Arsenal: So what is Alexandre Lacazette’s best style?

After a disappointing substitute performance in Arsenal’s 1-0 thrashing by Spurs on Saturday, I ask: What is Arsenal’s Alexandre Lacazette’s best position, role and style?

A crestfallen Alexandre Lacazette cut a forlorn figure as he trudged off the Wembley turf on Saturday. Surrounded by uncertainty; engulfed by questions. His future, his standing and his role at Arsenal were all coming under scrutiny. None were made any clearer.

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The moment that has everyone talking, including Arsene Wenger, who questioned fairly basic footballing ability like whether Lacazette made the correct contact with the ball, came in the dying embers of the game. With the right finish, it would have rescued a point for the Gunners.

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Alex Iwobi slid a lovely through-pass into the channel between Davinson Sanchez and Jan Vertonghen. As Sanchez misjudged the path of the ball, Lacazette ducked behind and inside, scampering clear. He was inside the penalty area, at a slightly tight angle, edged to the right channel of the box. Hugo Lloris was charging out to close down the space, panic Lacazette and force an errant effort on the goal. It worked. He attempted to slide a low shot past Lloris and into the far corner. But given the angle and the fact that he took it with his right foot, the ball curled away from the post and inched wide of the mark.

His confidence was clearly affected. Wenger admitted as much after the game, even conceding that the £56 million addition of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang that relegated the Frenchman to the bench may have dented his self-belief. Certainly, his body language would indicate such thinking to be true. Lacazette’s struggles, though — they do not just apply to this latest game. He has been underperforming for several weeks now –, beg the question: What actually his best role and style?

It is not an easy question to answer.

While Lacazette is quick in tight spaces, possessing excellent balance, agility and an explosive first step, he does not have the same long speed to threaten teams in behind who play a high line and have mildly athletic centre-halves who can track his runs step for step. Similarly, while he is sharp in the box, using astute anticipation, sensing and exploiting the danger well and positioning his body such that he can take advantage, he is not perhaps the sharp-shooter, the ruthless, clinical finisher that many had expected. He’s no Sergio Aguero, for example.

More plainly, he is not a strapping, physically-dominating centre-forward either. He will never bully a defender with sheer power, although his low centre-of-gravity does allow him to hold up play far more efficiently and effectively than was initially expected of him.

So it’s not clear how Arsenal should tailor their game to accentuate the strengths and reduce the weaknesses of Lacazette. With Olivier Giroud, for example, it was clear how the game must be played: A high frequency of crosses into the box; a lot of movement in and around him, particularly with deeper runners from midfield willing to surge into the penalty area; limiting the number of through-balls played thanks to his lack of pace and mobility. Lacazette does not have the same obvious vices and virtues.

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This is a question that Wenger must find an answer to. I would suggest that a high-energy approach would work well for Lacazette, meaning that is always busy, getting lots of touches of the ball in and around the penalty area. But that was not the approach that was used on Saturday and it has not been the approach for much of the season. Lacazette, at the moment, is a conundrum needing to be solved, and I’m not sure Wenger knows how to solve it.