Tag: Gabriel Jesus

Ødegaard shutting me up (Arsenal – Bournemouth Reaction)

I’m not sure how to react or act to Arsenal right now. After the first three weeks of the season, I usually have countless things to complain about Arsenal by now but I have got nothing. I am what the adults would say, “in the mud”. 3 games and 3 wins from the Gunners to start the season and at the moment we are Premier League Champions. Arteta put out the same squad that has started the season and they did not let him down with a 3-0 thrashing of newly promoted Bournemouth. Easy game, easy win, and easy weekend for everyone supporting this cursed club.

THOUGHTS ON THE GAME:

  1. Gabi Jesus changes everything. Comparing him to Lacazette last season is not fair to the Frenchman. Gabi runs, he passes, he passes then run, he can play with his back towards the goal then runs forward. It’s just a sight to behold. What he did for the first goal to bring the ball down while shrugging off a defender and then to evade several defenders before laying it off to Martinelli is just outstanding. He also picked up an assist on the second goal and had a goal overturned due to a tight offside call. He’s been more than we all could imagine, he’s been absolutely perfect. I love him

2. Ødegaard shutting me the hell up. With Arsenal getting off to a flying start to the season, I felt some players were not quite at it from the start and Ødegaard was one of them for me. I expected more from him and then today happened, and he shut me up quickly and well. Two goals to get this account started this season with an assist as well that was tightly overturned to GJ9. To be fair, Bournemouth displayed optional defending in the first half, which gave Ø so much space to operate. He will obviously have to keep it up against the big boys but couldn’t ask more from him today.

3. Saliba is perfect. There is nothing more I could say about this kid. Anything more and I’d get in trouble with my girlfriend. He’s an absolute rock at the moment at the back. He’s composed, he’s tidy, he’s strong and he’s only 21. And to top it all off, he pulls off an absolutely ridiculous goal with his weaker foot in the top corner. No idea where the hell that came from but I’d see it every week no problem.

4. Bournemouth are not good. They got ran around by City last weekend and after watching today, that makes total sense. They were at home and you’d expect them to come out sort of like Fulham against Liverpool. It was nothing close. They sat back, let Arsenal play around with the ball and just like that, they found themselves 2-0 down quickly and could never recover. They offered no resistance to the Arsenal midfield and defense which let them pick out passes and holes between the lines. Just an abysmal performance and has relegation candidate written all over.

5. Arsenal still needs a proper test. I won’t even utter any words that resemble Arsenal challenging for the title. But….. we do look like Top 4 candidates. You can only win against who you play and after the Leicester defeat today, our strength in schedule looks suspect. But…. Arsenal teams in the past would have gotten 4/9 points after these first 3 games and we all know that. I’ll take the wins when I can but I still got my eyes out for when we play the big boys.

6. Our depth is crazy right now. For us to be able to bring on Tomiyasu, Tierney and ESR from the bench is wild. If things go our way here and there, we do look like we have a proper team that can challenge for the Top 4 and the Europa League. I still hate the Europa League and that we are in it, but I’d rather give our squad players more playing time to keep the morale up as the season goes on.

7. I am still not over with how last season ended. I finished the Arsenal: All or Nothing documentary and I have nobody but myself to blame. I knew it would piss me off to see us choke the season away in a documentary format and it did more than that. To just see the player’s reactions to the games in the locker room and at training just ticked me off. Just lifeless chokers they were man. I won’t question the manager and the team for not caring but after rewatching how flat we were against Spurs and Newcastle, it’s hard to argue otherwise with so much at stake. They just need to win the title this season to make up for it. We have Fulham at home next week, 3 points and nothing else.

Featured image credits: Reuters

Twitter credits: NBC Sports

My love for Gabi Jesus is never-ending (Arsenal-Leicester Match reaction)

After getting off to a blistering start in a 2-0 victory over Palace last Friday, there was always a possibility of a letdown. Growing up an Arsenal fan, this was always something you knew would happen instead of Arsenal keeping up the positive momentum into something more. And these guys have proven me wrong and shut my ass up again, in the Emirates debut for the team, we went out and slapped Leicester up and down North London in a 4-2 victory that should have been way worse. We were absolutely dominant from the start. There were a few slip ups here and there, but all in all, a comfortable victory.

