Arsene Wenger says he’s pleased with Alexandre Lacazette’s adaptation to life in the Premier League although he admits the Frenchman is still coming to terms with the physicality of English football.
Signed from Lyon for a club-record fee in July, Lacazette has netted twice in five appearances this season and demonstrated a willingness to defend from the front, as seen at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
Ahead of Monday’s game with West Bromwich Albion, Wenger revealed why he’s pleased with the new boy.
“I believe that first of all he’s adapted to the team play, the way we want to play football, because he connects well with the other players,” said Wenger on Friday morning.
“He’s disciplined, he works hard for the team. I believe that on technical and tactical aspects I’m very pleased.
“He still needs to adapt to the physical aspects of the Premier League and that will take maybe a little bit of time. Overall, on the other fronts, there are no problems at all.”
The boss also touched on how his side is starting to win over Arsenal’s fans after a rocky start to the season.
“That’s down to our performances, we want out fans not to have preconceived ideas. To have a successful season we need them to believe in us.
“We are conscious as well that to believe in us depends on how well we are focused and determined in every single game. We can gain their belief and confidence through our performances.”
I liked his finishing, apart from the Chelsea miss he is pretty clinical and his hassling in order to get the ball back.
Looking a good buy so far and will get better.
To be fair, that wasn’t a real “miss” as it wasn’t as if he had good time to react. Ball came too fast at him and off the post, with Cahill breathing down on him. It was all he could do to make contact at all.
It was a miss. It’s fine – Henry missed, Drogba, Aguero, all strikers miss. It’s what he does with the next one that matters.
I think he’ll get us 20 in the league this season. He has the ingredients, little luck would help.
I agree with your comment on him only getting better. I think Arsene is a master at tweaking a decent striker and turning him into a clinical one. I remember an interview with the traitor that went to MU, where he talked about Wenger coaching him on positioning in the box, timing, movement and even body shape. You have to admit, we get has taken a few outcasts and turned them into snipers. Henry, rVp, Giroud more recently. Anelka before that. And before you talk shit about Giroud, go look at his goals to shot ratio year over year. He’s… Read more »
Can’t wait to see him link up with HFB.
It will be interesting to see how he links up with Sanchez as they’ve not played together yet. He wasn’t on his best for against Chelsea but worked hard and I like his movement in the box. The team need to work better at finding him when he makes space.
I love Lacazette’s attitude, when took a shot and missed the goal Lacazette was reacting that the ball didn’t go in or how close it was, someone like a Sanchez would have thrown a fit that the ball wasn’t passed. Small things like these can make a huge difference in the team dynamic.
And he looks a great technician when scoring, super skillful. I simply love the guys who care for the technique rather let’s push the ball over the line if we can. Sure sometimes that’s needed but someone with great technique just instills confidence.
*When welbeck took a shot
Totally agree with this. There’s nothing better than a footballer who just has a genuine love of beautiful football and beautiful goals, regardless of whether he creates them or his teammates do. Didn’t see the Welbeck example you mentioned, but when Begovic saved Ozil’s free-kick vs Bournemouth and Laca reacted like every fan in the stadium I began to think I might really like this guy. Kind of an oblique comparison, but if you watch videos of when Messi burst onto the scene at Barcelona and began scoring unreal goals, you can see his teammates – talented players like Eto’o… Read more »
Laca reminds me of Eduardo both in terms of goal scoring and his behaviour on the pitch. Some players are technically so good that you won’t even know if they are having a good game or a bad game.
Players like Rosicky, Arteta(before he lost his pace), Cazorla, Lacazette and Eduardo, you just can’t find fault in their game. 90% of the time they play at the right tempo, they are comfortable in transition and keep things simple.
I think Iwobi belongs to this category. But, he has some way to go.
Laca reminds me of Eduardo both in terms of goal scoring and his behaviour on the pitch. Some players are technically so good that you won’t even know if they are having a good game or a bad game.
