Ok, we need to discuss the elephant in the room…
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang extended his drought from open play last night as Arsenal lost their third consecutive game at home, and fifth all season. However, it was more the manner of the performance from the £250k-p/w ace than anything which should be worrying Mikel Arteta and fans alike.
It’s far from how the Gabon international was performing towards the end of last season, where everything he touched seemed to turn to gold. His performances in the three Wembley outings showed that he was far and away the club’s best player. You could even say he single-handedly led the club to the FA Cup with his performance in the semi-final and final.
Who should be the starting number nine?
Aubameyang
Lacazette
Fast forward to November, and Aubameyang seems to look disinterested, a trait which is wholly embarrassing for a player, who has labelled as a leader by Arteta. He had a few shots towards the end of yesterday’s game where he showed his lack of effort and desire.
However, the most worrying aspect of his display was how little hunger there was to defend from the front. Compare the Gabonese forward to the likes of Alexandre Lacazette, who isn’t exactly world-class in front of goal, but, produces the goods in terms of the defensive side of the game.
No Arsenal player has made more fouls per league game than the France international, compare that to Aubameyang, who averages a meagre 0.7.
Switching from the 29-year-old to his African counterpart has only meant that Arsenal now have a forward, who is not only lacking confidence in front of goal, but, is also lazy. Aubameyang had been undroppable up until now, however, he’s offering almost nothing to the team and needs to be dropped in the near future.
In other news, Mikel Arteta has revealed one player is set to miss the next few games.
