A few years ago, I used to write about Brazilian football and the Brazilian national team. During that period, Gabriel Jesus was going through his precocious teenage years at Palmeiras and he was a player who I noticed immediately. I like brave players who try to do difficult things, take on defenders, take shots and put stress on opposing defenders.
I saw him play in the Libertadores tie away to Palmeiras at Rosario Central. Palmeiras needed a win to avoid an embarrassing group stage exit. Palmeiras played the toughest match of the group, while Rosario Central was a hostile match for the Brazilian team. Jesus was 19 years old and this was one of his first games up front, having been moved from the wing due to an injury crisis at centre-forward.
It was a tight tie and Jesus played incredibly well. At the height of his confidence, he was a whirling dervish version of the Gabriel Jesus we all know. He took personal responsibility for Palmeiras’ fate, scoring twice in the first half to give Palmeiras the lead. Then they fell behind. And Jesus was having an off-ball argument. And he aimed his boot right at the breadbasket of the Rosario defender. And he was sent off amidst pointing and screaming.
He has always been an emotional player. Perhaps South American defenders will be more attuned to his play that taps into his emotions, as they have yet to see him lose his temper and receive a red card in the Premier League. In the 2019 Copa America final, Jesus again played like a man possessed. Brazil beat Peru 3-1, with Gabriel Jesus scoring twice.
Jesus, still hurt by criticism for not scoring at the 2018 World Cup, is motivated to win back the trust of the Brazilian supporters who largely abandoned him. We saw the Tasmanian Devil Jesus again and his goal helped Brazil win the final. So how did this salvation end? The sight of your teammates holding Jesus and showing off their trophy to the Maracana crowd?
Brazil 3-1 Peru (HD) 2019 Copa America Final | Neymar, Vinicius Jr., Rodrigo
Alas, not so. Jesus was sent off in the second half, and in frustration, he pushed the VAR screen as he headed towards the tunnel, and was caught crying his eyes out on the tunnel steps. Once again, Jesus expressed his feelings, both good and bad. After the 2018 World Cup, he essentially ‘resigned’ as a striker after receiving criticism that hurt him greatly. He decided to revive his career as a winger again.
The criticism he endured settled into his head and he allowed it to dictate his career. This likely contributed to his decision to sit out the 2022 World Cup with a knee injury, which also had a detrimental effect on his career. In his native Brazil, Jesus’ expressive eyebrows have made him something of a meme. They say he always looks like he’s in tears. Sometimes he plays like he has it.
The emotions are even more explosive in the heavy Canaries yellow shirt of Brazil and the green shirt of his boyhood club Palmeiras. For Manchester City and Arsenal, his loss of form always manifested itself in a more moonlit appearance, writing obscure poems and wearing black nail polish. In an interview after the 2019 World Cup, he spoke candidly about how much of an impact Sergio Aguero’s dominance at Manchester City had on his confidence.
‘Honestly, it’s so hard I want to shoot myself in the head. Of course, I take it personally. I’m not satisfied with that because I played 9 or 10 games and didn’t score and missed chances. I always think, ‘Wow, I’m playing for a big club, playing in a big competition with big players, so I should score goals.’ I think that happens to other players too. But I can’t talk about other players, I can only talk about myself.
‘I’m thinking, ‘Oh my God, I’ve got to score, I’ve got to score, I’ve got to score.’ When I have an opportunity, I sometimes miss it because I think too much and put too much pressure on myself. But it’s getting better. ‘I’m trying to score goals and not think about the pressure.’ He scored two goals in his first 13 games for City in 2018-19, one of which came in the 6-1 win over Huddersfield and the other in the FA Cup tie against Oxford United.
He corrected course in the second half of the season, starting with a goal against Rotherham in the FA Cup, before scoring four goals against Burton Albion in the League Cup three days later and scoring once against Rotherham five days later. was carried. Wolves in the Premier League. This is a confident player, which usually means that the highs are very high and the lows are very low.
The question that remains for athletes is whether they can make better use of their emotions. Otherwise, he’s doomed to remain a serial striker at best for the rest of his career. Caution is also needed when evaluating his sudden surge in scoring this week. I think Jesus looked pretty good when he started his last game. I thought he played very well in the home game against Monaco, but he missed a few opportunities to score.
I thought he was generally okay when he started in the home game against Nottingham Forest. He’s had just 0 coming off the bench and Arsenal need a change in some way. The player needs to prove he can ride low a little better, but history tends to suggest he’s good at riding high, and if he’s feeling good now, Arteta and Arsenal should not give up and get on the back of the motorcycle. This is especially true in the following cases: Saka has had a spell on the sideline.
