Arsenal supporters have been cautioned they may end up disappointed by Viktor Gyökeres, despite many believing he was the perfect fit for Mikel Arteta’s side.
Since Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s departure in early 2022, Arsenal have lacked a truly clinical No.9. Arteta had long identified the need for a prolific striker, targeting Alexander Isak and Dusan Vlahovic in previous windows, but the club failed to land one. That changed this summer when they secured Gyökeres in a £64 million deal from Sporting CP.
Big-game impact questioned
Two goals in his first three appearances is a decent start for the Swedish striker, but doubts have already surfaced. In Arsenal’s two biggest fixtures so far, against Liverpool and Manchester United, Gyökeres struggled to make an impact. His standout performance came against Leeds, a team Arsenal were expected to beat regardless.
Should fans be concerned that he has yet to leave his mark in the marquee games? In my humble opinion, it is far to early to judge.
Deeney’s warning
Former Premier League striker Troy Deeney shared his doubts on his TikTok account, questioning Gyökeres’ ability to deliver when it matters most. He said:
“Where was Gyökeres in the big games? In the big moments? Where was he?
“I think he’s going to score a lot of goals this season, somewhere between 16 to 20 in the Prem. He might not hit the 20 mark, but he’ll get them against your Leeds Uniteds, your Wolves, your West Hams.
“For me, it’s just a case of – they brought him in to score in those big moments, and he just doesn’t turn up. Waste of money is a bit harsh, but I think Arsenal fans are going to be disappointed long-term. I don’t think he’s going to be the guy that scores the goals over the course of the season.”
The pressure was always going to be on Gyökeres after Arsenal’s long search for a striker. Signed to deliver in the decisive fixtures, he is still waiting for his first major breakthrough performance.
Known for thriving in free-flowing football, the Swede has yet to adapt fully to Arteta’s more possession-based style. If Arsenal rediscover the transitional football that defined their 2022-23 campaign, it may just unlock the striker they paid for – that is certainly what Arsenal legend Emmanual Petit believes.
Thoughts Gooners?
Daniel O
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I do not understand why anyone gives any read time to this arsenal hating moron deeney ,gyokeres has played 3 games ,in a new team ,arsenal have to learn to play a bit more to his strengths ,the defensive midfield line up up the boss started with on Sunday didn’t help gyokeres ,it is not like he missed chances ,he didn’t really get any ,I hope this sort of drivel does not start arsenal fans getting on his back this early ,let’s face it our fans can be worse than the media sometimes for jumping on the bandwagon attacking our own players
Deeney doesn’t ‘hate’ Arsenal, he’s just expressing an opinion of which we all are on here. He was certainly invisible in the Liverpool game but that’s not his fault, he got no service from the team and Arteta got his tactics wrong. It’s very early to start judging players and the manager too, but let’s not accuse pundits of hate.
I suspect Deeney and other so called pundits like Sutton say things that they don’t necessarily believe but they know will be controversial because their radio stations want the reactions from their listeners, Talk**** being the worse one.
You are right TD doesn’t hate Arsenal, he just dislikes Arsenal and can’t hide his dislike.
I’d suggest that about 80% of what Troy says about Afc is in the negative.
And that’s OK, as long as it’s recognised., when listening to his thoughts.
Spot on, Stephen. Obviously, scoring a hat trick against EPL “minnows” Manchester City in the Champions League doesn’t count.
Spot on Stephen. I suppose Gyokeres scoring a hat trick against EPL “minnows” Manchester City in the Champions League, doesnt count as “turning up in a pressure game”!
We could see from Gyokeres’ last three games that he is nowhere near Jesus or Cunha technically, but he’s far stronger and better in the air
Gyokeres could’ve contributed more at Anfield, but Merino couldn’t make killer through passes to Gyokeres, Martinelli and Madueke because Merino rarely plays the right-sided AM role
I think Gyokeres will become more productive once a more experienced and creative AM starts feeding him good through balls and crosses
We still have Havertz/ Jesus to fall back to and we can still sell him with a good price in the summer if he flops
@Gai well said and I agree with you absolutely 👌 He offers what Havertz &Jesus don’t have. When we have fully fit strikers, Arteta would have variations to his attacks. Gyokeres also seem to have good holdup play.
