Arsenal: Alexandre Lacazette as complete a striker as he needs to be

Arsenal broke a club record on Alexandre Lacazette, yet some people don’t think he is complete enough as a striker. Utter hogwash.

It seems to be the week to bash Arsenal in odd ways. First it was Garth Crooks embarrassing assessment of Danny Welbeck and the state of the club, now it’s Duncan Castles’ judgment of the Gunners’ two summer signings.

For those of you who missed my take on his Sead Kolasinac slight, here is his statement, as quoted by the Daily Star:

"Arsenal had a terrible transfer window. A really shocking transfer window. Only one signing of significance, and one who in [Alexandre] Lacazette, for all his skills and finishing, is not a complete striker. Not a good aerial striker. Arsenal, in recent seasons, have moved towards an aerial game."

I don’t get it. I talked about Sead Kolasinac’s bizarre devaluation earlier today, but now I’d like to focus on this confusing take on Lacazette.

First of all, by Castles standards, Lacazette isn’t a complete striker because he isn’t an aerial threat. But my point is that, if that is the case, then apparently Sergio Aguero, Gabriel Jesus, Luis Suarez, Antoine Griezmann and many others aren’t – because they aren’t aerial threats.

And to Castles’ credit, he did engage me on Twitter in regards to this assessment and stated that they have better aerial numbers than Lacazette, but if you consult the records, it just isn’t that simple. The aerial numbers between the collected sample of strikers is negligible and in a one on one comparison between Aguero and Lacazette, the latter has out-dueled the former in the air by a count of 0.8 to 0.2 aerials won per match throughout their entire career.

Yet Aguero is heralded as the complete striker, which he is, while Lacazette is devalued because he apparently isn’t good enough in the air. And yet he too, is.

Yes, the EPL is a tougher league, but early on, Lacazette is winning just as many aerial duels as he always has in Ligue 1.

Not only is Lacazette perfectly capable in the air and just as capable as Aguero, but I don’t get the fascination on the aerial game. Especially as the Gunners have the best aerial striker in England in Olivier Giroud, ready to take the reigns if they need aerial ability. Not to mention the fact that Lacazette’s first ever Arsenal goal was a perfectly placed header. But I digress.

Lacazette is as complete as he needs to be. He is precisely what the Gunners needed to augment their striking core. Wenger tried the predominantly aerial game for years behind Olivier Giroud and Danny Welbeck and should he wish to try it again, he still have those two.

What was needed was exactly what Lacazette is – a tactical, skillful striker that is deadly from numerous ranges and angles. Even decent enough in the air.

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I also disagree with this assessment that Arsenal have moved towards an aerial game. Yeah, when they only had Giroud, they were primarily an aerial team. That’s obvious. But nowadays, you can clearly see that they are not an aerial team. They are 18th in the Premier League in attempted crosses per game. Yet they are second in through balls.

They played their best (against Bournemouth) and tallied just 12 crosses, lower than their already-18th-placed season average of 16.

They play short corners more times then not, choosing to not even bother with an aerial fracas.

They landed Sead Kolasinac, a wingback who can do more than cross, so that they could get themselves away from being so dependent on a tactic that was far less effective without Giroud. Kolasinac has averaged more key passes than crosses in every single statistical year. Translation? He is far more apt at slipping in a low pass than he is of floating in a ball for aerial duels.

So you tell me, are they an aerial team? Because all of the numbers say they aren’t. All the tactics and personnel say they aren’t.

The problem with the Gunners’ attack wasn’t that they needed more help with their aerial game. The problem was that they didn’t have a striker who could provide much else besides an aerial threat. They had grown too dependent on the forehead of Giroud. Now they have a solution. They have a striker complete enough to do all the things they need him to do while still not being a complete slouch in the aerial department.

Next: Arsenal's Predicted FIFA 18 Player Ratings

The Arsenal that Castles is describing is phasing out. Yeah, if the Gunners were all about the aerial game, then signing Lacazette wouldn’t help them too much. But they aren’t. And they haven’t been.

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