Alex Lacazette was pleased to make an impact off the bench as Arsenal secured a 1-0 win at Brighton thanks to his strike 21 seconds after he came off the bench.
After the game, the Frenchman chatted to Amazon Prime Video about his contribution and the performances of the Gunners youngsters.
On making an instant impact…
Yeah, I’m really happy. When you come off the bench you need to help the team, today I was lucky I could score with my first touch. It’s good for me, it’s good for the team as well.
On his goal…
Bukayo gave me a good pass, as I like it and it was good for me.
On Saka…
He was really good, every game he improves and shows his quality. Even if he’s young he’s still working hard for the team, everyone is happy with him.
On the youngsters…
They make me feel old. Honestly, they are fresh so it’s really nice for me to work with them, to speak with them. They are curious, they want to improve, every day it’s a pleasure to play with them.
On two wins on the trot…
Yeah, of course, we want to come back in the table and we know we have to win games in a row. The win over Chelsea gave us a lot of confidence. We just want to win every game and come back to the top.
And we love when they perform well. Keep it up m8
You can’t help but look at what Willian and Pepe have done this season and really question their credentials.
Before Chelsea you could put forward an argument that the system was the catalyst for poor performances from our wingers. You have to say after the last two games that this seems not to be the case.
I’m not sure where that leaves either of them. Let’s just say we’re open to offers?
As hard as it is for me to say, but I highly doubt it would’ve been the same outcome the last two games with Pepe and Willian involved. I think Willian is over the edge, performance wise, and more or less fitting cause we signed Luiz from Chelsea and Czech a few years back (although I wouldnt sign players from Chel$ea, he was more than ok for us) and he was sort of fitting in the system at the beginning, but we need much more drive if we were to domminate the game, exactly what the young players give us.… Read more »
Let’s not have a slagfest with these two players, points mean confidence, confidence means more points and playing well, we all get pissed off when players who have cost a lot or who are on a lot not producing (or playing) hard I know but let’s get behind the whole squad (even mustafi) always convinced we are a good side but this season knew we would have a few bumps on the roads (ok one to many) keep the faith in Miki we are at a beginning..
Pepe looks like the star high school kid trying to play with the college masters. Struggling with the physicality which is embarrassing that the kids are able to cope with it better.
We have changed the system to a 4-2-3-1 in the last two games but still Willian and Pepe have underperformed. Wouldn’t put both of them in the same boat though cause Willian has been far worse than Pepe.
Pepe was left isolated on the flank way too often in the earlier three at the back system. He would also benefit playing with an advanced midfielder like ESR with whom he can combine and burst into the box. At the moment though, Martinelli and Saka are ahead in the pecking order for those wide positions in the starting eleven.
I suppose if they are humble and make no mistake, they both need to be humble now, they can accept their position in the squad and work really hard to dislodge one of the youngsters.
But I totally agree with you. They are both officially not first team players anymore. They just can’t be. And they can’t really have complaints about that.
Right now Pepe isn’t worse than Auba.
Agree that the key difference right now is not the formation but the deployment of ESR. Pepe would benefit from that. My hunch is he’d get the ball in pockets near the edge of the box and start putting curlers on frame.
Still think Pepe deployed as striker would be interesting.
Auba has actual club achievements and saving our asses for two seasons to fall back on. Pepe has been mediocre since he arrived and has shown glimpses but not enough or consistently.
To be fair, a formation isn’t the whole story.
Both Tottenham and Liverpool play the 4-3-3 formation, but they play nothing alike.
That Pepe has looked isolated has a lot to do with how the players around him have played.
We have, of course, looked better with Saka in the same position, but Pepe was a pretty damn good player in France. He could probably play better than he has been if the team were built around his strengths.
It isn’t.
I think thats the last chance im giving Pepe. To see him with an in form Bellerin and starting a game with ESR.
They have underperformed but you could argue all of the forwards have too. I think having a genuine number 10 has helped cohesion and forward play. Don’t forget Saka has been playing during this period. While he’s been good overall play in the forward half has been abysmal.
Stop lumping Willian in with other players. The guy is a total joke and a pos, bottom of the barrel below even Mustafi. Pepe has been horribly mediocre to put it nicely.
Well in Laca! Proving some doubters wrong, myself included.
Same. I was just explaining to my daughter why I was bemoaning his arrival from the bench when he buried it. Look on her face was priceless
It’s only one goal
His missed chances have taken the shine away that any attacking threat we have had he has been the focal point.
i like laca but he needs to be sold this upcoming summer or we risk losing him for free. Like auba,willian he’ll also decline soon. Our scouting department should be full throttle on us finding the next young striker soon. Idiots are going to waste balogun anyways.
We have a scouting department?
Are you saying Edu scrolling through YouTube highlights is not scouting?
Saves more time than playing 20 campaigns in Football Manager. Smart man Edu.
The prick uses Dailymotion instead.
We have balogun, martinelli and pepe can play there. Nketiah should be sold. We need midfielders, and only pure quality players like partey.
We already have Balogun who looks very promising, likely better than Eddie. We need to convince him to sign really.
That’s probably out of our hands. We wanted to sell him last summer, but nobody wanted to buy him because of the pandemic. The financial situation of clubs around Europe won’t have improved. Laca is also on huge wages – there was an article in September where the Lyon sporting director said he’d talked to Lacazette about possibly bringing him back on loan, – “But from the moment that you start looking at the level of the contract of these players, like with Juventus and Barcelona, it is not possible for us today.” We’ve dug our own grave with these… Read more »
What a run and pass by Saka! He is such a joy to watch.
Player of the season sofar
I took extreme satisfaction in watching the brighton guy get left for dead by the youngster and looking like he was going to explode both hammys.
Lol I think he did. Let’s see if plays their next match
Great to beat a team that have been a pain in the arse recently. Not particularly convincing, especially first half, but good to see Arteta rewarding good performances this time. Let’s hope it continues.
There were some tired legs out there today. Not as snappy like against Chelsea. Hope for a quick recovery to break through Big Sam’s low block.
World is a happier place when Arsenal wins
Lovely run and cutback from Saka, excellent finish from Laca with his first touches of the ball. Class.
Lacca has put a shift in, in all of his recent games unlike other seasoned players. Well played Sir!
More prem goals than Werner, Sterling, Aguero, Jesus, Cavani and Martial this season. Our top scorer probably deserves a little bit more respect.
Fuck, because Arsenal have been so poor the past couple of months I just haven’t been paying attention to the rest of the league. Then I see observations like the one you’ve just made and I’m always taken aback by the amount of shite all round this season. Really not unthinkable that we may just end up in a very decent position in the table if things continue to click with the youngsters, Partey returns strong and Auba gets his mojo back. But I guess it’s very much one step at a time territory at the moment.
Table is very tight, if we go on a small run we can shoot up.
Yup…Everyone is shite.. Except Liverpool who are just ok.