‘I’m surprised’: Gary Neville admits he expected more from Arsenal 29-year-old last night

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Gary Neville expressed that he was left ‘surprised’ by Alexandre Lacazette last night after he missed a number of guilt edge chances during Arsenal’s 3-1 defeat to Liverpool.

During Neville’s commentary stint for Sky Sports PL (28/09/20 at 9:20 pm) he made it clear that Arsenal’s man in front ‘should be doing better’ with the chances he had at Anfield.

Lacazette did open the scoring in the first half after he pounced on a mistake from Andy Robertson. But when the Reds were 2-1 up after the break, the Frenchman was put through on goal twice, and on both occasions, he hit his shots straight at Alisson – after the first attempt, he was judged to be offside.

In the end, it was a crucial opportunity gone amiss from the 29-year-old Arsenal man, as Neville shared how he felt as the action unfolded.

“You think about how he messed around with the one where he was offside,” Neville said on commentary. “He’s onside [for his second miss]. The pass is threaded through perfectly and he has a second chance, this time he hits it harder. He tried to dink the first one.

“He hits it straight at the goalkeeper. I am surprised at Lacazette. He should be doing better than that. It’s a great chance.

“I wonder if [the first one] impacted in the way he dealt with the second one. He sort of messed around with it a little bit. Then he goes through the second time and he just lacks a bit of composure when you expect him to do better than that.”

Lacazette had hit shirt over his head once he was substituted for Eddie Nketiah because, like any other striker, those chances missed will haunt him.

But he can put that right on Thursday when Arsenal and Liverpool clash once again, but this time in the League Cup.

It wouldn’t be a surprise if both managers make changes for that game, especially Jurgen Klopp because he has provided a lot of youngsters a chance to shine in this competition.