Arsenal: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is a ticking time bomb

Arsenal’s loss to Tottenham was rather deflating and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had nothing to do with it, but worry not, we will figure him out.

Who’s ready for some optimism? I am. Arsenal’s loss to Tottenham wasn’t expected. I don’t care what you say. With how much they put into this attack, I did not expect them to mentally crap out and forget how to create a chance.

What I will chalk it up to is inexperience with all of their new toys playing together. Although, I have to factor in mental weakness too because Henrikh Mkhitaryan was all over the place in the worst way possible.

Which left Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang without a buddy to pick him out. Granted, Jack Wilshere did on the incorrectly-judged offside call and there were a couple others, but Lee Dixon, who was commentating on CNBC, hit the nail on the head with his assessment.

Dixon pointed out that Aubameyang is a very simple striker at what he does. You send him off to the races and he wins the race and scores. No tactics necessary. You just send a ball in between the defense, as Wilshere did, or you loft balls over the top, and you stretch the defense, sit back and watch.

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Arsenal only sent Aubameyang off to the races three times, maybe four. With Tottenham holding such a high line, why weren’t the Gunners more inclined to just thump the ball forward and give Aubameyang a chance? Instead they resorted to the same old dink-passing tactics that have led to nothing but frustration from guys like Alexandre Lacazette.

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But this is where the optimism starts – eventually, and I say this putting a lot of faith in my Gunners – they are going to start finding some space for Aubameyang in behind defenses and they are going to see how easy it is and, since apparently it’s this hard to figure things out, seeing it is believing it.

When Lacazette arrived, everyone was raving that guys like Granit Xhaka and Mesut Ozil would have a subject for their passing expertise.

The problem was that Lacazette didn’t have the speed that the Premier League requires. He will still find his uses though. Aubameyang, however, does have that speed. Maybe some players were disenchanted by not finding Lacazette’s runs, but they will be re-enchanted by Aubameyang’s ability to do just that.

Next: 5 Things Learned Against Tottenham

It’s just a matter of time before they start figuring each other out more and more. Unfortunately, even when you have a world class striker, sometimes you have to figure out how he works best.

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