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As Arsenal struggled to find breakthrough early on against Leicester, despite dominant procedures, their fans took to social media to predict what was to come.
That prediction? A Jamie Vardy winner 1-0 at the end after coming in as a substitute to terrorize the Arsenal defense once again.
Vardy loves a goal against Arsenal. He has now scored 11 times against the Gunners. Only compatriot Wayne Rooney has scored more against them, with 12 to his name.
Sunday’s outcome was far too predictable for many Arsenal fans who have watched their team week after week recently.
While Mikel Arteta has made the Gunners much tighter at the rear with just seven goals in their first six games (only Aston Villa have conceded fewer with five), he is struggling to find the right balance at the other end of the field. .
And it’s been a problem for some time now for a team that used to torment defenses under legendary former coach Arsene Wenger thanks to his brilliant football.
Arsenal were too fatigued in attack once again Sunday when Leicester executed their game plan to perfection under Brendan Rodgers, who is becoming a habit of the big scalps. And as Arsenal’s attack continues to falter, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang limits himself to a minor role and greatly hampers their performance.
If Arteta expected Aubameyang to deliver goals and creativity from the left, he has recently been proven wrong.
There were hopes that his pace and ruthlessness in front of goal would add another dimension to Arsenal’s attack on the wings, but if anything, the balance of the attacking force is now everywhere.
Aubameyang, in all honesty, has struggled to have any impact on the game when he’s on the flank. After scoring a beauty to open her account for the new Premier League season, the Gabonese star put pen to paper on a lucrative new deal that will see her starting salary rise to £ 250,000 per week, while more bonuses and loyalty payments could take it further. £ 350,000.
But since committing his future to Arsenal, Aubameyang has been unable to find the net in the last five Premier League games, the first time in his Gunners career. After the same stage last period, he had six out of six.
Aubameyang’s previous five-goal drought came when he was exercising his trade for Borussia Dortmund in 2014.
And on the attendance front, he’s not doing any better. He is also underperforming in that department. Aside from creating Alexandre Lacazette’s goal against West Ham early in the campaign, he hasn’t shown much creativity for his teammates.
And this should rightly alarm Arsenal fans: if their talisman doesn’t score or create goals, where are they going to come from on this team?
Arteta continues to place his faith in Lacazette centrally while using Aubameyang on the flank, playing on the right on Sunday. But he’s proving to be hugely ineffective – Aubameyang is Arsenal’s only true world-class player today and he should have a central priority.
Lacazette’s continued inclusion surprises many fans. His form has dramatically diminished and he seems lacking in confidence in every department: He missed a babysitter in opening period Sunday when Kieran Tierney threw a fierce ball into the six-yard box.
So what is the solution? The answer is simple, play Aubameyang in the middle and let it thrive on the service of true wingers.
Many of his goals in North London come from clever movement in the penalty area, but on the flanks, he doesn’t have a chance to make a big impact in the penalty area.
The best moment of Aubameyang’s game against Leicester came when he made a cross pass to the back post and Hector Bellerin crashed into the goal with the volley. But it should be a role reversal, Arsenal’s star forward should be the one at the end of the centers.
Arsenal may have dictated the pace for most of Sunday’s game, but it says a lot about their performance when their most creative players were defenders.
The source of Arsenal’s best attacks came through left-back Tierney and center-back David Luiz, whose second-half injury impacted the game.
Luiz continually found Tierney with diagonal balls from the heart of the defense to the left flank. The Scottish international would then whip one of his fierce deliveries to the area. However, there were no Arsenal players at the end of their test crosses.
Another of Luiz’s signature balls is the top-down right behind the opposing defense, a move that occasionally worked well against Leicester.
But the truth of the matter is that this attack identity is not sustainable in the long term. Arteta’s most creative players CANNOT be defenders.
Arteta proved he was ruthless when it came to the exclusion of Mesut Ozil from his Premier League and Europa League teams, but now is the time to do the same in attack. It doesn’t work and Lacazette currently offers nothing.
Aubameyang up with Willian, Nicolas Pepe or Bukayo Saka alongside him on the flanks should be the way to go.
The Gunners must keep up that pace on the flanks to get behind rival defenses, while feeding off the midfield trio, with Aubameyang making his constant dangerous runs at the end of the penalty area.
Arsenal have spent a whopping £ 181 million on Aubameyang, Lacazette and Pepe combined, and it is hugely alarming how the team looks completely out of place in attack with such large signings at their disposal.
If Arsenal are to have any hope of claiming a place in the Champions League at the end of the season, their attack must improve dramatically with Aubameyang at the center of the proceedings. Otherwise it might get worse before it gets better in North London.
Source: m.allfootballapp.com
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