In day two of talking about the “instant results era of football“, we look at Viktor Gyökeres.
Like with Eze yesterday, Gyökeres has the negative nancies, the moaners, the unhappy in their home lives already on his back.
I really do not understand why fans are moaning about Gyökeres and goals. We are top of the table and only Manchester City have scored more. Clearly, scoring goals has not been a problem for us this season.
The criticism of Gyökeres comes from those who do not really watch the game and only care about statistics. For then, 3 goals in his opening 8 Premier League games is not good enough. But they ignore everything else he is bringing to the team right now.
Gyökeres occupies defenders is the best analysis I have read of his game.
Whilst I get the comparisons to Olivier Giroud (although I am sure many are comparing him to Giroud in a negative way), the Frenchman did not have that turn of pace to also be a threat in behind. He could be too easily pinned high up the field knowing that ball over the top would not kill you.
Gyokeres has the strength and power to pin a defender like Giroud, but also the pace and directness to be a threat in behind. That means teams can no leave him one on with a centreback. They need to send someone up with him to compete, and also leave a sweeper behind incase that ball is played over the top. The result is a lot more space for the likes of Bukayo Saka.
Saka has spent most of his career in 2v1 situations. This season it has certainly felt like he has been left in more 1v1 situations – and that is mainly because of Gyokeres.
The way Viktor plays is freeing up space for others on the pitch beyond Saka. Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli on the left also have more space, as does Declan Rice, Martin Odegaard and Eberechi Eze in the middle. All their extra space comes from teams having to double up on Gyokeres, and having to sit that little deeper due to his pace in behind.
I also find the criticism of Gyokeres returns as laughable when you look at other “new striker signings” in the Premier League.
Gyokeres has received more criticism this season than players he has outscored and, in most cases, cost more. It just shows that mainstream media and those that make money from social media are heavily reliant on Arsenal-led negativity to pay their bills.
Anyone that has watch Gyokeres, live, in the stadium can see what he brings to the team. And you also know that the goals will come.
Bar Erling Haaland, no other striker has really lit the touchpaper this season. Everyone else is in and around the same place as Gyokeres when it comes to goalscoring output. But anyone that has watch Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal over the years will know his football is not about one player scoring a bucketful of goals.
Under Arteta, we score goals from across the pitch. It is about everyone being confident in front of the goal, not just the striker, and engineering positions for easy-to-take chances.
We are the second top scorers this season, with 10 different players scoring in 8 Premier League games.
As a comparison, Liverpool have 7 different scorers this campaign, with none scoring more than Gyokeres. Whilst Manchester City have 5 different scorers, with Erling Haaland scoring 73% of their goals (excluding own goals).
I am not bothered if Gyokeres does not score, as long as Arsenal score and Arsenal win. We are a threat across the pitch whilst others are not.
Instead of looking for reasons to criticse Arsenal, embrace that we are top of the league, playing brilliantly, and in a title race that many had written us out of before the game at Newcastle.
Keenos