There is no doubt that Gabriel Jesus was an excellent buy from Man City in the summer, but the incredible hysteria surrounding how his injury will affect the Arsenal squad has been blown out of all proportion.
Yes, the Brazilian works his socks off for the team, but so do Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Martin Odegaard, and in fact all three of those have scored the same amount of goals or more for the team as Jesus has.
Even Granit Xhaka, on four, has only scored one less that the versatile striker.
As Danny Murphy said, it is even disrespectful to the other players in the squad to suggest that can’t carry on their winning run without Jesus. Murphy wrote in his column in the Mail: “A lot has been made of the knee injury Gabriel Jesus suffered with Brazil, that might keep him out for a month, but I don’t think the Gunners will crumble, as some suggest.
“Jesus has been important in Arsenal’s great run: he’s unselfish; works hard off the ball and sets the tone for the press. But he hasn’t scored in his last 11 games so I don’t think Arsenal should be fearful of playing without him.
“Eddie Nketiah is a fox in the box and can finish. Arsenal’s next three games against West Ham, Brighton and Newcastle are all winnable without Jesus.
“It’s disrespectful to Arteta, as well as stars such as Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Martin Odegaard and the other Arsenal players, to suggest one injury setback will make it a stroll.”
Murphy is absolutely correct of course, and I also think it is disrespectful to continually deride Eddie Nketiah as not being up to the Arsenal squad without any regular game time to judge him by.
I will even go so far as to state that if Eddie started the next 14 games (which is how many Jesus has played) the ex-academy will equal Jesus’ record of 5 goals, if he doesn’t score even more.
Arsenal are not a one-player team by any stretch, and you will all find out for yourselves in the upcoming matches.
Show some faith in your team, please.
Sam P
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The concerns about the Jesus injury has nothing to do with our ability to sore goals. It’s a loss of an experienced player with a winners mentality in a very young squad, it’s the effect the loss of a key player will have on the mindset of the players. And it’s the fact Nketiah is a completely different type of forward to Gabriel Jesus.
Eddie has an ok enough goal record for it to not be a complete concern that he will be lining up as the ST, it’s his willingness to run off the ball, it’s his ability to battle physically against the centre backs, drawing them in creating space for others, it’s the brilliant quick feet that Jesus has shown countless times, it’s the ability to link up with the other players. Nketiah isn’t the sort of striker who will offer even half of what Jesus does off the ball, and that is a massive concern.
Having a different sort of ST means that we’ll have to change the way we play, and we’re doing it for a striker who’s goal record is proven. And how will the change in style and system affect other players, Xhaka was having his best ever season for Arsenal, contributing a lot to goals, will he be able to do that when Nketiah is a striker who won’t want to drop deep, who will want to play on the shoulder, who will want to be inside the box. The space and joy Xhaka was enjoying is now gone, or at the very least will be narrowed.
Gabriel Martinelli is another player who has had a brilliant start to the season. He’s had a lot of joy by coming inside a lot more, playing as an almost second striker, or even the main outlet at times. With Jesus either drifting wide, or dropping deeper into a 10 role, Nketiah won’t want to do this, and won’t be anywhere near as effective as Jesus was, or as he’d be if he played on the shoulder, once again. Will this change to the system have an effect on Martinelli?
Apart from that most player’s roles are still gonna be similar, with the LB tucking inside and playing almost as another midfielder whilst the team operated as a 3 back in possession. But with the linkup and chemistry Jesus will have built up with Martinelli, Saka, Odegaard, Xhaka, Zinchenko, won’t be there and the fluidity of the team will likely take an impact
Wow what a great analysis this is 🤝
Fantastic analysis and understanding of the situation Henry. That’s exactly what i keep telling people and that they don’t get, they always say but Jesus doesn’t score goals, they fail to see what he adds to the team.
A positive article for once after Jesus injury, I do agree with Sam P , Hope’s I get the writer name right, he can be pordon also for going a little too far.
The injury to Jesus should not result in any major shift to our players playing in the team, we have learned the square pegs in round holes didn’t worked well in the pass.
Of the first three games, Newcastle will be the most problematic, by then the entire team will be so pumped up for this one,
But we must remember the gaffer is a master tactician, that could well have set up the team to play without Jesus for the first two games if Brazil had gone on to the final and Jesus came back a little jaded.
Yes Eddie is a fox in the box that presses well he’s one that can do serious damages on his day, he’s not unselfish like Jesus but he is old enough to know over indulgences at this particular time can be detrimental to both parties.
But I can bet every fish in my aquarium he will be well drilled for these immediate encounter.
The fact this first game is London derby would have help the kid navigate this one on home turf.
So I sanction Eddie in the striker position for this one.
We should go for Thuram, he is young powerful can play CF as well as on wing. He is on the end of his contract and we can get him in Jan for less than 20mil. If I have read the news correct.
But Jesus is our main pivot in the front line, to do hold-up play and win aerial ball
I’m sure Nketiah would be able to do it, since he’s been training and playing as a CF
However, if Nketiah gets injured, we might have to assign Smith-Rowe or Martinelli in that position and they haven’t been playing/ training there
Bringing in a specialist CF will be a safer option as compared to ruining the development of Smith-Rowe or Martinelli in their midfield roles
Nketiah will do a job but many of us are yet to be convinced that he is a good enough replacement. His overall play to date does not inspire confidence that he will be sufficient as a replacement for GJ.
I’m with you on that. It’s not just about the goals scored; it is what Jesus has brought to the team
He didn’t seem to have influenced our games much, but I saw his willingness to work harder. He surely knows this is his only opportunity to impress his coaches
Gai, Yes I know Nkethia can do a good job. His statistics at the tale end of last season was quite impressive and truly he has not been afforded enough game time. But I still agree we need a towering C forward in Arsenal to help the dynamism of our play and make the team unpredictable. If Pep.G could understand the importance of a tall CF for ManCity why not Arsenal? I don’t really concur false 9 tactics in the long run it becomes ineffective.
