Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

[jayramfootball]

Someone do us an analysis comparing Auba’s goal stats at this stage in his Arsenal career vs Henry and RvP. Guaranteed he edges Henry and easily beats RvP.

Aubameyang 11250 mins 83 goals
Henry first 11250 mins at arsenal 78 goals
Van Persie first 11250 mins at arsenal 65 goals

Says it all.

Apart from the numbers being incorrect, what does it say about Auba's current shit season, where his laziness and awful finishing has let us down badly?

Still seeing a lot of deflection away from this season.
I wonder why?

We badly need rid of him, but it's going to be tough getting him out.

He’s having a bad season, not a bad career. With a better manager and more creative players around him he can be a force. But it seems your mind is made up for some reason. Not sure why.

I didn't say he had a bad career.
I am interested in the here and now and in the club's future.
I can guarantee you my mind is not made up on any player. Auba included.
If he comes back and starts smashing in goals he will get the thumbs up from me and I will look forward to his next 2 years.

What I can't stomach is the ridiculous excuses about his poor season. If this, if that, play him here, play him there, blah blah blah.

It's very simple. Goals. That is Auba's yardstick and this year he hasn't been good enough. I see no signs that he'll be good enough next year to hold down a first team place. I hope that changes, but I am not optimistic about him at all.

Exactly, all that matters is we paid him big for 3 more years of 20+ league goals at minimum. He brings practically nothing else to the team so that is the low bar for him to hit and he’s failing miserably.

Now in fairness the attack hasn’t been massively fluid and on form as a whole this season, the defensive nature of some games has detracted from that but that’s where his flaws as a player get highlighted. If he was working his ass off and contributing to the team without the goals then I’d have much less of a problem with his form, it would somewhat make up for the lack of goals and at least show the right attitude.

Instead we have Laca busting his ass for the team every time he plays and now getting a decent goal return because he’s not getting dropped every 5 minutes. He will never score consistently like Auba has over his career but overall he brings the greater total benefit to the team, at least this season.

Really that’s all that matters, if we can’t sell Auba then Laca will probably have to go in the summer and we pray Auba turns it on again next season. In which case will get fully behind him.

Same applies to Lacazette and this where the double standards kick in. Talk about him getting dropped or not being the main penalty taker...it's an excuse. He's on £180k and we paid £50m for a top class striker to surpass Giroud and that hasn't been the case. He works hard and a great example to the team but we were looking for a 25+ goal striker when we signed him and not just a work horse because we already had that from Giroud.

Laca is having a better season today but 17 goals isn't enough and last season it was just 12 goals all season. Same yardstick applies. Goals. We could have kept Giroud and Welbeck if we wanted a 15 goal striker that works hard for the team at a fraction of the cost. If we keep Lacazette on he'll have to really up his game to be that 25 goal striker.

What double standard?
I don't know anyone who thinks we should be giving Laca a 3yr contract with a massive wage hike.
He's doing well for us this season compared to his previous levels.
He's certainly paid too much for what he provides.
If he stays I would hate to see him on anything other than a years extension and certainly no wage increase.

As for this year, he'd have more goals if he was not messed around. He's only played c1800 minutes of PL football from a possible c2800, but he has 13 PL goals. In terms of goal rate that is a goal every 139 minutes in the PL, which is better than Auba over his first 2.5 seasons with us. I think there are only 2 strikers in the PL with a better rate.
Despite missing loads of football over the last 2 months because of tardiness, family issues and illness, Auba has still played 200 minutes more than Laca and he's taken CF minutes away from Laca prior to that 2-month partial absence. That was a mistake.

This was a 20 goal season for Laca in the PL but for the terrible decision to drop him after he opened the campaign with 3 in 3 games and then playing him deeper. Even then, he STILL might get to 20 in the PL. We've got 7 PL games left and he should start at CF in all of them.

If he agrees to a one year extension with no wage increase it’s because he’s so bad that nobody wants him. And even I don’t think he’s that bad.

No. Not true at all.
The market doesn't always throw out opportunities for players at the right time.
There are a number of factors that would preclude a move for a player on a significant wage like Laca.
I suspect, though, he will move for his 3-year 'retirement' contract because I certainly don't want it to be us giving it to him.

[Power n Glory]

Someone do us an analysis comparing Auba’s goal stats at this stage in his Arsenal career vs Henry and RvP. Guaranteed he edges Henry and easily beats RvP.

Aubameyang 11250 mins 83 goals
Henry first 11250 mins at arsenal 78 goals
Van Persie first 11250 mins at arsenal 65 goals

Says it all.

Apart from the numbers being incorrect, what does it say about Auba's current shit season, where his laziness and awful finishing has let us down badly?

