Alexandre Lacazette: Laca the Net

[LacaNewSigning]

This is the key, if this continues the goals will come.

I think he will score a hatful of goals this season and he's doing fairly well as he's still aclimatising to the league. Doesn't seem like the manager will play him for a full 90 for some weird reason, if Giroud is starting Europa matches and plays 90 mins what's the beef with Lacazette not completing games but whatever 4 now.

Also don't think the team is still used to a striker who runs in behind, we play to many passes sideways and backwards before we go forward. Imagine if we played incisive forward passes and through balls like man city, Lacazette would be top scorer quite easily by now because he makes really good intelligent runs.

 

[pikey2000]

He's doing fine and its clear that Wenger is breaking him in gently, he'll be starting and finishing games week in week out by the end of the season no doubt imo.

He will find it tough as his game is based on movement and a lot of teams sit deep against us which will restrict his opportunity to run in behind, however on those occasions i'd love for us to play Giroud alongside him rather than instead of him!

I've got a funny feeling he will bag goals against the big sides, they tend to attack us more which in theory should set us up well to counter quickly with him having plenty of space to run into.

 

[coolaa]

So far all his goals scored are quality ones and not fluke, I am happy with him.

 

[Mark Tobias]

No, we should be making a much bigger issue out of it than we are. Build it up as evidence that the refs always rule against us so that the next time there's a tough call to be made they rule in our favour. I mean Utd get at least 5 blatant decisions for them, every season. But still if you look at their fans, they're always crying about how the refs are out to get them. Wenger had the right idea when he called it out in the presser... as a fanbase we need to put some pressure on external agents instead of always directing it at the team/coach.

Couldn't agree more!

 

[A_G]

You forgot "He's clearly better than Lukaku and Morata, even though he was United and Chelsea's third [at maximum] choice, and was had for a smaller fee!"

Since when does a bigger fee make someone a better player?

United and Chelsea were looking for a big target man, hence their lack of interest in Lacazette.

 

[House MD]

Since when does a bigger fee make someone a better player?

United and Chelsea were looking for a big target man, hence their lack of interest in Lacazette.

Neither of them are target men.

 

[A_G]

Neither of them are target men.

Oops, someone should have told Jose before you signed him:
http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/jose...-manchester-united/18cltgmsyjpw41bugri1qyk4pe

 

[say yes]

Pretty tragic how desperate some people are for an Arsenal signing to be a flop.

 

[GeorgiaGunner]

Since when does a bigger fee make someone a better player?

United and Chelsea were looking for a big target man, hence their lack of interest in Lacazette.

It’s not perfect correlation, obviously, but there’s a reason Neymar cost 15x more than Xhaka.

 

[samshere]

Neither of them are target men.

Lukaku is as close you can come to being a target man, without actually being a target man, though.

 

[say yes]

It’s not perfect correlation, obviously, but there’s a reason Neymar cost 15x more than Xhaka.

Yeah it’s called a mandatory release clause.

 

[MutableEarth]

Pretty tragic how desperate some people are for an Arsenal signing to be a flop.

Truly.

 

[Taylor Gang Gunners]

Pretty tragic how desperate some people are for an Arsenal signing to be a flop.

It's disgusting. A disgusting feat of this site which winds me up to no end.

AM isn't what it used to be. A few rotten apples are spoiling a good bunch.

I'll stick around for my g's. But my engagement will be minimal.

As you were.

 

[GeorgiaGunner]

Yeah it’s called a mandatory release clause.

Right, and Barca would have charged even more if they were able. What's your argument, that player quality and purchase price aren't positively correlated?

 

[House MD]

Oops, someone should have told Jose before you signed him:
http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/jose...-manchester-united/18cltgmsyjpw41bugri1qyk4pe

Lukaku is as close you can come to being a target man, without actually being a target man, though.

