Aubameyang must start in attack for the biggest game :Merson

Aubameyang must start in attack for the biggest game of Arsenal’s season: Paul Merson

Paul Merson once again shares his views on why Arsenal keeps losing form and the need to start Aubameyang. In an interview the ex- Arsenal and  England defender said:

It is a big game (against Slavia in the Europa League quarter-final, second leg), but at the end of the day you can only play with the hand you are dealt. There are a lot of players who are there before he [Arteta] was there, and I feel for him in a way as they are so up and down.

They should have finished the game against Slavia last week, the chances they missed and Alexandre Lacazette’s is an absolute sitter when he hit the bar, it is ridiculous.

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They are 10th in the league and this is Arsenal, let’s not forget. I would not say get rid of Arteta if they lost this game, though, not a chance.

But I think they win this game, there is a lot of turning around there, but they have to start getting a plan, a five-year plan. This will not happen overnight, this needs to start now because at the moment they are relying on Bukayo Saka, who is their go-to man, and Emile Smith Rowe when he plays. And no disrespect, that should not be the case.

A lot of the players that are there have some of the biggest transfer fees in Arsenal’s history and they are there and are in the middle of the table – who is buying these players? They need to get someone in again and go, we have a five-year plan, who do we bring in as a recruitment manager and we need to start targeting players and we need to plan, because at the moment there is no plan, it is all off the cuff.

They give Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang all that money, a big contract, but he is 31 years of age, so we are back into the Mesut Ozil situation again.

Something is going on with Aubameyang, though, I do not know what it is. Last Thursday was the biggest game Arsenal have played in for a long time, you have to weigh it up now as there have not been crowds in for a year or so because of lockdown. Arsenal need European football next season, they need to come back, hit the ground running when the fans are back and there needs to be a feel-good factor.

It is not cheap watching Arsenal and for the standards of the team, it is expensive. It was their biggest game last Thursday and their biggest earner and name was sitting on the bench.

So that tells you everything and it is another Ozil situation…

If I need to win a football match and I know I will get chances there – I might not get many, but they will get chances Arsenal – I need my best goalscorer on the pitch.

If he does not bring anything else to the party, he will put the ball in the back of the net. And even if he is four yards out and he taps it in, that is what you call a good goal because no one else is there to tap it in, he is the one there. He finds himself at the back post tapping them in and there is an art to that.

So for me, he plays, as they have to win. You have to get your goalscorers on the pitch when you have to win. If you do not have to win and you are protecting the lead, then you do not have him in the team as you want people tracking back for the team.

So I take a chance, I have to play my star man – we only gave him a new contract last season, so what has changed?

I like Lacazette, he is a good footballer, he holds the ball up and brings players into the game, he is decent.

And I would play him up front alongside Aubameyang with three in attack with Saka or Nicolas Pepe and say to them, ‘just get us a goal, we will defend’ and they will cause havoc.

They should cause havoc – they are all good players – and it is not like they are trying to improve them.