Pundit is not convinced that Aubameyang, Lacazette and Ozil work as a trio.
Arsenal has yet to win a game under Mikel Arteta, but the signs of improvements are there.
The Gunners have played two games under their former captain and it is clear to see that their work rate has improved and their mentality is better than under Unai Emery.
They kept Chelsea at bay and looked like running away with all three points and a clean sheet over the weekend before an error from Bernd Leno allowed the Blues to score the equalizer. The visitors then went and got the winner through England striker Tammy Abraham.
While other parts of the Arsenal team seems to be working without problems, pundit Tony Cascarino doubts if the front three of Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, Mesut Ozil and Alexandre Lacazette can work.
Writing for The Times, via Talksport Cascarino wrote: “Mikel Arteta can still take plenty of positives from his team’s performance. Their workrate has improved considerably in the two games since he took over.
“Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang looked far hungrier. I have criticised him in recent weeks for his poor attitude but he and Reiss Nelson were tireless in their running down each wing. Bukayo Saka, an 18-year-old winger, excelled at left back and Ainsley Maitland-Niles on the right proved he can fit into this system.
“The challenge for Arteta is to get Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette and Mesut Ozil working as a well-oiled attacking unit. I am yet to be convinced that the three players can work together.
“When Cristiano Ronaldo, Carlos Tevez and Wayne Rooney were terrorising defences for Manchester United at the start of this decade, it was not just their talent that made them a lethal attacking force.
“They did not stop running and, out of possession, made sure they were United’s first line of defence.
“The Arsenal front three could do worse than watch videos of that formidable trio. Arteta has upped the players’ work-ethic – now they need to play this way consistently.”
I know Cascarino is not everyone’s favourite pundit but that does not mean he is not making sense on this occasion. Auba, Laca and Ozil have never really clicked as a formidable threesome and if Arteta cannot make it work then he simply must wield the axe and rebuild a newer more effective and potent front three.
Personally i think Cascarino is a prat and nothing he says has any substance as far as Arsenal is concerned. Im sure there a better people than him that can give an impartial view that i actually want to listen too. The guy isn’t qualified to comment on Arsenal affairs as far as im concerned. End of.
The truth is bitter,year in year out arsenal fc have not been able to prove the so called pundits wrong by our performance…. But we fans continue to hate who is saying the truth….we have too many lazy players and average players…ozil a good player but not premiership standard anymore lacazette I don’t know what’s wrong with him… I don’t want to decieve myself miracle will not happen this season, am looking forward to next season…
Why is anyone concernd what Cascarino thinks? I do not say he is wrong or that he is right. Just that I, for one, care nothing about what he thinks. SOME PUNDITS I VALUE THEIR OPINION. HE IS CERTAINLY NOT ONE OF THEM!
I think we should get rid of lacazette and Nelson not just good enough get a good CB and a left winger and a striker
So Tony Cascarino doesn’t think our front 3 will work, what! after one game? Arteta should beg him to come to Colney to show him what to do!! These leather armchair ‘experts’ should give their mouths a rest and get a proper job in football where they are judged on results. It’s so easy to criticise when there is no return flak
He’s right though! Aubameyang is arguably the deadliest striker in the league, yet is wasted out wide to accommodate Lacazette. Ozil’s has been finished for years, and that’s not even mentioning our most expensive signing ever, Pepe.
Sell Laca, and Ozil, convince Auba to resign, and then make a decision on Pepe in the summer.
So i suppose mo salah playing wide when he is really a striker is wrong. I dont think Auba is misused he is doing alright as far as goals are concerned, im not sure he would get many more than he does playing central. The modern striker plays along the front line and auba has adapted to that. Lacca is out of form at the moment, that doesn’t mean he wont start firing soon as well. Fergusson played Ronaldo out wide, it didn’t do him any harm.
Mo Salah has never played as a striker, always played as a winger who gets a lot of goals, similar to Pepe at Lille!
Salah has played striker for Liverpool when Firmino isnt played. He is a modern striker who can play all across the front line like most modern strikers. The days of shearer, lineker, even drogba are past.
Reggie, you’re correct. I am with you dear.
Ronaldo isn’t a striker, he never was, same as Salah. I think only Benitez tried to play Ronaldo as a 9, and it didn’t work. Salah, like Ronaldo, are both wing forwards that get goals
@Reggie Salah/Mane/Messi are not out and out strikers, instead they are modern day wingers who get alot of goals! Suarez, Benzema, Cavani, Mbappe, Higuain are strikers that still exist in the modern game. I wish some people actually watched football and didn’t rely on google as their information!
