Arsenal Vs Atletico Madrid: Alexandre Lacazette displays his quality

While it was disappointing to only draw 1-1 with ten-man Atletico Madrid, one individual displayed the best of his qualities. Alexandre Lacazette was excellent.

There will be plenty of time and space to discuss the depravities of Arsenal’s idiocy to allow a one-goal lead slip against a wounded ten-man Atletico Madrid and concede that all-important away goal prior to what is now an extremely daunting second leg in the Spanish capital.

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But there should also come the opportunity to take time to highlight the positives of the Gunners’ performance from the 1-1 draw. The result, and the manner of it, may be extremely frustrating. The fact that the ideal chance came to take a precious lead into the second leg was thrown away because of their own inadequacies may only compound the pain. The repetitiveness of the vulnerabilities and shortcomings might add to the despair. But that does not mean that this match came without its positives. They were there, and there actually quite a lot of them.

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The working of the team in possession, for instance, was excellent, fizzing the ball through the phases of play with real pace and precision. The fluidity of the movement in the midfield and final third perfectly displayed that this was a team playing with confidence and quality. The delivery was good, especially early on. Jack Wilshere was probing and creative from midfield. Granit Xhaka sprayed the ball about beautifully and quickly from deep.

But perhaps more than all of that stood centre-forward Alexandre Lacazette. Obviously, he scored the goal — a nicely directed header, drilled into the ground, bounced into the top corner, after a towering lead that saw him hang at the far post and latch onto Wilshere’s back-post clipped cross. But he offered far more than just the goal.

His overall hold-up play was excellent, displaying a deceptive strength on the ball and low centre of gravity. He flashed several crosses into the six-yard box. He stretched the Atletico defence vertically, often looking to scamper into the channels in behind the back four, creating space for his more creative teammates behind him.

And this could be a critical performance for the future of his career at this club. With Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang having entered the fray, with Wenger set to leave at the end of the year and a new manager with new ideas coming in, there is a great uncertainty surrounding many of these players’ futures. Lacazette is no different. The Frenchman will be wanting to prove himself as the starting centre-forward next year. This is the type of performance that will do that for him.

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Certainly, there is a deflated feeling around the Emirates after Atletico’s equaliser. But for Lacazette, on an individual level, this was a game-changing performance. He showed his quality, and it was very nice to see indeed.