Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

[Goonerred]

The likes of Ozil and Auba have completely changed my mind about giving older players one final big contract. They seem to drop down a level afterwards.

That's why I hope we don't offer Laca another contract.

Ship out and replace with younger, hungrier players instead of giving them contracts.

It was a nice pension. He'll get in his national side whatever. I wonder when Ozil's committment dwindled was it after he resingned from international duty? He had nothing to play for then.

[swipe right]

The likes of Ozil and Auba have completely changed my mind about giving older players one final big contract. They seem to drop down a level afterwards.

That's why I hope we don't offer Laca another contract.

Ship out and replace with younger, hungrier players instead of giving them contracts.

Funny how Wenger said that years ago and was roundly criticized for it.

[Goonerred]

The likes of Ozil and Auba have completely changed my mind about giving older players one final big contract. They seem to drop down a level afterwards.

That's why I hope we don't offer Laca another contract.

Ship out and replace with younger, hungrier players instead of giving them contracts.

Funny how Wenger said that years ago and was roundly criticized for it.

I think it's the huge pay rise that went with it that's the problem. Wenger was there when Ozil got his mega contract.

[jayramfootball]

I think the discussion on Auba has probably moved on now to how do we get rid of him and who we replace him with.

Striker is a must in the January window,

At the start of the season I said you will blame
Arteta’s failures on Auba. Called it.

The only thing called correctly on Auba is that we should have dumped him instead of giving him a new contract.
Most every Arsenal fan is now on the same page.

A bad carpenter always blames his tools. Teta Out.

The players are the ‘carpenters’.
Unless you view football through the lens of computer games and social media that is obvious.

Arteta is the subcontractor hired to build the house.
He has some good workers he’s hired, but also a few duds who slack off and do poor work or just are not very skilled for the job, who he needs to replace.

Quite clearly Auba is building some wonky door frames at the moment and needs to be escorted off site.

[theHotHead]

Lol Jay. The same players that couldn't buy a win under OGS have managed 2 wins in 3 games. The same team that looked dead under Lampard looked a different team under Tuchel immediately. Spurs couldn't buy a win under NES, can't stop winning under Conte.

We are in this predicament because Arteta is winging it with his trial and error philosophy.

[jayramfootball]

Lets look at Auba this season, in league games he played:
Vs Chelsea (0-2), Arsenal xG 0.63
Vs Man C (0-5), Arsenal xG 0.12
Vs Norwich (1-0), Arsenal xG 2.69 (Auba scored)
Vs Burnley (0-1), Arsenal xG 1.1
Vs Spurs (3-1), Arsenal xG 1.44 (Auba scored)
Vs Brighton (0-0), Arsenal xG 0.36
Vs C Palace (2-2), Arsenal xG 1.74 (Auba scored)
Vs A Villa (3-1), Arsenal xG 3.5 (Auba scored + assist)
Vs Leicester (0-2), Arsenal xG 1.1
Vs Watford (1-0), Arsenal xG 1.49
Vs Liverpool (0-5), Arsenal xG 0.27
Vs Newcastle (2-0), Arsenal xG 2.84
Vs Man U (3-2), Arsenal xG 1.17.

Auba has an overall xG of 6.81, he has scored 4 goals. Now that I have given you the stats, let me give you my analysis, we do not create enough good chances. If we are creating good quality chances I would expect our xG to be higher than the goals we score but in 4 of the games above that Auba played in our xG is lower than the number of goals we scored.

There are 4 games where we have an xG lower than 1, we didnt score in any of those games, Auba himself would be reasonably expected to score 3 more goals than he has, given his xG is 6.81 and he has scored 4 goals. The point is though in all but 1 of our highest xG games Auba played in, he scored goals in each of them.

The smoking gun is not Auba, its the attacking system deployed by Arteta thats the problem. We are creatively wank.

XG says that Auba 'should have scored' 7 PL goals this season - he has 4. He has the worst finishing stat in the entire squad on that basis. Pepe being the second worst.
Those 3 goals would have been real nice, never mind what a top finisher can do who exceeds their xG.

There is no real argument anymore - Auba needs to be replaced.
We're paying 350k a week for a 10 goal a season striker.

