Arsenal: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s advice may finally be heeded

Arsenal fans have waited far too long for their club to do what Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has suggested. But maybe it’s finally time to do it.

Arsenal have had several formation changes over the past couple years, but no matter how they line up, they never line up with more than one striker. Even when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang arrived, he was forced out wide.

The Gabonese striker was a good sport about it, but he made a good point this summer – he said he hoped that the Gunners would now think about using two attackers at the front, something Arsene Wenger never seemed to do.

I hope that some day we will understand why Arsene Wenger was so drastically opposed to playing two strikers at the front of the formation. It’s how he won so much in his early career – that Henry-Bergkamp partnership was to die for.

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But apparently not, because Wenger has not even thought about revisiting it. Instead, he has forced secondary strikers to play out wide. And while formations – especially at Arsenal – aren’t exactly set in stone, as there is a lot of freedom involved, there’s still the matter of principle.

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The principle of having Alexandre Lacazette sitting behind Aubameyang as a false No. 9 is a philosophy that seems to make so much sense – he is such a smart guy to have on the ball, that the goal should be to get him more touches.

From there, he can create, shoot, dribble, all manner of things. But using him as the primary No. 9 limits his total output. He’s a striker, yes, and he will score tons of goals. Yet if you play more to his strengths, then you will see even better out of him.

Aubameyang and Lacazette have a growing rapport. They need to be used together, in perfect solidarity at the positions they are best at. Aubameyang is right, that means having two strikers.

However you line up behind them is up for grabs. A 4-4-2 seems most realistic. All that would be needed is a bit of bolstering in the midfield and a major step up defensively, so that you could trust the back line fully, because it would primarily be up to them to stop these attacks, assuming the midfield doesn’t change that much.

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Whatever the case, Aubameyang is the man to please here. At the very least, it should be explored. If it doesn’t work, which it might not, well then so be it.