Arsenal: 3 massive individual breakthroughs in win over Wolves
by Josh Sippie
Arsenal, Joe Willock, Alexandre Lacazette (Photo by Mike Egerton/Pool via Getty Images)
2. Alexandre Lacazette scores
Honestly, I wasn’t sure we’d ever see this happen again. Alexandre Lacazette has been so bad lately, and his misses so askew, that I thought he could very well fade into the background for good before being sold on in the summer.
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Not so. Just a few minutes into me moaning and groaning about Nketiah being taken off, Lacazette found himself in the perfect position to receive Joe Willock‘s ideal pass and turn it home with the composure that he’s been sorely missing as of late.
I often speak of the “confidence monster” that plagues Lacazette and, while I still fear it, that monster took a shot to the sack with this goal. Lacazette sealed the win and left little doubt from the moment he first received it.
So often, it only takes a goal to spur Lacazette into better form. After seeing Nketiah play a tremendous match that lacked only a goal to cap it, Lacazette’s goal reignited a striker race that I thought was long over.
Finally, No. 1.
Arsenal‘s win over Wolverhampton, I had immense difficulty picking a man of the match. It’s hard to when so many guys do their job.</p>
<p>While no one went above and beyond, this was a textbook example of how effective you can be if everyone does their job and doesn’t screw the pooch. It’s something we haven’t seen this year and something that thus led to arguably the biggest result of the season.</p>
<p>But that doesn’t mean there weren’t standout individual performers. Sometimes, a standout individual performer is just someone who does their job better than usual without the usual slip-ups. And Arsenal had plenty of those.</p>
<div class="fs-shortcode" data-type="StoryLink" data-theme="light" data-text="Arsenal vs Wolves Player Ratings" data-url="https://paininthearsenal.com/2020/07/04/arsenal-wolverhampton-player-ratings/" data-call-to-action="Related Story"
> <div class="story-link-related"> <a class="story-link-related-btn" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="story-link-related-shortcode" href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2020/07/04/arsenal-3-individual-breakthroughs/2/"https://paininthearsenal.com/2020/07/04/arsenal-wolverhampton-player-ratings/"> <span class="call_to_action">Related Story:</span> Arsenal vs Wolves Player Ratings </a> </div>
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<p>Against Wolves, though, three guys stood out. Three guys who have had difficulties this year, or in years past. Three guys who under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t put a lot of faith in. Yet three guys who made tremendous breakthroughs in their performances here.</p>
<p>So let’s give them their due credit, starting with No. 3.</p>
<h4>3. Shkodran Mustafi settles</h4>
<p>When this match kicked off, I was on pins and needles watching <a href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2020/07/04/arsenal-3-individual-breakthroughs/2/"https://fbref.com/en/players/3f2d59fe/Shkodran-Mustafi?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-%22 target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Shkodran Mustafi</a>. He was a nervy thing out there matched up against <a href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2020/07/04/arsenal-3-individual-breakthroughs/2/"https://fbref.com/search/search.fcgi?pid=9a28eba4,1a6f2a66,dcb21936,f9edc384&search=Adama+Traoré&utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Adama Traore</a>. And yet, by the first water break, Mustafi had done such a great job that Wolverhampton moved Traore over to the right side of the pitch to get him away from Mustafi, who had put a clamp on the fearsome attacker.</p>
<p>Throughout the course of the match, Mustafi continued to come up big in huge defensive situations. While I can’t say the same about the left side of the defense, the right side, centered on Mustafi, was exactly where it needed to be to deny the successful, one-sided Wolves attack any purchase across the pitch.</p>
<p>When <a href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2020/07/04/arsenal-3-individual-breakthroughs/2/"https://fbref.com/en/players/178ae8f8/Diogo-Jota?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-%22 target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Diogo Jota</a> came on, you better believe I was nervous all over again, but Musafi yet again held his fortress and denied Wolves any momentum on his side of the pitch.</p>
<p>I love praising Mustafi after how much he’s had to go through since joining the club, and he is well-deserving of this praise.</p>
<p>On to No. 2.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background: #c01f2f" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2020/07/04/arsenal-3-individual-breakthroughs/2/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> 2. About time </a>
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<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-102986" src=https://paininthearsenal.com/2020/07/04/arsenal-3-individual-breakthroughs/2/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2161,w_3200/https%3A%2F%2Fpaininthearsenal.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2017%2F07%2F1254265443.jpeg" alt="Arsenal, Joe Willock, Alexandre Lacazette" width="3200" height="2161" srcset="https://paininthearsenal.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2017/07/1254265443.jpeg 3200w, https://paininthearsenal.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2017/07/1254265443-768x519.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><p class="wp-caption-text">Arsenal, Joe Willock, Alexandre Lacazette (Photo by Mike Egerton/Pool via Getty Images)</p>