If you are going to do an xG, do it comparatively.
Our xG is 7th in the league, yet we've scored the 11th most goals in the league. Our finishing is crap and Auba is the main culprit in the squad.

You talk about Auba not getting chances?

Only 3 players in the entire premier league have a higher xG than Auba.

Jamie Vardy's xG is LOWER and he has 9 goals.

Vardy, Antonio. Ronaldo, Raphinha, Dennis, King, Wilson, Pukki, Maupay, Son, Silva, Sarr, Fernandes, Smith Rowe and Cornet all have LOWER xGs than Auba (some by a lot) and MORE goals.

Gallagher, Benteke, Watkins, Saha, Tommy, Firmino, Fornals, Mount, Greenwood, Hwang, Gray and James have MUCH lower xG than Auba but have scored the same amount of goals.

Auba has THE WORST differencein the ENTIRE Premier league REGARDLESS OF POSITION in terms of goals he should gave scored vs goals he has scored. Yep, he's statistically the worst finisher in the entire league, for 350k a week.

^read that again!

Tell me again how it's none of his fault.

[Santi]

nevermind the fact that outside of goals he's always offered next to f**k all as well - worse than podolski.


when the goals dry up this guy brings nothing to the table

[theHotHead]

Lets look at Auba this season, in league games he played:
Vs Chelsea (0-2), Arsenal xG 0.63
Vs Man C (0-5), Arsenal xG 0.12
Vs Norwich (1-0), Arsenal xG 2.69 (Auba scored)
Vs Burnley (0-1), Arsenal xG 1.1
Vs Spurs (3-1), Arsenal xG 1.44 (Auba scored)
Vs Brighton (0-0), Arsenal xG 0.36
Vs C Palace (2-2), Arsenal xG 1.74 (Auba scored)
Vs A Villa (3-1), Arsenal xG 3.5 (Auba scored + assist)
Vs Leicester (0-2), Arsenal xG 1.1
Vs Watford (1-0), Arsenal xG 1.49
Vs Liverpool (0-5), Arsenal xG 0.27
Vs Newcastle (2-0), Arsenal xG 2.84
Vs Man U (3-2), Arsenal xG 1.17.

Auba has an overall xG of 6.81, he has scored 4 goals. Now that I have given you the stats, let me give you my analysis, we do not create enough good chances. If we are creating good quality chances I would expect our xG to be higher than the goals we score but in 4 of the games above that Auba played in our xG is lower than the number of goals we scored.

There are 4 games where we have an xG lower than 1, we didnt score in any of those games, Auba himself would be reasonably expected to score 3 more goals than he has, given his xG is 6.81 and he has scored 4 goals. The point is though in all but 1 of our highest xG games Auba played in, he scored goals in each of them.

The smoking gun is not Auba, its the attacking system deployed by Arteta thats the problem. We are creatively wank.

XG says that Auba 'should have scored' 7 PL goals this season - he has 4. He has the worst finishing stat in the entire squad on that basis. Pepe being the second worst.
Those 3 goals would have been real nice, never mind what a top finisher can do who exceeds their xG.

There is no real argument anymore - Auba needs to be replaced.
We're paying 350k a week for a 10 goal a season striker.

If you are going to do an xG, do it comparatively.
Our xG is 7th in the league, yet we've scored the 11th most goals in the league. Our finishing is crap and Auba is the main culprit in the squad.

You talk about Auba not getting chances?

Only 3 players in the entire premier league have a higher xG than Auba.

Jamie Vardy's xG is LOWER and he has 9 goals.

Vardy, Antonio. Ronaldo, Raphinha, Dennis, King, Wilson, Pukki, Maupay, Son, Silva, Sarr, Fernandes, Smith Rowe and Cornet all have LOWER xGs than Auba (some by a lot) and MORE goals.

Gallagher, Benteke, Watkins, Saha, Tommy, Firmino, Fornals, Mount, Greenwood, Hwang, Gray and James have MUCH lower xG than Auba but have scored the same amount of goals.

Auba has THE WORST differencein the ENTIRE Premier league REGARDLESS OF POSITION in terms of goals he should gave scored vs goals he has scored. Yep, he's statistically the worst finisher in the entire league, for 350k a week.

^read that again!

Tell me again how it's none of his fault.

