Alexandre Lacazette has earned praise from both Arsene Wenger and teammate Danny Welbeck after an impressive Premier League debut that saw him open his Arsenal account after just two minutes.
The France international ruthlessly headed home Mohamed Elneny’s to give the Gunners an early lead against Leicester and could have had a second were it not for late acrobatics from Kasper Schmeichel.
All in all, it was a positive start for the 26-year-old in Arsenal colours leading Wenger to remark:
“Lacazette is simple in every game. He is stronger since he has joined us, you know and even when I played Giroud through the middle and him on the left, he did very well on the left, so overall I think he adapts slowly to the way we want to play and he is a collective player and an intelligent player as well.”
Danny Welbeck, who also got on the scoresheet just before half-time, also liked what he’d seen from his fellow striker.
“You can see with his quality today on the pitch, how much of a great addition he will be to our squad,” reflected the England international.
“That’s something that we need at Arsenal to keep on improving and pushing us on to the next level.”
Lacazette wasn’t the only new boy to earn praise. Sead Kolasinac’s swashbuckling performance at centre-back, which included roving runs and an assist for Welbeck, also caught the eye.
“Sead, honestly, with his aggressiveness at the back and getting up towards the strikers, winning the ball back and breaking forward he was great for us,” said Welbeck.
“He’s like a beast on the pitch and when he got through he passed it to me!”
Sead for DM!
Would love to see that at some point.
lol please not this again . Remember the vermaelen for Dm campaign
Until Arsene finally resolves that position sadly anyone who even looks faintly like they can play there will be linked with it. It’s been the weakness in our squad for years & years and with all due respect to Coq & Elneny (both good lads who work really hard but just lack that bit of quality to be a first 11 player) it still is.
Strongly agree
Elneny needs a little more time to adapt. He runs a lot and provides fluidity to the game. He has great positioning instinct. He’s just missing that finish in the final third, and that will come with more playing time.
On other hand, Ramsey is more clinical and provides that goal scoring options.
It’s great to have both in the squad.
His finishing in the final third never even entered my head. He’s just not quick enough & his technique not quite good enough. They won’t change with time. I like him but a first 11 player if you’re serious about winning the league? Nope.
Sead has played DM for Schalke. So, not very far fetched, I must say.
Haha, true enough. For what its worth im Not suggesting he be thrown right in there now. But he is young enough to be moulded. I am still unsure of his pure technical quality and ball retention, but that double drag back suggested something was there. Passing so far seems pretty solid too, if unambitious.
ffs NO. Not this again!
the kola-is-naice footballer..absolutely owned mahrez and made sure he wont get into top 10 teams around the world with pocketing him like that?
I loved it when Mahrez had the ball and the beast just drove him backwards like 30 yards!
Why is no one mentioning the clear pen we should have had in the first half, for a Leicester handball . The fucking media is all over Özil’s supposed “handball”.
Regarding Kolasanic there was this amazing moment where he was on Mahrez, kept forcing him back till it went out for a throw. Can’t find a clip but that was brilliant .
https://streamable.com/j6qs4
I love you .
Also this https://g.redditmedia.com/Gn5hFqMGL_o3Oe_15z2JXDvhT0_Q8-PaC339OrrWvjY.gif?fm=mp4&mp4-fragmented=false&s=a4cb80ce583aa9760c9ed157c6eeca39
And Okazaki’s supposed offside in the build up of their first goal.
When the ball hits the net and it’s not lacazette, it’s giroud.
Well done !
It will be nice to see our own GOAL up front at some point of time in the league.
Giroud – Ozil – Alexis – Lacazette
Laca Sex Machine
Kolasinac the Colossus
Kolashnikov!
When you absolutely, positively, got to kill every motherfucker in the room; accept no substitutes.
Kolasinac is physical even by the Premier League standards. Haha.. and Laca looks a different beast all together. Couldn’t be more satisfied with our signings so far. Got to give Arsene the credit.
Had to go sleepless yesterday till about 7:00 in the morning today. There will forever be only one reason for which I would go sleepless for and that is my love for Arsenal! Love you Arsenal.
I need a gif of that turn by sead!
I counted TWO Leicester handballs yesterday. One when Kolasinac was trying to cross the ball and it was N’didi i think with a raised arm. Another BIG BIG one which many of you missed was when Kolasinac took that shot from the edge of the box and their keeper saved. If you watch the replay the shot takes a deflection off Morgan’s arm. I can’t believe people missed this.
TWO handballs from Leicester inside the box and the media went on about Ozil. We need to quash these things quickly by putting out videos and Gifs on the internet ASAP.
player ratings blogs??
Posted not long after the match yesterday?
There’s an improvement on the rules with regards to hand balls this season… .. Now they consider the player’s natural arm position when the ball hits his arm, also in consideration is the distance the kicker and the player the ball hits as well as speed of the ball. Sometimes you can’t just get your arm away from these balls and this seems logical.
As mentioned, Giroud is no more a plan B than Lacazette (or Welbeck a Plan A or C)
We need variety of tools.
We need different methods to break teams down.
People have a misconception of how our attacking options work.
No need for Director of Football.
Wenger has always bought well.
When he has made mistakes, nominally it is on players which were brought in more to make up numbers. Because he generally pays lower than market, it is of less impact to our future spend.
But considering HOlding was brought in for close to free, the excellent Kolasinac for nothing, I’d say well done Dick Law.
You can’t have your cake and eat it.;)