Gabriel Jesus: Will He Score Again?

[boonthegoon]

Absolutely brilliant pass for the goal.

I don't mind him spending time outside the box because that's actually making us better. And if he's not scoring because of that, then it's completely fine.

But my only problem is he is getting chances and sometimes not even hitting the target. Especially the last few games. I'm not expecting him to put away every chance but surely his conversion rate has to be terrible.

Anyways he's one the crucial reasons we are though.

 

[<<reed>>]

He will score goals.

Big if true

 

[Dokaka]

Oh come on man. Those teams had Mane and Salah.

City example is relevant but throwing pool in there was shameless.

Why does that matter? Firmino was employed in a role where his primary job was to facilitate others. The quality on the wings was a big part of why Liverpool won the league, obviously, but the system and the philosophy behind it is the same.

It was one of the best PL teams in history for a reason, obviously I'm not somehow saying "Arsenal will perform the same because their striker is scoring the same as Firmino did for Liverpool", I'm saying two of the most dominant teams in Premier League history both used systems where the CF scoring was very much a secondary priority.

 

[Macho]

Why does that matter? Firmino was employed in a role where his primary job was to facilitate others. The quality on the wings was a big part of why Liverpool won the league, obviously, but the system and the philosophy behind it is the same.

It was one of the best PL teams in history for a reason, obviously I'm not somehow saying "Arsenal will perform the same because their striker is scoring the same as Firmino did for Liverpool", I'm saying two of the most dominant teams in Premier League history both used systems where the CF scoring was very much a secondary priority.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Arteta listed the requirements a new centre-forward signing would need to bring to his team and the club.

‘He puts the ball in the net, that’s priority number one. Goal threat,’ he said. ‘Any successful team needs enough goal threat in the squad. Without it, you have nothing. You can play good football but you need enough goal threat in the team.

‘The other thing is that he has to complement the other people we have, personally and on the pitch, and for that, we need the right profile.

‘We need a profile where you can exploit his qualities at the same time as the qualities we already have, so we don’t have to transform our way of playing again to adapt to that specific player.

From your manager’s mouth himself.

I left the entire quote in there because compliment what is already there and not having to adapt the tactics to see his qualities, I think Jesus has knocked that portion out of the park.

However, I refuse to sit here with you guys and pretend that Laca mk II is part of the plan.

 

[Dokaka]

From your manager’s mouth himself.

I left the entire quote in there because compliment what is there and not having to adapt to him, I think Jesus has knocked that portion out of the park.

However, I refuse to sit here with you guys and pretend that Laca mk II is part of the plan.

Why do you keep doing this? Literally just trying to discuss football and you keep making it about Arteta, jesus christ.

At any rate, I don't really care about what Arteta said there. What I posted was my opinion, not a regurgitation of someone else's.

 

[Macho]

Why do you keep doing this? Literally just trying to discuss football and you keep making it about Arteta, jesus christ.

At any rate, I don't really care about what Arteta said there. What I posted was my opinion, not a regurgitation of someone else's.

It’s Arteta’s team and Arteta’s tactics. You said the “two most dominant teams in Prem history” (which is another convo as the only thing Liverpool have ever dominated in the prem is 2nd place) had strikers where scoring wasn’t a priority.

I’m literally showing you that this isn’t the case for the manager that Jesus plays for. Looking at the frontline, I actually agree with Arteta here.

Jesus making clearances in Arsenal’s half and popping up on the wing to slide in Ødegaard is nice, but I am not entirely convinced Arteta is telling Jesus to do that.

We literally saw the coaching staff tell Laca he needs to be in the box more when he was doing a less effective version of this.

 

[OnlyOne]

It’s Arteta’s team and Arteta’s tactics. You said the “two most dominant teams in Prem history” (which is another convo) had strikers where scoring wasn’t a priority.

I’m literally showing you that this isn’t the case for the manager that Jesus plays for. Looking at the frontline, I actually agree with Arteta here.

