Peter Crouch has told BT Sport that the position Alexandre Lacazette’s played for Arsenal last night left him absolutely baffled at first.
Lacazette was deployed as an attacking midfielder for Arsenal against LASK yesterday, as Mikel Arteta experimented with his side in the Europa League.
The change of position seemed to have the desired impact, as Lacazette produced one of his best performances of the season.
The French striker blasted in a brilliant goal as he set Arsenal on their way to a 4-1 victory.
And Crouch felt that Lacazette played well in his new position, although he felt it was strange seeing him so deep.
“In the first few minutes I was thinking ‘why on earth is he so deep?’,” the stunned pundit said.
“He was picking up the ball from centre halves at times. But what he can do is hit them, when he starts that deep. He’s got a fantastic shot on him.
“He was dictating possession, he was passing the ball sharply and scored a fantastic goal. I was very impressed.
“It was a bizarre to see him in the much, much deeper position he took up tonight, but it seemed to work really well.”
Lacazette has come in for some criticism at Arsenal, but if he could now be an effective number 10, then he may well become an influential player for the side.
Arsenal have lacked creativity this term, as well as runners from deep, but Lacazette showed he could be an effective option playing off the striker.
And the forward’s display will surely have given Arteta some food for thought ahead of the North London derby at the weekend.
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