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<h4>2. Alexandre Lacazette scores</h4>
<p>Honestly, I wasn’t sure we’d ever see this happen again. <a href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2020/07/04/arsenal-3-individual-breakthroughs/2/"https://fbref.com/en/players/9dbb75ca/Alexandre-Lacazette?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-%22 target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Alexandre Lacazette</a> has been so bad lately, and his misses so askew, that I thought he could very well fade into the background for good before being sold on in the summer.</p>
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<p>Not so. Just a few minutes into me moaning and groaning about Nketiah being taken off, Lacazette found himself in the perfect position to receive <a href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2020/07/04/arsenal-3-individual-breakthroughs/2/"https://fbref.com/en/players/a3b03921/Joe-Willock?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-%22 target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Joe Willock</a>‘s ideal pass and turn it home with the composure that he’s been sorely missing as of late.</p>
<p>I often speak of the “confidence monster” that plagues Lacazette and, while I still fear it, that monster took a shot to the sack with this goal. Lacazette sealed the win and left little doubt from the moment he first received it.</p>
<p>So often, it only takes a goal to spur Lacazette into better form. After seeing Nketiah play a tremendous match that lacked only a goal to cap it, Lacazette’s goal reignited a striker race that I thought was long over.</p>
<p>Finally, No. 1.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background: #c01f2f" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2020/07/04/arsenal-3-individual-breakthroughs/2/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> 1. Give it up! </a>
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<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-102994" src=https://paininthearsenal.com/2020/07/04/arsenal-3-individual-breakthroughs/2/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2112,w_3200/https%3A%2F%2Fpaininthearsenal.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2017%2F07%2F1254265657.jpeg" alt="Arsenal, Joe Willock" width="3200" height="2112" srcset="https://paininthearsenal.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2017/07/1254265657.jpeg 3200w, https://paininthearsenal.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2017/07/1254265657-768x507.jpeg 768w, https://paininthearsenal.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2017/07/1254265657-850x560.jpeg 850w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><p class="wp-caption-text">Arsenal, Joe Willock (Photo by Mike Egerton/Pool via Getty Images)</p>
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<h4>1. Joe Willock solidifies</h4>
<p>I have spent so much time pondering the utility of Joe Willock. To me, he looked like the kind of guy that, while tremendously talented, ended up either being sold or as a rotational option. Simply because there is no nailing him down to a single role.</p>
<p>That opinion was not shaken when he came on for <a href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2020/07/04/arsenal-3-individual-breakthroughs/2/"https://fbref.com/en/players/bc7dc64d/Bukayo-Saka?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-%22 target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Bukayo Saka</a> to play right wing. After debating between Willock being a No. 10 or a traditional central midfielder, seeing him come on as a winger was just another vote in favor of my presumptions.</p>
<p>But Willock took control of this match like only a midfielder could. He found space, he used that space, he carried the ball with such coolness and composure. I’ve not seen him play this well before. Not ever.</p>
<p>And unlike an unfortunate Nketiah, Willock was able to seal his strong performance with a beautiful assist that had to be handled absolutely perfectly. And it was. Willock used the space, he controlled the ball, he made the pass.</p>
<div class="fs-shortcode" data-type="StoryLink" data-theme="dark" data-text="5 Things Learned Against Wolves" data-url="https://paininthearsenal.com/2020/07/04/arsenal-vs-wolves-5-things-learned-mikel-arteta-best-performance/" data-call-to-action="Next"> <div class="story-link-next"> <a class="story-link-next-btn" style="background: #c01f2f" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="story-link-next-shortcode" href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2020/07/04/arsenal-3-individual-breakthroughs/2/"https://paininthearsenal.com/2020/07/04/arsenal-vs-wolves-5-things-learned-mikel-arteta-best-performance/"> <span class="call_to_action">Next:</span> 5 Things Learned Against Wolves </a> </div>
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<p>With it, he solidified that he has a specific future in this attacking midfield.</p><!—pageview_candidate—>">