Jesus making clearances in Arsenal’s half and popping up on the wing to slide in Ødegaard is nice, but I am not entirely convinced Arteta is telling Jesus to do that.

We literally saw the coaching staff tell Laca he needs to be in the box more when he was admittedly doing a far less effective version of this.

I agree with this, you were a little harsh last night with a couple of comments, however. I think Jesus is part of a title-winning plan, but similarly to Xhaka I think he may be a bit of a placeholder and there is nothing wrong with that.

But at the same time, I also think the more they both play, the more it may change Arteta's idea on what he wants from these positions. For example, what Xhaka also offers us defensively has come as a bit of a surprise, I thought and still think Tielemans is a better fit for his role but will he be as important defensively, no I don't think so.

 

[Dokaka]

It’s Arteta’s team and Arteta’s tactics. You said the “two most dominant teams in Prem history” (which is another convo) had strikers where scoring wasn’t a priority.

I’m literally showing you that this isn’t the case for the manager that Jesus plays for. Looking at the frontline, I actually agree with Arteta here.

Jesus making clearances in Arsenal’s half and popping up on the wing to slide in Ødegaard is nice, but I am not entirely convinced Arteta is telling Jesus to do that.

We literally saw the coaching staff tell Laca he needs to be in the box more when he was admittedly doing a far less effective version of this.

But you're also coming at it from a PoV that seems like Jesus isn't scoring at all. He's on track to finish the season with like 13 goals and 13 assists in the league alone. Laca - who also looked so much worse outside of the stats - scored less goals last season than Jesus already did this season.

Your point would be valid if Jesus looked timid or barely contributed like Laca did, but he doesn't. He literally hit the bar yesterday and looks dangerous pretty much every game. He's got 5 goals and 5 assists in 13 games, and everyone here knows just how much he contributes outside of those surface level stats.

You're sitting at a +22 GD and Jesus is a huge part of that. I really don't see how or why him not taking the direct credit of those goal contributions is a problem. It seems like a critique that'd be levied against him from someone who doesn't really follow or watch Arsenal games.

Arteta ultimately doesn't seem that worried about it either:

Different interview:

As I said, it would be nice if he scored more goals, no one will argue otherwise. But when he's contributing at the level he is now with his overall play, ostensibly making goal scorers out of the entire team, you'll be fine.

 

[Macho]

I agree with this, you were a little harsh last night with a couple of comments, however. I think Jesus is part of a title-winning plan, but similarly to Xhaka I think he may be a bit of a placeholder and there is nothing wrong with that.

But at the same time, I also think the more they both play, the more it may change Arteta's idea on what he wants from these positions. For example, what Xhaka also offers us defensively has come as a bit of a surprise, I thought and still think Tielemans is a better fit for his role but will he be as important defensively, no I don't think so.

Not shutting down the idea of the quality of Jesus perhaps changing Arteta’s mind.

I don’t think I was harsh yesterday, if I didn’t feel Jesus was capable I would be all for him embracing his facilitator role, but he can score and for now that should be the lion share of his motivation.

 

[Macho]

It seems like a critique that'd be levied against him from someone who doesn't really follow or watch Arsenal games.

My only real critique is the apologists such as yourselves acting like 10 games without scoring was part of the plan and using Liverpool as a very poor example.

I’ve gone out of my way to prove that it wasn’t part of the plan, so you’ve moved the goalpost to me not watching games or me saying Jesus has never scored etc.

All I’ve said is he shouldn’t lose his killer instinct or give up on being the top scorer in the team. That’s not awful unreasonable criticism that some of you have tried to make it.

 

[GLITCH]

I just have to accept that he probably won't be a prolific goal scorer, but no denying what he brings to the team.

 

[OnlyOne]

Not shutting down the idea of the quality of Jesus perhaps changing Arteta’s mind.

