Alexandre Lacazette admits Arsenal’s primary aim for the season is to secure Champions League football and that the Gunners will need a ‘miracle’ to make up the 17 point deficit on Premier League leaders Manchester City.
Impressive form at the Emirates contrasts with disastrous results on the road, including four defeats at Liverpool, Stoke, Manchester City and Watford. The dropped points leave the Gunners with it all to do in the second half of the season as they look to get back into the top four after last year’s hiccup.
“It would be really complicated to win it [the title] at this point,” Lacazette told Sky Sports ahead of Wednesday’s game with West Ham.
“We would really need a miracle. City would need to lose a lot of their games and we know their record. But the goal in coming here was always to qualify for the Champions League and if we could get the title, fantastic.”
Lacazette also revealed that his meeting with Arsene Wenger proved to be a tipping point in deciding which club to join last summer.
The 26-year-old had originally agreed to join Atletico Madrid before a transfer ban imposed on the Spanish side scuppered the deal. While other clubs approached Lyon about signing him, the player eventually opted for a move to the Emirates.
“It was really the meeting with the coach that made me want to come here, it was something I had thought about since I was little,” he said.
“I had spoken about it a lot for many years with (Arsenal midfielder) Francis Coquelin but it was really all about that meeting with the coach.
“I benefit from his experience on a daily basis, especially his past and how he has worked with various strikers.
“We are always chatting about small things I can do to make little improvements. It will be a really nice record for him too.”
Imagine some fans got their wish a few years ago and we had a manager like Moyes or Rodgers… would we have attracted top quality players like Lacazette? Would Arsenal be as attractive a destination to the likes of Ozil and Sanchez? Obviously not. Although we are pretty inconsistent right now, these guys want to play proper football and want to develop. Say what you want about Wenger, but this is just more proof that if we are to replace him, the next guy has to be special. Wenger offers players something a lot of managers can’t. Trust, development, and… Read more »
Bollocks, imagine if some fan’s got there wish a few years ago and we had a manager like Guardiola or Conté we could be watching the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and N’golo Kante!
Who the fuck has ever wanted Moyes or Rodgers to be our manager?!?
well said
You do realise that all players are massively sycophantic about their own managers don’t you? It’s not like Mo Salah is saying “Klopp is a bit of a numpty really, not sure he knows his arse from his elbow”. That’s what players, new especially, do. In fact, that’s what we all do in our jobs.
No they’re not, players like managers are asked loaded questions.
E.G. interviewer: “Lacazette/Ozil/Sanchez, did you speak to the manager before you signed and did that influence your decision to join the club?”
Lacazette/Ozil/Sanchez, polite stock answer: “yes, of course i did and that’s why i signed”
What do you expect them to say, “I did, and to be honest i thought he was a prick but for £120,000 a week it didn’t make a difference”?
No mentally normal person is ever going to say that.
Perhaps, but the way Lac phrased his answer wouldn’t particularly suggest a “loaded question”. And it’s hardly a scoop for the journo’s to discover Wenger was a factor in his arrival. I think a nice healthy dose of Arsene kissing in this case. Maybe trying to get 90 mins on the pitch for once…
John C as a player could have, lol.
Yeah, like Stan would pay loads of money for the likes of KDB. Bollocks. Truth is that even when Arsene steps aside, his successor will have to be someone who is willing to accept that budget has certain limits.
I agree with you to a point but Stan has spent loads of money. KDB cost the same as Lacazette and Kanté cost less than Xhaka!
The biggest problem, as highlighted by Lacazette in this very interview is we don’t sell prospective players the dream of winning the title but qualifying for the Champions league
Same as Lacazette 3 years ago.
Kante wasn’t even on the market at that point. He was sold late.
I think the Stan blame here is a utter bollocks. Look at the stats, when Stan took over in 2011 our spending became quickly more abundant in the following few years, twice spending +100m without recouping more than 25m and twice spending +50m withc little return. We only made a profit this season and one other and this season the money was obviously available as we tried to secure Lemar for 90m at the death. Yes this club needs a restructure from top to bottom and Stan can fuck right off but blaming Stan for not putting his hand in… Read more »
@John C fucking right!! And @chrisGoona we attracted them but does our ambition give them the desire to stay? Let: see at the end of the season. They are merely cogs in this well oiled busness that Arsenal footballs club has become! And wenger in down vote as much as you want this isn’t about him. This is about Arsenal, the invincibles who won’t the league in 2004, the team who fought to the final in 2006 and were unlucky, that’s what I want, Wenger or not, but he hadn’t established that calibre for a long time! Not winning the… Read more »
Exactly . Some people write any old shite to suit their argument. Never once heard either of them touted for the manager of arsenal
Still he got his thumbs up so good on him
Why would Pep or Conte even have come here 3-5 years ago?
