Jesus responds to critics with a goal and assist
Mikel Arteta and his Arsenal squad walked away victorious mid-week after an action packed game against Nottingham Forest. I personally had been worried before the game because we haven’t been able to beat Forest away since their return to the Premier League, but the squad were strong and although there were some hairy bits there at the end, we managed to walk away with all three important points.
A standout player for me was Gabriel Jesus, and after all the nonsense in the media about him not doing enough and producing enough, he came out and was probably our best player on the night, getting a goal for himself and assisting the winner from Saka.
The first half was a tricky one for Arsenal and Forest had set up very well defensively and we were finding it hard to make a breakthrough, but Jesus was getting closer and closer, and you could almost sense that a goal was coming.
Lately it looks like wee been working hard on set pieces and situations that we could exploit and Jesus, after a difficult first half, where he nearly scored several times, thought fast after the ball had got out for a throw and got in the perfect position, between two of the Forest defenders for Zinchenko to make a quick throw in. Jesus quickly turned and ran towards goal, taking a quick look up before firing the ball between Forest keeper Turner’s legs and into the right side of the net to make it 1-0.
Once he had scored the goal, the confidence started to ooze and you could see him relax and go for it a bit more and it didn’t take long for him to make impact on the game again when he made a run down the left, catching the Forest defenders out and passing the ball through to the run of Saka who buried the ball past Turner and into the net to make it 2-0.
Jesus has had a lot of criticism lately and I personally was starting to get a bit worried about how much he was producing, but it seems like after the warm weather training in Dubai, he looks like a new man and a rejuvenated striker. He looks to be at his best and when he is at his best and fit, he’s almost unstoppable.
We have a massive game coming up against Liverpool and it’s a chance for us to catch up with the league leaders and put our mark on the title race, if we want to win, Jesus will have to be at his best and if we could get the type of performance we did from him against Forest I really think we could walk away winners.
What’s your thoughts Gooners? How impressed were you with Jesus’ performance against Forest?
Daisy Mae
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The win at Forest was largely down to Jesus, and well done. BUT the problems highlighted with Jesus being our main striker, were 100% not addressed in just one game. First of all, his finishing again was awful and he wasn’t in the striker position much at all. His “goal” was not on target, it was a pass, directed into the net by the goalkeeper. So he basically got two assists, to be accurate. Jesus as a player, is not a problem. As a striker he is. Well done for the industry in the two goals BUT Jesus, wasn’t, isn’t and never will be a no9.
I will be happy if he is consistent in silencing his critics.
He’s looking better and better playing on the outside. His work rate is incredible and many times you’ll see him at the back making tackles and defending. We need a striker that will stay up and keep there defence honest! I’d love to see him play with a striker in the team. A big imposing fast, strong striker that can win aerial battle and score with his head also.
He’s a highly-skilled striker, but he’d likely struggle if he jumps and plays with his back to goal against Konate or Van Dijk
I think he can be a more productive attacker if he plays the left-sided AM role
Well Pep, didn’t see him as a striker and neither do Brazil.
He played CF for Man City from time to time and so did he for Brazil in his last international match
He was never, THE striker for City. Pep sold him because he didn’t see Jesus as striker and Jesus didn’t like that. And the Brazil manager has also said he doesn’t see Jesus as his main striker. Playing one game, does not make him the preferred choice. Richarlison is played above Jesus.
@Gai, Jesus said in his interview with Metro and Skysports that he would be paying more attention to staying in the box more often to score goals. I believe he has goals in him if he can stay more in the box because he is very trickery. He scored a header at Anfield last season Arsenal second goal despite Van Dijk playing. And Arsenal would have beaten Liverpool in FA at the Emirate this season if they were clinical upfront many chances in first half of the game.
4 goals in 17 EPL games this season? How exactly is that silencing the critics?
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣👍
I know right?
Jesus is basically a highly skilled, industrious winger who played through the middle on the odd occasion for Man City.For Brazil the majority of his appearances have been on the right wing which is where he should operate for Arsenal with Saka being switched to his “natural side” imo.As for Martinelli, he can play anywhere in the front three, including through the middle .There is no doubt that we need a more physical presence at CF but whoever we eventually bring in may find it difficult to be a high scorer unless we adopt more direct tactics including using our wingers to cross the ball on the run before defences can regroup.
What I cant understand Grandad is. While we have Jesus as our No9 and while we have inverted wingers. Why on earth isn’t there more variation and interchange, before and tactically during a game. All three are not no9s but all three could interchange and concentrate on giving the opposition, lots of different things to worry about.
I agree Reggie in fact I have been banging on about it for 2/3 seasons but Arteta obviously instructs our talented wingers to stay put on their respective flanks.If he would only give it a try from time to time he might find it works.
Well, yes Grandad as a few of us have been saying. Our crosses are poor, our strikers are short, generally, and this rigid inverted wing play, is not used effectively. There, potentially, is a chance to cause all sorts of problems with our sharp forwards, interchanging and making runs off each other.
I agree for what it’s worth. Sadly, the manager almost certainly wouldn’t.
Jesus is not goto get you 20 plus goals a season need a prolific striker and will need to spend big otherwise always going to cost us taking the team to next level!
Nobody is criticising him for his general play outside the area, on his own admission he is not a goalscorer that’s what he gets criticised for not taking more of his chances.
He needs to do it vs Liverpool to keep us on a winning run
Jesus needs to score consistently. he has silenced no one because it was just one game
He didn’t prove anything. That goal was more of a goal keeping error than Jesus goal scoring prowess’s. In fact he squandered a clear cut chance that odeegaard served it on a platter. He will score odd goal here and there but he won’t be a consistent goal scorer.
Well we ain’t getting anyone else in now so he has the rest of the season to stake his claim.
However he does we need a new striker. It is Nketiah that needs replacing not him.
Not even remotely. Jesus is an excellent player, a great winger, but a mediocre striker. No one could fault his ability and work rate he just isn’t a natural striker and we are suffering for it.
Just switching him and Havertz positions might help both players out. Jesus is better defensively and Havertz has more natural timing in the box.
It’s funny that people think you put all in out striker in the box to score against teams that defend entirely in their own box. The reason why we scored was because Jesus wasn’t a pure striker. We are 3rd without having any high scorers in the top 15 in the league. Everyone is contributing.
But that is not right. We are where we are because players game after game arenot contributing. They are missing their chances.
Jesus always gives his all to the team cause. He is very effective in drawing defenders and creating space. However, what I would greatly want from him and of which he is capable of producing is scoring. He should get into scoring positions more often and shoot more. I think after the Forest game, he will now go forward into the box more frequently and start shooting and scoring.