Still seeing a lot of deflection away from this season.
I wonder why?

We badly need rid of him, but it's going to be tough getting him out.

He’s having a bad season, not a bad career. With a better manager and more creative players around him he can be a force. But it seems your mind is made up for some reason. Not sure why.

I didn't say he had a bad career.
I am interested in the here and now and in the club's future.
I can guarantee you my mind is not made up on any player. Auba included.
If he comes back and starts smashing in goals he will get the thumbs up from me and I will look forward to his next 2 years.

What I can't stomach is the ridiculous excuses about his poor season. If this, if that, play him here, play him there, blah blah blah.

It's very simple. Goals. That is Auba's yardstick and this year he hasn't been good enough. I see no signs that he'll be good enough next year to hold down a first team place. I hope that changes, but I am not optimistic about him at all.

Exactly, all that matters is we paid him big for 3 more years of 20+ league goals at minimum. He brings practically nothing else to the team so that is the low bar for him to hit and he’s failing miserably.

Now in fairness the attack hasn’t been massively fluid and on form as a whole this season, the defensive nature of some games has detracted from that but that’s where his flaws as a player get highlighted. If he was working his ass off and contributing to the team without the goals then I’d have much less of a problem with his form, it would somewhat make up for the lack of goals and at least show the right attitude.

Instead we have Laca busting his ass for the team every time he plays and now getting a decent goal return because he’s not getting dropped every 5 minutes. He will never score consistently like Auba has over his career but overall he brings the greater total benefit to the team, at least this season.

Really that’s all that matters, if we can’t sell Auba then Laca will probably have to go in the summer and we pray Auba turns it on again next season. In which case will get fully behind him.

Same applies to Lacazette and this where the double standards kick in. Talk about him getting dropped or not being the main penalty taker...it's an excuse. He's on £180k and we paid £50m for a top class striker to surpass Giroud and that hasn't been the case. He works hard and a great example to the team but we were looking for a 25+ goal striker when we signed him and not just a work horse because we already had that from Giroud.

Laca is having a better season today but 17 goals isn't enough and last season it was just 12 goals all season. Same yardstick applies. Goals. We could have kept Giroud and Welbeck if we wanted a 15 goal striker that works hard for the team at a fraction of the cost. If we keep Lacazette on he'll have to really up his game to be that 25 goal striker.

What double standard?
I don't know anyone who thinks we should be giving Laca a 3yr contract with a massive wage hike.
He's doing well for us this season compared to his previous levels.
He's certainly paid too much for what he provides.
If he stays I would hate to see him on anything other than a years extension and certainly no wage increase.

As for this year, he'd have more goals if he was not messed around. He's only played c1800 minutes of PL football from a possible c2800, but he has 13 PL goals. In terms of goal rate that is a goal every 139 minutes in the PL, which is better than Auba over his first 2.5 seasons with us. I think there are only 2 strikers in the PL with a better rate.
Despite missing loads of football over the last 2 months because of tardiness, family issues and illness, Auba has still played 200 minutes more than Laca and he's taken CF minutes away from Laca prior to that 2-month partial absence. That was a mistake.

This was a 20 goal season for Laca in the PL but for the terrible decision to drop him after he opened the campaign with 3 in 3 games and then playing him deeper. Even then, he STILL might get to 20 in the PL. We've got 7 PL games left and he should start at CF in all of them.

Santi can answer himself.

[jayramfootball]

Someone do us an analysis comparing Auba’s goal stats at this stage in his Arsenal career vs Henry and RvP. Guaranteed he edges Henry and easily beats RvP.

Aubameyang 11250 mins 83 goals
Henry first 11250 mins at arsenal 78 goals
Van Persie first 11250 mins at arsenal 65 goals

Says it all.

Apart from the numbers being incorrect, what does it say about Auba's current shit season, where his laziness and awful finishing has let us down badly?

Still seeing a lot of deflection away from this season.
I wonder why?

We badly need rid of him, but it's going to be tough getting him out.

He’s having a bad season, not a bad career. With a better manager and more creative players around him he can be a force. But it seems your mind is made up for some reason. Not sure why.

I didn't say he had a bad career.
I am interested in the here and now and in the club's future.
I can guarantee you my mind is not made up on any player. Auba included.
If he comes back and starts smashing in goals he will get the thumbs up from me and I will look forward to his next 2 years.

What I can't stomach is the ridiculous excuses about his poor season. If this, if that, play him here, play him there, blah blah blah.

It's very simple. Goals. That is Auba's yardstick and this year he hasn't been good enough. I see no signs that he'll be good enough next year to hold down a first team place. I hope that changes, but I am not optimistic about him at all.

