After ending a nine-month scoring drought, Gabriel Jesus says he’s amended his game to focus on shooting more often.
The Brazil international’s lack of goals, coupled with persistent fitness problems related to knee surgery in 2022, has seen him fall down the pecking order at Arsenal behind the likes of Kai Havertz and Leandro Trossard.
Clearly struggling for confidence, there were even rumours Arsenal could sell the 27-year-old – former club Palmeiras ultimately had an approach rebuffed – but the striker insists he still has much to offer.
After breaking the deadlock in the Gunners’ 3-0 win over Preston last night, Jesus underlined his determination to help the team.
“When people say [it is my first goal] since January, it looks like it’s a long, long time. Obviously, it’s nine months and I understand,” he told The Standard.
“But also people need to understand that I am starting less, I am playing less. I am not putting pressure [on the manager] or something like that, I am just saying the truth.
“But I also understand that I am the type of player, with my quality, that has to be there and score more. I want to and I am working really hard to get there. Then when I have my opportunities to play my minutes, I try to help the team and also I think now I am more focused on goals.
“Before I was less focused, but now I am more focused to shoot because before I didn’t shoot a lot. Now, I think what has changed for me is I try to look for the goal. It’s good to be back scoring and obviously I want to keep scoring when I have my chance.
Martinelli ➡️ Kiwior ➡️ Jesus 💥
🙌 @gabrieljesus9 pic.twitter.com/Lm15KtEUFJ
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) October 31, 2024
“I am the type of guy who works, always. Obviously I am not happy when I don’t play. I am not happy when I play and score, and the team don’t win. I always want to work, work, work and then I improve where I have to improve.
“Last season I had a few issues with injuries and stuff, that people don’t understand. They are not in the club, they don’t understand, but I am not here to make excuses.
“I am here to work, try to be fit and then, like I said, when I get my chance, enjoy playing football and try to help the team win.”
More goals from Jesus certainly wouldn’t go amiss in the coming days, weeks and months. Given the £45 million outlay to sign him and his big wages, amongst the highest in the squad, his recent struggles have been frustrating for all concerned. Here’s hoping he’s turned a corner.
Don’t care about his price tag. It was good value at the time. And I’m not an accountant.
Zooming out over 2 years of off/on fitness I’m pretty sure with a long run of fitness we’ll soon be seeing his quality again
Same, I also have a hunch he’ll get back to some good form at some point this season. He’s not completely crocked yet, and it’s not like the talent just disappears. It’s all mental for him I think, and I suspect he’s got a fatalist streak in him. The way he talks about himself has often been negative and focusing on all the things he can’t do or shouldn’t be expected to do. Very different to when he first arrived saying he’s here to be the number 9 and score goals. I think he feels the pressure which must be… Read more »
Jesus was never a prolific striker for Man City also. He is a hit and miss kind of a striker. Though with his pace and work rate, he can be a decent winger, but he has zero sync with Havertz
I feel like both Zin and Jesus have huge hearts but aren’t quite there mentally. No one can question their commitment or passion. They both wear their hearts on their sleeve and you can tell how much it all means. But this could potentially be their downfall. Jesus totally lacks composure in front of goal. Zinny is prone to huge lapses in concentration. Neither have ice in their veins. Neither are killers. Both are emotional and petulant and charismatic. It’s a personality trait so there’s not much you can do about it. But I do think it prevents them both… Read more »
45 mil was good value no doubt but the fact pep was willing to sell him to a main rival 2 years ago tells you everything you need to know. We got a player with a tremendous amount of talent but one who was/is on the downslope of his career. And so it has proven…same goes for Zinchenko. And Sterling. Seeing a pattern here?!
I don’t see a parallel at all. It’s about the context of the squad at the time of the deals and the intentions behind the deals that inform their value. It goes without saying that Jesus and Zin both immediately became two of our most important players right away. The state of the squad then was such that their injection of quality was a massive boost at the time and raised us from 5th to 2nd, from the fringes of CO football to the fringes of title contention. Don’t ever underestimate what that did for this club. The rest of… Read more »
In retrospect, they have absolutely not been crucial in raising the quality of the squad and neither of them has had the impact we thought they would when they joined. To begin with, both have been habitually injured and have spent half their Arsenal careers in the treatment room. And when they are fit both have failed to perform at the levels required. Zinchenko in particular has been a massive disappointment at left back, a huge defensive liability that has cost us quite a few games. Jesus could have been a great signing with the talent he has but unfortunately… Read more »
If you don’t raise your head to see the goal posts, you will shoot wide.
Seems something that makes sense.
Watch every striker worth his salt, and none of them look at where the goal is, they just know.
I don’t think this is true. Most of the good ones have a half-look before they receive the ball. At the point of striking, head over the ball.
He hasn’t had the best of times recently but class is permanent, his injuries have obviously been his set back and maybe he has been trying to hard to get his mojo back but a simple goal be it against a second tier side could be the major catalyst of a decent return to form as we so much need his undoubted talent to push us forward, as much as I love Tross who deserves his place above him, if both were playing to their full ability I would start Jesus everytime, lets hope this is the start of the… Read more »
I hope he can stay injury-free and show his best this season.
However, it’s one thing to say “I want to shoot more”, it’s another thing to be in the right positions and to actually be clinical.
I still have my concerns about him.
Guess he learned from his « I am not interested in goals » interview!
Hope he can stay fit because he has a lot to offer imo
I just wish he’d shoot more. He was in on goal last night and he turned away from keeper. In fairness it was highly unlikely he or anyone else would have scored but he’d of got a shot on goal. The one thing I liked about klopps team is the volume of shots they’d take, Mane would hit the post, wide, bar but he’d eventually get a goal
Believe it or not. Gabi Jesus has the near enough the same amount of goals as Jota in similar amount of career games. One is considered one of the deadliest finishers in the league and the other seems to be constantly finding his feet in front of goal.
I called him out for his attitude before the last interlull, too much drama queen for my liking. He seems to have changed that, and he’s become more focused and there are less histrionics when things go wrong. I’m glad to see it, and this interview seems to confirm that he’s getting his attitude and his mojo back. I really think he’s a quality player and can make a big difference for us this season.
Looking at the photo used on the previous post “Post-Preston quotes round-up” and I know it’s just me I kept wondering if there could be some sort of “unhealthy competition” between him and Kai or maybe some anger at losing his starting spot to the German. Not necessarily pointed towards his teammate but the kind we all had in our (armature) playing days when we were in and out of teams.
Not suggesting any plot but that curious look on Jorginho’s face had me look at that picture over and over again. What do you secretly know paizon?
He’s working on altering his playing style which makes a lot of sense now the way he’s playing. You often see golfers who change their swing going through a slump for a short period before the work pays off. Hopefully we’ll see a vast improvement in him statistically once he gets into full swing, pardon the pun.
He has been handicapped by his temperament and injuries, however the club is behind him and I woodn’t be surprised if soon he is putting the past behind him and making other forwards go green.
I think he could do with changing his shooting technique. He looks like he hits the ball with the middle of his foot to me, rather than towards the joint on his big toe. He’s never able to create enough angle to hit the corners of the goal.
I feel like this explains some of his poor decision making in recent games. This new found hunger for goals sounds good on paper, but we’ve seen him clearly choose not to play other players through for better scoring opportunities. Instead, he keeps the ball and somehow finds a way to take an extra touch, or to twist and turn, and all of a sudden the chance is gone. I like the player, he raised the ceiling when he joined, but I don’t see him coming good for us this season.