Gabriel Jesus will be out for a few weeks owing to injury; would this affect Arteta’s thinking about letting Folarin Balogun go? Why should it not?
If statistics were to decide between Nketiah and Balogun to fill in for Jesus, I’d say Balogun is the better choice.
There’s no disputing that the US international has goals in him after scoring 21 in 37 games last season while on loan in Ligue 1. He simply needs a chance.
If he stayed, one may wonder, “What happens to him once Jesus returns?” When the Brazilian returns, he will have to earn his spot back on the team.
Arteta has demonstrated that he does not mind competition for a starting spot this season. He is willing to be persuaded on the training pitch by his players as to why he should select this player over another. His decision to swoop for David Raya to put him up against Aaron Ramsdale justifies this and suggests that if you’re good enough to play, you’ll play.
Balogun, Nketiah, and Jesus can coexist if they are all fit. Jesus and Nketiah could see minutes on the clock; there may also be ample game time available through substitutions and formation tweaks, which could see Arsenal play with a front two at times.
If Mikel Arteta has gotten the most out of guys like Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, and Gabriel Jesus, why can’t Balogun be the other player he gets the most out of?
After impressing on loan at Marseille, William Saliba was not assured a place in Arteta’s starting lineup, given how formidable Arsenal’s defence had been the previous season with Gabriel and White.
When he returned to Arsenal, he admitted Arteta did not talk with him at first, implying he was not in his plans. However, that was the Spaniard testing him, as in the end he took a chance on him, found a spot for him in his lineup, and the rest is history.
While Gabriel Jesus is away, Mikel Arteta must embrace his new belief in having competition in his team, giving Balogun an opportunity to make his case. If it succeeds, the club will benefit; if not, loan out the 21-year-old again in January, boost his stock again, and cash in on him next summer.
Daniel O
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I agree. Jesus is injured and it’s a bit late to sign a new CF, so we’d better try Balogun out and we can ship him out in January if he can’t play better than Nketiah
Unfortunately, Balogun barely played in pre-season. I wonder whether he is currently unfit or talking to other clubs
The ongoing injuries to Jesus must be a real concern for Arteta and in the circumstances it would be sensible to retain Balogun and use him to compete with Nketiah and Trossard for the central striker position.There are not a lot of top class strikers readily available at the moment and I would hope Arteta will give our young American a chance to prove himself.
I’m hoping we start a front three of Martinelli, Trossard and Saka against City to scare the ‘merde’ out of them.
Sometimes it’s best to stick with the evil you know and that may well be the case of Nketiah.
Balogun is untested in the league and the fact he had very little preseason makes him a long shot.
But he did looks sharp in Germany and another game I saw him in, with that in mind unless some ridiculous offer tabled it makes sense having him around.
What happens when the devil that you know is not good enough?
For me there is no real competition in the striker position despite the fact that Jesus is not prolific enough for us.
The striker position is the weakest outfield position in the squad.
Me2
The devil is never good, but formation just to include a top striker is not paramount just now..
If you score goals by getting it to a recognized top striker, great.
But if you score goals by dominating positions in the crucial areas of the pitch, and then have fluid movement that exploits space and rigid defensive, it’s also great.
As long as there is players getting on the end of things and scoring that’s all that matters, And Arsenal have Tossard, Martinelli, Odegaard, Smith Rowe all effective finishers, by chance how many goals did Arsenal score last season?
Do we really have a crisis? Scoring goals ?
Think you maybe using the striker position word just a little loosely here.
👍👏👏
But what you guys failed to understand is that, scoring last season from everywhere doesn’t mean we will be scoring like that every season. Man City score with all their players but still went ahead to buy Haaland. We have Pires, Dennis and Ljunberg, yet we have a dangerous striker.
If you’re playing with a striker who don’t score much goals, then the two forward must be able to give you 20+ goals.
Liverpool won the league with Firmihno who don’t score much but they have two forward who can score more than 20 goals, Leciester won the league with a striker who score more than 20 goals and a forward with more than 15goals.
That’s how it works, you can’t just go out there and think because I scored 88 goals last season it means I can score more goals the following season.
A question for you, Can you bet Odegaard and Martinelli will score more than 15 goals this season?
Compare the goals we score in last year pre-season to this year pre-season. That is why you need a striker who can finish his own chances and not waiting for other forward to finish there own chances.
Do you think we won’t win Man City last year if we have Haaland or Kane in our team? Sometimes your striker get chances which your other forwards won’t get.
So many errors in my typing but too exhausted to check thru, sorry
Bob’s
Your opinion is clear as day, think you raises some valid points as well.
I would sell Jesus. Always injured, not a proper no9 and not the type of striker we need.
Id push for a transfer if I was Balogun….never going to get a fair chance too prove himself as a starter.
He is.
Answer to the first part.
Would anyone be surprised if Rasmus Hojlund becomes a big success?
Arteta clearly likes his nr 9 to play more like a nr 10. This can be the only reason he likes Jesus. Jesus doesn’t score a lot for a top striker with a top team, but his work rate and involvement in the final 3rd is impressive. I think this contributes to his lower scoring rate as well as he is often out of position for a classical nr 9 but in the process creates spaces for the other forwards.
I think Belagun, who is possibly the best finisher of our 3 nr 9s is probably the least effective in the role of pressing and linking up with the other forwards. If this is not true, it would be hard to understand why he has not been given a chance.
As it stands today, I would fancy giving Trossard the nr 9 role since he is a good finisher and can switch with Martenilli during games to frustrate defenders since Martinelli supposedly can also play as a nr 9.
So for me, it would be Martinelli, Trassard and Saka as preferred front line.