Havertz is a better CF in Arsenal than when in Chelsea Imo, Arteta can make Gyokeres much improved.
The “almighty Arsenal legend” Thierry was made better by Wenger.
Sylva, such a detailed assessment after 3 games at a new club (new country, new manager, new teammates, new tactics, new competition et al) after virtually no preseason to gain match fitness?
GAI, your comments on Gyokeres after three appearances, remind me of Stuart Pearce commenting on Dennis Bergkamp and we know how that turned out!
I actually just read that article again now!
Same old “JA” people commenting back then, today:)
What ever happened to Kev, our “insider” with transfer news?
GAI, your comments on Gyokeres after 3 games, reminds me of Stuart Pearce’s comments on Dennis Bergkamp after he joined Arsenal and we all know how that turned out!
@Ozziegunner👌
It is evident that the only passes Goykeres received was from Declan Rice…yet we had 2 wingers and an attacking midfielder who should have been making passes to the no 9
Well said but as for me Victor will hit the ground and a shame the haters who talk a lot as if we the fans asked any opinion or suggestion instead of focusing on their own former clubs
I despair with these so called “pundits” that grace Talksh**e I really do!!
How many games did it take the likes of Henry and Bergkamp to settle in?
What Deeney fails to remember, is the fact that we lost to the so called smaller clubs during our three seasons as runners up, while we had a great record against the top six.
So, if Gyokeres scored twenty goals, turns draws into wins, and we continue to do well against the top six, then what
is the problem anyway?
GAI, if he “flops” how could we sell him for a good price?
Come on Ken, it’s just his opinion, we all have them.
But I’d like to know how GAI comes to these conclusions GB.
Why does he believe we can sell him on if he’s a flop?
A simple question.
I’m surprised he didn’t accuse him of having no cojones in the big games (like against Watford 🤣).
Ken, I join in your despair.
We are going to score more goals this time round as long as our midfielders and wingers start delivering the ball to the box of the opponents live our main man to settle in his new club
Daniel, I agree with you regarding the open style of our football in the 22/23 season but I don’t think MA will change the current system. Imo Eze could make a bigger impact than Gyokeres simply because he knows the PL inside out and the big teams don’t phase him. He could turn out to be one of our best signings for a long time – classy player with a smile on his
face!
Is too early to judge him , His team mate haver never feed him very well. With balls.
This is a point Ateta should pay attention to if he wants the best from Gyokeres. In Barcelona, others do the struggle and leave Messi to score the goals. Likewise Harland in Man city. Let Arsenal midfielders and wingers learn to cooperate with Gyokeres by passing and pooling out to him and watch him score the goals.
Gyokeres had 2 touches in the forst half against Liverpool I believe?
We didn’t set up or play to win, so it is not surprising Gyokeres did not get many touches.
It will take time for Gyokeres to settle in with his teammates and with the league. Also, it will take time for Arteta to adjust his tactics (if he chooses) to incorporate a striker that is a finisher, as opposed to a striker that is a facilitator, like we have seen with Jesus and Havertz.
Let’s see at the end of the year, and let’s see if he grows as the season progresses.
I have heard this a lot about Arteta. If he signed a finishing striker in Gyokeres expected to bang in the goals, and still wants to retain his known style of free-flowing play, let him not blame anybody if why he signed the striker did not materialise at the end of the day
Troy Deeney has appearing on Celebrity SAS frazzled your brain. What a complete load of hogwash regarding Gyokeres.
Three games he’s played, yes the two away games haven’t been good by any stretch, but he’s a striker that feeds off service. Something that he’s mainly been starved of. Hopefully when and if the hand break is taken off and chances start to come, hopefully Gyokeres will show us his true worth.
And as I’ve said in previous posts, I can name three players and more to be honest. But the three that immediately springs to mind are,
Robert Pires, Dennis Bergkamp, and a certain Thierry Henry. All club legends now, but they to got off to a slow start.
So Mr Troy Deeney, maybe you should go back and do another stint on Celebrity SAS, that looks like it’s your true calling.🤦♂️
100%
Well, he is just airing his own opinion, and not all opinion are reasonable. Gyokeres has not being fed properly by our midfielders and also Arteta’s rigid tactics. Hopefully, he will eventually deliver and shame critics
Then, the salvation lies with Arteta loosening up on his rigid style, and Arsenal midfielders learning to cooperate with their top nine by feeding him ball as appropriate.
