Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang: From Thriller To Bad, Should He Just Beat It?

[KrissKringle]

I don't think so because the fact that he actually has pace means that defenders have to stand off him.

It really depends on what kind of football you're playing. In a counterattacking team you can use him there whenever you hit them on the break and he's sprinting to get in the box and catch that cross, but if you're playing possession he'd be nullified because he'll be met by defenders whenever he gets the ball and he's no Neymar to dribble past them.

 

[TakeChillPill]

Our hold up at is virtually none existent with Laca. If we play auba through the middle it gives us the opportunity to play with William, Saka Reiss/Pepe.

All our play comes from out wide anyway so this idea of having a cf that requires great hold up play is rather redundant.

 

[Riou]

Ole: "Nicely done today son, had a tenner on ya for first goal scorer."

 

[Big Poppa]

I think the concern with playing him in the middle, is that he'll get stuck with his back to the goal, holding up the ball.

Why did that not stop him smashing in goals before? It’s not a new position for him, in fact it’s when he switched to it after Lewa went to Bayern that he turned into a goal machine.

Back to goal is literally just one way to play that position, and we have zero strikers offering that right now anyway. He’s a movement based centre forward - Werner, Vardy, Ings currently in the premier league are other examples.

A striker of his calibre should be getting 4 or 5 good chances every game.

 

[tcahill]

Does next to nothing creatively, can't beat a man and his passing is average. His movement and finishing are world class.

He was scoring consistently from the left, but now our creativity is really suffering, and teams have figured out that marking him well pretty much stops us from scoring.

 

[Kysus]

Whenever the camera is on Auba he seems to

 

[JCB]

If Arteta never plans on playing Aubameyang through the middle he needs to sell him and buy a goal scoring winger because Aubameyang offers nothing out on the wing

 

[Big Poppa]

If Arteta never plans on playing Aubameyang through the middle he needs to sell him and buy a goal scoring winger because Aubameyang offers nothing out on the wing

Agree. It’s the equivalent of Zizou playing Benzema on the left wing and starting Jovic every week through the middle.

 

[JCB]

Agree. It’s the equivalent of Zizou playing Benzema on the left wing and starting Jovic every week through the middle.

Yeah it's crazy I don't know why we spent all summer negotiating a new deal with him if we weren't going to be playing to his strengths

 

[boonthegoon]

 

[Trilly]

We’re going to have to make do with him as number 9 tbh.

He’s not going to be great at linking play but I’ve seen him make runs that defenders simply can’t keep up with. The type of runs that won’t get him in dangerous positions but will allow him to make a simple pass to someone while the rest of the team get up the pitch.

Surely we can work better with that than whatever it is Lacazette is doing.

 

[Trilly]

That is not a cheap gift at all.

What a captain, what a man.

 

[GoonerJay24]

We need to play him up front with a 10 behind that links the midfield and attack

 

[EmeryCouldnt]

That’s a really nice gift.

 

[HairSprayGooners]

Auba will move central next season, maybe towards the end of this one. People saying he shouldn't be LW need to be examined though. He's just fluffing chances atm, still doing the same things he's always done from LW but not scoring the goals.

If he was finishing his chances nobody would be saying a bad word.

 

[kash2]

350k pw to tuck in a penalty so cool.. worth it

 

[SingmeasongSong]

Auba through the middle with actual creative wingers and a proper attackin mid is several levels better.

Everybody is entitled to their oppinion, but it's certainly not the case that every oppinion in the world is equally correct.

Auba is a CF and he's part of the reason why we are so uncreative and **** when he's playing LW. He's a worldclass goal scorer and will nick goals, but that doesn't change anything about this truth

 

[bingobob]

Has everything that Vardy has so it does beg the question why doesn't he play through the middle.

Good movement, awareness and finishing with two wide men beside him could be a dangerous combination. I trust Arteta in what he is doing but I'd still like to see a Saka Aubameyang Pepe or Martinelli Aubameyang Saka combo at some stage.

 

[Oxeki]

Auba will move central next season, maybe towards the end of this one. People saying he shouldn't be LW need to be examined though. He's just fluffing chances atm, still doing the same things he's always done from LW but not scoring the goals.

If he was finishing his chances nobody would be saying a bad word.

What chances?
I don't think he's had any big chances since our opening day game vs Fulham.

Our best chances have been falling to Laca and Nketiah. Ideally your want those kind of chances to be falling to Auba.

 

[Pyres7]

Auba will move central next season, maybe towards the end of this one. People saying he shouldn't be LW need to be examined though. He's just fluffing chances atm, still doing the same things he's always done from LW but not scoring the goals.

If he was finishing his chances nobody would be saying a bad word.

We're not really creating chances for him though. Maybe one half chance per game, if that. We can't keep feeding him scraps and playing for 1-0s, I don't trust our defense for that even with a back five.

Laca isn't much a goal threat, and he's not adding anything creatively as a false nine. Might as well try Auba up top and get a natural wide player on the left.

I also hope Arteta goes 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 soon, having an AM behind will help our whole forward line, including Pepe and Willian.