da bwin： When Alexandre Lacazette signed for Arsenal in the summer, it felt like a case of better late than never.
da dobrowin： Since the departure of Robin van Persie to Manchester United in 2013, Arsenal have lacked a top striker. And after being linked with big-money moves for massive names, the Gunners always seemed to shy away from actually making the purchase, must to the displeasure of their fans.
But after signing the Frenchman in the summer, Gunners fans had to wait until late October for a glimpse of their golden trefoiled attack to start a game together.
This season, despite the arrival of Lacazette and the success – if you can call it that – in keeping Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil in the summer, Arsenal have still floundered at times this season, especially away from home. But they do remain very much in the hunt for fourth place and a return to the Champions League next season. And with a deadly striker on board, Arsene Wenger’s side will be a force this season.
This weekend, their victory over Newcastle showed just what Lacazette brings to the team, even when he’s not scoring.
Although the vital goal in Saturday afternoon’s victory over Newcastle came from Ozil, the Frenchman’s performance was the kind of striker’s display that Arsenal have been lacking for an age.
When players like Lacazette are not scoring goals, you have to be prepared for them to seem inactive: predators don’t do much for most of the game, except for when they pounce.
With someone like Olivier Giroud up front in recent seasons, Arsenal always had a player who was more likely to get involved in games and link-up with other players. The problem with that, however, is that it can often be easier to defend against: the opposition don’t have to worry about a deadly striker lurking in the box miles away from play. With Lacazette, they do.
At the weekend, the Frenchman managed only 38 touches of the ball: one more than Petr Cech and comfortably less than half of the contribution of any other Gunners player, although he was taken off with just over 15 minutes to go.
With those touches, however, he won one dribbles, played two key passes and took four shots: when he gets it, there’s always danger and that’s because of the positions he occupies.
What’s also interesting is that, in contrast with his team’s 85% pass accuracy, Lacazette’s was all the way down at just 70% – much lower. But that’s because he’s not just attempting easy short passes, but rather trying to win battles with defenders, play lay-offs to his teammates or even set some of his attacking partners through on goal or into dangerous positions.
For years, Arsenal have been accused of being too intricate and too pretty in their build-up play.
With Lacazette in the side, they’re a little bit more direct and look straight to goal that little bit more often. Later on in the season, that could be crucial when it comes to the race for the top four.