No x-factor.

He's a good footballer, but ultimately won't ever be the upgrade we needed on Giroud who suffers the exact same issue.

He really needs a goal. His general performances have actually been solid

Bit underwhelmed by him despite his evident good qualities. Don't think he's bad, but if Giroud had been playing in Ligue 1 he'd probably have been tearing it up as well.

Feel like this is one of those signings people wanted to be special because of the price tag—but the reality's that the price tag was nothing special and the player isn't godlike either.

He's had chances which he has missed, he's had openings where a better touch would have led to a goal, he improves in those decisive moments and he will look like a £75 Mn player rather than one that cost two-thirds that because his all round play has been impressive.

Watching the chances that he just couldn't convert into goals yesterday, it struck me that in those moments when he is under pressure the speed of his reflexes, his instincts, are not those of a special striker.
He got his shots away but they lacked the inspiration that would have seen Curtois retrieving the ball from the back of the net.

He's been very good. Ironically he's doing what Giroud was supposed to be good at a lot better than him. Winning the ball both in the air and on the ground, holding the ball up and linking up play.

It's in front of goal where he's struggling. The second chance just screamed to me that he's lacking in confidence, took his time but still blasted it right at the keeper. The first one where he rolled the defender brilliantly he scuffed it slightly, probably snatching at it a little too much. Sounds funny but I think he desperately needs a brace or a hattrick.

He's small, not that fast or strong. Most times we put I'm through on goal and defender just leans on him and he never gets a shot off. A little fast and he could get ahead of them. A bit stronger and he could go shoulder to shoulder. He needs that bit of space.

I see he pulled of drogbas spin and shot special move yesterday and got a shot off. And the couple of games before he's tried to create space for himself. So he's adapting his game and learning a few more tricks.

Think it was Bold Tone who said that him knowing that Wenger will inevitably haul him off at some point puts him under pressure and throws his finishing off, think there might be something to that.
The whole team has played like shit for most of the season but our new striker not firing under these circumstances seems enough to classify him as a dud, some of the posts here recently are shocking tbh.

jones wrote:

Think it was Bold Tone who said that him knowing that Wenger will inevitably haul him off at some point puts him under pressure and throws his finishing off. The whole team has played like shit for most of the season but our new striker not firing under these circumstances seems enough to classify him as a dud, some of the posts here recently are shocking tbh.

Maybe but it also allows him to run a lot more in for those 25min as he doesn't need to conserve energy.

I don't think anyone is saying he's a dud.

There's nothing shocking about the posts on here - the worst people have said is that he doesn't have the X factor or that he's not a special striker.
Given that he's done nothing to prove himself exceptional I think that's fair enough for the moment.
He's not a dud, which no one, to my knowledge,has suggested.
He's no Aguero or Harry Kane though.

The theory that it's the thought of going off after 70 minutes that's holding him back is classic "absolve the individual of all responsibility and blame Wenger" thinking.

It’s also a bit of a leap from a more traditional explanation, such as the fact that he hasn’t scored in 7 games potentially weighing on his mind.

goon wrote:

He's been very good. Ironically he's doing what Giroud was supposed to be good at a lot better than him. Winning the ball both in the air and on the ground, holding the ball up and linking up play.

I don't think thats really true. When he manages to get and keep the ball his link play is very good but he's not doing it as often as Giroud did. Certainly not winning as much in the air. He's still settling though and it does seem like he's low on confidence, constantly being subbed off is certainly not having a positive effect on him.

You can't say with any authority that it's "certainly" not having a positive effect on him.
I mean it could be the case that the demands of playing 90 minutes with just days between games would tire him physically and consequently mentally and create more problems.
I have noticed that he becomes more peripheral to games as the second half wears on.

Poor man’s Wiltord

He's playing well but a combination of poor finishing/luck/ quality goal keeping at times (twice by Courtois last night) means he's gone so long without scoring. Very normal for a striker, they all go through periods like these. Lukaku went through it not long ago, Kane did earlier in the season, Ronaldo normally goes through them etc Pretty normal as I said.

I think some fans are using  moments like these as a proof to confirm any doubts they had about him but I'd say most fans see him as a genuinely very good striker (not elite) who's facing those mini droughts that strikers usually go through. Once he bangs one in, everything will click again in front of goal. 

I truly believe for 50m he's as good a striker you can get in today's market, we saw how the 70m striker looked last night, we see how the 90m man at United plays every week etc This isn't the 90s, the world isn't littered with top class strikers. As much as it pains me to say, I'd say Kane and Aguero are the only 2 genuine top class strikers in the league. Although I'm not 100% certain about Kane, there's still something about him that tells me he's a tier below the truly elite strikers but you can't argue with his numbers.  Think I'd have to see him at one of the big clubs to make a definitive judgement on him.

Qwiss! wrote:

goon wrote:

He's been very good. Ironically he's doing what Giroud was supposed to be good at a lot better than him. Winning the ball both in the air and on the ground, holding the ball up and linking up play.

I don't think thats really true. When he manages to get and keep the ball his link play is very good but he's not doing it as often as Giroud did. Certainly not winning as much in the air. He's still settling though and it does seem like he's low on confidence, constantly being subbed off is certainly not having a positive effect on him.

Doing it more often isn't necessarily better. Giroud almost always comes short and very often lays it off first time. Laca on the other hand will make 3rd man runs or attempt to get goalside with a touch etc, all of which actually aid our link play. More importantly though, Laca is much better at keeping the ball when he's isolated, where as Giroud desperately needs people close to him.

I'm not trying to shit on Giroud just to make Laca seem better, and the comparison is a little unfair as it's been a long time since we've seen the former at his best. But ultimately I'm finding Laca a breath of fresh air and this is coming from someone who was very dismissive of his ability on the ball when we signed him.

I think Laca's been pretty good to be honest. He's definitely lacking the X factor to be an elite striker, but he's very competent and tidy on the ball, makes intelligent runs, and usually has good striking technique. I've been impressed with his general tenacity and his link up play in general. Physically I feel he's lacking though, Laca doesn't appear to have any outstanding physical attributes and he doesn't have outstanding touch, vision, or intelligence to compensate in order to become an elite striker.

Good player, not exceptional. Certainly not a problem for now though and I'm sure he'll score an acceptable amount of goals by the end of the season.

We are turning him into a mere water carrier with the way we play him.

speedy wrote:

jones wrote:

Think it was Bold Tone who said that him knowing that Wenger will inevitably haul him off at some point puts him under pressure and throws his finishing off. The whole team has played like shit for most of the season but our new striker not firing under these circumstances seems enough to classify him as a dud, some of the posts here recently are shocking tbh.

Maybe but it also allows him to run a lot more in for those 25min as he doesn't need to conserve energy.

I don't think anyone is saying he's a dud.

People are trotting out the "not bad but not special" line when he's had a couple of very good games where he didn't score. Being a guaranteed sub doesn't make you run harder come on, you don't see players bursting their lungs even when they're late subs themselves, stamina/condition doesn't work that way you of all people would know that. It plays on your mind every player wants to finish the 90 minutes even if you haven't played on a high level it should be obvious.
Yet here is our record purchase being subbed off every single game for a donkey no less but apparently it's not certain that it would be on his mind.