In big games, against Manchester United and then Liverpool, Viktor Gyökeres failed to make his presence felt. Since then, he has faced accusations of going missing when it matters most. Pundits such as Troy Deeney and Gary Neville have been quick to point out that the Swede tends to disappear in high-stakes fixtures.
Arsenal v City: Another missed chance
Arsenal versus Manchester City was another big occasion and a prime opportunity for the £63.5 million summer signing to silence his critics. Sadly, that was not the case.
Across 90 minutes, Gyökeres managed just 24 touches, generated 0.00 expected goals and 0.01 expected assists, and failed to register a single shot, despite Arsenal racking up 12 attempts. He struggled to impose himself, and his numbers told the story:
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90 minutes played
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0 goals or assists
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0 shots
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8 passes completed
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0% ground duels won
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50% aerial duels won
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0% successful dribbles
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13 times possession lost
Media reacts
So, what did the press make of Gyökeres’ performance?
The Daily Star wrote:
“Painfully slow at times and looking potentially short on fitness, he laboured from start to finish, providing an unfortunate contrast to Haaland. Handled comfortably by the visitors.”
Football London echoed those thoughts:
“Again, in the first half, he struck an isolated figure, and one could not help but think back to Kai Havertz and his importance, dropping in during these types of games.
“It took until the 70th minute for Arsenal to try a low driven pass through the frontman, which brought about a corner.”
The Sun added:
“Heavy touches, ill-timed runs in behind and very little signs of him testing Donnarumma.
“Again, the big Swede did not have brilliant service, but it only takes one chance to score, as Haaland showed, and he was struggling to carve one out of nothing.
“These sorts of games were the reason he was bought, but he is yet to prove his worth.”
While it is unfair to pin the blame solely on Gyökeres, given the lack of support and service up front, Mikel Arteta must find a way to play into his strengths. Even so, the ex-Sporting striker can and should do better. The criticism should fuel his desire to respond and prove he belongs on the biggest stage.
Arteta himself admitted that Arsenal need to provide more for Gyokeres.
What does Arteta need to do to bring Gyokeres in?
Daniel O
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It’s difficult to pinpoint what is the tactical issue vs potential issues with the players ability. It’s too early to judge to be fair but who knows what he’s being told to do in training where freedom is limited to say the least
That being said, he seems significantly slower in the EPL than he looked in the Portuguese League which I suppose is to be expected. Can’t remember seeing him outrun any defender yet and his hold up play doesn’t appear to be that great, these aren’t things that are affected by the time needed to “gel” with the team
Still have my hopes up but being in his prime he won’t be afforded a year or 2 to settle that’s for sure
Give the big Swedes a break, he was feeding off sheer scrap nothing more .
He feeds off scraps because his movement and positioning aren’t good enough. His first touch is awful and he’s not intelligent enough football wise to be a difference maker. Bad bad business from us. I’m praying Kai has been working on his finishing because at least he knows how to get into dangerous positions. For all the flack Kai got regarding being flimsy his hold up play is far superior to the Swedes yet nobody seems to be mentioning this.
The game is good but we need more goals in the attacks
We buy a shiny new striker and play everywhere but to him. Our tactics has has been said before are blunting our attack. Personally I don’t know ANY football fan who wants to watch their team play back just for the sake of keeping possession.
I think the criticism of Gyokeres is extremely harsh particularly when you consider the high quality centre backs at the disposal of Man City and Liverpool.Against City he made at least 3 diagonal runs to create space but unfortunately his teammates on the ball failed to play a through ball and opted for a less risky pass to retain possession.Our Manager needs to become less risk averse if we are to see the best of our costly CF and he should be encouraging his players to hit longer passes through the lines when opportunitiee arise.Lets hope we see less possession and more creation as the season unfolds.
A significant issue this article raise and I’ve wondered about is that Victor seems incredibly slower and labored than I remember him from Sporting. Even when they played at the Emirates in the champions league, I remember him taking on Saliba for pace and engineering a couple of good chances. This could be a fitness issue that will be resolved as he gets fitter (given his late start to preseason) I hope because otherwise, this signing does not inspire much confidence. Right now he’s not exceptional at anything; finding space, pace, dribbling, combining with teammates and even intensity. On the other hand, The other high profile strikers brought late into the league are not doing so hot either, so I’ll reserve my judgement till mid season. A Martinelli audition through the middle would be interesting though.
Not fair to criticize Gyokeres. He may not be 100% of what we want him to be but he is a proven goal scorer! Give him time and he needs service! Over to the gaffer!
How can these so called pundits call out Gyokeres. The manager is not playing to his strengths, its that simple. And until Arteta does, we’re not going to see the best of Gyokeres.
Gyokeres needs to speak out if anything is unsuitable to him because everybody is starting to blame him for the lack of goals. Arteta after city match said he will do nothing special to help Gyo start scoring goals suggesting it was purely down to the individual fault of Gyo for his goal drought. Gyo also should be untidy nuisance for defenders as ex successful EPL strikers were like Drogba Rooney Suarez Costa etc.
The good relieving thing for Gyo is Sesko is also not scoring goals though Ekitike is scoring almost in every match. Had Sesko been scoring, it was inevitable questions on the recruitment decision would be raised.
Okay then, he’ll learn to go for the ball in our defensive zone and then dribble his way to goal.
When your source of creativity is dead ball how would your striker be effective
Is he our first Balloon door winner? 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Residing
Well Reggie,
At least one of our players has won a trophy this season. 😂🏆