Arsenal Vs Manchester United: Alexandre Lacazette excels in all but one area

Alexandre Lacazette was outstanding in Arsenal’s loss to Manchester United in all but one area: His finishing. He was sharp, creative, and explosive. He simply didn’t score as many as he should have, and it cost his team.

That was a heartbreaking loss. Arsenal, who attacked with great vigour, energy, and ingenuity, had 33 shots. 15 of them were on target. David de Gea made a record 14 saves, the highest figure since the stat was first charted. And yet, thanks to goals from Jesse Lingard and Antonio Valencia, it was Manchester United that left with the full share of the spoils. Not fair, some may protest.

To an extent, they would be right. But then football isn’t fair, and for all of Arsenal’s attacking creativity and incision, the scoreline was 3-1. There is no arguing with that. Having said that, it would only be right to reflect on the dominance of the home side’s play in the final third. And in doing so, there is one man that I would like to focus on in particular.

The £47 million acquisition of Alexandre Lacazette was a significant one. The lack of a clinical, prolific centre-forward has been a substantial issue for this team for many years. Not since the controversial departure of Robin van Persie in 2012 has Arsene Wenger had such a confident and natural finished as Lacazette to work with.

But against United on Saturday, it was not his finishing that I was impressed. In fact, and I will make this point later, that Lacazette’s finishing was sub-par. It was not at the level expected, or required. It was in other areas that his qualities shone through undeniably, especially in the smooth, fizzing build-up play that the Arsenal attack put together time and time again.

What was so particularly pleasing throughout his performance was his hold-up play. His touch was outstanding, killing the ball dead, even when under intense pressure from a defender. He was intelligent in his passing, diagnosed where the space was in a congested final third, and he was able to partake in the pretty triangles of the midfield, with Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil and Aaron Ramsey all joining him.

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Moreover, his movement was outstanding, always looking to stretch the United defence with darting runs into the channels. He was able to engineer openings and angles, not only for himself but also for those around him, with the intelligence and the sharpness of his work off the ball. The United defence lost tabs on him on several occasions, especially in the box, and his anticipation, reading of the game, and then quickness to read and react, created many shooting opportunities.

But this was where the issues arose. Lacazette’s finishing was poor. And what was most damaging to his scoring ability were the decisions that he was making. There was one chance where he tried to prod a shot with his right foot, rather than sweeping with his left; he dribbled around David de Gea, leaving the goalkeeper on the floor, before waiting too long to shoot, seeing his effort blocked, when he would have been better served laying it off for a teammate. And there were other chances that he was not able to convert, some more difficult than others, some, where more blame can be apportioned to him than others.

Next: Arsenal Vs Manchester United: Player ratings

To say that Lacazette was not even meant to feature at all with a groin injury, it was wonderful to see him out there, nevermind playing so well. But while his open-play work and build-up touches were phenomenal, his goalscoring exploits were not. Arsenal lost this game because they weren’t clinical, and, unfortunately, Lacazette is a major part of that,

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