Players like Rosicky, Arteta(before he lost his pace), Cazorla, Lacazette and Eduardo, you just can’t find fault in their game. 90% of the time they play at the right tempo, they are comfortable in transition and keep things simple.
I think Iwobi belongs to this category. But, he has some way to go.
He’s so good it’s worth saying twice! 😉
I felt at the time Lukaku or Morata would have been better signings and still do.
However Lacazette looks like a good all around footballer who’s quite measured and should complement the risk taking Alexis quite well.
There’s not a lot about our squad that really fills me with confidence.
Hopefully the Europa and Domestic cups open up nicely for us this season.
Arsene usually pulls something out the bag when his backs against the wall.
A bit of silverware would go down a right treat even if the title seems well beyond us.
Don’t like stringer bell hear you. He’ll automatically point to his 2 goals and say he’s been a better striker than Lukaku and Morata.
I do like the way he’s started as well, but I still think he drops too deep at times. I see him scoring 15 -17 goals(maybe 20 if he’s lucky)
He is a professional soccer player! Wenger many times goes overboard with fitness of players coming into the PL. It is like he does not believe, in other leagues, that they are at the same level as the PL. Many times, when Arsenal has played a team from another league, Arsenal has loss and he has mentioned that the other team outplayed us and were in better shape? Go figure. Lacazette was fully ready to play the day he step foot on the Arsenal practice pitch. Same is true for Sean. Please, quit being so naive and start letting the… Read more »
Even SK said that the pace of the game is much faster then he initial thought. No one is saying the PL is the most fit league. It’s just very intense from beginning to end usually. He looks gassed imo. I think its good that he is getting subbed off right now.
Wallab, there are no other leagues like the PL. Every player knows that, whether they play here or not. Other leagues MAY have a higher technical level at their top teams, but the consistency of the fitness required by the PL teams is substantially higher. Other leagues are 50%+ filled with teams that wouldn’t survive in the PL, so for 50% of the top teams games the fitness (and quality) is much less. Every player that comes to the PL says that.
One thing I’m pleasantly surprised about is how good Lacazette’s link up play is and how good his good his close control is – I’m not sure if it comes across when watching on TV but he seems an excellent all round footballer. Also, prior to last Sunday’s games, Sky Sports News did a stats comparison between Laca, Moratta, Lukaku & Rooney – one thing that popped up but wasn’t really mentioned was Lacazette’s 33% conversion rate, whereas the other three were all in the low 20s. He appears an efficient striker, if we can feed balls into him he’ll… Read more »
Bingo. I am confident he and Ozil will form a superb relationship as the season wears on.. Ozil can put the ball in the right spot, Laca seems to be the man capable of being at the right spot and having the ability to convert. Arsenals season will be massive if Ozils big chance creations get convertted by the guys up front.
He is obviously still getting used to the league. Felt he was behind pace against Chelski and faded which was why Wenger correctly withdrew him. But his instinctvfor goal is superb. That said, I don’t think there is a “plan A” and “plan B”. We play whoever benefits against the set up we are up against. Thought Giroud’s effort against Doncaster wad brilliant. Had it been Ibra, some people would be walking off to the “world class” strike. The big man is more efficient in positioning which makes up for his lack of “mobility”. OTOH we have yet to see… Read more »
Lacazette has done ok, but I seem to have a problem with his movement. He doesn’t run in behind and needs to create space to shoot more. He’s very clinical without a doubt, I just feel Welbeck has scored more because he has been making better runs and has been more mobile. I’ve also noticed he isn’t as quick as most thought he is. Like his link up play and how smooth he is on the ball.
I have watched Lacezzete closely and both his positioning and movement are excellent. In fact it is as clinical and efficient as his finishing and thus just like his excellent link play it can go unnoticed unless you single him out to watch during the game or on replay. He is highly a highly intelligent and technical player who has obviously learned his role very well. For example I like how stretches play and opens space for teammates by working along the high line and looking to get in behind defenders. He only comes deep to link when appropriate but… Read more »