The Arsenal front three of Aubameyang, Pepe and Lacazette is formidable – on paper that is.
Prior to the season kicking off we all got overly excited at the prospect of seeing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Nicolas Pepe and Alexandre Lacazette playing together. We all expected to see fireworks from the trio, well I certainly did. But instead, we have seen almost the opposite. Why is that?
Curtis Shaw, who appears occasionally on AFTV has his own Youtube channel and has just gone past 1k subscribers.
Curtis has asked a very good question that is worth thinking about. Why Is Arsenals Front 3 Not Working? I am sure we all have our opinions on that. I suspect most will blame Unai Emery but it is probably not as simple as that.
It is a decent length of just over nine minutes and some very good points are expressed.
Anyway have a watch, it is worth a listen.
If you missed the last two videos posted up from lesser-known Youtubers here they are,
What Arsenal game made you turn against Unai Emery?
Sack Emery and employ Jose Mourinho or lose Aubameyang
Aubameyang and Lacazette can play together upfront for several games. But they won’t be able to support each other for the whole season, because they’re both too accustomed to play as lone striker
Whereas Pepe is too obsessed about cutting inside with his left foot and his right leg is too inept to dribble past the opposition’s LB. Those three forwards’ first touches and ball controls are often lousy as well
If we examine how Liverpool’s front three play, Firmino sacrifices himself to drop deeper and Mane/ Salah play as inside forwards. Our PAL should also stop being selfish if they want to thrive as Arsenal’s tridente
My humble opinion is Emery’s tactics.
1. He doesn’t set up team to win, but
rather to counter what he believes
are opponents tactics.
2. He doesn’t play direct attacking
football
3. Chooses to field players out of
position for his tactics instead of
using a players strengths.
4. Tinkers EVERY GAME and players
struggle to find consistency.
5. His ideas are wrong, but refuses to
admit it or change his ways.
This is how we get “tactics worked” but we lost 2-0. Or Torreria up high to press, but when do we ever press?
Playing Xhaka as deepest midfielder; it failed with Wenger, and continued to fail with Emery.
pepe has just arrived this season
he needs time to adapt to club and country….
how many players in the first 11 has actually play together for 2 season?
we dont even have our core 5 or 6 players playing together for at least 2 seasons
this is not fifa20…..
players need time to settle, build up coordination and communication
Off topic:fekir was offered to us for 20 millions,the latest stats from la Liga he the most successful dribbler in la Liga way ahead of Messi,jus saying!
That Fekir ship has sailed and we didn’t need another CAM at that time
We should try to reduce our dependency on no 10, because European winners like Liverpool don’t use it anymore. Klopp once explained his belief in the effectiveness of Gegenpressing in creating chances:
“If you win the ball back high up the pitch and you are close to the goal, it is only one pass away a really good opportunity most of the time. No playmaker and no 10 in the world can be as good as a good counter-pressing situation”
That’s why he sticks to 4-3-3 and other European winners like Barcelona/ Real Madrid have also ditched 4-2-3-1
The fact that we play with basically three attackers who are all strikers could be a problem. On paper they all look very exciting but football is played on grass. We are probably over subscibed with strikers and that maybe is affecting the balance attacking and in midfield. We set up attacking but none are known for creating chances but all can score. Its a conundrum because maybe only one striker is needed, an extra body in midfield and more creativity up front not out and out goalscorers. When we leave Auba out, people want him in, when we leave lacca out, people want him in, when we leave pepe out, people want him in. Together maybe the balance is not the best. Maybe ozil and auba up top would be ideal, without lacca or pepe, at least then we can stiffen midfield. Maybe just auba and lacca, no pepe. Maybe lacca and pepe, no auba. Its a problem we have great riches up top but it may not be ideal.
I like your submission. Very good. I wish those at the club can see this. There is an imbalance in the team. In my opinion, we also need to overhaul the midfield. Get in both Thomas Partey and Rakitic in January. If it means getting one on loan and buying the other. Lure them with high wages. Play a 433 formation. We need just 6 midfielders with high energy. Rakitic, Partey, Torrera, Willock, Ceballos and Xhaka(He dictates the tempo from the deep). Loan out Guendouzi and Saka. Play Ozil in the front 3. Aubameyang, Lacazette, Martinelli, Pepe, Nelson and Ozil all competing for the 3 slots upfront. My preferred midfield 3 should be Partey, Rakitic and Torrera. Preferred front 3 should be Martinelli Pepe and Aubameyang.change from a possession based team to a quick counter attacking team. Quick transition from defense to attack with a long ball.
Midfield is the only problem with this team. Get in those two in January. And we are good to go. And if possible, sack Emery now and appoint one of Arteta, Mou and Enrique.
Would’ve loved for us to keep Ramsey and have him with Torreira then pressing high up. That was a good point he made, the forwards aren’t getting enough support runners, we could’ve had that with these two and then left Luiz or CC as holding midfielder. Also if against a tough side to break down, Luiz could’ve switched it up with Torreira, he’s a good passer and Ramsey would still be making dangerous runs.
I think there’s times you could play Ozil as the false nine, and would want Laca and Auba as the wing forwards, if not working then young Martinelli has great ability for that central role, and the players could choose to switch it up at times rather than the manager needing to tell them when. Not even spoken about Pepe, we had options, I think Emery realized he threw Pepe in too soon and now we have went ass-backwards with the thing. Pepe also needs to be more physically stronger, upper body strength but esp in his legs, weakish kind of shooting. He has talent, no confidence yet really but there’s talent for all to see, many offshore players don’t breakthrough in this first period so I wouldn’t worry yet. Barcelona are saying that they feel sick about missing out on Martinelli.
The key is supply. For that with the ball we must play 3-4-1-2 and control the middle, while deflecting the enemy to the wings. The mid-field should consider Luiz.
To get the best out of the Trident and Martinelli, we must play Ozil as a #10.
With those four attacking, the rest must defend and supply.
To supply there has to be flexibility in method: long ball, balls to mid-field and then options through to the Trident or Ozil, dribbling through, and even playing from the back when warranted.
The mid-field has to be stronger with Torriera as DMF along with another able to support Torreira. I think Luiz is likely less of a liability in the middle as he is good with the ball, in a holding role and can tackle. Being physical in the middle and clogging the area (in defense) is essential, while transitioning to attack is obviously the key to supply Ozil and the Trident, indirectly and directly.
We have to play the current CD who are a bit more mobile. Mustafi, Chambers and Holding. The wing-backs can be support, and Tierny with Bellerin is good enough, but they must be encourage to bring the ball up as well as pass.
The front three are not performing because our midfield are not performing, because the manager is crap.
By the way, the comment above about Pepé’s right leg is absolutely bloody hilarious 🤣🤣🤣, what a thing to say!
Honestly, I don’t think Emery can turn things around. We need a creative manager with great personality.why has he not been sacked? It is important we make top four. Emery is not the right man for the job.
Transport our front three to the Liverpool team and they would almost certainly be successful.Without solidity at the back and drive and energy in midfield is it any wonder they are not setting the heather on fire.Without a magic wand to wave,our front three will have to step up their work rate to match the Liverpool trio who never stop running off the ball and tracking back to help their team-mates.Pepe in particular is negligent in this area.
If you don’t play creative players in the correct positions and snuff out the ability to read where the forwards want the ball to be played, the attack will always flounder.
Our creative players? Ozil and Ceballos.
Lack of service.
I think the PAL sucks because we haven’t replaced Ramsey properly. Might be that Emery’s attempting to mould Torreira into a Ramsey.