Exactly, all that matters is we paid him big for 3 more years of 20+ league goals at minimum. He brings practically nothing else to the team so that is the low bar for him to hit and he’s failing miserably.

Now in fairness the attack hasn’t been massively fluid and on form as a whole this season, the defensive nature of some games has detracted from that but that’s where his flaws as a player get highlighted. If he was working his ass off and contributing to the team without the goals then I’d have much less of a problem with his form, it would somewhat make up for the lack of goals and at least show the right attitude.

Instead we have Laca busting his ass for the team every time he plays and now getting a decent goal return because he’s not getting dropped every 5 minutes. He will never score consistently like Auba has over his career but overall he brings the greater total benefit to the team, at least this season.

Really that’s all that matters, if we can’t sell Auba then Laca will probably have to go in the summer and we pray Auba turns it on again next season. In which case will get fully behind him.

Same applies to Lacazette and this where the double standards kick in. Talk about him getting dropped or not being the main penalty taker...it's an excuse. He's on £180k and we paid £50m for a top class striker to surpass Giroud and that hasn't been the case. He works hard and a great example to the team but we were looking for a 25+ goal striker when we signed him and not just a work horse because we already had that from Giroud.

Laca is having a better season today but 17 goals isn't enough and last season it was just 12 goals all season. Same yardstick applies. Goals. We could have kept Giroud and Welbeck if we wanted a 15 goal striker that works hard for the team at a fraction of the cost. If we keep Lacazette on he'll have to really up his game to be that 25 goal striker.

What double standard?
I don't know anyone who thinks we should be giving Laca a 3yr contract with a massive wage hike.
He's doing well for us this season compared to his previous levels.
He's certainly paid too much for what he provides.
If he stays I would hate to see him on anything other than a years extension and certainly no wage increase.

As for this year, he'd have more goals if he was not messed around. He's only played c1800 minutes of PL football from a possible c2800, but he has 13 PL goals. In terms of goal rate that is a goal every 139 minutes in the PL, which is better than Auba over his first 2.5 seasons with us. I think there are only 2 strikers in the PL with a better rate.
Despite missing loads of football over the last 2 months because of tardiness, family issues and illness, Auba has still played 200 minutes more than Laca and he's taken CF minutes away from Laca prior to that 2-month partial absence. That was a mistake.

This was a 20 goal season for Laca in the PL but for the terrible decision to drop him after he opened the campaign with 3 in 3 games and then playing him deeper. Even then, he STILL might get to 20 in the PL. We've got 7 PL games left and he should start at CF in all of them.

Santi can answer himself.

I believe what he wrote was clear and contained no double standard.
This is a forum.
If you want a private discussion, go elsewhere (like pvt messaging).

[Santi]

Not sure what the double standard is, I was fine for Auba to have a new deal if he performed. I thought the wages were too much but understood keeping him (top scorer and makes us look like a big club) even though I also understood it being the risky deal it's now panning out to be. The main thing that pissed me off was his words in that pathetic re-signing video, coupled with him being captain, compared to his attitude and effort this season.

Laca on anything over 200k pw wouldn't be worth a new deal either but at least you know he will always fight for the team rather than tail off like Auba and Ozil.

As for this 25+ goal a season striker people expected, I'm not sure where this came from as he was barely a 25 goal a season player even in Ligue 1. His only 2 seasons above that (14/15 and 16/17) contained 8 and 10 penalties respectively and I said all this before we signed him, I didn't actually want the guy originally at all. Quite funny since he is my favourite player now.

So really I think you have unrealistic expectations of him, his game is not to be the main goal scoring striker and that's why we had Auba alongside him to provide 20+ goals while Laca chipped in with at least 15 but did all the other work he does for the team as well. As for his stats, his whole career here has been stop start, even this season with 17 goals he was dropped after the initial 3 in 3 and doesn't get the same level of game time or repeated starts when he's not inform like certain others.

Go look at Auba's stats and how often he starts and gets the full 90 mins, meanwhile Laca scores a few n gets dropped randomly because we went up against a big team, which meant him playing CDM half the game. Gets chopped out of the team all the time, now he finally isn't and he's scoring, albeit a few pens as well.

[Dejan]

Pierre the GOAT

[Santi]

Laca the GOAT

You know it bro

[swipe right]

The way forward.

Martinelli - Auba - Saka
ESR
New CM - Partey

[jayramfootball]

The way forward.

Martinelli - Auba - Saka
ESR
New CM - Partey

Auba is poor as a CF and certainly not any good way forward.
He's started 8 games at CF in the PL and been subbed on as CF in 2 more. He's scored in just 2 of those games.
Even in the weak Europa League games he's started 4 times at CF and scored in just 1 of them.