No out-right number nine will thrive under Arteta’s system. That’s a fact!
Rewind back to 2022/2023 season of free flowing and creative play, Gyokeres will be banging in goals almost every game.
As much as it pains me to say it the ratb@stard Deeney is partially correct. Gyok will have problems against the better defensive teams but that is fine. I still think Havertz should be the striker in those games. He presses, defends and retains the ball much better. He is a bigger threat on set pieces. Let Gyok be THE guy to batter the crappier teams so that Havertz isn’t run to the ground like he has been the last two years. If fresh he can have monster games against the elite clubs. We can win like Stoke with Kai against the top teams and batter the weaker teams and give rest to whoever Arteta feels is his best Xl
👍🏼 couldn’t agree more.
Haven’t read above article or comments. At the beginning of the transfer window, I had few opinions on which striker to bring in because I didn’t know anything about Gyokeres, or Sessoko and wasn’t going to pretend that I did. The only experienced EPL rated striker was Issak and we were know where that had lead to. My own hope was that our enlightened team of Arteta, his director of football and scouts would think outside the box and come up with the next Henry or Aubamayang; a 23 or 24 year old with loads of potential and something to prove. That hasn’t happened, so this season Gyokeres is our hope, for better or worse. I think we should discard his record in Portugal where he was playing for one of the top three clubs in a much weaker competition and where half his goals came from the penalty spot. Having said that, it is way too early to dismiss him. We saw a flash of what he is capable of, although that was one solitary moment in three games. Again in his defense the manager hasn’t done Gyokeres any favors in the way he sets the team out to play and the few times he’s been able to even touch the ball. From what I’ve briefly seen there are clear limitations to Gyokeres game, but he has a hungry striker’s predatory instinct, which still gives me hope that he is the man who we need to help save our season.
I must admit I am a bit concerned with Gyokeres big game performances! That said, with the way we play even Mbappe, Isak or Lewandowski would struggle at Arsenal. The only strikers I’ve seen properly involved in our game are Gabriel Jesus and Mikel Merino and that’s coz they play as false 9s who are very much willing to regularly drop in midfield to collect the ball. An Attacking Foward who “stays foward” like Gyokeres and Havertz will struggle to even touch the ball.
So, at the end of the day, it is a question of Arteta’s style or system of play that will make the difference. The bulk then, stops on his table
Let’s be sincere to ourselves and recap the three matches that guy has played so far. There were clear instances where he was ran into space but his colleagues failed to pass the ball to him. So who is blame for his low performance so far. The team need to factor him as the main striker into their style of play, QED
What big game? We lost at ansfield but won at old trafford, just because Viktor didn’t score in both of these games doesn’t mean he should be critised. It’s still too early just 3 games and the first (against manu) should be regarded as his first taste of the epl fire besides not everyone beats L/poo 💩 at ansfield. There are still a lot of big games coming up, spurs, City, Chelsea, even Brighton and not to mention the return fixtures so people need to cut Gyokeres some slack. He has 2 goals in 3 matches, as it is he is in contention for Golden boot for the season.
I fear Gyorkeres will be a big flop under Arteta and his dull defensive style of football, certainly hope I’m wrong but I just think anyone with any sort of attacking instinct will go backwards under Arteta, his tactics are a big problem and I think it’s the reason for Arsenal not going one better and winning major honours, Arteta just won’t change his approach, the year we should have won the league in 2022/23 we played brilliant football, a year later Arteta started going too defensive and cautious, bring back the attacking football and just have a go at teams Arteta, the football is boring to watch with him in charge.
Sky and the BBC or whoever employs these people to come on TV and give these bullshit opinions HAVE more money than sense to pay THESE fools for their opinions. CARRAGHER / NEVILLE / SCHOLES THEYRE ALL IDIOTS AND NOW DEENEY.PLEASE GIVE IT A BREAK WERE ONLY THREE GAMES IN.
Gyokeres may go “missing” early Feb as he’s been named as a witness in a defamation case in Sweden involving his agent. Games in that period are Sunderland & Brentford.
Jax,
He won’t go missing you’ll find him in the box. The witness box that is.😂