From fans, ex-players, and Sweden’s manager, everyone has an opinion on Viktor Gyokeres right now. Some are surprised our new striker has not scored more, others felt it was always going to take time for our squad to play to his strengths. Many of his defenders point to what he does tactically for the team even if he is not scoring. As it is the international break, I thought I would give you my evaluation.
Viktor Gyokeres was in France last month to collect his Gerd Muller Trophy. The award is given to the highest-scoring player from the previous season, taking into account goals for both club and country. A timely reminder of how lethal he can be in front of goal.
Our striker was pictured at the Ballon d’Or ceremony with the Gunneresses who won the Club of the Year award. Hopefully, it will help the 27-year-old feel more part of the Arsenal family because you sense, as things stand, not all Gooners have warmed to the Swede. Which is strange, as a section of our fanbase are known for needing a talent to do very little to be praised.
After beating his man a couple of times, Madueke could go on to be the best in his position in the division apparently, yet to register a goal or an assist as a Gunner. I was asked how I know Dowman cannot replicate what Rooney and Pele did, and that was based on his cameo against Leeds. Apparently, Skelley is as good as Ashley Cole even though he cannot get a start in the League. This time last year, Nwaneri was more skilful than Yamal, and Havertz was going to score more than Haaland.
You see the pattern? So why is Mr Gyokeres not getting the same treatment? It is not like he has not got on the scoresheet yet. It is worth remembering the droughts Bergkamp and Henry began with at Highbury. Yet when you consider how long Andrea Berta negotiated for this deal to happen, how much Sporting Lisbon fought for it not to happen, and how far the player was willing to go to ensure he moved to London, it has been a bit of an anti-climax.
Has Gyokeres Become a Victim of His Own Success?
The trophy he took home from Paris was a reminder that he scored 54 goals in 52 games last campaign. So has he become a victim of his own success? Some are worried that not only is that strike rate not happening in England, but that at Old Trafford, Anfield, and at home to Man City our number 14 did not manage a shot on target. That only ever happened once in Portugal. That might start playing on his mind considering some already doubted his ability at this level.
Those who play or have played the position say there should not be concern if chances are being missed but if opportunities are not happening. Yet I am going to defend him because I judge things with my own eyes. I am not watching a forward miss chance after chance every week. That is the issue, I am yet to see a game where he has an abundance of opportunities.
Olympiakos is the only performance so far where I felt our forward was consistently involved in a game, which you hope is a sign of him adjusting to new teammates. The question is, whose fault is that? It is not like we are watching Eddie Nketiah just running into someone trying to get a free kick. The whole point of the missing puzzle was someone who was a natural finisher in the penalty area, the scorer of the scrappy goal, the fox in the box.
He cannot do that without the service. He has already shown that he can go outside and make things happen for himself, but that is not his role. Havertz is someone who can link up with others, hold up the ball, win a free kick, or spot a pass, yet the German is not a natural finisher. Hence why the priority in the summer was to buy one.
Is Arteta’s System Limiting Our Striker?
There are some forwards who need service. If you give them scraps to feed off, then you are not going to notice them. He was lethal for the Portuguese champions because they assisted him with a feast of chances every game. In that sense, Gyokeres is old school, the type of poacher who would be common in the 90s but not now.
There is a large portion of the media, supporters, and ex-players who are starting to question if Mikel Arteta’s tactics are too negative to get us over the line. No current player symbolises that more than Gyokeres. Whatever your opinion on our manager, it is undeniable that other coaches have systems where Gyokeres would have more chances at goal.
Jamie Carragher is one of my least favourite pundits to listen to, but to be fair, for a while now he has suggested that it is a myth that Arsenal’s issue has been scoring. He argues our problem is actually creating. How many games in 2025 have you walked away from saying we had lots of possession, but how many saves did their keeper really have to make?
So maybe the question is not why Gyokeres is not scoring more. Maybe it should be why he is not being given the chances to.
Your thoughts welcome in the comments.
Dan Smith
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He is playing in a team that is not used to playing with proper #9 striker but that is slowly changing based in the last two games. He makes the run and attacks the box and everything that is required of him except the goals, which will come eventually. He need to improve on his poor first touch and hold up play.