Contrast to Lacazette - started CF 19 times in the PL and scored in 10 of those games.

That said, neither Auba or Laca are part of 'the way forward' for this club.
Auba is 32 and clearly slowing down this year and Laca is 30 and unlikely to be given a new contract.

The way forward to is to bring in a new CF

[Power n Glory]

Not sure what the double standard is, I was fine for Auba to have a new deal if he performed. I thought the wages were too much but understood keeping him (top scorer and makes us look like a big club) even though I also understood it being the risky deal it's now panning out to be. The main thing that pissed me off was his words in that pathetic re-signing video, coupled with him being captain, compared to his attitude and effort this season.

Laca on anything over 200k pw wouldn't be worth a new deal either but at least you know he will always fight for the team rather than tail off like Auba and Ozil.

As for this 25+ goal a season striker people expected, I'm not sure where this came from as he was barely a 25 goal a season player even in Ligue 1. His only 2 seasons above that (14/15 and 16/17) contained 8 and 10 penalties respectively and I said all this before we signed him, I didn't actually want the guy originally at all. Quite funny since he is my favourite player now.

So really I think you have unrealistic expectations of him, his game is not to be the main goal scoring striker and that's why we had Auba alongside him to provide 20+ goals while Laca chipped in with at least 15 but did all the other work he does for the team as well. As for his stats, his whole career here has been stop start, even this season with 17 goals he was dropped after the initial 3 in 3 and doesn't get the same level of game time or repeated starts when he's not inform like certain others.

Go look at Auba's stats and how often he starts and gets the full 90 mins, meanwhile Laca scores a few n gets dropped randomly because we went up against a big team, which meant him playing CDM half the game. Gets chopped out of the team all the time, now he finally isn't and he's scoring, albeit a few pens as well.

The double standard comes back to the point about value for money and excuses about why he's not playing as much. We spent £50m on Laca and he's on £180k a week but hasn’t really come close to justifying his price tag or wages. We could have stuck with Giroud and saved ourselves money. Auba's one year into a new deal and that keeps on getting held against him but no thought has gone into whether we have seen value for money for Lacazette. If we didn't sign Auba, Laca would be under more scrutiny.

Lacazette was a record signing. Can you honestly say we bought him to play second fiddle? We were looking to sign a top class striker and after failed bids to sign Benzema, Higuain and Wenger even admitting to meeting Mbappe, you could see our ambition was to sign an elite striker. Numerous failed attempts to get someone better than Giroud until desperation for massive signing kicked in and we settled on Laca despite Wenger's reservations. If we had signed Aubameyang first we wouldn't have signed Lacazette at all. The intention wasn't to spend over £100m on two strikers in less than six months. Just another example of crazy spending and poor planning.

Laca scored 37 goals before joining us so even if he had taken 7 or 8 penalties that's still a 25+ goal striker the club were hoping for. I can see how that would stand out in the scouting report. You day it's unrealistic expectations based off being familiar with the player in Ligue 1 and not really rating him. We overpaid for player that can't deliver what's expected for that price tag. That's nothing new. But I don’t see the same easy going attitude when talking about Auba's contract or other record signing like Pepe or Partey. Considering the fee we paid and the contract Laca's on, elite level performances should be expected.

If you don't believe he's capable of 25 a season or elite level, maybe the coach's agree and why he gets benched so often. It's poor management and not something I like to see when a player looks to be picking up form but we see it with Pepe, Martinelli, seen it with Maitland Niles, Saliba but a rarely see the same talk of these players getting mucked about by the manager. I could be wrong. Not quite the same but Auba has also had some stop and start moments just as he's getting on form this season but you call them excuses. Also, on a tactical level, if you understand the role of a winger, i can't understand why anyone thinks it's a good idea to play Auba there knowing his limitations. You read Tim Stillman's article so I won't go into further detail. You said you agreed with that article and Tim's is similar to what I've said already.

[Power n Glory]

https://arseblog.com/2021/04/laca-yin-aubameyang/

LACA-YIN AND AUBAME-YANG
By Tim Stillman -April 14, 2021

When Pierre Emerick Aubameyang arrived at Arsenal in January 2018, he instantly struck up a friendship with Alex Lacazette. It was a friendship that surprised many of us considering that Aubameyang had essentially been bought to replace Lacazette- or so we thought. At the time of Auba’s arrival, Lacazette was enduring a goal drought and soon after it was discovered that he required knee surgery.

Wenger had clearly been reluctant to sign Lacazette, who was available on the market for at least two summers before he eventually arrived. Having failed in the pursuits of Suarez and Benzema and experimented with Alexis Sanchez as a centre-forward, Arsene felt he couldn’t wait any longer to try and move the club on from having Olivier Giroud as their marksman.

