Arsenal: ‘Ice cold’ Alexandre Lacazette cools down hot and flustered Gunners

Francis Coquelin has described Alexandre Lacazette as ‘ice cold’ in front of goal. The cool, calm and composed striker brings a ruthless streak to an often flustered and misguided Arsenal attack.

Ever since the departure of Robin van Persie in the summer of 2012, Arsenal have lacked a ruthless, clinical centre-forward. For a team that creates as many chances as the Gunners, it is crippling to not have a type of player who excels in converting them.

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Olivier Giroud, for all his qualities, is far from a sharp shooter. He wastes clear cut chances, especially off of his right side, and lacks the movement to engineer the sheer volume of opportunities and still score a high volume of goals, a la Edinson Cavani.

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Thankfully, the moans of the fans, who have criticised Giroud’s poor finishing, have been heard by Arsene Wenger. The £52 million, club record addition of Alexandre Lacazette proves that he too is wanting a more clinical centre-forward. That is certainly the assessment of Francis Coquelin. Speaking during the summer tour of Australia and China, Coquelin stated that Lacazette is an excellent finisher:

"“When you are a goalscorer, you are a goalscorer. Even at 17, he was always the same. In front of goal he’s always ice cold, he always scores a lot of goals. When we played with the national team, he finished top scorer when we played the under-20s World Cup. His record for Lyon is incredible. He’s scored so many goals over there. He scored 140 goals for the club so he’s shown that in front of goal he doesn’t mess around and that’s what we need.”"

That is exactly what type of player Lacazette is. He is an extremely sharp shooter, with a calm and composed head, and instinctive technique, coming alive in the penalty area, very much like Ian Wright of years gone by.

And for Arsenal, that is significant. This is a team that often lack intention, directness, purpose and incision in the final third. They are a team bursting with creative quality. They are comfortable in possession, capable passes, fluid in their movement and attacking play.

But they can become flustered and panicked when it comes to scoring. The age-old critique of their neat, tidy interplay, without ever putting the ball in the back of the net still reigns true. It has been an issue that has plagued them for many years.

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Lacazette is the perfect player to address such struggles. That is what Wenger will be hoping he can do. He is calm under pressure, with ice running through his veins. The task is a simple one: to cool a hot, agitated and bewildered Gunners attack.