It’s this exact mentality that is prohibiting this club’s progress.
Agree with , ‘Trust, development and platform’ except I will take out development as its not true for the last 7-8 years and platform, well everyone does if you are good enough, except with Arsenal the benchmark is not high enough these days which is proportional to what we pay the players. If I was a player now, I would not be attracted to a club just because of a manager, those do who do (dont think anyone does whatever they say) have not done their research. There is a lot of glory in the long past but there is… Read more »
@ChrisGoona I genuinely cant ever recall meeting someone who wanted Moyes or Rodgers in charge at Arsenal. Literally not one single fan ever. There has been a lot of rumors circulating recently where apparently Guardiola did in fact put the feelers out there to see if it was plausible to be the man to succeed Arsene back before he moved to City – and we allegedly said no. Now, if you cant tell me that we wouldn’t be better off for getting Pep in, and opting to stick with Wenger was the better option, I don’t really know what to… Read more »
Call those rumors BS. No way Pep was coming to Arsenal with they run their club compared to what Pep needs to?
It’s funny ChrisGoona, whenever our poor or not very good signings are mentioned as a criticism of Arsene some people will argue it’s never Arsene’s fault…and when a player we didn’t sign is mentioned as a criticism the same people will argue it’s never Arsene’s fault …but yet when the good signings are mentioned the same people will say it’s entirely down to Arsene alone & imagine the state we’d be in without him……..the hypocrisy is simply incredible.
Who asked for Moyes? I for one have been asking for a top manager like Guardiola or Conte. Wenger ‘s time has long passed and he will be gone soon, thanks very much
In the past, some fans on here have called for the likes of Moyes, Howe, Rodgers, and Koeman while others have aimed a little higher and called for Klopp, Simeone, Tuchel, Conte, and Perfect Little Pep. The former batch is annoying, and while there are some promising candidates in the latter batch, we have to be realistic. Whomever the next manager will be at Arsenal FC, he will have to work with a budget, which immediately cancels out managers like Pep (sure, he’s got a great footballing mind, but he needs a nearly billion-euro team [second only to PSG, and… Read more »
Excellent buy. Now if only we had a cohesive midfield. And defence. And strategy. And mental toughness.
Isn’t that too much to ask for? ?
NO
Personally think our biggest problem is concentration. How many times do we make mistakes which cost us? Even against the weaker sides, we make hard work of it cus we have this arrogance in the side, which frankly this team has no right to be, they haven’t earned it. The difference between us and Man City (without the obvious financial muscle) is that their players don’t take anything for granted. They keep playing and keep grafting even if they’re 5-0 up. Ours relax at 1-0 or 2-0 and get complacent. Then they lose their concentration, make errors, concede etc. It’s… Read more »
in the last few games we’ve even lost concetration at 0 – 0 :C
So much truth on the arrogance point. We have so many players who believe they are above grafting! Achieved absolutely nothing, but think playing for Arsenal is a birth-right and the remuneration is deserved. Goes back to the ‘more up for it than us’ comment from Theo and ‘cojones’ talk from Deeney (who missed an open goal last night 🙂 ) The underlying truth is these early goals conceded are borne from not wanting to fight for the right to play. As much as people slate Arsene for his naivety and tactical shortcomings…should he really have to tell grown men… Read more »
I think we have 2 problems:
1) Our style of play has become predictable and our weakness are obvious
2) Our players aren’t good enough to play the way the manager wants us to play and overcome point 1.
I agree with your point 2 that we don’t have the players to play the way AW wants them to. That is the frustrating part. Of course the less technical talent we have the more predictable we get.