I believe Aubameyang has played as a winger at some point in his career, but before we signed him, he’s been playing as a 9 for a while at Dortmund. Besides, it’s quite obvious that he isn’t quite effective on the wings, he hardly ever takes on his man, and our style of play doesn’t support knocking the ball into space for him to chase (a-la-what Salah and Mane are enjoying at Li-VAR-pool).
Ronaldo plays as a number 9 for Portugal and he is a striker who likes to play from wide like Henry but to be fair he can play anywhere he wants, left, center or right. All modern strikers can. Auba is not a winger or wide player but is effective playing wide, he did at Dortmund at times.
Our squad is so lean, so many on field and off-field issues, injury is concerned esp fullback, our Savior so far this season(Leno) decided to switch off during Chelsea match, and Saka was strolling in our 18yrd so clueless about the 2nd goal. Lacca quickly run out of steam, now that he has opportunity to cement his place in the squad, he is messing it up, am not excited about tomorrow game at all, so gutted we didn’t take anything away from the last match
Whether you respect Cascarino or not,his assessment of the positive aspects of the two matches with Arteta at the helm is factually correct.AMN and Saka have done well as makeshift full backs,Nelson and Auba have worked their socks off and the team as a whole have fought hard to regain possession.As to the rest of his article,only time will tell.
A great top 3 can interchange. City and liverpool have it. Even teams like wolves have it. This is important for success, not everything but important.
We have found players that can. But not enough experience to rely on just let.
It’s about how you deploy things…
Auba is doing great and Laca is currently out of form but soon he will be firing on all cylinders. Ozil played ok during the Chelsea game but I still think Pepe should have started instead of Rice Nelson. Also Torreira was great and Louis was very good. Still we need a CB and a proper creative/defensive midfielder in the next transfer window. Hope the Board supports Arteta in the transfer business. Dunk or Godfrey would be good defenders, fast and powerful. Dakorie of Watford would be a good midfield signing if he is willing to come.
I think ceballos can play the dm role when xhaka leaves.He is creative but he needs to be faster and hes got good skills and technical abilities.He can be the next Aaron ramsey and a xhaka mixture.He has also insisted that he wants to stay.
And about our front 3 its not laca,ozil and auba its laca ,auba and pepe/nelson.If ozil is to be included you have to consider the front 4.
And talking about nelson he is improving but have to give pepe a chance,pepe’s got defensive problems but he can cause many opposition defences problems.
If he got half the chances that nelson got i think we could have won,but nelson helps niles much more than pepe ever will so that is where pepe should improve.
And laca, he needs to be dropped if martinelli is fit.Martinelli is fast and his convertion rate is much high.
But the problem in dropping laca is he is the one who can hold the ball really well in the squad and he is a good ball winner and has great awareness.
I dont want to talk about the defense but gotta say niles is very good at RB now so it would be hard for bellerin to make into the team.OR you can bring bellerin and give the role of guendouzi/xhaka to niles to see how he does there.
Its up to MA to get the team selection right.We can still make top 4.TRUST THE PROCESS.
COYG!!!
No way can Ceballos will be good at DM or even good at all. He should be let go at the end of the loan deal and we should not do stupid deals like that again. Guys why cant we unite on new years days and protest at the Emirates together against the Kroenkes to push them to spend or leave! Real fan power will change things but we have a lot of plastic fickle fans who i would love if they move on and change their support for another team, maybe move to Spuds as they have a slightly bigger stadium and need the support lol
Why can’t arsenal play a front 3 of martinelle.. Auba.. Pepe
And just get them stay in line to one another and don’t let the fullbacks or cbs out with the ball, and let them change positions during the match, and also it would leave us with 3 midfielders in cabbello.. Torrer.. Rabbiot
Rumours are that MA is seriously interested in Rabbiot.
I heard Aubemayang hands in a transfer request. I dont know how true it is.
Non sense, they can’t play because the team strategy is to defend, find Auba playing CB and in our defense zone most of the game!
Until we have 2 DM defending all game long, we will keep doing so, no way to play forward then. These 3 players are our best ones and a dream for any team to match. We saw them play and do great stuff, how can it happen with all team playing backwards in our half. It is 3 times more passing backwards than forward in our ppast games