Thank you, Laca: Lacazette set to leave Arsenal

[EliteKiller]

Not only could we play a two striker system but even if we didn't, we are in what 3-4 comps over a season do you think Auba can play in all of them? what about if he gets injured etc?

Lacazette is never going to be "just on the bench" because we need at least two strikers regardless.

Are you sure? Liverpool only use Salah (50 apps) ... Spuds only use Kane (43) ... they surround their strikers with mobile attacking wide men who chip in with 10+ goals each .... the days of playing two out and out strikers together are long gone ....

Lacca can only play as an out and out goal scorer .... 30 assists in nearly 300 games tells you that .... if you use Auba as a support player then you limit his effectiveness, he's also a goal scorer with only 45 assists in 322 games .... with those numbers they won't be setting each other up much will they, so behind them we will need three creative players .... and as already pointed out if we play 5 attacking players we will need to win 6-5 most weeks .... now that's asking a lot

If Auba starts then Lacca, certainly in big games, will only ever be on the bench ..... unless we sign three quality midfield players of 100m standard .... and that isn't very likely ....

Salah is not a striker, Firmino is the striker. Salah is the mobile attacking wide man

Seriously? .... that may be how they started but Salah with 32 goals and 10 assists .... versus Fermino with 15 goals and 7 assists .... has very clearly been there go to guy this season .... the massive difference between having Fermino as your number two (or indeed Salah) compared to Lacca or Auba is that Fermino's assists come at the rate of one every five games ... Lacca / Auba is closer to one every ten games ....

The problem with Lacca and Auba is they have the same end product .... that's goals not assists .... nothing wrong with that in a striker, but you can only really play one such player at a time ....

[LegendaryKeown]

Not only could we play a two striker system but even if we didn't, we are in what 3-4 comps over a season do you think Auba can play in all of them? what about if he gets injured etc?

Lacazette is never going to be "just on the bench" because we need at least two strikers regardless.

Are you sure? Liverpool only use Salah (50 apps) ... Spuds only use Kane (43) ... they surround their strikers with mobile attacking wide men who chip in with 10+ goals each .... the days of playing two out and out strikers together are long gone ....

Lacca can only play as an out and out goal scorer .... 30 assists in nearly 300 games tells you that .... if you use Auba as a support player then you limit his effectiveness, he's also a goal scorer with only 45 assists in 322 games .... with those numbers they won't be setting each other up much will they, so behind them we will need three creative players .... and as already pointed out if we play 5 attacking players we will need to win 6-5 most weeks .... now that's asking a lot

If Auba starts then Lacca, certainly in big games, will only ever be on the bench ..... unless we sign three quality midfield players of 100m standard .... and that isn't very likely ....

Salah is not a striker, Firmino is the striker. Salah is the mobile attacking wide man

Seriously? .... that may be how they started but Salah with 32 goals and 10 assists .... versus Fermino with 15 goals and 7 assists .... has very clearly been there go to guy this season .... the massive difference between having Fermino as your number two (or indeed Salah) compared to Lacca or Auba is that Fermino's assists come at the rate of one every five games ... Lacca / Auba is closer to one every ten games ....

The problem with Lacca and Auba is they have the same end product .... that's goals not assists .... nothing wrong with that in a striker, but you can only really play one such player at a time ....

Salah still plays out wide though. That's what makes his return even more remarkable

[EliteKiller]

Salah still plays out wide though. That's what makes his return even more remarkable

True enough .... let's hope he does turn out to be a proper 'one season wonder' or better yet he jumps ship to RM ......

[Highbury Hillbilly]

Salah scored 15 in 29 in Serie A last year, and that's in a role where his job was to pass to Dzeko, who scored 29 in 33. Salah also bagged 12 assists that season.

May not have been a WC season compared to say Alexis, but "one-season wonder" doesn't do him justice at all.

[Phil71]

He didn’t make the France World Cup squad.

Giroud did.

[Ach]

Deschamps is a well known idiot tbh

[mel4]

He didn’t make the France World Cup squad.

Giroud did.

He is on standby.
Everyone knew this was going to happen. Giroud is the starter for France and boy Lacazette did not set the league on fire considering his cost etc

[DiamondGooner]

He didn’t make the France World Cup squad.

Giroud did.

Yet Lacazette outscored Giroud all season.

Well no bother to us, he'll be concentrating on Arsenal now without injury, still I do feel a bit bad for him.

[DiamondGooner]

Not only could we play a two striker system but even if we didn't, we are in what 3-4 comps over a season do you think Auba can play in all of them? what about if he gets injured etc?

Lacazette is never going to be "just on the bench" because we need at least two strikers regardless.

