“I have played with other top players before but honestly he’s the best I’ve ever played with”: Arsenal’s new striker Viktor Gyokeres names ONE Arsenal’s player who’s doing what he has never seen in football history
Arsenal’s pre-season continued with a loss to Villarreal on Wednesday night.
Goals from Christian Norgaard and Martin Odegaard proved to be mere consolation as the Spaniards won the initial contest 3-2 and then also came out on top in a penalty shootout afterwards. It wasn’t all doom and gloom for Mikel Arteta’s men, though. Fans got to see Viktor Gyokeres start his first game for the Gunners.
The striker has been in blistering form for the last two years with Sporting CP, becoming one of the best strikers in the world and Arsenal spent months trying to lure him to the Emirates Stadium. They finally got their man earlier this summer and he’s now started his first game for the team. It wasn’t a particularly impressive outing, but the media have highlighted Gyokeres’ biggest problem at Arsenal.
Gyokeres’ Biggest Problem at Arsenal
The media were quick to address it
During the game, Gyokeres played 63 minutes before he was replaced by Odegaard off the bench. Before he was substituted, he struggled to make much of an impact. He completed just four passes throughout the game and only actually attempted seven in total. He lost possession three times and registered just one shot on target.
The striker only had 14 touches on the ball throughout the game too, but the media have since addressed his performance and highlighted one major problem that they spotted. Multiple publications noticed that the forward made some promising runs behind the Villarreal defence, but his teammates failed to pick them up and set him up. The Standard handed Gyokeres a 6/10 rating and said: “Handed his first start and was quiet.”
“Will take time to get on the same wavelength as his new team-mates, as more than once he made runs and wasn’t found.”
The Express also highlighted the striker’s promising runs which were ignored by his teammates, but were also a little harsher on his performance, writing: “Made plenty of runs that weren’t found but he also must accept some blame for a disappointing showing. Got bodied off the ball and gave away a free-kick out of frustration. His only decent chance was fired straight at the keeper from a narrow angle.”
The Sun thought he looked slow, but credited that to being inactive. They wrote: “A very quiet evening on the £64m signing’s Emirates debut.
Had a few promising opportunities cutting inside from the left during the first half. Plenty of Arsenal’s chances came from crosses – perhaps he would have done better had the ball been played directly to his feet. Didn’t really look up to speed – not surprising given he didn’t really have much of a pre-season.”
Finally, Arsenal Insider also discussed his promising runs that his teammates weren’t able to capitalise on, saying: “It’s clear that this Arsenal squad is going to need to change the way they play to fit Gyokeres, who was making very good runs without being played in. There will be an adaptation period for both the striker and his teammates before he gets firing.”
“It’s clear that this Arsenal squad is going to need to change the way they play to fit Gyokeres, who was making very good runs without being played in.”