…but the goal in coming here was always to qualify for the Champions League …
lmao, you are so right
So Wenger is not selling win the premier league with me BS. But you will win it next year or the year after.. makes me wonder if Alexis and Ozil are on the fence because of this. Nothing wrong in being real about our chances of winning the title, we had none to little at the start of the season and it’s still the same. I suspect Wenger sees that as well, but the slightly mystifying part is why we fail to fix the gaps, let’s hope the new backroom recruits we needed are followed by new on pitch recruits… Read more »
But the goal in coming here was always to qualify for the Champions League and if we could get the title, fantastic.” And therein lies the problem. Players are being brought in with the assignment of being one of “the best of the rest” in regards of final league standings. The start of season goal for us and the other 5 teams that makeup the big six should be to finish the season as champions. Finishing between 2nd – 4th should be a last resort, an “it could of been worse but next season needs to be better” if you… Read more »
What vast resources? Like it or not its been clear for the last decade that in the Prem their are 3 clubs that are spending and financing debt year in and year out(Man C and U, Chelsea) then their is the next tier down (Arsenal, Liverpool and a possibly Spurs).
“We would really need a miracle. City would need to lose a lot of their games and we know their record. But the goal in coming here was always to qualify for the Champions League and if we could get the title, fantastic.” What a aim! I thought by reaching for the skies one’s bad outcome could be the stars. Arsenal is the other way round. The team’s aim wasn’t to challenge for the league I guess. Poor Arsenal. Can’t wait to see the old days where red and white instils fears in our opponents. I feel we need much… Read more »
First, Lacazette is not stupid: if Wenger said “come to Arsenal and we will win the league,” it would only have told him the manager’s judgment was not to be trusted. So, let’s try an alternate interpretation of what Wenger and Lacazette talked about before he signed: “If you come, I promise you we can make the Champion League and, if thing go well, we can challenge for the Premier League. There are very strong clubs in England, as you know, but we can be one of them.”
Definitely.As some wrtere and fans have noted it will take
a new man to get Arsenal to win the epl.
Btw,rumours say Wenger has agreed to buy the Sevilla md.
Why has it taken him so long?The epl is not only based on skill
alone but muscular power as well.
The fm has loaded his side with ballet playrs who would be no match
for the power house md .
We shall wait and see,
The goal was always qualifying for the champions league??? I remember a time not so long ago, say the early 2000s, when the goal was to win the league and win the champions league.
Now our goal is to finish top 4.
I guess that makes sense. We have a crap defence and no holding mid and we pay low salaries compared to the big three of man u, man city and Chelsea. Plus we don’t buy enough world class players.
We have zero chance of ever winning the league again.
Do you really believe that last line of yours?
With Wenger in charge we have zero chance of winning the title again
Could anyone who down voted this please explain how they think Wenger can win the title again? Where in the last 13 years of not even challenging for the title have you seen any shred of evidence to suggest he can?
“…the goal in coming here was always to qualify for the Champions League”
Biggest gaffe of Arsene’s Arsenal career was to publicly declare fourth place as some kind of trophy. Even our transfer targets now buy into that mentality before joining.
“Even our transfer targets now buy into that mentality before joining.”
Worse than that, we can only attract players with that mentality so it becomes a vicious circle of mediocrity
This Wenger 4th place stuff again. And this is not just to you, “I Didn’t See It” (good avie name, btw). This far adrift of 1st place, what on earth do people think Lacaz is going to say? Honestly people, these pressers are just exercises in jerking off. None of it means anything. You really think a professional athlete is going to open his soul to some fool in a random interview? Lacaz: “Yeah, I made a mistake coming here because right now it is mathematically difficult that we will win every trophy. As a professional footballer my whole life,… Read more »
You mean PL would just be a bonus if we ever win it this year? Aim at the moon and if you miss it you will end up hitting the star….. so why aiming at the star?
I get that with the way things are, the title is well out of reach, but WHY, WHY!?! mention it at all then..if it’s NOT our goal??
…and by the way, we need more than just miracle to win the prem. We would also need a Hero..(heeerroooo….and he’s got to be strong…)..and a legendary one at that.
ha, we would need a miracle for fourth place
Yeah…just about puts an end to any title fantasy.
We are back to square one squandering some recent good work and off pace again in 7th
We will have to reverse this quickly.
Plenty of endeavor but nothing to show for.
Teams just above us still easily catchable. What we don’t want is to continue this slump.
The problem is we lack wingers for 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1
Both our marquee players in Ozil and Alexis are more suited to play slightly in field and have become somewhat acustom in the 3-4-2-1
Thereby we lack width funneling instead everything into the middle.
AMN tried and he put in some decent crosses but the introduction of Welbeck and Lacazette did not help our wide areas.
With 3 at the back Alexis and Ozil had support from wing backs.
It will take a bit if time to readjust.
Meanwhile we have slipped another 2 points