Are you sure? Liverpool only use Salah (50 apps) ... Spuds only use Kane (43) ... they surround their strikers with mobile attacking wide men who chip in with 10+ goals each .... the days of playing two out and out strikers together are long gone ....

Lacca can only play as an out and out goal scorer .... 30 assists in nearly 300 games tells you that .... if you use Auba as a support player then you limit his effectiveness, he's also a goal scorer with only 45 assists in 322 games .... with those numbers they won't be setting each other up much will they, so behind them we will need three creative players .... and as already pointed out if we play 5 attacking players we will need to win 6-5 most weeks .... now that's asking a lot

If Auba starts then Lacca, certainly in big games, will only ever be on the bench ..... unless we sign three quality midfield players of 100m standard .... and that isn't very likely ....

Salah is not a striker, Firmino is the striker. Salah is the mobile attacking wide man

Exactly.

God I hate the old "Those days are done" tell that to Liverpool when they almost won the league with Sturridge and Suarez, what about Athletico with two up front?

[EliteKiller]

Salah is not a striker, Firmino is the striker. Salah is the mobile attacking wide man

God I hate the old "Those days are done" tell that to Liverpool when they almost won the league with Sturridge and Suarez, what about Athletico with two up front?

You miss the point .... or maybe I explained it badly ....

If you play in a structure that has your width coming from the FB position then your front players be that 1 - 2 or 3 call it what you want, will have to be mobile, be able to play both inside and outside the box, and all will need to score goals ... who scores them isn't important as long as they go in ... Dippers - Spuds - City all take this approach ... they all have a 'main man' striker but it's all about the system ... you can't have two 'lamposts' just standing in the box waiting for 'wingers' to cross the ball ... that just no longer happens ...

To do this you need to have two central midfield players capable of quality defending when your FBs spring forward ... even your attacking AM's need to be able, and willing, to drop in behind your attacking FBs when needed ...

City have KDB and Sane creative but still hard working AM's ... with Fernandinho and Delph working even harder behind them ....
Spuds have Dele and Eriksen, with Dembele and Wanyama behind them ....

Just compare the defensive numbers of these groups of four players with any four from Jack - Xhaka - Oxil - Ramsey - Mkhi - Elneny .... it's a miracle we didn't let in 100 goals ... in comparison to other top sides our back four have almost no cover at all .... hence 6th place

If we play Auba - Lacca - Ozil - Mkhi there are two serious issues .... firstly neither Ozil or Mkhi are very good at dropping back to cover for our attacking FB's and secondly, which is by far the biggest issue, if you play the midfield pair of Jack and Xhaka behind them you have a defensive central unit with the strength of a wet paper bag ... put Ramsey or Elneny in and it makes little difference ...

Fix the midfield issue and the other problems are far less damaging .... this is the new manager's obvious first task and an easy win .... buy two capable central midfield players ....

However until we do that playing a 'front two' without a team designed to cover them will just see us ship another 50 goals next season ... no question we have the players for a fantastic attacking line up, what we don't have is the players, or the set up, to support that .....

Final point 'striker' 'attacking wide man' ... what's the difference? is Ronaldo a striker? Bale? Messi? they all attack from wide positions ....

[Mess]

Salah is not a striker, Firmino is the striker. Salah is the mobile attacking wide man

God I hate the old "Those days are done" tell that to Liverpool when they almost won the league with Sturridge and Suarez, what about Athletico with two up front?

You miss the point .... or maybe I explained it badly ....

If you play in a structure that has your width coming from the FB position then your front players be that 1 - 2 or 3 call it what you want, will have to be mobile, be able to play both inside and outside the box, and all will need to score goals ... who scores them isn't important as long as they go in ... Dippers - Spuds - City all take this approach ... they all have a 'main man' striker but it's all about the system ... you can't have two 'lamposts' just standing in the box waiting for 'wingers' to cross the ball ... that just no longer happens ...

To do this you need to have two central midfield players capable of quality defending when your FBs spring forward ... even your attacking AM's need to be able, and willing, to drop in behind your attacking FBs when needed ...

City have KDB and Sane creative but still hard working AM's ... with Fernandinho and Delph working even harder behind them ....
Spuds have Dele and Eriksen, with Dembele and Wanyama behind them ....

Just compare the defensive numbers of these groups of four players with any four from Jack - Xhaka - Oxil - Ramsey - Mkhi - Elneny .... it's a miracle we didn't let in 100 goals ... in comparison to other top sides our back four have almost no cover at all .... hence 6th place

If we play Auba - Lacca - Ozil - Mkhi there are two serious issues .... firstly neither Ozil or Mkhi are very good at dropping back to cover for our attacking FB's and secondly, which is by far the biggest issue, if you play the midfield pair of Jack and Xhaka behind them you have a defensive central unit with the strength of a wet paper bag ... put Ramsey or Elneny in and it makes little difference ...

