Although my fury over the North London derby hasn’t completely subsided, I’m feeling a little more upbeat today. The sheer weight of the suspense and expectation has a weird effect on teams and individuals in the past, making this game difficult to analyze in the usual sense.
We ought to have won that game, in my opinion. We would have been fine if it weren’t for the Jesus opportunity and Jorginho’s slip-up (the shot could have been slightly lower and Jorginho would have made a pass). But even in Fulham’s game, if Zinchenko makes a simple pass, which he is capable of, they don’t get a corner, etc.
The primary lesson I learned from this game is that although though Gabriel Jesus is undoubtedly a very skilled player with a lot of experience playing wide, we should try to maintain him at center-forward as much as possible. Although I will admit that PSV were quite open and we took advantage of that, I don’t think it’s entirely accidental that our best offensive performance of the season occurred with him there. However, for me, it comes mostly from column A (Jesus at the top) and a little bit from column B (PSV being rather subpar).
Since hindsight is always 20/20, I can sort of see why it was decided to start Eddie Nketiah in the derby. He has played frequently this season, making him well-suited for a match that demands genuine energy. It’s not very useful, though, unless you can combine that fitness with a performance appropriate for the game. This was a true stinker, and after watching it again, I realize that he was quite fortunate to receive merely a yellow for that late challenge on Guglielmo Vicario. This season, I have lauded him for his strong performances and contributions. We would have been screaming blue murder if one of their players had moved in like that on our custodian.
Information is what Mikel Arteta can take away from this. You try something, but it doesn’t really work. Next time, what can you do differently? It causes you a headache to see Jesus up front without Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli. You do, however, have the obvious choices of Emile Smith Rowe and Reiss Nelson, as well as perhaps even Fabio Vieira as a wildcard. If Nelson is just the fourth choice for a starting position on the left, it’s hard to see the reasoning behind a new, long-term contract, but we have to assume that the agreement wasn’t made purely for amusement.
Eddie has a poor track record of keeping things on the bench for when you need them. This may be part of the solution. Nelson has been a valuable substitute, but even so, I believe that Jesus is a much better fit as the team’s center-forward. In my opinion, this would more than make up for the deployment of a more “fringe” option on the left. Of course, there should be a larger discussion about center-forward and some investment there, but we have a lot of football to play with the team we have right now, so we might as well put it on hold for the time being.
Regarding our attacking performance in the Premier League thus far this season, Match of the Day featured an intriguing graph: