Arsenal Legend Calls On Gunners Midfield To Adapt To Alexandre Lacazette’s Game

By The Editor
on 16th August 2017

Thierry Henry analyses Alexandre Lacazette’s debut…

Arsenal legend Thierry Henry has called on the Gunners midfield to quickly adapt to the forward play of star signing Alexandre Lacazette following his impressive debut.

Henry was hand to dissect his compatriot’s display against Leicester City, a game in which it took him just over 90 seconds to find the back of the net.

However, Henry feels Lacazette could be handed more chances in the future if the Arsenal midfield looks to find him early given his clever movement and lightening pace.

Our record goalscorer, like many, believes that midfielder such as Granit Xhaka are looking for the simple short pass to build the play up to the forward, but could find a quicker route to the goal instead.

“Granit Xhaka has it in his locker to play that ball over the top,” Henry said about the former Borussia Monchengladbach man.

“He has an amazing left foot. If he has time on the ball he does not need to play through the middle sometimes.

“Why do you want to play what I call ‘the Arsenal ball’ to the winger who comes in the pocket? Why don’t you play the other ball? That’s the best ball in the game because you go straight to goal. They don’t like it.”

We’re no longer playing with Olivier Giroud as our main striker, a player who needed the ball played into his feet and closer to goal for him to inflict damage on the opponent.

However, with Lacazette, we finally have a centre-forward who’s quicker than most defenders in the Premier League and so can create opportunities for himself with a simple ball down the sides.

Henry notes a number of times Xhaka could’ve played that ball, and it’s certainly something we can work on in the future with the Swiss star capable of delivering such quality with his passes.

Check out the analysis in the video above.