Alexandre Lacazette unhappiness not permanently defeated
Arsenal, Alexandre Lacazette (Photo by Alex Morton/Getty Images)
Alexandre Lacazette opened up about an “unhappy” situation at Arsenal, but just because he’s happier now doesn’t mean it’s for good.
I’m always the optimist around here, but when it comes to Alexandre Lacazette, I am unfortunately more times than not, the pessimist. The Arsenal striker has opened up about how he was “unhappy” about his lack of game time earlier in the season, but that he never doubted himself.
That’s well and good now, because Aston Villa aside, he’s been a tremendous asset to the attack. He ran a near-solo effort against Liverpool and has been good in every match outside of that as well.
Before that though, he’d been awful. So awful that I was ready to see him sitting for the rest of the year until we could sell him once and for all and move on.
Things have changed, supposedly, and Lacazette is on his way to convincing fans that he should stay around longer than I might have wanted a few weeks back.
It’s understandable that he would be unhappy with a lack of game time, and it’s understandable that he is happier now that he’s been restored to the starting XI. But if we’ve learned anything about Lacazette thus far into his Arsenal career, it’s that this is by no means an open and shut case.
Lacazette goes in and out favor. He goes in and out of form. His confidence comes and goes. He may not openly admit to “doubting himself” when he wasn’t getting good game time, but I can bet you that it wasn’t doing him any favors in that department.
His play on the pitch should reflect that plainly.
Lacazette is a carousel. His form has never been consistent and at the age of 29, we have to ask serious questions about his future at the club and if he has one. Just because he’s happy now, and that he’s getting the game time now, does not mean that he is headed for a bright future of 3000 minutes and 15-20 goals a season.
I don’t call this pessimism at all, actually. I call it realism. I like believing in our players and I really like Alexandre Lacazette when he’s in form. I also feel awful for him when he’s out of form. But being happy does not immediately translate to greener pastures ahead. Don’t let me tell you not to be optimistic, though. I’ll certainly do my best to be.