Exactly poor first touch. He was getting quite a few long balls from Raya but he fluffed them. Gyokores also fluffed some goal scoring opportunities. You can see he is no Jesus in ball control. He will soon score some goals but cannot see gyokores score 20 goals per season.
Sweden manager said if people can’t see what Gyokeres brings to the team aside from goals then they don’t know football
Arteta already said similar. They’re the managers and know best …
Its fairly obvious he isn’t getting many chances…partly his reputation so defenders are on him, partly adjusting to a much tougher league and partly all teammates looking to gel after so many new faces in starting XI this season
It’s only 7 games old but we have probably had 10 articles or more on Gyokeres…which is frankly ridiculous
Anyway hope he scores on Internatio al duty and then we have on paper easier matches in the next 3 or 4
So as said at beginning of the season let’s see where the team is ( currently top and playing much better football already ( and how Gyo does and the review rather than the constant analysis !
Neil, I think your view is much more balanced than some of the responses. The Managers (Arsenal & Sweden) work with Gyokeres so they are in a better position to assess Victor’s performance – their views must be respected. Also, its early days to start harshly judging Gyokeres. In any case he has scored 3 goals (I believe) so far. Certainly his movement, engaging opposition defenders and physical presence is good and that “releases” some of his team mates to score goals. So his contribution so far has been positive- yes we all would love more goals from him – who wouldn’t? As true Arsenal fans we need to be patient and also appreciate the good things our team and Gyokeres is doing. Yes, we need to win trophies – for me I think that is the elephant in the room that Arteta needs to address – even the Carabao Cup is better than nothing this season! The team certainly has enough depth and talent to be able to win something or major trophies. All the best.
In my opinion, Arteta’s current tactics are similar to Klopp’s when Firmino led Liverpool’s attack, which rely on the inverted wingers to score
The problem is Gyokeres’ touches and technical skills aren’t as good as the prime Firmino’s
Gyokeres also cannot outpace, outmuscle and outjump huge EPL CBs like Van Dijk and Konate
Around 35% of his goals in Portuguese league last season were penalties. I was surprised that Arsenal didn’t learn from Nicolas Pepe’s case whose goals in France were heavily inflated by penalties
There are too many examples of similar prolific CFs who flopped after moving out from the Portuguese league, such as Bas Dost, Darwin Nunez and Goncalo Ramos
If Arsenal want to sign another CF from that league, they’d better look for a physically-dominant and very young one, such as Samu Aghehowa
“outmuscled?”
That is your opinion, with no evidence to base it from.
Meanwhile, Mosquera called Gyokeres a “beast” in an interview, and explained how practice against Gyokeres and his strength has helped Mosquera improve in the premier league.
Gyokeres is double-teamed, even triple-teamed against Olympiacos several times. How often has Jesus ever been triple-marked? double marked? How often has Havertz ever been double or triple marked?
Arteta’s system never capitalized on goal scoring strikers. Auba went from back-to-back golden boot-esque seasons to a dry well under Arteta.
Jesus runs around, drops deep, presses, interchanges with wingers, just does not score. Havertz drops deep, holds up play, creates, just is not a finisher.
Gyokeres is a finisher, and it is up to the manager to incorporate the strengths of Gyokeres into the squad. I believe Arteta will do that, but it will not happen overnight.
We needed a scoring striker; our LW is double teamed, teams have sussed out Saka/Odegaard on the right, and we have nothing through the middle. Hopefully this changes with Gyokeres, and I believe it will.
Gyokeres lost too many duels against Van Dijk and Konate. His highly-inconsistent performance in EPL and international games is a much better proof than Mosquera’s comment
Arteta’s system has been making us an EPL runner-up three seasons in a row and has made us a UCL semifinalist last season. So, Arsenal shouldn’t have given him another Aubameyang-like striker, but a physically-dominant CF or a highly-technical false-nine like Firmino
A prolific goalscorer might also work with Arteta’s tactics, but not the one whose 35% of his goals were penalties in Portuguese league. Remember about the flopped Nicolas Pepe
We will have to agree to disagree. Jesus is technical like you say, but system didn’t work.
Havertz couldn’t replace Xhaka in midfield, but was a good facilitator as a striker.
Unfortunately, it was not enough either, and we struggled against low block still.
Gyokeres is a finisher, and that’s what we need, not another striker like you suggest.
Jesus’ technical skills might’ve worked well for Arteta’s tactics if he wasn’t always injured
Gyokeres will score goals soon. He is still adapting.