The irony here, of course, is that Lacazette’s goal scoring output is lower than Giroud’s. His goal totals in an Arsenal shirt (all competitions) stand at 17, 19, 12 and he currently sits on 15 goals for the season. In Giroud’s five full seasons at Arsenal he managed 17, 22, 19, 24 and 16.

Both are very different types of player, clearly and Wenger probably saw Lacazette is a more favourable style of striker for his Arsenal team. Broadly, both are facilitators or foils, not really the striking centrepiece of a team that challenges to win the game’s big prizes. Aubameyang sits far more in the category of a player you can hang your hat on to score 25-30 goals a season.

Aubameyang didn’t replace Lacazette, as many of us suspected, but instead ended up buttressing him. Chiselled into a slightly awkward left-wing role, Auba was seen as an elite enough goal scorer to play slightly out of position without unduly impacting his goal tally, while Lacazette could play in his favoured role and facilitate Arsenal’s attacks.

It’s always been a slightly awkward on-pitch relationship, even if off the field they remain BFFs. The players’ respective contract situations have impacted this dynamic further. After pretty much single handedly winning Arsenal the FA Cup, Aubameyang was handed a three-year contract on a sizeable salary. Lacazette currently has a year to run on his deal and turns 30 in May.

Essentially, Arsenal have backed their horse already. With 32-year old Willian joining on a large contract, the club just cannot countenance pouring more resource into an attacker on the wrong side of the age curve. Asking Aubameyang to chase Trent Alexander-Arnold up and down the touchline is not the way to look after his career given that he will be on around £300,000 a week come his 34th birthday.

Arsenal have more of a responsibility to look after Aubameyang’s legs and his career than they do Lacazette. The sagacity of that decision can be debated but it can’t be reversed, that is the decision that the club has already made- whether they did so with a clear head is open to conjecture.

With the emergence of Emile Smith Rowe and the loan signing of Martin Odegaard, Arsenal seriously upped their creative potential in the New Year (which is to say that they raised it from somewhere close to zero). Arteta finally relented and played Aubameyang through the middle and, hey presto, his previously impoverished form improved and he was better able to utilise his elite ability to find space in the penalty area and find goal scoring chances.

All the while, a kind of online culture war has emerged between camp Lacazette and team Aubameyang. In the social media era, it isn’t unusual for these kind of cliques to form among fans as we become more protective of our own opinions than ever. We experienced much the same online stand-off between “Ramsey fans” and Wilshere fans” a few years back. In this “LACA v AUBA” debate, I am not without guilt.


It is quite understandable that this divide has emerged because Arteta does essentially have a choice between two intriguing binaries. Lacazette does link play nicely when he drops deep, he is better at that aspect of centre-forward play than Aubamayeng. As ever, in online discourse, exaggeration ensues.

Aubameyang can link play well enough, despite the protestations of many. However, Aubameyang is undoubtedly superior at finding space in the penalty area and taking shots at goal. Aubameyang is superior to most strikers on the planet in that respect. Again, Lacazette’s deficiencies in this area have also been hyperbolised- he has scored more goals this season than Auba after all.

In a nutshell, Lacazette’s game is built on combinations, he likes to connect. Aubameyang’s is built on finding space and that requires that you disconnect because space opens up away from the ball. Often strikers like Aubameyang are miscast as peripheral or, worse, disinterested. I disagree with that, I just think his work takes place away from the ball. Space doesn’t just open up for you to run into, you have to work to create and find it. A striker like that makes a hundred unfruitful shuttle runs before they get their reward.

Regardless of the white noise of online chatter, Arteta’s role is to try to get the best out of whichever striker he picks. Because they are so different, it is not so much a case of which individual is superior but how you build the team to get the best out of their attributes. They are entirely different and their attacking partners need to be configured differently.

Lacazette endured a miserable evening against Slavia Praha last week in an attack featuring Willian. The Brazilian does have his qualities (though he has scarcely shown them in an Arsenal shirt) but none of them complement Lacazette’s qualities. The mixture of Willian and Lacazette is not penetrative enough and carries too little penalty box threat.

Likewise, the attack against Liverpool was poorly configured with Aubameyang, Lacazette and Pepe starting together. That trio does not have the technical properties to retain the ball and build pressure. Auba looked back to his best played through the middle with mobile creators around him to ferry the ball into the area.

Lacazette enjoyed an excellent performance against Sheffield United, playing alongside two aggressive wide players in Pepe and Martinelli, who like to load the penalty area and take shots. It was Martinelli following in when Pepe’s second half shot was palmed away by Aaron Ramsdale. Had Auba been playing, he undoubtedly would have swallowed up that rebound as well. Willian or Smith Rowe probably wouldn’t have.



