans but team performance, chance creation and conversion.