Arsenal: Alexandre Lacazette can share same telepathic advantage

Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez always seemed to have a telepathic advantage over every other player on the pitch. Now, Alexandre Lacazette can have the same benefit with Arsenal’s dazzling Chilean.

While football is an inherently physical and technical sport — the tasks that are demanded of a player, to be executed properly, require both a physical and technical skill –, the separation between the good and the great often comes to down to neither of those things. Rather, it is what is unseen that often determines the greatness of an individual.

The mental side of the game is something that is often spoken of without ever being valued. Although buzz words like vision, positional-sense, and creativity pervade our footballing vocabularies, the actioning out of those abilities is something that only very few people in the world are capable of. For Arsenal, in recent seasons, it has been clear to see the disparity between those who can and those who can’t.

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The signings of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez were significant ones. Both were bonafide stars — Real Madrid and Barcelona were the clubs that Arsenal signed them from. And their greater footballing instinct has been obvious during their time in North London. There have been many games where the pair were thinking, and therefore playing, in a totally different manner to every other player on the pitch, teammate and opposition. A particular pass, an odd run, a seemingly strange decision. They would play in tandem with one another, but only with one another. They were on a different plane of thinking.

This season, though, Ozil has been injured and in and out of the team. The German is also engulfed in rumours suggesting he wants to leave the Emirates, a highly likely eventuality given that he is the final year of his current contract, and his body language belies his commitment. He, frankly, does not look like he cares.

As such, Sanchez has been searching for another partner, another truly great player who has the unique genius to partake in such special of pieces of play. Well, if Sanchez’s recent comments are to be believed, then it seems as though he may have found one. Here is what he had to say regarding club-record signing and new centre-forward Alexandre Lacazette:

"“When he has a goalscoring chance, he is a good finisher. He’s a classic striker. He was a successful player in France, and the two of us work well together. He’s an excellent player. I believe we have [a good understanding]. We haven’t played that many games together but when we have, I like how he plays. He finds space and understands the game well. He is very talented.”"

It is the part when he discusses sharing a ‘good understanding’ that is so intriguing and so exciting. Special players make special things happen. But they often require like-minds around them to do so. With Ozil, Sanchez had that; without him, there has been a void, and Arsenal’s blunt attacking is proof of that.

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Perhaps, then, Lacazette offers the Gunners another player with the unique vision, movement, and anticipation to play in an almost telepathic manner with Alexis. The pair has not quite yet clicked yet. But if Arsenal are to challenge for the title, their strike partnership will need to blossom.

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