Crucially, at Bramall Lane, Arteta also positioned Dani Ceballos close to Lacazette. Laca likes to combine with one touch passes and so does Ceballos. Played closer together, the pair could play wall passes all evening while Martinelli focused on raiding the penalty area. Lacazette enjoyed a good relationship with Mesut Ozil for much the same reason.



When it comes to penalty box presence, Lacazette is more garnish than main dish. Left alone, he can’t carve out a nook or cranny in a crowded area like Aubameyang can. He prefers to drift around the penalty spot looking for pull-backs and for that to be effective, he needs support runners (so, not Willian). Auba, on the other hand, can find those positions for fun if there are enough creators around him.


Essentially, Auba is much more in the Mane, Salah and Cavani bracket of killing teams by volume. He misses lots of good chances but so do most elite strikers; the skill is not being perturbed by missing and taking up those goal scoring spaces again and again. Feed him and he will score.

Lacazette is a facilitator and that means he needs players to help him facilitate and, crucially, players that can fill the penalty area to support him. Arsenal have already made their choice, fiscally speaking and should prioritise Aubameyang through the centre as a result, however, whoever Arteta picks to play at centre-forward, it is important that he selects the right partners for them to thrive.

[jayramfootball]

Not sure what the double standard is, I was fine for Auba to have a new deal if he performed. I thought the wages were too much but understood keeping him (top scorer and makes us look like a big club) even though I also understood it being the risky deal it's now panning out to be. The main thing that pissed me off was his words in that pathetic re-signing video, coupled with him being captain, compared to his attitude and effort this season.

Laca on anything over 200k pw wouldn't be worth a new deal either but at least you know he will always fight for the team rather than tail off like Auba and Ozil.

As for this 25+ goal a season striker people expected, I'm not sure where this came from as he was barely a 25 goal a season player even in Ligue 1. His only 2 seasons above that (14/15 and 16/17) contained 8 and 10 penalties respectively and I said all this before we signed him, I didn't actually want the guy originally at all. Quite funny since he is my favourite player now.

So really I think you have unrealistic expectations of him, his game is not to be the main goal scoring striker and that's why we had Auba alongside him to provide 20+ goals while Laca chipped in with at least 15 but did all the other work he does for the team as well. As for his stats, his whole career here has been stop start, even this season with 17 goals he was dropped after the initial 3 in 3 and doesn't get the same level of game time or repeated starts when he's not inform like certain others.

Go look at Auba's stats and how often he starts and gets the full 90 mins, meanwhile Laca scores a few n gets dropped randomly because we went up against a big team, which meant him playing CDM half the game. Gets chopped out of the team all the time, now he finally isn't and he's scoring, albeit a few pens as well.

The double standard comes back to the point about value for money and excuses about why he's not playing as much. We spent £50m on Laca and he's on £180k a week but hasn’t really come close to justifying his price tag or wages. We could have stuck with Giroud and saved ourselves money. Auba's one year into a new deal and that keeps on getting held against him but no thought has gone into whether we have seen value for money for Lacazette. If we didn't sign Auba, Laca would be under more scrutiny.

Lacazette was a record signing. Can you honestly say we bought him to play second fiddle? We were looking to sign a top class striker and after failed bids to sign Benzema, Higuain and Wenger even admitting to meeting Mbappe, you could see our ambition was to sign an elite striker. Numerous failed attempts to get someone better than Giroud until desperation for massive signing kicked in and we settled on Laca despite Wenger's reservations. If we had signed Aubameyang first we wouldn't have signed Lacazette at all. The intention wasn't to spend over £100m on two strikers in less than six months. Just another example of crazy spending and poor planning.

Laca scored 37 goals before joining us so even if he had taken 7 or 8 penalties that's still a 25+ goal striker the club were hoping for. I can see how that would stand out in the scouting report. You day it's unrealistic expectations based off being familiar with the player in Ligue 1 and not really rating him. We overpaid for player that can't deliver what's expected for that price tag. That's nothing new. But I don’t see the same easy going attitude when talking about Auba's contract or other record signing like Pepe or Partey. Considering the fee we paid and the contract Laca's on, elite level performances should be expected.

If you don't believe he's capable of 25 a season or elite level, maybe the coach's agree and why he gets benched so often. It's poor management and not something I like to see when a player looks to be picking up form but we see it with Pepe, Martinelli, seen it with Maitland Niles, Saliba but a rarely see the same talk of these players getting mucked about by the manager. I could be wrong. Not quite the same but Auba has also had some stop and start moments just as he's getting on form this season but you call them excuses. Also, on a tactical level, if you understand the role of a winger, i can't understand why anyone thinks it's a good idea to play Auba there knowing his limitations. You read Tim Stillman's article so I won't go into further detail. You said you agreed with that article and Tim's is similar to what I've said already.

