When Arsenal was looking for a third goal at the weekend, Gabriel Jesus was waiting on the touchline.
Leicester had equalised in the 63rd minute. So, for over half an hour when we were desperate for a goal, the striker stayed on the bench.
You won’t find too many 50 million signings not trusted when a team goes all out attack, and the opponents are parking the bus.
As we entered stoppage time our manager had only used two out of a possible five subs.
It would appear that Sterling and Nwaneri are now ahead of the Brazilian in the pecking order.
His boss instead had more faith with the attackers already on the pitch.
Winning 4-2 means this won’t be mentioned, but I’m sure it exists in the 27-year-old ‘s head.
If you’re chasing a match at home to a newly promoted side and you’re on the bench till the 98th min, that’s not great.
Especially when your skillset makes you an obvious impact player. Jesus divide’s opinion because of his erratic finishing, but I think he’s a great alternative because of his footwork and willingness to take on his man. Whatever your feelings on him, few could ever question his work rate.
The sad reality is that at what should be his peak years, too many injuries might mean that Arteta feels the need to manage the players minutes. That having started in the Carabao Cup he isn’t yet sure if Jesus can physically cope with the schedule?
Since moving to North London, it feels like he’s rarely had a lengthy run in the team due to niggles. In the ruthless nature of the sport, he may be running out of time at the Emirates.
He might just need that one moment to find his mojo, but even against Bolton there were times he was overthinking, a heavy touch meaning he beat his man but couldn’t keep the ball in play.
His biggest fear will be our manager’s reputation for washing his hands of talent the moment he feels they don’t suit his ethos.
In training, the Spaniard clearly felt Smith Rowe had lost his previous powers after surgery, so he won’t be sentimental if he thinks Jesus’s body can’t handle this level anymore.
It has led to speculation that there are Brazilian clubs who would be willing to welcome him home as soon as January.
That of course is an easy story to create, but would have legs if the Gunners recruited a number 9 in the Winter Window. Jesus’ form might impact how much pressure Gooners put on Edu to do business that month. Especially if we are in a title race.
I find it hard to believe we can recoup 40 million. If true, that would be too good a deal to turn down and perhaps one that suits all parties?
Jesus himself will deep down know the truth. That the mind is willing, but the body is not?
Dan Smith
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When he first joined he was outstanding. His ball control was top level and his physical strength was incredible for his size, he was able to bully much bigger defenders – even if he was never going to be a top goalscorer, he still looked more of a goal threat than he has recently, and his general play more than made up for those shortcomings.
Since that first major injury around the world cup, he’s never quite looked the same, and the frequency of the subsequent injuries hasn’t helped at all.
Because of the effort he puts in, and the ability he showed early on, I’ve always wanted us to help him get back to where he was, but it’s clear by now it’s never going to happen. I do think it’s time for him to move on – currently he does have an important position within the squad as he’s always going to play CF if havertz is unavailable, so he would need to be replaced. I suspect he would have gone in the summer had we been able to sign the striker we wanted for the price we were willing to pay.
You have summarised his situation very well.That said, I am surprised Arteta has not given him more game time in his natural position on the RW to give Saka a break,but for whatever reason, our Manager is reluctant to do so.While there seems to be some interchanging between Trossard and Havertz, which I welcome from time to time, Saka and Martinelli seem to be stuck on the flanks which makes us rather predictable.They have both proved to have an ability to finish in the box and I just feel they should be given more license to interchange to disrupt opponents defensive set up.The issues raised concerning Jesus can ,to an extent, be applied to Zinchenko ,who seems equally prone to injury.Once Califiori and Merino bed in, it’s difficult to see a role in the team for the Ukrainian.
completely agree.. surely wingers should at least spend some time on their natural foot and that means they can go for the byline rather than always cutting in which defenders now know!
Agree – I would like to see the forwards having more freedom to interchange to be less predictable, as you say – I expect they don’t because of the focus on defensive structure, but I could imagine in the future the players will have the understanding required such that they can swap positions at times and still maintain that defensive structure. Would not surprise me at all if that’s within arteta’s thinking and it’s more a question of how much he trusts certain players to implement it currently. I guess that’s why they were talking up versatility as being a key attribute for players
I look at Jesus and I compare his situation to that of Lacazette.
When he first joined Arsenal he was pretty good. He got his fare share of goals, but as time went on the goals dried up, and although he put in a shift in games, him being the main striker means it’s goals we need not good work rate although that’s important, don’t get me wrong.
I read a stat that he went something like 28 games without scoring in open play, and to say that about your main striker at the time is quite a shocking statistic I’m Shaw you’ll all agree.
Now looking at Jesus I get the same feeling, although I will say that not being a regular starter doesn’t help him any.
But that said, City let him go for a reason, and now Arsenal appear to be finding out why now.
Anyone else agree.
yes and no,, he was never number 1 at City – when he came to us he was and started great but then had a bad injury
seen it so many times at Arsenal that players have had one bad injury and never the same again in terms of getting back to the highest level.. DIABY is the prime example
is it that we dont have an enforcer who can protect our skilful players…SaKA gets kicked every match and referees do nothing
or is it something with our training pitch that causes issues
something is awry with Arsenal and so many bad injuries
back to Jesus… lets see how this season goes – we will definitely need him and hopefully he will get more minutes in CL and also Carabao and FA Cup matches as well as minutes in the league games
He should go, assuming that he wants to and also that any club wants him. He isn’t fit for long periods, and he just doesn’t score the goals that you’d expect from a No. 9. when he is. Since he arrived in the EPL in 2016, he’s only got into double figures three times. That’s pretty poor.
There’s no prospect of any possible sale until the summer but the question is: what exactly is Arsenal going to get from him until then? We’ll have to wait and see of course, but if last season is anything to go by, it won’t be a lot of goals for sure.
It’s time he moved on, the writing has been on the wall. He isn’t effective at all as a striker, and Saka, Martinelli, Trossard, even newly joined Sterling seem to be ahead of him on the wings.
Jesus has the right attitude, work ethic second to none, but he is very injury prone and struggles for goals. We can’t have passengers if we are competing for multiple trophies.
If Jesus is here next season I will be shocked. The next wave of upgrades surely means we move on from Jesus as a striker. He is not terrible, he is just short of the necessary class we need to progress as a team and a squad to an elite level.