Arsenal haven’t been creating enough scoring chances from open play since last season in my opinion, most of their goals come from set play. I think that’s why Arteta brought in Noni and Eze, they’re more direct and can unlock low block. But also Gyokores has not settled in nicely, he seems to lack the pace and is not always in the right place at right time. He also needs to create some out of nothing at times.
Just to be clear, I agree with you that Gyokeres is actually doing okay this season… But that paragraph that started with ” after beating his man…” And ended with “…. More than Haaland” was totally unnecessary 😂
I’ve re-watched several games to specifically to focus on Gyokeres. I agree with GAI, his touches and technical skills aren’t great, and I think sometimes that goes for his balance too, thus he ends up on his ass a lot (under heavy handed defense). But, I agree with Dan’s conclusion, we’ll eventually service him better (he is currently he is very effective with his darting runs and drawing defenders in any event) and he should put plenty of goals away.
His positioning in the box should also be better. There was a moment when Saka made an excellent cross, but Gyokeres wasn’t in the right position for a tap in. Too many times he’s behind or ahead of a cross. In as much as the team needs to adapt to him, he also needs to adapt to his teammates.
And like you said,his touches need to be better.Sometimes he’s played through but a poor first touch takes the ball away from him.
Great writer up Dan, with Big Vik I think it’s a matter of when rather than how. Martinelli is a point of reference, some players get that extra push and determination once the camera focuses on them and they’re the talk of the media and on the internet. Nothing feels good like having your manager backing you in the background to prove them wrong and you’re the Man. So in the next couple of fixtures, expect 4 in 4 for him and it’d be probably the start of a long scoring streak.
Isn’t it funny that people are upset when Jesus wasn’t scoring enough but when it comes to Gyok, the problem lies in Arteta’s system?
Apart from the first season we finished second when the football feels more attacking, Arteta’s system has been quite similar for subsequent seasons till now. Was Jesus also limited by the system?
Good question sushi. Same with Havertz- I’ve never seen people say the system limited Havertz. Instead, he was criticized and expected to score many goals despite contributing to the team in other ways. There’s definitely a bias there.
Exactly Onyango. The yardstick people, including myself, used to gauge players has probably changed more than Arteta’s system lol
Well Havertz and Jesus had a lot of games…Gyokeres has had 7 PL games. So perhaps the criticism is a little early
I remember someone giving Havertz the ball to take a penalty for his first goal
I am not sure why Saka took Pen against W Ham. Should have been Gyokeres to give him more confidence… I also see Saka taking lots of shots when he could pass which made sense in the past but now he needs to ensure our no 9 is ticking all the time …confidence is the big thing esp for strikers
Gyokeres came with a reputation of a good goal scorer Jesus was never a top goal scorer. What I think is the problem with Gyokeres is just as some had already observed, he need to work on his first touch. Again, due to pressures from the media, Pundits and fans, he is in a hurry to impress. This affects his positions in the final third. If only Arteta can always play Eze in the middle who has the ability to unlock defences with one time through passes, if he can play without what I may call internal pressures then, Gyokeres goals will be a matter of time. But, it must be noted that so far, he is doing a great job by relieving by dragging defenders away thereby making way for his team mates to score and more importantly, taking away pressures from Saka.
“You see the pattern? So why is Mr Gyokeres not getting the same treatment?” Seriously Dan? This is just incorrect. Gyokeres has largely enjoyed the support from fans.
If anything,Gyokeres is getting a free pass compared to these other guys. Havertz and Madueke were lambasted even before they kicked a ball for us. More often than not,Havertz hardly gets any praise even in games where he’s scored.
Talking of Havertz, I never saw people writing articles saying Arteta’s system was the reason why he wasn’t scoring lots goals. Why is this system reason being used for Gyokeres? Double standards eh?
Onyango, reputation is the reason why Gyokerez is getting a different treatment from fans in comparison to Jesús and Kai Harvertz.
Gyokerez comes to Arsenal with the reputation of a prolific goal scorer while that’s not the same with Kai Harvertz and Jesús
Real talk @Onyango
All I know the excuses for Gyokores will have to dry up at some point and He will have to take responsibility for his own performance. He has to adapt to the team not the other way around. I just hope Kai returns soon to help with the load, Gyokores might be overplayed with the games coming up thick and fast.