Yes. I wish we’d sign a bigger CF, but it’d be difficult to get a high quality one in January
@ GAI, the Gabriel Jesus injury is a big blow. it would be Naive to think that Nketiah would be a good replacement. We need to sign a top-quality striker in January. Even when Gabriel Jesus is not scoring, his aggression, high level pressing, and energy transmits to the team.
i wish we can get a stop gap in CR7. A 1year contract for the guy is not a bad idea.
I’d like a new CF, but Ronaldo would be too old to do high press as frequent as Jesus did. He is a world-class striker, but our CF has to be our first defender and main pivot
The injury to Jesus, though very unfortunate, came a very good time when there was no club football to contend with. This definitely allowed Mikel Arteta to fashion out ways his team will play without his injured talisman.
Eddie Nketiah played and won the hearts of the fans and pundits alike at the back end of last season, pressing, stretching defenses and scoring goals, which earned him the contract he now has. He hasn’t had the playing time to showcase his quality with Jesus ahead of him. Now is the time to shine.
Besides, as we all aware, Arsenal are actively chasing Mykhaylo Mudryk who plays predominantly on the left. That should inform everyone that Arteta plans to shift Martinelli to the center and deploy the Ukrainian in his favoured left wing position.
Arteta, it has been reported, has been training Martinelli to play as a striker and the Brazilian will be no stranger to doing so. After all, he scored 10 goals in his first season playing as a striker. He has almost all the attributes of his compatriot and could do even better in terms of his goal exploits!
I know many are waiting for Arsenal to crumble. Gary Neville predicted so and said City will win the title by 15 points ahead of Arsenal and that was before Jesus got injured!
I’m sure he, like many others, will get disappointed!
Spot on patrick. Surprises me how everybody forgets that GM played as a striker, in fact i thought he was bought as a striker. If Mikhaylo comes in then Martinelli and Nketiah can jostle for the middle spot.
Lets give Nketia some breathing space and not write him off before he has even come in to deputise for Jesus.
He is not the most extravagant player ever but let’s not getting all defeatist about him. He did okay last season when Auba and Laca weren’t performing. I know we are all a bit nervous but Nketia is what we have at the moment.
Lets have a bit of faith and not pelt him or make it very awkward for the boy in the stadium or in all the media.
Nketiah is piss-poor.
Should have been moved on.
Without signing/s top 4 may still be on.
But forget about any chance we had of winning the Prem.
10 goals in 71 League games and you think he can score now 5 in 14 ?
Ha ha Dan things change quickly who knows! We got to wait and see. Arshavin scored 4 goals in a game, how many after?. We do nee to sign a striker though nketiah is the only fit one we got.
Could we play Martinelli in the middle I wonder ?
You’re right. We might not fall apart with just one injury,but you have to worry if we get a few more , which we will .
I’m not a fan of Eddie but he the team should be able to carry him until jesus comes back ,would still like us to get a stop gap for the remainder of the season though
Could we play Martinelli in the middle I wonder ?
The writer refers to Jesus being injured but only “out for a month”.
How and why does he predict this unlikely scenario, when all informed reports predict a three month lay off? CARE TO ANSWER PLEASE SAM P?
My personal view of a articles is that when they include a clear untruth, it renders the rest of the piece as not worth taking seriously.
And before anyone replies that SAM was only reporting what Danny Murphy said, why did Sam not questuion that wrong forecast and mention thr much reported three month lau off predited by those who know? To promote a falsehood, while ignoring and refusing to challeng eit is tantamount to accepting it.
Honest folk never let clear untruths go unchallenged and definitely do not back those falsehoods up by promoting/including them in personal articles.
Truth is always vital. So many care little or even nothing for it!
Serious enough for you to comment though ?
Way to serious
Nketiah does not have the same mentality as Jesus. He is just not the same kind of person and therefore not the same kind of ‘all over it’ confident type. We need reinforcements…simple. If we can not lose to W.Ham or Brighton then with a couple of top reinforcements we can still challenge for the title.
Who really knows what the club plans to do regarding the Jesus Nketiah situation.
Likely Nketiah is being given a chance to produce, and there will be time in January to upgrade if necessary, if ownership and Arteta feel a change is necessary.
Edie is what we have at the moment, and it now falls to him to show he can produce.
It’s up to Nketiah now to prove his worth. I hope he gives it everything he’s got and doesn’t become complacent, this is his big opportunity, it’s now or never, make or break, ride the nerves, COYG!
Nah, without jesus, team will not perform 100%. You are thinking about only goal scoring abilities of jesus, but forgetting the pressing, passing, magic feet, finest one touch, holding the ball, receiving aerial balls dueling twice his size of CBs. Which Eddie doesn’t possess. So yeah, we are doomed.
I do not believe we will collapse without Jesus, but I do think we will find goals hard to come by!!!
However, I feel that missing Jesus for a period is NOT our biggest problem.
Martinelli, Saliba and Saka have still not signed new contracts.
Until we have those three signed, we will not know how much is left in the coffers to entice new recruits.
I just hope Edu & Arteta have their January Strategy planned out, and can effect it quickly
Martinelli should just step in for Jesus in d cf role while Viera come in from d wing
@Kinglifa I sincerely miss ESR coming from that left wing. His movement was always so calculated and he often ended up scoring. He was pretty tidy. Martinelli should definitely be in contention for the CF spot if Nketiah foes not grab the opportunity with his two hands.