Arsenal: Alexandre Lacazette building false sense of security

Arsenal landed the striker they needed in Alexandre Lacazette, but is his sparse usage luring England into a false sense of security? Maybe.

Arsenal spent three years trying to land the perfect striker and lo and behold, it was Alexandre Lacazette all along. Why we couldn’t have bought him earlier like intended, who knows, but he is here now.

And now that he is here, he is being used sparingly, playing between 60-80 minutes every game unless desperation sets in against Manchester United and he is forced to stay on the pitch for his goal-scoring ability.

Through it all, he has amassed eight goals. That is a respectable tally, albeit a tally that could be buffered by garbage time goals like Romelu Lukaku is feasting on. Why he is being deprived of this opportunity has been an ongoing discussion within the Gooner circles.

I have racked my brain trying to excuse Arsene Wenger‘s need to protect Lacazette and instead of that foolish endeavor, I have come up with a better, more devious plot, to have Lacazette lure all of England into a false sense of security.

Simply put, Lacazette is not taking the Premier League by storm. But that mostly comes down to Wenger not letting him. Teams likely don’t fear the French striker and they won’t until he unleashes the hurt. The question is when Wenger will allow him to do that. It’s clear he has a lot of hurt stored in that foot, and I, for one, can’t wait to see it unleashed in full capacity.

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That could come when the Gunners look to reallocate the needed dynamism away from Alexis and onto the Frenchman, who is 100% ready and willing to accept more opportunities. Alexis Sanchez is heading towards the exit door and when he leaves, barring a massive, dynamic replacement, there will be an immediate need for someone to fill the void.

There are candidates for it, but none that have the upfront, direct impact that Lacazette does. Both Mesut Ozil and Aaron Ramsey (assuming Ozil stays) can fill a bit of the gap, but they don’t score the goals required to replicate what Alexis brought.

Lacazette does. I think back to when Alexis first arrived and how impotent he made Premier League defenses look. And then I think that Laczette can do the same when he gets a full head of confidence because opposing defenses aren’t seeing all they can see from the Frenchman just yet. Mainly, they aren’t seeing him when they have tired legs and he is still making energetic runs in behind that are being picked out by our plethora of passing midfielders.

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Wenger is not protecting Lacazette, therefore. Wenger is saving him for the right moment. And I suppose, of the two, the latter is more strategic.

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