Arsenal: Alexandre Lacazette highlights Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang shortcoming

Alexandre Lacazette spoke with Arsenal.com about what a modern-day striker needs to excel. In doing so, he highlighted some of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s shortcomings.

Football has changed. Potentially irreversibly. The 4-4-2 is gone. The lumping centre-half has been eradicated. Even tika-taka, the sweeping tactical phenomenon of the mid-to-late 00s, is being replaced with a pressing, transition-related style that looks to control space, not possession.

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One of the key technical aspects of this recent evolution is the requirement of players to partake in all skills. Defenders have to pass the ball, full-backs must create chances, midfielders must tackle and harry, while attackers have to press. Nowadays, 11-a-side football is played much more like 5-a-side football.

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For a centre-forward, this opens up a whole new level of demands for the position. The fox-in-the-box striker who did nothing all game other than score two goals is no longer viewed as sufficient. While football is still won and lost by how many goals you score and concede, a striker’s job extends beyond just putting the ball in the back of the net.

This week, Arsenal.com ran an interesting story in which they asked Alexandre Lacazette what is required to be a great modern-day striker. Arsenal’s Player of the Season discussed at length the added responsibilities of playing as a lone centre-forward in the modern game. In the interview, he spoke about what he does when his team are in possession:

"“To be a top-level striker, you need a sixth sense but also to have a good relationship with your team-mates. You need to know your partners, the players who play around you, as much as possible. It’s really important to know them very well <…> When the team has the ball… it all depends on my position and the position of the offensive players. I try to have the best position to help the team as much as I can, so I will go deeper to help the team in the build-up, or I’ll go into the space to leave the space for my team-mate to attack.”"

Lacazette is superb at this aspect of the position. He is excellent with his back to the goal, his touch is accurate and consistent, and he brings others into play with clever first-time layoffs and smart passes. He is the ideal modern-day centre-forward. But his partner, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, is not.

This is not to overly criticise Aubameyang and question his place in the team. His goalscoring exploits make his presence more than justified. But as a lone centre-forward in a modern set-up, which is surely what Arsenal are working towards, can he be the leading man around which the team is built? Based on his overall play, especially when the team is in possession, there is sound reason to have doubts.

This season, Aubameyang has averaged 2.5 unsuccessful first touches per 90 minutes and has been dispossessed 1.2 times per 90 minutes. It is only a small sample size but those numbers align with his career totals. More concerningly, however, he averages just 22 passes per game in the Premier League and 0.4 dribbles per game, both very low totals that show his overall lack of involvement in play,

Now, Aubameyang is an elite goalscorer, a superior goalscorer to Lacazette. But his hold-up play, his general impact on matches, his skill with the ball and ability to drop into midfield and help progress attacking moves is far below that of the Frenchman. And these comments help display why.

Lacazette speaks about having a ‘sixth sense’. Aubameyang has this when it comes to goalscoring. He has an innate ability to sneak into positions and convert chances that look far simpler than they actually are. His off-ball movement is phenomenal. But regarding his link-up play, his distribution and his dribbling, he does replicate the same quick thinking as Lacazette.

Aubameyang is a brilliant footballer. He has been Arsenal’s standout player this season. But he is not a complete centre-forward. It is a shortcoming that, while worth the sacrifice because of his goals, Arsenal have to work hard to get around.