Rio Ferdinand has urged patience with Viktor Gyökeres, insisting it is unfair to judge the striker after just one match. The Swedish forward endured a difficult debut in Arsenal’s season opener against Manchester United, where he struggled to make an impact in a tightly contested game.
Gyökeres had long sought a move to Arsenal, but an agreement was only finalised in the final weeks of pre-season. In order to force through the transfer, he stopped training with his former club, meaning he joined the Gunners with limited preparation. Having only trained with his new teammates for a short period, he was nonetheless selected as the starting striker in the clash at Old Trafford.
A Difficult Debut
The match itself was a challenging introduction. Arsenal adopted a more defensive approach in their narrow victory, which left Gyökeres isolated and without the kind of service he would normally thrive upon. Given his prolific record in Portugal and the significant investment Arsenal made to secure his signing, expectations among supporters were high, and criticism has inevitably followed.
The forward has acknowledged that he found the game difficult, but Ferdinand believes too much is being made of one performance. Speaking via the Daily Mail, he said:
“I think [what Arsenal will ask of him] is when the ball gets into the penalty area, where are you going to find space to score goals and can you execute? How many times do we see that Odegaard/Saka combination get to the byline and you just need a number nine to finish that chance off? That’s where he is going to earn his money and that’s how he will be judged. But you have to give someone time [to prove themselves] and you can’t judge someone after the first game.”
Time to Settle
Ferdinand’s comments highlight the reality that even top-level players require time to adapt to a new club, system and league. While Gyökeres did not shine in his first appearance, he has many more opportunities ahead to prove his quality and justify Arsenal’s decision to make him their first-choice striker.
Supporters and pundits alike will be eager to see how he progresses, but Ferdinand’s message is clear: judgment should be reserved until the striker has had sufficient time to settle into his new surroundings.
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The Manchester legend is right and am going to try and explain why.
Arsenal have added two important players to the spine of the team with the signing of midfielder Zubimendi and the goal God Victor Gyokers, further signing have taken the spending to the tune of approximately £190 mill.
Forget the narrow one nil win at the sleeping giant as the three time consecutive runners up was still feeling thier way getting our feet wet.
In the gaffer own words ‘ am seeing the right balance, all the ingredients are there’
But it is the addition of six new players and the potential of another that has inspired confidence.
The added depth in the squad has given the gaffer a real boost and the possibility of lots of variations in the team as we looks to hammer the low blocks teams.
Somthing tells me Arsenal is going to score a lots of goals in this campaign, there has been a massive emphasis on increasing goal threat from every position, using run ins behind and getting shots off , now this is where the big Swedes likes to dip his bread, scoring some 97 goals 102 appearance in the Portuguese league.
The Zubimendi, Merino factor, Odegaard was unplayable playing for Real Sociedad couple season ago, to the extent of Real Madrid ending the loan of Odegaard and refuse to do further business with the club, it shouldn’t be long before normal service resume from these three wise men.
All on board, club coaches seems impressed with the character of new signing, but Arsenal do have younger players that can jpin in without the team dipping in quality, Lewis Skelly and Nwaneri both 18 while Saka and the red hot Calafiori are still 23 , but this a team the gaffer believe is ready to win now.
The Manchester legend could be right, time is the master
It is, of course totally ludicrous to judge any player on the basis of one match let alone at the home of a historical giant such as Utd at the beginning of a season with their fans acting as a 12th man and baying for success after their pathetic showing last season.It is not the performance of individual players which should come under scrutiny , but the functioning of the team as a collective.Last season, in general terms we did not play a quick attractive brand of football ,in fact i could count the number of truly convincing performances on one hand.The fact that we finished runners up in the League was due to grit and determination rather than classy attractive football, but given our injury problems, we were never likely to pose a real threat to Liverpool.This season i am looking for a steady improvement in the quality of our football in terms of speed and tactical appreciation.Rome was not built in a day, but in the case of Arsenal funding has been made available to provide solid foundations, and i do not feel i am being unreasonable in expecting us to improve on what i observed last season.Whether we have enough amunition to win the war remains to be seen as our competitors have spent lavishly on recruitment but i do hope our Manager can justify his salary by showing more imaginative tactics to bring out the best in our players.