Arsenal fans weren’t happy with Alexandre Lacazette after Wednesday’s Carabao Cup semi-final victory over Chelsea, despite the Frenchman playing a large part in the winning goal.
For large parts of the match at the Emirates, Lacazette couldn’t find a way to make an impact. As a result, a number of fans complained about his contributions after the game.
One fan pointed out how infrequently the striker is scoring at the moment, despite Mesut Özil’s impressive chance creation:
Mesut Ozil has created more scoring chances from open play for team-mates than any other player in Europe's top five leagues this season – 58.
— Orbinho (@Orbinho) January 24, 2018
https://twitter.com/Jackel_Ramzilla/status/956439392759017472
Another fan felt the 26-year-old didn’t do enough to make chances for himself in the box:
Yeah agree. Like bellerin gave such a sick ball yesterday and lacazette really should've been in position where as he was on the edge of the box. His off the ball movement in general is great, but inside the box he has to improve.
— Maaz (@GoonerMaaz) January 25, 2018
One supporter asked if we could see a bit more aggression from the France international:
You rarely see lacazette in the box or getting on the end of crosses. I wanna see a bit of desire and aggression. He works hard holding up the ball nicely but I wanna see more from him. Has he ever scored a header?
— The Arsenal (@The_Arsenal78) January 25, 2018
On the point about headers, we’ve actually seen Lacazette score two so far this season. You can understand his general point though. Against Chelsea, the striker didn’t have a single shot.
I think these fans are being very harsh on the Arsenal man, however. In the end, it was his impressive hold-up play that led to the winning goal.
Xhaka puts Arsenal in front against Chelsea, 2-1 pic.twitter.com/gNUOPlYBrO
— Terje (@TerjeGIFs) January 24, 2018
Plus, Lacazette’s teammates didn’t support him particularly well during the match. Most of the team focused on keeping Chelsea out at the other end.
Iwobi, one of the players in the front three, made the most tackles on the pitch, which sums it up. It wasn’t an easy game, so to come away with the win is good enough for me.