Over the last few weeks, there’s been a conversation about how Gabriel Jesus is not a reliable option for Arsenal’s attack. After his return from injury, he has yet to be as productive as before the World Cup.
In December 2022, when it was confirmed that Jesus would be sidelined for months, many believed Arsenal would struggle, but did they? They didn’t suffer without him; they still picked up results and efficiently attacked. The arrival of Leandro Trossard in January was a wise move after our expensive move for Mudryk fell through, especially as we didn’t have to win multiple jackpots on Syndicate Casino no deposit bonus websites to pay the reasonable transfer fee (especially when compared to the 100million for Mudryk!)
His purchase has proved to be an excellent decision while Jesus was injured, as after settling in, he was given the nod to lead Arsenal’s attack, playing the No. 9 role.
So far this year, Arsenal has played some beautiful attacking football when Trossard plays the number 9 role with Martinelli and Saka in the wings. In five games (between February 25th and March 19th), they managed 15 goals. The Belgian playing as the striker saw him step up so that even if he didn’t score, he would quickly assist his teammates (hence his ten assists for Arsenal since joining).
While Trossard was getting comfortable leading Arsenal’s attack, Jesus returned from injury, and in April, Arteta made a decision that possibly denied Arsenal a chance to win the PL crown. Arteta abandoned the effective attacking set-up of Martinelli-Trossard-Saka and reinstated Jesus in attack from the Liverpool game onwards, after which Arsenal went on to be winless in four games.
Jesus showed a glimpse of brilliance in his first two games since returning, getting a goal in each, but as games kept piling up, his form dwindled, and he wasn’t sharp in games like the Southampton 3-3 draw, only scoring again against a struggling Chelsea.
His poor form gave birth to the idea of Arsenal’s need to sign a physical striker. We won’t discuss which striker Arteta needs to target; what we will discuss is: don’t you think Arteta should have just continued with the Martinelli-Trossard-Saka as his forward line, as it worked and used Jesus as a super sub for him to regain his form, and be ready to recapture his role through pre-season to next season?
One might argue Trossard has been given minutes even after Jesus’ return, but those chances have not been him playing the No. 9 role; they’ve been in the wings where Saka and Martinelli have been too good; hence it is hard to see anyone impressing as much as them there, although he hasn’t stopped him providing assists.
The 2022–23 season has ended; we won’t live on ‘what if’. Let’s look forward to a fresh start next season after a great summer transfer window where Arteta will sort out all the weaknesses that saw him narrowly fail to win the league.