Nonsense.
There is no double standard because we haven't given him a new contract and no one is saying we should.
In terms of the FIRST contracts everyone was excited by both Laca and Auba joining.

The standard for him being benched this season should not be about 25 goals, it's simply whether he is our best centre forward or not. He is by a distance, so dropping him was a mistake.

[Santi]

Once again you're valuing him purely on goals which was not, and is not, all of is game. If you want an elite goal scorer then Laca is not it and never will be (unless he has some magical post 30 breakout that nobody can see coming).

The 37 goals you refer to:

28 in Ligue 1 (10 penalties so 18 open play goals)
6 in Europa league (1 penalty so 5 open play goals)
1 in French Cup (equivalent of FA Cup)
1 in French league cup (equivalent of carabao cup)
1 in Champions league

So yes, in 1 season in his career he broke 25 goals, even from open play..by 1. Now bear in mind this is playing in Ligue 1 and the Europa League it's easy to see why he wasn't worth the price in the first place and why we shouldn't really expect 25+ goals from him. Obviously you can hope he improves his game and playing with better teammates should counteract the league differential but it was still pretty unlikely for him to achieve that here, at least without the penalties.

Now back to the double standard rubbish - as I said, I was critical of him and his goalscoring record when we were rumoured with him, I didn't want the guy, especially for the price. However, it got so bad with Giroud that we were going to overpay for any available centre forward because we were desperate and the market for strikers at that time was expensive. You mention the others but Laca was available the whole time and continually rumoured...why do you think we didn't jump at him at the first chance we got then? Because his record was never elite unlike the others, we settled but paid full price.

Since he arrived here he showed he has much more to his game than just goals which endeared me to him and completely changed my mind on the guy. Now would I say he was worth 50m? Probably not but I understand why we paid it.

Season 1: He made a decent start here with 14 PL goals and 5 assists in 32 games which I thought for a guy in his first season was pretty good.
Season 2: He followed this up with 13 goals and 10 assists in 35 games, a small but slight improvement and again something to be looked at and thinking 'yeah not a bad return', especially given Auba had signed by that point to bring more goals himself.
Season 3: Now the following season was where it went a bit off course, the steady improvement turned to slight down turn with 10 goals and 6 assists in 30 appearances which is not great in all honesty but still not horrendous and there were reasons behind it (Emery dropping him, making him play deeper, whole team being off form for 2 months and an ankle injury which affected him for awhile).
Season 4: So far this season he has 13 goals and just 2 assists in 27 games, so back on the right track although I'd still like more of both really. Again his season has been interrupted by poor management from Mikel (as I've said all along since game 4 when he was dropped) so I can see why it's probably a few goals less than he should be at.

All in all, he's done just fine based on what I expected of him on the goals and assists front. He's definitely done more for the overall team balance and game than I expected, he is critical in the build up of our attacks and we play so much better with him at CF. Now, I get that you'll say some of the above is excusing making which I criticise others doing for Auba and that's fine, maybe it is, but even without those excuses I think he's had one poor season and 3 good ones. I also obviously have to bring up the ''excuses'' because people have been so quick to slate him every time he doesn't bury a chance compared to Auba who can miss 50 and still have the bumlickers out in full force.

You think it's Auba who doesn't get a fair rap but I've spent at least 3 years watching Laca get the shit end of the stick, criticised for his stats when he's asked to play a deeper role (happened a lot under Emery and Arteta) or lambasted for every chance he doesn't finish. If people simply accepted these valid issues for him and treated both him and Auba equally, then I wouldn't have a problem with people listing valid reasons for Auba's form. Problem is, nobody does accept it and they try to tell me he's worse than Giroud

I've also agreed that there are some reasons behind Auba being less productive this season (I know Jay doesn't agree here but hey, we have our own opinions...shock!), the difference is I don't think they are enough to excuse just how AWFUL he has been, worse than Laca ever has been for us, and therefore doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt. When Laca was poor it was not through lack of effort or seemingly not giving a f**k, whereas with Auba it certainly has seemed that way most of the season. Added to that it has come just after he got a huge bumper deal to stay with us, bent our club over a barrel and made a vid talking about how he can be a legend here like Thierry Henry. I mean don't make me sick, Henry was our greatest ever player and probably always will be, Auba will never be close despite what stats swipe right wants to trudge up.

