14 (hopefully) cup finals left.

Now that’s been said, let’s talk:

Manchester City 0- 0 Arsenal

A game that fit the cliche’s mold; cup finals are almost always defensive, manned by frightful referees scared to card players and dull “ managerial chess matches” that only excite those who host 90s Italian soccer rewatch parties. 

After going through the tape of this admittedly dry game, I found myself drawn to Gabriel Jesus’s first half defensive performance. I want to spend this post talking about all 45 minutes of it and how Jesus showed his value to the team. 

For the first 20 minutes, Arsenal went into a 5-3-2 when City rolled into Arsenal’s half. Havertz and Odegaard held a forward line of two. Rice, Jorginho and Saka sat in a line of 3. Jesus, Kiwor, Saliba, Gabriel and White held down the back line. Jesus and Kiwor are just off camera here in the line of 5 at about the 11th minute.

As the ball came out to the left, Jesus stepped out to occupy the space in front of the backline.( Note how saka isn’t stepping in to cover the wide space but staying in front of Ben White) 

 If the ball continues out to the wing, it is a 1 v 1 with either Kiwor

or Jesus

If the player attempts to round the wide player to move into the middle, Jesus fouls him/presses

 or if they attempt to go through the middle, Arsenal collapse on the player with Rice and Jesus.

 If the ball goes out wide and Kiwor steps in to pressure, Jesus

 or Rice 

move into the vacated space left by the left back. The other steps in front as a midfield screen.

Again, note that Saka isn’t stepping into the space out wide in any of these photos. The defense is staying compact in a line of 3. I believe Saka sits there to spring forward if the ball is played high and the centerbacks/white recover. As the game moved past the 20 minute mark, Saka began to sit beside Ben White more but it still wasn’t as common as Jesus’ tendency to do so.

As the ball began to come out to the right, Jesus would tuck into the midfield like Saka would. The difference is he’d shift over way futher infield. Here are two instances of it:

Yes, this second one a counter attack, but it also shows how wedded to the defensive tasks Jesus was and how aggressively he’d move into the right side if he thought he could help defend.  Saka isn’t even in the frame and it’s his side. 

Also, look who gets the ball at the top of the box to get a shot off after we collect the city attack?

To further show just how much the defensive task was Jesus’ responsibility,Here is a photo of the position jesus took up when we were pressuring in city’s half. 

Havertz is anticipating the pass into the middle or to Akanji and it’s Jesus who is sitting in the middle to screen for a ball over the top. Saka’s is pressing  high with Odegaard. After City break through this press  and go long, we have to scramble defend. Look who’s back making a challenge on the ball and who is not even in the picture again.

This patterned happen every time in the game until Jesus and Saka were subbed off.

Jesus was a huge contributing factor that Man City did not find away around our defense. Pep wanted his team to go to Kiwor or to counter quickly and Arteta knew this. Without Jesus’s hard work and diligence to his task, the whole midfield would have had to cover even more ground and the center backs would have had to do even more to silence Halaand as they would have to shift over to either side to support more, exposing and forcing Kiwor to be 100% locked in after playing 120 minutes in the midweek.

There have been some comments by some that Jesus isn’t good enough for this team anymore. I 100% disagree. Jesus is the type of player every champions league and title challenge team needs. Sometimes, you have to have someone work their socks off to give others the platform s to succeed. It takes the cognitive load of defending off these forward and defensive players to open themselves up to creating chances on the other end. In a game where the attackers are more clinical I think Jesus would have been the hipsters pick for man of the match for the work he put in. Alas. 

And that’s the half. Here are a couple other thoughts I had that I couldn’t fit into this piece but wanted to write down. Thanks for reading! 

1. All of our good chances in this half involved Jesus. Either he created a defensive moment that let us move the ball forward or he was attempting a key pass/ shot on goal. Sure, they didn’t work, but a Jesus who has more time under his belt is going to be sharper and might convert one of those chances/ hit one of those passes.If Martinelli isn’t fit for Bayern, Jesus can absolutely do a job against them.
2. Zinchenko in the midfield is something I want to see. Partey seems to be kicking the rust and, though it wasn’t Jorginho’s best game, I think he did fine. The problem is they are both on the wrong side of 30. Zinchenko isn’t. Zinchenko can provide the killer passing that both can to their ability though he isn’t as press resistant as Partey or as veteran as Jorginho. I think, though, he can combine the strengths of both to become a great piece that sits with Declan. I’d love to see us try it against Luton. I’d also love a million dollars to appear on my doorstep. I’m not holding my breath for either 
3. Raya’s passing was poor. I don’t know why. At least his ability to claim aerial balls wasn’t off.
4. Emotionally, I feel unsatisfied. Sure, Arsenal are the first team to not lose to Liverpool and City in a season during the reign of Klopp/Pep. But, in a title race this tight, it feels like we need to win out. To have that ask of this team is a bit ridiculous. But those are, as they say, the fucking standards.