10 THOUGHTS

  1. Gabi Jesus is more than anybody has expected. He runs, he scores, he passes well, he runs after he passes, he wins the ball in the air. He has done it all for Arsenal at the moment and I don’t know what will happen if he isn’t here. The first goal, where he chips the ball to the far post is just world-class.
That is a man in form right there

Look at this pass from Ramsdale and Gabi Jesus bringing it down with his head and then subsequently sending Jonny Evans to retirement. What a hat trick that would have been. Not only did he bag the goals, but he also got himself 2 assists as well. Just an all-around performance from our star man. The best performance from an attacking-player I’d say since one of the Alexis Sanchez hat trick games.

2. Martinelli has made himself a sure-fire starter. I’d think of benching Saka or Ødegaard over Martinelli at this point. He’s a menace whenever he has the ball, he is a menace when he is defending. He just doesn’t stop and I love it. Two goals in two games had Wesley Fofana on skates the whole match. With all the talk of Arsenal signing another winger, Martinelli has made a point for sure that his spot isn’t up for grabs.

3. Saka and Ødegaard need to step up. The Brazilians Gabi Jesus and Martinelli have gotten off to a blistering start. Ødegaard more so than Saka need to step it up a bit. The sharpness that the two Brazilians are playing with is lacking dramatically with Saka and Ødegaard at the moment. Nothing drastic needs to change, just a notice out to those two that they are falling behind a bit. Ødegaard also needs to be careful as Fábio Vieira is waiting out in the wings to take his place.

4. Granit Xhaka, our left-sided 8 for the season? I have been calling out for a while that we needed a more athletic 8 to insert into Xhaka’s spot but he has been objectively terrific this season. Outside of the blip with Fofana yesterday, he has been immense. The Aaron Ramsey runs into the box, the connection with Zinchenko and Martinelli, etc. I wish he had more athleticism to his game that would circumvent his slowness at times but he’s more than fine at the moment.

Got a goal for himself for his efforts as well

5. Zinchenko-Xhaka-Martinelli wrecking havoc – our left-sided attack has been absolutely amazing so far. With Zinchenko tucking inside into the midfield, Xhaka pushing into the box, and Martinelli out wide, teams have not been able to cope with that so far as opposing players seem lost on who should go with who. It’ll be interesting to see how this fares as teams get more and more tape on us, but so far, it is clear that our left-sided part of our attack has been more threatening and sprinkle in Gabi Jesus , it is a handful right now for everybody.

6. Saliba is still the greatest ever – naturally, there was more luck that would go against Saliba as how things work. Despite the own goal, he bounced back nicely and looked assured for the rest of the game. Ben White was also absolutely terrible in the build-up to Leicester’s first goal, he needs to at least challenge Justin for that flick on and just terrible luck from Saliba to try and cut out the flick.

7. Ramsdale is a bit fortunate – a huge reason why Ramsdale is our keeper and not Leno is for sure his aggressive and progressive style of play. He plays a high line and loves to come out to receive but also to defend and almost got caught out for the Vardy dive. He was smart and pulled out of the tackle and the ref did well to consult with VAR to negate the Leicester penalty. But he needs to be way smarter when coming out for those 50/50 balls. Also letting a goal through your legs isn’t great. Not totally his fault but not a great look.

8. My Jamie Vardy luck might actually be turning around. He owns me. Jamie Vardy owns me and I know there is nothing I can do about it. He won the 2015/2016 title over us. It feels like he damn well scores in every game he plays against us. He has 11 goals. Just a fucking pain in my ass for years. But…. it seems that things could be turning around. He got a penalty taken away due to VAR which years ago wouldn’t have been called off. And it was his header that let Gabriel Jesus get his second goal.

He very much still owns me but yesterday gave me back some of my fight in this rivalry with Jamie Vardy.

9. Tierney and Tomiyasu waiting in the wings. It is interesting that two of the subs we made yesterday were bringing on Tierney and Tomiyasu. Two guys who definitely think they should be starting. I’m all for competition within the squad and interested to see how Arteta uses them going forward. At the moment, it feels like Arteta can’t change with what has been working but we will see.

