Viktor Gyokeres: Gyok Hard

[Trilly]

Nah but if he did have doubts I think we're seeing why. Decent functional player but hardly the game changer that we would have wanted. Not that Sesko would have been either this season but looking more and more likely he'll have a higher ceiling than Gyok at this level. But also seems like he wasn't keen on coming here anyway.

Not sure what we do to upgrade CF tbh. Market for it is dead. Go young and hope on development maybe.

I’m hopeless because it seems like this summer there truly is nobody there. I know we say that every summer and then someone like Ekitike will pop up but this summer it seems like there’s genuinely no decent striker we could sign and I think the talks of Alvarez are a pipe dream. He’s waiting for Barca let’s be honest.

We have no choice but to go young, find someone who has the attributes even if the stats aren’t there and develop them. We probably have to do that 2/3 times over the next few years, sell the others and keep the one that works.

I know I say that Gyok at least is good at finishing but I’m not going to pretend it isn’t insanely frustrating to see the guy lose what appears to be every. single. duel. I have never seen a man so weak for his size/height it genuinely makes no sense.

 

[Trilly]

I guess this is where some creativity in the window would be nice too.

PSG saw the striker crisis and despite all their money they decided to try a thing with Dembele at false 9. Dembele is insanely talented but nobody actually wanted him there are threads on here where people are jokingly afraid of Barca trying to dump him on us.

We need to be better and more creative in the transfer window. Whether that’s by thinking of new positions for players or going early on guys before they blow up. That’s partially why I don’t understand why our fanbase tends to look down on talented players whose stock is low. We’re not Real Madrid, we need to get the talent somehow.

 

[BBF]

I think we need to see more from Gyok in an Arsenal shirt if we're calling him a good finisher to be honest.

I actually thought he'd be scoring a lot more of the rare clear-cut chances he does get, but that's not really a fair assessment to make. A lot of other strikers miss in those situations, and the only reason I expect more is because of his previous work at Sporting.

As for the rest of his game, I mean, there's nothing that hasn't already been said.

 

[PrinzPoldi]

Yeah but we have some players who are good at nothing.

Then we have some players who are better rounded but bad at the most important thing for the position which is finishing. While also being unreliable and massively overpaid.

Who are good at nothing??? Wondering.

Be frank, this is just unfortunate.
From head to toe, I sense that manager does not trust Gyokeres (Artete has no choice because all others are injured/not fit), players not (really) trust him; or I should say, his teammates are not going to adapt to his strength(s).
However, this is reality (and normal).
Gyokeres was a big fish in a small pond. When he arrived, he actually was "just another player".
He did not have enough accolades and credentials to make the manager or players to adapt for him.
When he was with Sporting, he was their biggest name, their best player. The team and players "had to" make ways for him and play his style.
Here at Arsenal, sorry, we already have a bunch of established international players who accomplished more.

Gyokeres did not win the trust to have his teammates to sacrifice their habits and playstyles for him.
Right or wrong? I don't know. They are the ones who trained with him everyday and know better than us, the fans, the pundits.
Yes, he has a killer shots, but what else? What could he bring for the team, when time is tough and no (not enough) opportunities to shoot?

 

[Aubamabludclat94]

Hire someone who will make him better at winning aerial duels. Andy Carroll, Drogba, Mandzukic, Falcao, the homeless man at the bus stop, anyone. Literally anyone. I don’t care if he remains complete **** at everything else he’s **** at, give me the tactical advantage of at least being able to go 50/50 on a knockdown ball from Raya. I don’t need him to be elite at it, but give me SOMETHING. I probably start Kai 7/10 times ahead of him SOLELY for this reason, that’s how important it is when we’re playing like absolute ****

 

[Big Poppa]

I guess this is where some creativity in the window would be nice too.

PSG saw the striker crisis and despite all their money they decided to try a thing with Dembele at false 9. Dembele is insanely talented but nobody actually wanted him there are threads on here where people are jokingly afraid of Barca trying to dump him on us.

We need to be better and more creative in the transfer window. Whether that’s by thinking of new positions for players or going early on guys before they blow up. That’s partially why I don’t understand why our fanbase tends to look down on talented players whose stock is low. We’re not Real Madrid, we need to get the talent somehow.

I’m not saying Martinelli is Dembele but I’m surprised when we had zero available forwards last year he didn’t at least see what he could offer through the middle. We’re all looking for a silver bullet but maybe the solution is just to be more fluid and rotate our attackers during games the way PSG, Bayern, Real and Barca do.

 

[Fallout]

Hire someone who will make him better at winning aerial duels. Andy Carroll, Drogba, Mandzukic, Falcao, the homeless man at the bus stop, anyone. Literally anyone. I don’t care if he remains complete **** at everything else he’s **** at, give me the tactical advantage of at least being able to go 50/50 on a knockdown ball from Raya. I don’t need him to be elite at it, but give me SOMETHING. I probably start Kai 7/10 times ahead of him SOLELY for this reason, that’s how important it is when we’re playing like absolute ****

Kai needs to start this weekend, else we have problems

 

[nWoneri]

Not gonna give up on this guy, he will make it work.

Maybe I'm in the minority, but think we haven't seen a glimpse of his Sporting form, he seems half the player and yet he is still our top goalscorer.

 

[GoonerJay24]

I wonder when the penny finally drops with the majority of the fanbase regarding this guy.

Like I’ve said numerous times you can’t play good attacking football with him up front, it’s basically like playing with one less attacker.

He can’t start against City, it will be another bloodbath.

I disagree. Gyokeres has improved. He was poor on Wednesday, but overall I’ve seen better technique and more confidence from him since January.

The most important area for playing good football is the midfield, then the flanks. In modern football, some would argue centrebacks too, though I don’t agree.

