Arsenal: Intelligence the difference maker for Alexandre Lacazette

Many footballers are talented. Many footballers are athletic. Many footballers have sound technique. But few are intelligent. That is the key difference for Arsenal’s Alexandre Lacazette.

Footballers are outstanding athletes. As technology advances, medical knowledge improves and the physiological development of the human body continues as a result, they are becoming increasingly fine-tuned, with every sinew designed and made with detail and care.

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They are quicker than ever, stronger than ever, more powerful than ever, and possess better coordination than ever. In terms of sheer athleticism, in terms of natural skill, technique and the physical body, they are the best that has ever played the sport. But the sport is not played in numbers. It is not played by the speed of a sprint, the weight of a bench press or the height of a body. It is played on the pitch. It requires more than brawn; it requires brains.

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Petr Cech, in a recent interview with Arsenal Player, was asked about his early impressions of record club signing Alexandre Lacazette, who has now been at the club for half a season.  Lacazette has scored goals. He has shown his speed and quickness. He has deceptive power, great agility and balance, and a lovely technique when striking the football. But Cech did not focus on that. Instead, he focused on the Arsenal striker’s intelligence:

"“Alex is a very intelligent player. The way he plays the game, obviously he has adapted quickly to the way we play <…> For a player who has just come to the Premier League, I think he’s had a pretty good run. He has immense quality in front of the goal. If you see his ratio from how many shots he actually takes it’s just a matter of time before more goals will come.”"

And that has been the key difference for Lacazette in comparison to so many other strikers. Take Theo Walcott, for example. Walcott is quicker than Lacazette, he has sound, if not spectacular technique. He has excellent balance, his turning circle is sharp and his movement is extremely quick, both over long spaces and in short areas. But he is not an intelligent player. In fact, he is a downright dumb player.

His runs are poor, he does not read and anticipate the game well, he cramps the space, he does not pull defenders out of position with subtleties in his play. He is a sprinter in football boots. Lacazette, on the other hand, not only understands these nuances to the game, but exploits them. He is able to diagnose the weaknesses in an opponent’s defensive structure; he recognises where the space will be and is able to make runs to either exploit that himself or engineer the passing angle for a teammate; his movement is connected with the play of the team, making the right runs into the right space at the right time.

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For Lacazette, an athlete of outstanding ability, it is his mind that makes the difference. Football is played between the ears, and Lacazette excels at.