Arsenal: Is Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang disappointing?

Arsenal brought in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to do big things at the club, but is he actually doing big things or has be been a disappointment?

Arsenal‘s attack is the star of the show. Their Fab Four/Fab Five has been a reliable source of goal creation and covering for a shaky defense, but in the end, the attack, while deadly at times, hasn’t found their consistency yet.

Most of that probably comes from having inconsistent Ozil and Ramsey feeding two fantastic strikers, but all the while, those two fantastic strikers appear to be in different boats as well.

Alexandre Lacazette has found new ways to contribute. He creates goals for himself and for teammates, he drops deeper to field passes if need be and he reads games well enough that he can judge for himself how he can best be used.

Which leads to my question – is Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang adapting as well, or is he just here for the ride, to pick out the goals when they come and to fade into shadow when they don’t? To push that further, has he been a disappointment this year?

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The short answer is no, he hasn’t. But it isn’t that easy to do away with, otherwise I wouldn’t be wasting time writing this article in the first place. The longer answer is no, he hasn’t, but I can understand why some might think he has been.

Aubameyang has scored two goals in seven matches, which is not a good return from someone who is expected to score gobs of goals and compete for the golden boot. But it’s not even like those expectations were unreasonable. He set the standard last year for what he could do and thus far, he hasn’t been able to do that.

But that doesn’t mean he has been disappointing. If anything, I’ve been pretty pleased with Aubameyang’s desire to adapt. I’ve seen this man track back and defend like a champ and, like Lacazette, when things are sputtering, he knows to drop back into deeper positions to try to make something of himself.

There are other ways to not be a disappointment other than scoring goals. And besides, the goals will come. It’s just that right now, the club is still finding its feet. When they do that, Aubameyang will settle and the goals will be unleashed again.