Alexandre Lacazette, the French International had signed for Arsenal this season from Lyon for a transfer fee worth £50 million. The player had scored 28 Goals in 30 matches for Lyon in Ligue 1 previous season.
The striker is known for his pace and dribbling ability. He can play in wings also. His presence in the field always keeps the opponent busy in the defense for his movements.
But Arsene Wenger had snubbed him from the starting eleven in the big match against Manchester City in the Premier League. Arsenal had lost the match with a margin of 3-1 and the only consolation goal for Arsenal was scored by Alexandre Lacazette. Wenger also didn’t start Lacazette in the match against Liverpool at Anfield where Arsenal had lost with a margin of 4-0. The player was subbed off at the 60th minute in the match against Chelsea too.
Former Newcastle player Alan Shearer had slammed the decision of Wenger of not starting Alexandre Lacazette against Manchester City.
“He left him out at Anfield and again today, against your rivals,” Shearer said.
“You spend £50m on a striker and think he will make the difference in the big games.
“He has scored six league goals, more than double anyone else in that Arsenal team.
“He played Alexis Sanchez today, who doesn’t want to commit himself to the football club, what does that say to Lacazette and his teammates?
“He has got every right to go and knock on Wenger’s door tomorrow and say: ‘Do you not fancy me or something?'”, Shearer added.
Some days ago in an interview Wenger told it’s difficult for him to choose whom to play between Giroud and Lacazette.
‘Giroud, Lacazette – it’s a never-ending debate.
‘I think both of them are very good players,’ Wenger told.
‘For me there’s no difference, and each time it’s very hard to decide who starts.’, he added.
But Wenger had kept both Lacazette and Giroud on bench and opted to start Alexis Sanchez who was linked for a move to Manchester City this season but somehow Wenger was able to keep him in Arsenal.
Former English footballer Ian Wright completely agreed with Alan Shearer and he also thought that Lacazette should be in the starting eleven in the match against City. Wright also was worried about the confidence level of the player after such treatment from Arsene Wenger.
‘He must be thinking what he has to do to get in this team, especially when he’s watching how poorly Sanchez is playing. It must be so frustrating for him.’, Wright said.
“I feel for him,” said the former Arsenal man. “He’s only finished 90 minutes once against Leicester, his first game of the season, he scored in that one as well. He got pulled off after 60 minutes at Chelsea.”
“He must be thinking ‘I dunno what I need to do to get in this team?’ Especially if he was watching how poorly [Alexis] Sanchez played.”
“It was one of the only times [Alex] Iwobi got on the ball and done any kind of positive movement [because Lacazette] was on the shoulder, perfectly.”
“What I was disappointed about is that he can take a half chance in a game that Arsenal aren’t going to get a lot of ball in,” said the 54-year-old. “So you’re thinking he’d be someone who will stay on the shoulder and get that kind of chance and score it.”
“He only played up front for 22 minutes and then they brought [Olivier] Giroud on, and then they pushed him out to the right-hand side. It really must be so frustrating for him.”, he added.
The defeat against Manchester City had kept Arsenal in 6th position in the League Table and their dream of finishing in top four is not looking very secured at this moment.
Was the decision of benching the big money signing Alexandre Lacazette a wrong decision for the team – Arsene Wenger must explain this to the Arsenal fans.
