Flo Balogun

Pepe LeFrits

Two more goals for him yesterday in Ligue 1, now has 10 goals and 2 assists in 13 starts + 3 sub apps.

The second goal 😭

What's the future for him? Good enough to take Eddie's spot next season, or someone else's maybe?

Claudius

We can have them both. We will need depth next season.

Bring Back Kerrea Gilbert

Jesus CL striker
Eddie PL striker
Flo Cups striker

Claudius

Even within games. I recently pointed to how I thought Southgate did a great job with Saka. Look at how tired Eddie looked after 60 minutes versus WHam. Obviously he hasn’t played many 90s, so needs to work on fitness, but the game is much more demanding of forwards. They constantly need to keep pressing out of possession, and then sprint and move in possession. Being able to rotate them at 70 minutes can offer a real advantage. Bringing on a Mudryk, ESR, or Nketiah, not a Nelson/Marquinhos can help keep high intensity sprints going.

banduan

Claudius Bringing on a Mudryk, ESR, or Nketiah, not a Nelson/Marquinhos can help keep high intensity sprints going.

but Nelson is also a sprinter. Just a wheelchair-bound one.

Claudius

Nelson is useless until he convinces me otherwise

Clrnc

He is discovering his confidence but Mudryk and Felix is different cats tbf

Claudius

Clrnc exactly. We are competing for the big trophies now. We can’t depend on guys posting moody Instagram pics. We need ballers from 1-15.

Pepe LeFrits

Doesn't like like Flo gets terribly involved in the build up.

banduan

gawdalmighty Gabi J's numbers there.

goon

Need him back asap. Will be a huge boost.

I do think people are getting a little carried away with Flo. He’s still got a long way to go in his development.

Qwiss

goon carried away how? If we were linked to a 21 year old who was top scorer in Ligue 1 everyone would be losing their minds in excitement. I think people are being fairly realistic about Flo in comparison.

QuincyAbeyie

Likewise, they're getting carried away with Nketiah. There's been talk about whether here better with him or Jesus and it's way OTT.

goon

Qwiss

People get carried away with new signings too. I remember getting excited by Jonathan David when he was doing a little better there, but once you read up on him and how he was actually performing you got a bit of context about his talent levels.

Not trying to be dismissive of what he's doing, but I think people are taking away too much from what him being top scorer in Ligue 1 at this stage means imo. And I say this as someone who likes a lot of aspects about his game.

Claudius

All of these players are excellent.

Jesus is upper echelon. I don’t think Arsenal fans appreciate him sufficiently. Maybe it’s the price.
Nketiah is not a complete player, but as a finisher (his movement), he’s amongst the very best in the league.
Balogun has barely played and gone and owned the farmers and vintners of Ligue 1

flobaba

Claudius re: Jesus, it's not the price, it's the lack of goals. And that's fair, in my opinion.

JazzG

With Jesus it is just down to his finishing, if he was scoring 20+ league goals and doing what he is doing he'd be up there with the top strikers in the world. He gets the chances but isn't a natural finisher.

Seen some talk on Twitter that our deal with Balogun has an option for another year, nothing reliable though.

FEBravo

For context Lacazette is second in Ligue 1, tied with Mbappe and one goal behind Balogun. So yes, he's very talented and we can be hopeful, but there's still a long way to go

Bring Back Kerrea Gilbert

Two or three dodgy performances from Jesus this season as well.

Not trying to shit on him, he's class, but when he's not scoring he's also guilty of doing too much Lacazetting sometimes.

flobaba

What do you mean by Lacazetting?

I think he is super helpful whether he is scoring goals or not. He adds an insane amount of chaos into the mix which frees up space for the entire forward line.

The way our midfield clicks into place when Zinchenko inserts himself is exactly how our attack is transformed with a Jesus involved. Frees up space for everyone else. They have to pick their poison. Leave Saka one v one? Or leave Jesus one v one. And on his day, Martinelli can be a headache too. Jesus collapses the entire defence, and then can kick it out for open 3-point attempt - to use a basketball analogy. Even Xhaka is free to waltz into the box more often and more effectively.
He is our key.

Soon (hopefully) these boys will be feasting again when Jesus comes back in town.

So I love what he is and what he does.

But.

As a striker your job description is basically something like: "must be able to score goals. Lots and lots of goals". To put it bluntly: That is why he is no longer in the Brazilian national team - he does not score enough goals.

We need him to step it up a bit.

Bring Back Kerrea Gilbert

flobaba too much work too deep sometimes. I think he had a couple of stinkers this season and Soton away was one of those.

e.g. He was through on goal but fluffed that whole situation as he was too tired from all the work in deeper areas.