Arsenal: ‘Building around’ Alexandre Lacazette has no drawbacks

Arsenal are being encouraged to “build around” Alexandre Lacazette, and you know this is a good plan because there are literally no drawbacks.

Arsenal‘s attack is chock full of exciting options. They’ve earned the nickname the “Fab Four” when in reality it should be the “Fab Five” with an extension to six or seven given the amazing potential of this attack.

Finding a centerpiece is an important part of the puzzle though – that guy that can be relied on to do his work and not be hindered by anyone else’s inability to do their own work.

Which is why I think that Martin Keown is spot on in his assessment of Alexandre Lacazette. Keown has called attention to Lacazette’s stoic character in the face of continuous let-downs, only for him to go off and score the winner and put in a man of the match performance in his first opportunity of the year.

When you think about which of our attackers can be relied on, I think you come up with a bit shabbier of a list than you think because they all pretty much rely on each other. If one fails, the others do too.

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Lacazette is in a different boat, as we saw against Cardiff City and as we have on previous occasions. Lacazette can create for himself. He doesn’t rely on anyone else. Now, granted, he’s better when he has capable teammates around him, as is everyone else, but you give him the ball in or near the box and he has the ability to turn that into a chance on goal.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang doesn’t have that. He requires service. He can’t do much with his ability alone, and we’ve been shown that again lately. That’s perfectly fine, but it’s not Lacazette.

I don’t need to say much about Mesut Ozil. He’s definitely someone who requires other players to be at their best in order for him to be at his.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan is more of a self-starter, but I’d still take Lacazette over him and I think Unai Emery just showed us that he would too.

Not to mention that all three of those other options are 29 years or older. Lacazette is only 27. He has a long future ahead of him.

So, to leapfrog off of what Keown said, we should absolutely be building around Alexandre Lacazette and no one else. He is the future and the present and has more individual ability than anyone else.