Fix the midfield issue and the other problems are far less damaging .... this is the new manager's obvious first task and an easy win .... buy two capable central midfield players ....

However until we do that playing a 'front two' without a team designed to cover them will just see us ship another 50 goals next season ... no question we have the players for a fantastic attacking line up, what we don't have is the players, or the set up, to support that .....

Final point 'striker' 'attacking wide man' ... what's the difference? is Ronaldo a striker? Bale? Messi? they all attack from wide positions ....

Fantastic post!

[LegendaryKeown]

I think an interchanging front three with two defensive midfielders behind them, along with one of Ozil or Mkhi would work brilliantly. Lacazette/Auba and one more winger interchanging would be ideal

[theHotHead]

EK you got it right in your second post on this page but the previous one about the days of 2 strikers being done is wrong, thats rubbish. Firstly Liverpool play a totally fluid front line, the 3 players interchange as they have done since the days of Sturridge, Coutinho and Suarez, there is not one single focal point to their attack because their attacks come from left, right and centre.

When you look at Spurs Delle Alli is able to to interchange well with Kane because he is not a million miles away from him normally, unless its a counter attack. That tells me that Kane plays as a focal centre forward and Alli as a psuedo number 10, Kane does not play isolated and Alli is not wide. Thats 2 up top in my book because their full backs provide the width, (yes sometimes Son ends up wide but thats beside the point).

And the reason Auba and Laca have poor assists records compared to those well known for providing assists is because they have mostly played as central strikers, focal points, not providers, not because they can't do it. And according to stats:

Lacazette for Lyon - 275 appearances, 129 goals, 43 assists. Thats pretty much 3 goals per assist which I think is bloody good for a centre forward.
Lacazette for Arsenal - 39 appearances, 17 goals, 5 assists, a smidgen less than the ratio above.

Aubameyang has played loads of games as a winger lets not forget, he was 4 goals per assist for Dortmund and is currently almost 2 goals per assist at Arenal - again, I don't think thats bad at all.

[LegendaryKeown]

The most important thing imo, isn't the previous stats where both played as CF's. It's what they've done together and I think they've linked up with each other brilliantly, even in the short period of time they've been here. I can remember 4-5 goals that they've created for each other already.

[EliteKiller]

EK you got it right in your second post on this page but the previous one about the days of 2 strikers being done is wrong, thats rubbish. Firstly Liverpool play a totally fluid front line, the 3 players interchange as they have done since the days of Sturridge, Coutinho and Suarez, there is not one single focal point to their attack because their attacks come from left, right and centre.

When you look at Spurs Delle Alli is able to to interchange well with Kane because he is not a million miles away from him normally, unless its a counter attack. That tells me that Kane plays as a focal centre forward and Alli as a psuedo number 10, Kane does not play isolated and Alli is not wide. Thats 2 up top in my book because their full backs provide the width, (yes sometimes Son ends up wide but thats beside the point).

And the reason Auba and Laca have poor assists records compared to those well known for providing assists is because they have mostly played as central strikers, focal points, not providers, not because they can't do it. And according to stats:

Lacazette for Lyon - 275 appearances, 129 goals, 43 assists. Thats pretty much 3 goals per assist which I think is bloody good for a centre forward.
Lacazette for Arsenal - 39 appearances, 17 goals, 5 assists, a smidgen less than the ratio above.

Aubameyang has played loads of games as a winger lets not forget, he was 4 goals per assist for Dortmund and is currently almost 2 goals per assist at Arenal - again, I don't think thats bad at all.

I think we're in violent agreement just using different wording ...

I just don't see us playing a front two at all ... I think it's a three Auba - Lacca - Ozil ... if you add up their combined goals / assists it stands up very well against any top sides front three ... Kane - Dele - Son ... Aguero - Sterling - Jesus ... just maybe not as well shared out ...

Where the difference lies is what's behind them .... Dembele - Wanyama - Eriksen .... KDB - Fernandinho - Sane .... compare that to any three midfielders we can put on the pitch and certainly defensively we don't even come close ....

We've spent over 100m on strikers in 12 months ... that shouldn't be an issue and I don't think it is ...

The problem for a long time has been Wonger's refusal to accept that his midfield love-children were never going to be good enough ... that's an obvious fix for the new manager ...

Unlike many on here I don't think our defence is all that bad ... it's had to play behind by far the worst top six defensive midfield for years ... hardly surprising it leaks goals ... with proper protection they would be as good as Dippers, Chelsea or Utd ...