Arsenal: The Alexandre Lacazette confidence monster is back

Arsenal’s paltry display against Leicester City needn’t have been so if Alexandre Lacazette could have finished. Me fears the confidence monster is back.

There’s a lot we could talk about after Arsenal‘s loss to Leicester City. A lot. Mostly big picture things, like how the hell Unai Emery is still managing the side. But I fear that every publication under the son is talking about that, plus I’m not in the mood, so I’d rather talk about how things might have gone differently had Alexandre Lacazette been able to finish two glaring chances.

Now, you know me, I’m not one to blame an entire match on one guy. And that’s not what I’m doing here. I’m talking about an ongoing issue that isn’t going to be solved without a divine intervention.

And that’s the Alexandre Lacazette confidence monster.

We should know by know that Lacazette has had brushes with zero confidence. It’s a shame, but it seems to be a part of who he is as a player.

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He went through a massive drought last year before Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang arrived and it was only solved when Aubameyang handed a penalty to Lacazette and, just like that, the confidence was back, he had his goal.

The problem here isn’t on an individual level, though. It’s on a widespread level. How can you restore confidence in a player when the entire team is failing? Even if Aubameyang hands a penalty to Lacazette and he slots home, if the club still loses 3-1, what good does it do?

Lacazette had two premium chances against Leicester City, both from short range, both went wanting. This was when the match was still 0-0 and two goals would have made a bit difference. Huge. Then again, it’s unlikely those two goals would have secured a win, but I’m thinking long-term here. If we can Lacazette firing on all levels, we have a much, much better chance of turning the massive misfortune of this club around. He’s our reigning player of the season after all.

Like I said, there is a lot going wrong all at once, and it’s hard to see. But if we start picking up problems on smaller scales then maybe we can salvage something from this season. Just maybe.

And if not, the least we fans deserve is some quality football to watch as we plummet to mid-table. Alexandre Lacazette can give us that much and more.