I also tend to think fans expected too much from Gyokeres. Personally, I thought 15 goals in the Prem would be an excellent return for him. It’s a huge step up from Portugal to the Prem.
Imo, both Havertz and Gyokeres have their strengths but also have some major flaws in their game.Havertz is not prolific enough in front of goal and Gyokeres has some technical & physical limitations as highlighted by gotanidea.I don’t see either as long term solutions for us at centre forward,unless they improve on these weaknesses. As a pair, they are good enough to win the league though.
In my opinion, Harvertz was treated with disrespect by many Arsenal fans in the early days simply because he was a former Chelsea player. There wasn’t much credit and support for Harvertz in the same way as Gyokeres now. Gyokeres may soon have to score again, otherwise the mood could soon change. Gyokeres was also not particularly good for Sweden, who yesterday lost at home to Switzerland. He seems heavy and clumsy and doesn’t seem to have much self-confidence at the moment. However, he also needs more service from his teammates. If Arsenal understand to give him service, then I am convinced,he will return as a scoring striker. See a transformation Rasmus Hojlund has undergone since he moved from Man U to Napoli. He has now scored 7 goals in the last 8 games and that must be due to the fact that he is now serviced to a greater extent than in Man U. I think we will see the same transformation with Gyokres when Arsenal better understand how to exploit his strengths.
It seems Gyokeres is having the same trouble at International level to. He’s just not being given the service he needs. And until he does get the service he needs, it’s hard to judge him.
If and when he does is the time to judge.
Gyokeres is a goal poacher, not someone who will run to an opponent to get have a foul. He needs a good service to prove himself.and the moment, he is not getting those services. Beyond goal scoring, he is attracting more attention from the defenders thereby creating spaces for the wingers which Saka has benefited.
Any day Martinelli starts futuring from the right of attack and Nwaneri from the attacking midfield, then all of us will see the potency of Gyokeres. Martinelli started from the right last season when we beat Man City 5 -1 and without him coming on the right against Newcastle recently, we wouldn’t have beaten them. Arteta’s constant use of him on the left and Saka on the right is killing his input and also limiting any strikers input It should be the other way round. I told all that cares to listen that Isak will struggle in both Arsenal or Liverpool if they continue to use left footed Saka/Salah on the right respectively. At Newcastle, high flying right footed wide men like Murphy makes it to happen for him. Isak and Gyokeres are the same type of players and Martinelli on the right, instead of the left, will help him a lot.
Dan you said Gyokeres has a poacher quality. I didn’t see that. From the strikes of Madueke and Eze I saw goalies frequently spilling or parrying balls but Gyokeres is not there in the box to capitalise. I saw these instances esp against Newcastle and West Ham. Gyokeres is not a poacher like Van Nistlrooy was. Even Arteta says in his post match interviews that Gyokeres had 3 or 4 chances in a game to score emphasising Gyokeres shouldn’t expect clear cut chances like Portuguese league. For instance I saw the poaching ability of Sesko against Sunderland. Being the first to touch the ball and being adrift of defenders make poachers distinct. I didn’t see these qualities from Gyokeres. Paulo Rossi in 1982 won Italy the WC with his poaching qualities despite his diminutive physique. At the moment I rate Havertz highly than Gyokeres and when Havertz returns we’ll see what Havertz brings to the team.
Is he the Striker Arteta wanted or Andrea Barta bought him….. alternatively, let’s give him time to settle into the system/ League.
When Kai Havertz comes back…. let’s see how they can play together.
Guess it’s too early to be worried over Gyo.He would score goals for sure…the team should provide better service for him and he should be taking penalties for us.He’s a strong lad and should come good.
I trust in victor he will do better let teammates serve him well it’s too early to change him guys
The same criticism was on Mbappe in first few months at Madrid, but see what he’s now doing. Let’s give Gyokeres time to adapt. The guy didn’t even have enough preseason, you should have that in your analysis.
Gyokeres is not doing good for his Sweden team either. Against Switzerland he didn’t even make a shot at goal rather Isak was trying though both failed to score losing 0-2 at home. Havertz > Gyokeres. Ekitike also was not involved in most pre season matches but adapting fast and scoring. We need to somewhat be cautious as Gyokeres had unsuccessful spells with Brighton and Coventry while in England.