Arsenal are prime of the Premier League and Champions League tables however lots of their supporters are rising more and more involved in regards to the performances of star striker Viktor Gyokeres, the £64m summer time signing who’s failing to satisfy the big expectations that accompanied his arrival.
Gyokeres’s nameless displaying on Thursday night time, by which he had solely eight touches and did not take a single shot, has additional sharpened the deal with the 27-year-old. Within the Premier League, he has scored one purpose from open play in his previous 15 matches, courting again to mid-September.
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Gyokeres has now made 19 appearances within the English prime flight, which is a large enough pattern dimension to start drawing some preliminary conclusions on his performances. Right here, Telegraph Sport dives into the underlying information behind his showings – and analyses the worrying patterns which have emerged since his transfer from Sporting CP.
Poor motion
Maybe probably the most irritating facet of the striker’s performances in current months has been his lack of ability to seek out area within the penalty space. A recurring theme of ’s matches has been crosses flashing throughout the field with Gyokeres nowhere close to them.
On quite a few events this season, Gyokeres has both been on his heels when the cross is delivered or just too near the opposition defenders to make any impression. Arsenal have a set of remarkable wingers – Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard, particularly, are excellent crossers of the ball – however Gyokeres has been struggling to assault their deliveries from broad.
Viktor Gyokeres has struggled to capitalise on the high-quality deliveries of his team-mates – Getty Photographs/Catherine Ivill
Former England striker Gary Lineker, who was recognized for his predatory penalty-box motion as a participant, is amongst those that have been vital of Gyokeres’s method to those conditions.
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“I’ve watched him fairly intently the previous couple of weeks and I believe he’s like most strikers – he waits to see the place the ball’s going, waits till it’s crossed after which assaults the area,” Lineker stated on The Relaxation Is Soccer. “That’s what defenders do.
“As a striker it’s a must to gamble on the place you suppose the ball would possibly go and also you go simply as they’re about to cross it. You steal a march on the defender that method and plenty of the time the ball received’t go there, however I don’t see him doing that fairly often.”
In the previous couple of video games, there have been three placing examples of this lack of motion. The primary was towards Aston Villa, when Declan Rice produced a devilish low cross from the left flank. Gyokeres merely didn’t anticipate the supply, and subsequently couldn’t attain it in time.
Towards Brighton and Hove Albion a number of weeks later, Gyokeres made no try and dart to both the again put up or the close to put up when Saka charged into area down the suitable wing. As a substitute, he remained virtually stationary, alongside a Brighton defender.
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And towards Liverpool on Thursday night time, Gyokeres was once more sluggish to react when Rice surged down the left wing and whipped in a superb cross.
May or not it’s a problem with Arsenal’s wider assault, moderately than with Gyokeres as a person? The success of Mikel Merino, when filling in as a striker throughout Gyokeres’s absence earlier this season, would counsel not.
Merino, taking part in as a centre-forward, confirmed clever penalty-box motion to attain from crosses in video games towards Slavia Prague, Chelsea and Brentford. Such moments at the moment appear to be past Gyokeres.
In some ways, Gyokeres’s lack of aerial menace shouldn’t come as a shock. Of his 39 league targets for Sporting final season, none had been headers. This isn’t a participant with an extended historical past of towering above opposition defenders or shaking off his markers in a congested penalty space.
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Arsenal will surely count on extra sharpness within the remaining third, although, from a ahead who arrived on the membership with a repute as considered one of Europe’s deadliest goalscorers.
Unreliable contact
Sadly for Gyokeres, his struggles should not restricted to off-the-ball actions. In possession, too, he has had difficulties towards the aggressive and highly effective centre-backs within the Premier League.
Up to now this season, 33 strikers have performed 500 minutes or extra within the Premier League. Of these 33, Gyokeres ranks thirty third for possession loss fee, which suggests he loses the ball extra occasions per contact than some other striker within the division. His possession loss fee is 42.7 per cent.
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This looseness in possession virtually price Arsenal at residence to Villa final month. Gyokeres was robbed of the ball in his personal half, resulting in a Villa counter-attack from which Ollie Watkins ought to have scored.
Gyokeres additionally ranks worryingly low for his duel success fee, which has been 33.6 per cent within the Premier League this season. Solely three strikers within the league have a worse duel success fee.
It’s clear that the standard of defenders in England is larger than in Portugal, the place Gyokeres scored 97 targets in 102 matches for Sporting. Final season, he accomplished 60 of his 132 tried dribbles previous opponents (46 per cent). Within the Premier League, he has been profitable with solely 5 of his 27 tried dribbles previous opponents (19 per cent).
There are some caveats right here. First, the character of Arsenal’s possession-based recreation implies that Gyokeres is commonly taking part in towards compact, deep-lying defences. He subsequently has much less area than most of his friends within the league. Secondly, Arsenal typically favor to construct play by midfield moderately than shortly sending lengthy balls in the direction of Gyokeres. Once more, this contributes to him typically being surrounded by opponents.
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A mix of the above components implies that Gyokeres is solely not as concerned in Arsenal’s matches as he or they want. Towards Liverpool on Thursday, he had solely eight touches. It was the seventh Premier League match this season by which he did not register a shot.
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Maybe most regarding of all is that Gyokeres is turning into much less concerned, and fewer efficient, over time. In his first 5 Premier League begins, he scored two targets from open play and averaged 20 touches per recreation. In his final 5 Premier League begins, he has scored zero targets from open play and averaged 15 touches per recreation.
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Adaptation
For all of the criticism that Gyokeres is receiving on a person stage, it might be argued that his team-mates should not all the time serving to him. There have been a number of events this season when Gyokeres has needed an adventurous early cross from midfield, however his team-mates have as a substitute chosen a safer possibility.
Towards Liverpool, for instance, Martín Zubimendi declined a high-risk cross into the trail of Gyokeres and as a substitute performed a shorter cross to Saka.
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For Arsenal, it has too typically been the case that Gyokeres has seemed for one cross whereas his team-mates have performed one other. The sense persists – and is definitely rising – that he’s not but on the identical wavelength because the artistic gamers within the facet.
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The counter-argument to all that is that Gyokeres helps Arsenal’s assault by occupying the opposition centre-backs and pinning them again, thus creating more room for the opposite attackers.
There could be little doubt, although, that Arsenal hoped for extra after they selected to put money into Gyokeres final summer time (he was picked forward of the dearer Benjamin Sesko, now at Manchester United). With Gabriel Jesus and Merino accessible, and with Kai Havertz near a return from a knee damage, Gyokeres is now scrambling to maintain maintain of his place within the workforce. Within the stands, the dissenting voices are rising louder and louder.