Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has dealer’s choice to save his Arsenal career. Either he links play better than he has in the past, or he presses and tracks back to recover the ball with a frenzy he hasn’t shown since his early days at Borussia Dortmund.
Something’s got to give for Arsenal’s disgruntled skipper and highest-earner. Dropped by Mikel Arteta for a north London derby, Aubameyang has looked increasingly like a man trying to force a transfer. There’s precedence based on how he fell foul at Dortmund before Arsenal came calling in the winter of 2018.
Arteta has been irritated by Aubameyang turning up late and flouting Covid protocols. The player has also been identified as the focal point for growing discontent behind the scenes.
Whether you believe such reports or not, all has not looked right with Arsenal’s main man for some time. The decision to leave him on the bench for the UEFA Europa League quarter-final first leg against Slavia Prague only added to the idea there’s a disconnect between manager and star player.
Against this backdrop, claims Aubameyang missed Sunday’s 3-0 win away to Sheffield United with “flu” seemed beyond flimsy. There were shades of the Arsene Wenger and Cesc Fabregas awkward parting of the ways toward the end of the 2010/11 season.
Yet Arteta doesn’t sound ready to give up on Aubameyang just yet:
The “available to get picked” part hardly inspires me with confidence. Sounds more like a gaffer doubling down on a public bid to strengthen his position in a battle of wills. Arteta didn’t have to go public with Auba’s disciplinary infraction ahead of the visit of Spurs, but he did. The message was clear: Don’t fuck with the big dog.
But let’s assume for a moment Arteta’s words are more than just chin music. It’s more fun that way. Aubameyang is a great goalscorer when he’s on song. Getting him back on form will be a tricky needle to thread. Arteta’s restrictive tactics have hampered Aubameyang, but only an incurable optimist would act as though he’s been pulling up trees.
Part of the problem is the go-to move that served Auabameyang well last season is no longer working. The outside-to-in run from the left channel was pure goldust en route to winning the FA Cup.
Aubameyang’s pace and timing allowed Arsenal to sit deep, soak up pressure then hit long passes over the top. It was park-the-bus stuff but effective. Arteta hasn’t been able to help Aubameyang flourish in a more intricate and collective game.
There’s an obvious reason why Arteta has preferred Alexandre Lacazette to lead the line through the middle. For all the Frenchman’s failings, he knows when to drop off, how to back into defenders and still bring others into the game with quick passes and neat touches. Lacazette’s combination play with centrally-raiding Bukayo Saka was key to thrashing the Blades.
The idea Aubameyang can’t be a target man is a little too emphatic to be completely true. His work to create Nicolas Pepe’s goal against Slavia was pure centre-forward juice.
It’s fairer to say playing with his back to goal isn’t Aubameyang’s forte. That should change for a 32-year-old frontman entering the winter of his career.
Aubameyang needs to be stronger because Arteta wants that type of striker. The links to Celtic’s Odsonne Edouard prove as much. Edouard is mobile and has the short-area power and burst to own the middle and help others work around him. Arteta must be salivating.
The tactical demands on Arsenal’s chosen centre-forward won’t change because Arteta isn’t going anywhere unless things get desperate. Quite what desperate looks like if being 9th in the Premier League and clinging onto a place in Europe’s second-tier club competition don’t qualify, is a terrifying thought. Yet Arteta’s here to stay and build around Saka and Emile Smith Rowe, attacking midfielders who need to play off a natural link.
Things would be so much easier if Aubameyang formed the partnership with Lacazette their obvious rapport has teased. Yet try as they might, successive Arsenal managers have failed to get this duo to click. Unai Emery’s attempts were sporadic, Freddie Ljungberg wasn’t interested in starting them together, and Arteta has been left sucking a lemon.
The surprising thing is the numbers (those pesky bastards) support ditching the Aubameyang and Lacazette partnership.
It would be one thing if the pair couldn’t connect centrally, but the problems have persisted even when Auba’s played on the left. Working the flank for Arteta is about more than just spinning a defender and sprinting behind high defensive lines.
There’s also annoying details like leading a press and recovering the ball in defensive areas. Aubameyang hasn’t grafted in an age. Just ask Gary Neville, who named and shamed him in his “Little Mafia” indictment of the misfiring big guns in Arsenal’s squad.
It’s why many want to see Gabriel Martinelli more involved. The Brazilian worked tirelessly on Sunday, aside from his goal.
Arteta had ignored Martinelli for a while, but it’s telling the 19-year-old has been called upon whenever the manager has gotten into trouble this season. Whenever Arteta has needed a little elbow grease to push a losing team back into form. Martinelli helped Arteta earn a reprieve against Chelsea on Boxing Day and did the same in Sheffield.
Aubameyang has been forgetting his chores off the ball. He played in a hustle-and-harry system under Jurgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel at Dortmund, but that was when he was younger and motivated.
Arteta still needs Aubameyang, especially with David Luiz, Kieran Tierney, Martin Odegaard, Smith Rowe and Saka all doubts for the return fixture with Slavia on Thursday. That could mean Willian tasked with creating chances for the forward line. Chills. And not of the good variety.
Aubameyang won’t even get back in the starting XI to cast frustrated glances at Willian if he doesn’t show a willingness to reinvent himself one way or another.
The 49 Steps 
[…] before his illness. While some of that is down to Arteta’s restrictive tactics, Auba still needs to reinvent himself if he’s going to lead the line the way this manager wants. That’s a tall order for a […]
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