Gyökeres' problem at Arsenal

New signing Viktor Gyökeres failed to make much of an impact in his debut at Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal continued their pre-season friendly streak with a 2-3 defeat to Villarreal in the early morning of August 7. Christian Norgaard and Martin Odegaard scored for the Gunners, but the La Liga side still won the match overall and then won on penalties.

The highlight of the match was Viktor Gyökeres's first start for Arsenal. The £64 million signing was expected to solve Mikel Arteta's attacking problems after his explosive start for Sporting CP. However, the Swedish striker's performance was disappointing.

In 63 minutes on the pitch, Gyökeres touched the ball just 14 times, made 7 passes (4 correct), lost possession 3 times and had a single shot on target. This lackluster performance saw him replaced by captain Odegaard.

However, the British media believes that the problem is not entirely Gyökeres. Many major newspapers unanimously commented that this striker has made potential off-the-ball movements, but has not received timely passes from his teammates. The Evening Standard gave him 6 points and commented: "It takes more time to find a common voice with his teammates, when many times he makes smart movements but does not receive the ball."

Although his debut was not as expected, experts agree that Gyökeres needs more time to adapt.

Meanwhile, The Express pointed out that Gyökeres was easily closed down by the opponent, even committing a foul out of frustration. The newspaper believes that he also needs to take responsibility for the lackluster performance, although it acknowledges that his running was a rare bright spot.

The Sun commented that the Swedish striker is still not in the ideal physical condition: “A quiet evening in his first match at the Emirates. Had a few good moves in the first half, but he failed to get into the rhythm of the game - understandable given the lack of pre-season preparation.”

Meanwhile, Arsenal Insider assessed the problem as a lack of compatibility between Gyökeres and Arsenal's current style of play. "It's clear the team will need to adjust to make the most of Gyökeres' running ability - which was not properly exploited in this match," the site analyzed.

Despite his less-than-stellar debut, the consensus among pundits is that Gyökeres needs more time to adapt. The issue isn’t his individual quality, but his connection with the rest of the squad – something Arteta will no doubt be looking into ahead of the Premier League season.

Source: https://znews.vn/van-de-cua-gyokeres-o-arsenal-post1574941.html