Arsenal: Face it, Alexandre Lacazette is a problem

Arsenal yet again handed Alexandre Lacazette a start. We’ve all been a bit reluctant to say it, but it’s time—Alexandre Lacazette is a problem.

When Arsenal signed Alexandre Lacazette, it was a sure-fire thing. The elite striker we’ve always dreamed of. And his Player of the Season last year, despite not amassing the kinds of goals that elite strikers typically do, seemed to confirm that.

But there is something that I often mention in relation to Lacazette called the confidence monster. It’s when Lacazette can’t score a goal because he has no confidence. It seems to hit him harder than anyone I’ve ever watched, and bear in mind I had the pleasure of watching Olivier Giroud for years.

That said, the more that Lacazette is hit by this monster, the more that I have to wonder if there isn’t something bigger wrong here.

Against Burnley, Lacazette was poor. He was really poor. He had a chance after about 75 seconds where he had a completely open header—he didn’t even have to jump for it—and he sent it further wide than his distance from the goal.

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From that point, nothing else materialized for him. He created one good chance for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, but overall, Lacazette wasn’t worth the space on the pitch.

I used to dodge talking about this problem because I never wanted to consider that Lacazette could be a problem, but it’s hard to get around it now. This is a problem. Lacazette is a problem. And you can’t even blame it on a lack of service. Even when he gets service, he can’t make much of it.

It’s time to do something about it, otherwise no one is going to get any better. It’s time to let Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang spearhead this attack again. We have too many good wingers to keep wasting time on Lacazette. When the time comes, let him try again, but right now, we’ve learned all we need to learn. He is a problem with this attack. Fix the problem by removing it.

This is part of the growth of the club. Lacazette is by no means done. Don’t be crazy. He just needs to sit down and let someone else take the reigns for awhile. Take the pressure off him. We’re all learning here, there’s no shame in it.

Mikel Arteta has to make the hard decisions. That’s what the manager does. And that means taking Lacazette out.