Well it all happened under Arteta, cos he was fine before Arteta became manager. Willian went from Chelsea player of the year to worst player in a decade at Arsenal, under Arteta. Lets not forget how he turned a once great CM (Partey) into someone that would look shit at Hackney Marshes, let alone the Arsenal first team

Considering Arteta's other greatest hits, lowest shots over a period of games, unable to create chances and unable to score goals, Im sure the problem doesn't lie with the players.

[Arsenal Tone]

He's not a #9, he has no hold up play and he's easily isolated when playing up front on his own. The seasons he was bsnging goals in for fun for us he played LWF or as a pair with Lacazette.

We need a #9 to hold the ball up and bring players like esr, saka, martinelli, odegaard, pepe etc. into the game. All of those would benefit from having a proper target man in front of them!

[DiamondGooner]

He's not a #9, he has no hold up play and he's easily isolated when playing up front on his own. The seasons he was bsnging goals in for fun for us he played LWF or as a pair with Lacazette.

We need a #9 to hold the ball up and bring players like esr, saka, martinelli, odegaard, pepe etc. into the game. All of those would benefit from having a proper target man in front of them!

Nutshell.

Auba playing as a 9 is dead, he's not performing, he's not scoring and Arteta, what is he doing about that, nothing, no changes.

What he needs is to be running "at" goal ball to feet, coming in from the left, I'd like to give him one more chance playing as LWF / LF before completely giving up on him.

We should be buying the best no9 we can find in January because Laca is leaving anyway.

In fact with Laca going, Nketiah going and Auba not being a real CF our striker situation is beyond dire especially beyond January.

Arteta and Edu better fix it sooner rather than later.

[jayramfootball]

He's not a #9, he has no hold up play and he's easily isolated when playing up front on his own. The seasons he was bsnging goals in for fun for us he played LWF or as a pair with Lacazette.

We need a #9 to hold the ball up and bring players like esr, saka, martinelli, odegaard, pepe etc. into the game. All of those would benefit from having a proper target man in front of them!

Nutshell.

Auba playing as a 9 is dead, he's not performing, he's not scoring and Arteta, what is he doing about that, nothing, no changes.

What he needs is to be running "at" goal ball to feet, coming in from the left, I'd like to give him one more chance playing as LWF / LF before completely giving up on him.

We should be buying the best no9 we can find in January because Laca is leaving anyway.

In fact with Laca going, Nketiah going and Auba not being a real CF our striker situation is beyond dire especially beyond January.

Arteta and Edu better fix it sooner rather than later.

I agree he is a left sided forward and can not play as a CF in this league (something I got attacked for saying over a year ago by the way).
However, that still does not explain the fact that he is missing the chances he gets. He's just been bad all round this year apart for work rate.. but for the amount of money he is on you expect more than just work rate.

As it stands this guys Arsenal record is about the same as Girouds for goals scoring. They have a very similar rate of goals, but Giroud was much better at creating for others, better at holding the ball up and a better in defensive situations. All round a better player. Yet up to 350k a week for Auba? JHC.

[Power n Glory]

He's not a #9, he has no hold up play and he's easily isolated when playing up front on his own. The seasons he was bsnging goals in for fun for us he played LWF or as a pair with Lacazette.

We need a #9 to hold the ball up and bring players like esr, saka, martinelli, odegaard, pepe etc. into the game. All of those would benefit from having a proper target man in front of them!

He is a number 9. That's a classic striker role. He plays on the shoulder of defenders and looks for space to exploit. Similar to how Owen, Van Nistlerooy, Inzaghi, Lineker played. If they're not scoring, they're not doing much else but were goal specialists. Back in the day, because teams used to play a two striker system, a number 9 would often be paired with a number 10 partner as the second striker or a target man type striker. Like Owen and Heskey or Wright and Bergkamp. One could come short for the ball, the other could go in behind.

In today's football, it's rare to see a classic number 9 play as the solo striker that can't hold up the ball and isn't necessarily good with the ball at their feet. Aguero, Ronaldo aren't hold up players, but can at least dribble with the ball. Heck, Henry is the striker that helped evolve the role beyond the classic number 9 type and also struggled playing the solo role when Wenger moved to a 5 man midfield. He called the target man stuff 'the dirty work' and applauded Adebayor for being so good at it.