Target men are Centre forwards who mainly win aerial balls. While lukaku and Morata are adept at that, they are also really good at running into space and even dropping deep to receive the ball and distribute it wide to the runners. They have pace with which they can beat defenders in a foot race.

I don’t think them being target men were the main reasons they were targeted. They are both really clinical in front of goal.

 

[say yes]

Right, and Barca would have charged even more if they were able. What's your argument, that player quality and purchase price aren't positively correlated?

My point is that there are many more factors at play when determining a transfer fee than simply the quality of a player. Correlation does not imply causation. Staggering that this needs to be explained to you.

Stating that Lacazette is worse than Morata/Lukaku because he cost less is (frankly) idiotic. In reality, all three went for huge fees and the guy I’d pick out as the best certainly wasn’t the most expensive.

 

[GeorgiaGunner]

My point is that there are many more factors at play when determining a transfer fee than simply the quality of a player. Correlation does not imply causation. Staggering that this needs to be explained to you.

Many factors play a role, of course, but by far the largest is the quality of the player. Staggering that you're making the argument that higher player quality doesn't, to a massive degree, "cause" a higher valuation on aggregate. Inversely, valuation can then be used as a rough proxy for player quality. Obviously, if we went nuts and paid 200MM for Benteke, that wouldn't suddenly make him a much better player, but that's not how the market works -- clubs pay the lowest they possibly can to a seller who wants top dollar. This leads to an equilibrium wherein current valuation (though not necessarily previous transfer fees, if quality has changed since then) can be loosely again tied to quality.

And FYI, "correlation does not imply causation" does not mean the two are mutually exclusive -- it's just a reminder that the former is not sufficient to prove the latter on its own, doing nothing to disprove a causal relation. That said, causation always includes some relation (just not always linear -- "dependence" or "association" are better terms, as "correlation" is usually used to describe linear), at least once proper controls / regression techniques are applied.

 

[samshere]

Target men are Centre forwards who mainly win aerial balls. While lukaku and Morata are adept at that, they are also really good at running into space and even dropping deep to receive the ball and distribute it wide to the runners. They have pace with which they can beat defenders in a foot race.

I don’t think them being target men were the main reasons they were targeted. They are both really clinical in front of goal.

Elite teams rarely play with limited forwards that can just stand like a pole. The modern forward has to hold the ball up, make runs to create space, and also offer a focal point to the teams attacks. Lukaku is closer to a target man than Lacazette who's closer to the traditional poacher/fox-in the box. But again we can't use a cut and dried definition for Laca, by calling him a poacher he does a lot more. I've been impressed at Laca's capacity to hold the ball up. This is what sets him apart from players like Walcott, who's of the same stature but is so easily bundled off the ball. Mourinho prefers large physical forwards, Wenger prefers smaller trickier ones. I'd say both got their desired players, but we got ours for 20m less.

 

[celestis]

Since when does a bigger fee make someone a better player?

United and Chelsea were looking for a big target man, hence their lack of interest in Lacazette.

Pretty sure United had a serious look at him and according to him PSG as well .

 

[House MD]

Elite teams rarely play with limited forwards that can just stand like a pole. The modern forward has to hold the ball up, make runs to create space, and also offer a focal point to the teams attacks. Lukaku is closer to a target man than Lacazette who's closer to the traditional poacher/fox-in the box. But again we can't use a cut and dried definition for Laca, by calling him a poacher he does a lot more. I've been impressed at Laca's capacity to hold the ball up. This is what sets him apart from players like Walcott, who's of the same stature but is so easily bundled off the ball. Mourinho prefers large physical forwards, Wenger prefers smaller trickier ones. I'd say both got their desired players, but we got ours for 20m less.

What’s funny is lot of people also refer to Lukaku as a fox in the box striker. See Carragher on MNF who compared him to Van Nistelrooy who was one of the best fox in the box strikers in the PL. at the same time, drogba comparisons also makes sense seeing how he bullies defenders and runs the channels.