Just do your job as captain, try your hardest every game whether you like the tactics or not, and a lack of goals can be forgiven...all strikers have a bad spell. It's the fact he brings NOTHING else to the table and yet gets defended to high heaven because he scored 18 and 20 open play goals in his 2 full seasons for us. He is paid to score goals and not doing it, Laca is paid for his all round game and doing just fine at it. Let's not forget the tactics are the same for both of them and one is working his ass off, the other isnt. Had Laca just been paid 250k+ and shown the same attitude as Auba, I'd criticise him as well.

This is like the Podolski debate all over again, if he wasn't scoring he was shit. Auba is the same and while you may think otherwise, I'll be more than happy when he starts scoring again, proving his worth to the team and why we paid him. I don't think he's gone trash overnight but he's certainly played that way this season, barring 2 games, and it all seems to stem from a lack of effort or care.

Honestly, the double standard I see, and what I've been fighting against so much, is from those backing Auba. Lacazette get's ripped apart by the same guys who make every excuse possible for Aubameyang. I get it, Auba is the 'cool flashy one' who the fans love but why is Laca the 'loser'? Both were class together for 2 seasons, both have had poor spells and both play for our club. If we can get back to Auba scoring 20+ from LW and Laca contributing around 15 from CF, I'd love to see it, but if either of them look like not playing for the badge then I will slate them. I've slagged Willian all season for taking the piss out of the club with his performances, it'sno different. Most of the reason I keep banging on about Laca on here is to defend a guy who has been good for us and gets unfairly criticised in my opinion.

P.S. focused on PL stats because it's the most consistent and also the easiest to compare and present. Scoring in the EL means little til the latter stages and can be the same for the cups, PL shows consistency. That's also why Pepe (since you brought him up) doesn't get any favour from me for his stats as mostly they're set pieces or EL, however, I did just 2 days ago praise his recent little run and say he deserves to keep his place.

I'm not sure why you mentioned Partey as I think I've been quite positive about him, at least his impact compared to our other midfielders.

[swipe right]

The way forward.

Martinelli - Auba - Saka
ESR
New CM - Partey

Auba is poor as a CF and certainly not any good way forward.
He's started 8 games at CF in the PL and been subbed on as CF in 2 more. He's scored in just 2 of those games.
Even in the weak Europa League games he's started 4 times at CF and scored in just 1 of them.

Contrast to Lacazette - started CF 19 times in the PL and scored in 10 of those games.

That said, neither Auba or Laca are part of 'the way forward' for this club.
Auba is 32 and clearly slowing down this year and Laca is 30 and unlikely to be given a new contract.

The way forward to is to bring in a new CF

We will not bring in a new CF. Auba, Martinelli and Balogun will be our CF options. By giving Auba this big new deal we have made clear he is our main man for the next two years. Let’s not turn this into another Ozil saga and back him instead.

[EliteKiller]

I’ll counter you with two points.

1. Henry played with a galaxy of superstars like Bergkamp, Pires, Vieira, Ljunberg. RvP played with some of the league’s most creative midfielders at the time like Cesc, Rosicky, Arshavin. While Auba plays with Xhaka, Ceballos, el Neny. What do you think Aubas stats would look like if he were in those star studded teams?

2. Blokes like you always tell us how the league has gotten so much harder from the time Wenger won trophies. So wouldn’t that apply to Henry, RvP, Auba comparisons as well?

So your "guarantee" was totally fake .... got it

I agree you can't compare past footballers with present ones - it was you who tried that trick - I just pointed out your statistical mistake.

There's not a player from twenty years ago who would manage 50 games a season in today's top sides - it's a whole different ball-game.

[swipe right]

I’ll counter you with two points.

1. Henry played with a galaxy of superstars like Bergkamp, Pires, Vieira, Ljunberg. RvP played with some of the league’s most creative midfielders at the time like Cesc, Rosicky, Arshavin. While Auba plays with Xhaka, Ceballos, el Neny. What do you think Aubas stats would look like if he were in those star studded teams?

2. Blokes like you always tell us how the league has gotten so much harder from the time Wenger won trophies. So wouldn’t that apply to Henry, RvP, Auba comparisons as well?

So your "guarantee" was totally fake .... got it

I agree you can't compare past footballers with present ones - it was you who tried that trick - I just pointed out your statistical mistake.

There's not a player from twenty years ago who would manage 50 games a season in today's top sides - it's a whole different ball-game.

Someone do us an analysis comparing Auba’s goal stats at this stage in his Arsenal career vs Henry and RvP. Guaranteed he edges Henry and easily beats RvP.

Starman did so and I was correct. Auba edges Henry and beats RvP on goals to mins at this stage in their Arsenal career.