I’ve seen us play some of our best football with Bendtner, Chamakh, Aliadiere and Sanogo up front

 

[Penn_]

He runs like a character with old PS2 tank controls.

 

[MikelHadADream]

I disagree. Gyokeres has improved. He was poor on Wednesday, but overall I’ve seen better technique and more confidence from him since January.

The most important area for playing good football is the midfield, then the flanks. In modern football, some would argue centrebacks too, though I don’t agree.

I’ve seen us play some of our best football with Bendtner, Chamakh, Aliadiere and Sanogo up front

He's improved slightly, but its still no where near good enough. He still cant win duels or link the play in any way.

The most important thing in football at the top level is sticking the ball in the back of the net. Arteta's Arsenal is a very good case study on this. Extremely strong defence and midfield throughour the last 3 or 4 years, third rate attack, no trophies.

 

[Trilly]

I think we need to see more from Gyok in an Arsenal shirt if we're calling him a good finisher to be honest.

I actually thought he'd be scoring a lot more of the rare clear-cut chances he does get, but that's not really a fair assessment to make. A lot of other strikers miss in those situations, and the only reason I expect more is because of his previous work at Sporting.

As for the rest of his game, I mean, there's nothing that hasn't already been said.

His conversion rate is the best in the league, probably europe.

He's converting at an unsustainable rate tbh.

Yes, he has a killer shots, but what else? What could he bring for the team, when time is tough and no (not enough) opportunities to shoot?

I've seen semi-succesful teams where the player up front is only really useful when they have opportunites to shoot. The lack of technical quality throughout the team is causing guys to hone in on Gyokeres who also lacks in that regard BUT if we're looking at it on a relative scale, then imo the wingers are a bigger problem. Nelli/Madueke's lack of tecnique/IQ relative to what is needed from their position is a much bigger problem.

 

[JSArsenal]

His conversion rate is the best in the league, probably europe.

He's converting at an unsustainable rate tbh.

He’s 13th in the Premier League.

 

[Trilly]

He’s 13th in the Premier League.

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Take out the guys who aren't volume shooters and this is a better idea but two things.

1. Idk why I thought he had a conversion rate of like 50%, I think I mixed up some stats somewhere
2. Idk if his numbers have dipped since that tweet. But he's always seemed fairly clinical to me.

 

[Iwobeast]

Some damning stats

 

[nWoneri]

His conversion rate is the best in the league, probably europe.

He's converting at an unsustainable rate tbh.


I've seen semi-succesful teams where the player up front is only really useful when they have opportunites to shoot. The lack of technical quality throughout the team is causing guys to hone in on Gyokeres who also lacks in that regard BUT if we're looking at it on a relative scale, then imo the wingers are a bigger problem. Nelli/Madueke's lack of tecnique/IQ relative to what is needed from their position is a much bigger problem.

Yep.

We need to surround this guy with better wingers, wnigers who are actually looking to create chances for their CF, or atleast give him something to work with.

What I noticed from our wingers and I keep doing so, is that our wingers tend to shoot a lot, but they are horrible at it, Leo has that one goal outside 16m, and Martinelli has that goal vs Atletico where he came to shoot properly.

Besides that, I rarely see them trying to play a pass to him, or let alone making a through ball forward - they just give the ball back, or fail to take on opponent full back.

Saka being woeful and selfish too, Madueke not living up bar few times, has zero end product just athleticism, Martinelli is, well Martinelli and I think we should sell while his stocks are still high. Trossard is just not present at the moment.

We need two new wingers literally, along with Nwaneri coming along, and shift the focus to actually getting the balls to the striker.

He is not the type of striker to come and receive the ball, this guy requires a different system to unlock him - that is an issue but sometimes it can work against some teams out there.

 

[MikelHadADream]

Arsenal fans will throw Bukayo Ayoyinka Temidayo Moses Saka under the bus to protect their perception of what this guy is, and the struggles they think he's faced.

The reality is VG is extremely lucky to be playing for a top 3/4 team in Europe, this is as good as it will get for him.

 

[Blood on the Tracks]

If you get Gyokeres into the position to be connecting with a shot in and around the box he's a very fine goalscorer.

Problem is he struggles quite badly in a technical and mental aspect. He takes a split second too long, he gets the ball caught under his feet etc. An above average football would get the ball away more often than he does.

He's just a tad slow of mind and body, he'll never be a top goalscorer in a major league. Too flawed.

For him limitations I think he's done okay. Keep him around as an option but we do need to look for a higher ceiling starter in the summer.

 

[MikelHadADream]

Some damning stats

The last stat here is a massive reason why we are so bad going forward. If your CF losses the ball 40% of the time theres no wonder our football is horrendous in the final third.

 

[JSArsenal]

Yep.

We need to surround this guy with better wingers, wnigers who are actually looking to create chances for their CF, or atleast give him something to work with.

What I noticed from our wingers and I keep doing so, is that our wingers tend to shoot a lot, but they are horrible at it, Leo has that one goal outside 16m, and Martinelli has that goal vs Atletico where he came to shoot properly.

Besides that, I rarely see them trying to play a pass to him, or let alone making a through ball forward - they just give the ball back, or fail to take on opponent full back.

Saka being woeful and selfish too, Madueke not living up bar few times, has zero end product just athleticism, Martinelli is, well Martinelli and I think we should sell while his stocks are still high. Trossard is just not present at the moment.

We need two new wingers literally, along with Nwaneri coming along, and shift the focus to actually getting the balls to the striker.

He is not the type of striker to come and receive the ball, this guy requires a different system to unlock him - that is an issue but sometimes it can work against some teams out there.

The whole “service” has already been debunked. You just don’t think he does because his touch/movement is bad.