10. I am just waiting to see when Arsenal fuck me – Not sure if it will be next week or next month, but it will happen and I will lose my mind over it and will not be rational. You can’t blame me for feeling like this and being pessimistic. But these guys will do it, not a matter of if, but a matter of when. (Please don’t screw me Arsenal).

Featured image credits: AP

Twitter credits: Grimanditweets, NBC Sports, SHA3WAZA_2

Arsenal Preview 2022/2023 (Forwards) – Gabi Jesus Szn

Imagine a professional football team that tried to achieve Champions League football with a center forward that couldn’t run, jump, or move in any capacity. God Bless Lacazette, but that is what Arsenal tried to achieve last year. The combination of Auba, Laca, and Eddie Nketiah last year through 38 PL games accounted for 13 goals. 13 motherfucking goals. 37 year old Cristiano score more himself in a disoriented United squad. Salah had more than 13 himself halfway through last season. It is quite literally a miracle that we were one result going our way from making the Champions League. To the club’s credit, Arsenal have gone on and acquired the services of Brazilian International and multi Premier League champion Gabriel Jesus to lead the line and the change has been nothing short of drastic.

CENTER FORWARD/STRIKER: If you look at the numbers Gabi Jesus produced during his time at City, they may look underwhelming at first but he had a lot of extenuating factors that played against him. The stubborn Aguero refusing to give up his spot, an absolutely crowded front line, and lack of consistent game time hindered Gabi’s time at City. Gabi Jesus spent a good amount of time on the wings and was in charge of tracking back like any winger is asked to do which is something Pep appreciated from him however, that greatly hindered Gabriel Jesus’ chances for goals. At Arsenal, we go as far as Gabi takes us. He’s our star man and what our transfer window was based off of. It’s on him, management and the team to get the best out of him. In just a few games in preseason and against Palace, you can just see the quality oozing out:

He calmly brings the cross-field pass down with his chest and proceeds to pass and then RUN into the box to follow his pass and get the goal. I’d have to end myself before Lacazette did such a thing last season. This goal also shows the flexibility that Gabi provides in being able to play on the touchline if need be, for example if we need to team him up with Eddie for a goal and he has to float out wide.

This passage of play against Palace also shows the all-action footballer that Gabi Jesus is as he muscles Schlupp off the ball, megs Dourouré, and then sends Andersen back to Denmark all in one run before getting his shot block. Gabriel Jesus was absolutely everywhere in the first half against Palace and was extremely unlucky to not have a goal to his name for his effort. He fell off a bit in the second half but so did the rest of the attacking line as Palace grew into the game. He hasn’t seem to fully find a connection with Ødegaard and Saka yet but for the sake of Arsenal, we need them to find something if we want to achieve greater things than last season. 30+ G/A contributions should be the standard for Gabriel Jesus if he stays healthy and I don’t see why he doesn’t reach it. he looks sharp, he’s moving well, he just needs to opportunities. Oh and we also signed Eddie Nketiah to another deal to be our backup striker/CF. I would rather us have let him go after this contract ended personally as I don’t rate him highly but since we were dumb enough to not move him out with time left on his contract, Arsenal probably felt obligated to extend him due to not handling his contract situation efficiently.

WIDE FORWARDS/WINGERS: I will absolutely never give up on Nico Pépé even though his time at the club is more than done it looks like. Arteta doesn’t seem too eager to give him any playing time despite the wages and transfer fee he commanded. I don’t think Arteta has treated him well or given him the fairest chance but in his defense, Pépé hasn’t fully taken his chances despite scoring 10 goals in the 2020/2021 season on limited starts. I’d like to find a way to get a front line of Pépé, Saka, and Gabriel Jesus a chance to grow but we will see. At the moment, it looks like Saka’s and Martinelli’s positions out wide. In a time where the best wingers are getting close to and more than 20 goals a season, we are going to need more end product out of the two of them. Saka did fine last year despite him creating so many chances and messing up the final ball. Martinelli absolutely needs to get 20+ G/A in the league if he wants to be our starting RW. His respectable 6/6 G/A in the league last year came off only a half season being our out-and-out starter but will need more from him. ESR is the forgotten man at the moment as he hasn’t been able to stay healthy. In the first half of the season, he was like a bat out of hell scoring all the goals he did with his timely arrivals to the box. Having him rotate with Martinelli or off the bench would be dope, we just need him to be healthy. Absolutely can not have the #10 shirt Arsenal wasted to a bench/rotation/injured player. Reiss Nelson is still at the club as well and should be loaned/sold off by the end of the window. Love you Reiss.

