Gooners seem to forget that Jesus and Zinchenko turned us into title contenders upon their arrival in 2022.
The pair were brought in from Man City in the summer of 2022 for a combined fee reaching nearly £80million, with the hopes of finally bring back UCL football to the Emirates after their stella careers in Manchester.
They’ve managed to achieve that with us, while playing significant roles in our recent title bids also However there’s no doubt that the pair of them have been on a slow decline since their first campaign with at club, once the first names on the team sheet have found themself well below the pecking, with Zinchenko especially being far from our starting lineup even if he comes back from injury.
A lot of criticism has been directed their way understandably for a lot of reasons with Zinchenko’s defending and Jesus’ finishing being the particular reasons for critique.
With this amount of criticism it’s easy to forget that they’re still very good players in their own right even before they came to Arsenal. Even in their first season with the club they brought something unique to the side that was lacking before, for example Zinchenko allowed Arsenal to play with an inverted fullback due to his unique profile and technical prowess, while Jesus brought that chaos to the frontline that was lacking prior to his move to the club.
This uniqueness along with their experience and elite mentality helped us to mount an unlikely title charge in their first season with the club with the two of them playing significant roles in that title bid despite the long term injury suffered by Jesus half way through that season.
We’ve certainly outgrown them in this Arsenal side, which is in no way, shape or form a disrespect to them, but that’s just the cruel nature of top level football. We cannot underestimate their importance in getting us back challenging again two years ago, they deserve that recognition especially now when their days in this football club are numbered.
What has been the highlight of their time at the club so far gooners?
KENNETH BENJAMIN.
ADMIN COMMENT
So here are some simple rules which I must insist commenters follow….
You agree not to give any personal abuse to other Arsenal fans. Everyone is allowed to hold their own opinions even if you disagree with them. It COSTS NOTHING TO BE POLITE TO OTHER ARSENAL FANS.
CALLING ALL ARSENAL FANS! Anyone who would like to contribute an Article or Video opinion piece on JustArsenal, please contact us through this link…
100% agree with the headline.
Zinch was asked to play LB and when he arrived he said that he’ll “just play wherever the manager asks him to play”. I think he’s normally a midfielder, so if he’s weaker defensively than a LB that’s not his fault.
He probably won’t make it into the current midfield, so his time may be up, unless he stays as a backup.
Jesus is an enigma. He was great when he started – I remember the sublime finish in the pre-season match vs that German team when he curled it very deliberately into the corner and the 2 defenders and keeper just shrugged as if to say “What can we do about that?”.
He had energy and confidence back then but it’s ebbed away. Maybe he reads fan sites and gets depressed at the criticism – that happens. Maybe the injuries had an effect. Maybe it’s just a confidence thing. It’s hard to fathom what’s going on there.
But yeah, give them credit for making a big difference when they arrived. Maybe they can do so again.
The writer is right, but some armchair managers are mean and fail to see the impact they had helping us to where we are today
I agree. Some of our fans disrespect them yet the two of them essentially kickstarted what we have now. Some even labeling their purchases as mistakes or City rejects. We needed them at that stage of our development just the same way we needed ESR months prior to that. The growth of the team means they are not as important as they once were but I will forever cherish their contributions to the season we had in 22/23.
there can be no doubting the instant transformative impact Zinc and Jesus made when they arrived 2 years ago, Arsenal went from 5th the season before to top at xmas with an 8 point lead over Man C at one stage, that is a dramatic improvement that we have built on and sustained last season and this season
so thank you Zinc and Jesus for that big contribution – regrettably it feels like Arsenal has now outgrown these two and left them behind…the next Tierney(s)
It’s the nature of the game, keep up or fall behind; it can be cruel sometimes.
I also appreciate their contributions, but they are not at the level we need to sustain a run for trophies.
A striker that doesn’t score, or even assist now, and a LB that can’t defend. Add injury prone to both and it’s a recipe for transfer.