Anyway, the all in one striker that can hold up the ball and score 30 goals is rare to find. This is why Haaland will probably cost over £100m. I also believe we're behind in our thinking of how the game is played. The tika taka we were used to was 10 years ago. Space is now in the wide areas and teams aren't just hogging possession all game and cutting teams open through the middle. What's worse, we play at a very slow tempo and look a million miles away from the even the tippy tappy football that stopped working under Wenger. I don't know what we're trying to build at the moment but Arteta needs to have a rethink of how he's approaching attack.

[theHotHead]

He's not a #9, he has no hold up play and he's easily isolated when playing up front on his own. The seasons he was bsnging goals in for fun for us he played LWF or as a pair with Lacazette.

We need a #9 to hold the ball up and bring players like esr, saka, martinelli, odegaard, pepe etc. into the game. All of those would benefit from having a proper target man in front of them!

Nutshell.

Auba playing as a 9 is dead, he's not performing, he's not scoring and Arteta, what is he doing about that, nothing, no changes.

What he needs is to be running "at" goal ball to feet, coming in from the left, I'd like to give him one more chance playing as LWF / LF before completely giving up on him.

We should be buying the best no9 we can find in January because Laca is leaving anyway.

In fact with Laca going, Nketiah going and Auba not being a real CF our striker situation is beyond dire especially beyond January.

Arteta and Edu better fix it sooner rather than later.

Part of the problem is lots of people had the opinion that Auba was better in the middle than out wide so then came the narrative that he is a CF. Problem is, a traditional CF in England is good at holding up the ball and bringing teammates into play and can get on the end of crosses. Auba does none of that.

Playing 3 up top means 1 central, if you play Auba there you have nobody holding up the ball. If you are going to play Laca as the CF it makes more sense to have Auba feeding off of him. Does that mean we should play 2 up top? Does it mean we play 3 but Auba plays more central and the attacking width comes from a wingback?

This is where Arteta should be showing his football knowledge, he should be able to dip into the well of formations and systems and find something that gets the best out of our attacking players, rather than rigidly sticking to a formation that does not benefit us. Every formation can be adapted to be more offensive or more defensive.

[Santi]

We'd genuinely be better off these days with Giroud lol

[Power n Glory]

He's not a #9, he has no hold up play and he's easily isolated when playing up front on his own. The seasons he was bsnging goals in for fun for us he played LWF or as a pair with Lacazette.

We need a #9 to hold the ball up and bring players like esr, saka, martinelli, odegaard, pepe etc. into the game. All of those would benefit from having a proper target man in front of them!

Nutshell.

Auba playing as a 9 is dead, he's not performing, he's not scoring and Arteta, what is he doing about that, nothing, no changes.

What he needs is to be running "at" goal ball to feet, coming in from the left, I'd like to give him one more chance playing as LWF / LF before completely giving up on him.

We should be buying the best no9 we can find in January because Laca is leaving anyway.

In fact with Laca going, Nketiah going and Auba not being a real CF our striker situation is beyond dire especially beyond January.

Arteta and Edu better fix it sooner rather than later.

Part of the problem is lots of people had the opinion that Auba was better in the middle than out wide so then came the narrative that he is a CF. Problem is, a traditional CF in England is good at holding up the ball and bringing teammates into play and can get on the end of crosses. Auba does none of that.

Playing 3 up top means 1 central, if you play Auba there you have nobody holding up the ball. If you are going to play Laca as the CF it makes more sense to have Auba feeding off of him. Does that mean we should play 2 up top? Does it mean we play 3 but Auba plays more central and the attacking width comes from a wingback?

This is where Arteta should be showing his football knowledge, he should be able to dip into the well of formations and systems and find something that gets the best out of our attacking players, rather than rigidly sticking to a formation that does not benefit us. Every formation can be adapted to be more offensive or more defensive.

We'd have the same problem with Auba if played wide and taking up this slow tempo football. It just means we lose more creativity out wide. It would be the same issue we had when it came to playing Podolski or Walcott wide.

The target man CF won't solve much either if we don't up our tempo significantly. The pace of the game has changed and teams are able to close down space quickly. We don't counter attack with purpose and we're crap at winning the ball back which is also means we can't spring on opponents quick enough. When we have possession we play too much in front of our opponents and we're nit looking to punch in behind them enough.