Featured image credits: Premier League

Twitter credits: NBCSportsSoccer, arsenal_video

Gabi Jesus to save Arsenal?

(Disclaimer: This won’t be a complete Gabi Jesus analysis blog because I’m weary that Gabi Jesus and team are using Arsenal to get a new contract at City)

Reports have come out this past week about Manchester City forward Gabriel Jesus being linked to Arsenal for this upcoming season with discussions apparently continuously ongoing for the past few months according to transfer guru David Ornstein.

Now there are lots of factors that go into this Gabriel Jesus transfer with many of them being speculative. It’s not lost on me that the game right after the news drops about Gabi Jesus being linked to Arsenal that he goes on and scores 4 goals against Watford. Lmao, Gabi Jesus saw the Arsenal rumors break out and was like”Nah fam, I’m too good for Arsenal”. You can’t make this shit up lol.

All that being said, the things are going for Arsenal on making this transfer actually happen:

  1. We need a CF badly – now whether Gabriel Jesus is the CF we need, I am not totally convinced, I am a huge fan of the player actually which I will talk about in a future post but not sure if he is the type of ST we need. Regardless we do need a CF prototype to lead our line.
  2. Haaland coming to City – now if the City front line wasn’t already crowded with stars, this Norwegian behemoth coming to Man City basically pushes Gabriel Jesus out of Pep’s plans for sure. Gabi Jesus is currently finding it hard to get playing time, imagine what it’s like when Haaland comes in to town.
  3. London>Manchester – We are reportedly are willing to offer close to double what he is making now. I am not naive enough to think that City can’t do the same but why would they when Haaland is coming in to the PL as the highest paid player? No reason for City to put that much resources into a player that won’t be more than a squad player for them in the future.

Now here are the reasons why this transfer won’t materialize:


1. We are still Arsenal – until we make the Champions League, we are irrelevant as a club in European and World football. Why would Gabi Jesus take his talents to a shit show in Arsenal in a World Cup year? You could argue the guaranteed playing time would help him to make a crowded Brazilian pool but is it worth it at a club like Arsenal? Time will tell but I wouldn’t blame him if he and his team wasn’t convinced by the direction Arsenal are going in as a club.

2. Using Arsenal as leverage – the recent example of Vlahović using Arsenal as a catapult to his move to Juventus from Fiorentina is a great reason why Gabi Jesus’ team put out the Arsenal rumors. Vlahović used us like the mid-tier club that we are to get Juventus to pay him the money that he wanted. With Gabi Jesus’ contract coming at the end of the 2023 season, it is the time where teams make moves on players, whether to extend or find a transfer to get value out of the player before his contract expires. Arsenal are the perfect club for Jesus to use to get the contract he wants, we are big enough to where it will get dumbasses like me talking, but not enough to where Jesus will actually come.

3. Other suitors – Now despite the possibility of some truth to the Jesus to Arsenal rumors, at the end of the day, Gabi needs to do what is best for his career at the age of 25. At the age of 25, this will probably be the most expensive contract in his career and it needs to be with the right club, competing for the appropriate competitions with his next contract most likely not coming til his age 3o season.

4. I never get what I want – the most important reason why this transfer won’t happen is cause I usually never get what I want as it pertains to transfers or happiness when it comes to Arsenal. I have spent years and years on us missing out on Luis Suarez, Benzema etc, why would this work out any different? Now granted Gabi Jesus is nowhere near the quality of the two examples I named but the point still stands. I actually really do admire the qualities Gabi Jesus possesses and feels that he got a raw deal at City. Pep planned for him to take over from Aguero when Pep arrived at City but Aguero strengthened his grip on the striker position with Jesus unable to influence the Spanish manager. Despite not being a guaranteed starter, I do feel that his output of 93 goals/46 assists in 203 apps are decent numbers for a player that was utilized the way he was at City. Now is he what I had in mind for a striker like Osimhen, Tammy or Darwin, no, but I would be excited at the prospect of him at the Emirates for sure which means this move will not happen.

Featured image credits: PA Images

Video credits: NBC

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