I don’t think I was harsh yesterday, if I didn’t feel Jesus was capable I would be all for him embracing his facilitator role, but he can score and for now that should be the lion share of his motivation.

To say he has given up and was hiding was definitely harsh, as quite frankly he is doing the opposite.

 

[Dokaka]

My only real critique is the apologists such as yourselves acting like 10 games without scoring was part of the plan and using Liverpool as a very poor example.

I’ve gone out of my way to prove that it wasn’t part of the plan, so you’ve moved the goalpost to me not watching games or me saying Jesus has never scored etc.

All I’ve said is he shouldn’t lose his killer instinct or give up on being the top scorer in the team. That’s not awful unreasonable criticism that some of you have tried to make it.

I haven't said him not scoring is part of the plan? I said as long as he's creating goals, he's doing his job. Which is also what Arteta highlights in the quotes I posted.

He's also getting into great positions to score and has missed several good chances recently, which is par for the course if you watched him at City. It's not like he's doing the Laca thing of basically turning off the engine when he'd done a layoff in midfield, it was seriously extreme at times with him.

Of course the plan isn't to "make sure the CF doesn't score", but the plan is clearly to have Jesus incredibly involved in the facilitation of goal scoring opportunities, something he's done very successfully. Scoring goals when you're also asked to do that much creative work is a tall ask, but he's still getting into positions to do so, which is why I disagree with the assessment that this is "Laca like". Laca genuinely barely moved, Jesus never stops looking for spaces to exploit.

 

[bergholt]

Does this guy start for Brazil? I can’t be bothered to check.

 

[MikeVinna]

It’s frustrating because he’s gone so close so many times during this drought. Let’s hope when the goals come back he’ll go on a long run.

 

[razörist]

If there was a selfish killer like Salah then cool, but until that surfaces he should be aiming for 1 in 2 or atleast 1 in 3.

Shrugging off the strikers burden is dangerous, he should always strive for that killer instinct if not for the team then atleast his own career.

People will get their backs up because I’ve said it but it’s the truth, he’s going down the Laca path and long term as we’ve seen it’s not sustainable. It worries me how willing he is to hide in midfield, be a bit selfish, maybe sulk a bit when everyone in the team scores in a 5 goal rout except you.

He shouldn’t give up on scoring so early in his Arsenal career.

What are you watching? He’s trying to score all the time. He’s creating chances and on the end of them himself, the problem is he’s missing them. This is far from the Laca route who wasn’t even shooting. You lot see what you want to see.

 

[BergMan]

The skill

 

[razörist]

The team is flying and nice high xG chances are being created for everyone but what happens if/when we have tough games where we need someone to take a half chance? Are we looking at MartiSaka and Ødegaard?

That’s why it’s important he scores now, that’s why it’s worrying he’s not because it doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence that he will when we need him to.

I didn’t watch today’s game but if @Nacho ‘s right and he’s already kind of shirking responsibility to other guys that’s not good because Saka, Nelli and co can create chances against anyone. Jesus is meant to be our best goalscorer. That’s what we expected right?

Didnt watch the game AND trust @Nacho ?

Come on bro you’re better than this.

 

[Dokaka]

What are you watching? He’s trying to score all the time. He’s creating chances and on the end of them himself, the problem is he’s missing them. This is far from the Laca route who wasn’t even shooting. You lot see what you want to see.

Yeah, Jesus is actually 5th in shots per game, on top of being 5th in successful dribbles per game. The stats even support that he's in no way "hiding" or playing anywhere near the levels of passive game Laca was.

 

[razörist]

People are saying that since Jesus is roaming around so much that we should move him to the wing or behind a new CF, like Toney.

Honestly that’s really dumb. Him roaming around creates chaos and spaces for players to move into and confuse defenders. You can’t just say he roams around, lets move somebody in his space permanently. That defeats the purpose. Honestly this is basic football knowledge, I doubt you guys even believe it yourself.