Fan Opinion Column: Gabriel Jesus Delivers Goals For Christmas. Arsenal FC Women Firing On All Cylinders.
Hi all, I am Oliver Reeves and welcome to the Arsenal Canada Opinion Column. This is a blog for Arsenal Canada covering first team football and an opportunity for Arsenal Canada members to have their thoughts and opinions featured.
This week I spoke with Justin Reid - an Arsenal Canada member and volunteer - to discuss the recent performances of both the Women’s and Men’s first team.
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The Gunners find themselves starting the new year sitting second in the Premier League, with some tough fixtures across all competitions fast approaching. Considering the tone of the previous column, I do think it’s a positive position to be in. The caveat, however, would be the pang of frustration and regret felt amongst fans after the dropping points to Brighton, Everton and Fulham in the league in recent weeks, which would see the team in an even stronger position at the turn of the year. This is also compounded by a disappointing loss at home to Newcastle in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final.
To rub salt into the wound, Arsenal’s star-boy and most efficient goal creating player this season - Bukayo Saka - is facing ‘many weeks’ on the sideline after suffering another hamstring injury in Arsenal’s win over Crystal Palace on the 21st. I asked Justin how big of a blow this is in what has been an injury cursed season so far:
“It’s massive and a tough pill for us Gooners to swallow. He's so important to this squad and to Arteta's tactics, and how could he not be, he's one of the best in the world.”
On the flip-side (and Justin and I might be clutching at straws here), it gives opportunities to other players to step-up and start sharing the goal scoring/assisting duties.
Gabriel Jesus seems to have finally hit some form: netting five goals in two games against Crystal Palace. Although not his strongest position, Jesus can play on the right, as well as another Brazilian (and Gabriel) in Martinelli who looked promising there in the remainder of the Crystal Palace game - “I have liked Martinelli's game from the right side in his limited time so far, he's putting in some very dangerous balls into the box and he should only grow more comfortable on that side with Ødegaard and Timber.”
According to Justin, however, we still need to bolster the squad in some shape or another in January. “It sounds like we may be recalling Vieira, which can only help, and maybe we can find a loan on the wing or at the 9 to help out as we know Jesus can play the wing, too. A healthy Sterling and a recalled Vieira would go a long way to helping us through this stretch.”
Whilst on the note of players and being positive, welcome to the stage: Myles Lewis-Skelly. The academy graduate has looked so impressive the last few games at left-back.
“He's been incredible. We dropped him into a UCL start at 18 and he did not look out of place. The two things that impress me most so far are his confidence and his strength. His performance against Ipswich was impressive in many ways, but they had no answer for him.”
A player who certainly looks like he is trending in the right direction. “His future here is so bright here and his play has even had us wondering at our local branch match watches if he's already ahead of Calafiori. That's likely a bit too soon to say, but that is how good he has been so far.”
With our current record of injuries at left-back there is certainly a genuine opportunity for the eighteen-year-old to make a claim for that starting spot.
When you consider the schedule so far, the injuries that have plagued the club, in-addition-to being the team significantly disadvantaged as the consequence of some very inconsistent refereeing (to put it politely) this season - it could be a lot worse to be right in there with a chance at the league still. A lot of teams might have cumbled already. But not this team. This group of players have a special mentality alongside footballing-ability. They will still believe they can be champions, there’s no-doubt about that.
They are certainly going to need it with a gruelling January fixture-list approaching, which starts with a crucial FA Cup third-round clash at home to Mancherster United this weekend. When I asked Justin if Arsenal can still win the league his response was emphatic - “I say this without a doubt and very emphatically, yes. We absolutely can still win the league. COYG!”
Arsenal WFC:
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The women’s team headed into their winter break in fine form after going eleven consecutive games unbeaten under interim head coach Renée Slegers. A huge win at home to Bayern Munich saw the team qualify for the Champions League quarter-finals as well as an important 1-0 win in the WSL against Liverpool. Additionally the FA Cup and Conti Cup are still up for grabs. Winning the league might be a bit of a difficult task now, but fans should be confident Arsenal can still be successful across all the remaining competitions.
Justin certainly expects to be “in the mix for silverware.”
“The way we are playing the last two months. We're all of the sudden a threat in the UWCL, there are FA and League Cups still, too. Even if you look ahead in the WSL, we play Chelsea and Man City back to back starting at the end of January, six points there changes things the outlook in the league, too.”
He has been hugely impressed since Renée took charge. “We've scored 31 and only given up 5 since she took over, with 6 clean sheets. She's put us back on the map as a serious trophy threat this season and seemingly did it overnight. The job she's done is pretty incredible.”
When asked if she should be given the job on a permanent basis: “if this kind of play continues, the search starts and ends with Renée. Not only are the results there, the players love her and we've heard some footballing giants like Williamson, Mead, and Russo, talk about that.”
There’s certainly reason to be excited in the latter half of the season. Aleesion Russo is coming back into solid form and Rosa Kafaji could be someone for fans to keep an-eye-on in the second half of the season. “She hasn't had tons of minutes just yet, but more action coming up across multiple competitions means more opportunity and she has tons of skill. If we're gonna go deep in cup action, I think Kafaji is gonna have a say.”
About the Author
Oliver Reeves is a marketing volunteer and a contributor to Arsenal Canada. This Blog was written for Arsenal Canada as an opinion blog feature. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views, and members (unless otherwise stated in the article), of Arsenal Canada. Check out out rest of the Arsenal Canada Volunteer team here.
