Viktor Gyokeres: Page 112 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One More in the Tolly

Viktor Gyokeres

Don Pacifico

Claudius Hard working and lethal but I would like Alvarez in ahead of him. He has zero link up play and it’s a key part of why we sometimes struggle to get upfield and stay there

Think lethal is pushing it - if he were, it'd compensate for the shortcomings in the rest of his game.Needs too much time and space to take his shots.

Ray

Alvarez has less goals in La Liga this season than Gyokeres has in the PL..
He’s also never scored double figures in the league..

Claudius

Ray I’d still rather make that trade off and improve how we create as a collective. The best we’ve been offensively is Jesus and Havertz as 9s, neither of whom is on their own prolific.

Qwiss

Claudius not much point in having a creative 9 to play the ball to our full backs when they are the only ones who find space in the box

Claudius

Qwiss there’s that too. I really hate Timber’s positioning relative to Saka. Ideally Saka should be pushed in more. Not always hugging the touch line.

awooga83

Claudius but this is another consequence of how Arteta sets us up. Saka always right to the wing on top of the defensive expectation so he's not spending enough time or energy close to the opposition box where he's more likely to hurt them. Instead he's in a place where he can be managed pretty easily and the best hope seems to be get a corner rather then ever getting the ball in the box.

Our pattern of play in that horseshoe of death is so ineffective. People talk about other teams making it difficult for Arsenal but we are massively inhibiting ourselves with the way we go about playing.

Tam

awooga83 best hope seems to be get a corner rather then ever getting the ball in the box.

You’re saying that as if it’s a problem rather than the intention.

daredevil

awooga83

FB's on the inside of wingers is the current en vogue tactic. PSG and Bayern both have their FB's on the inside and parallel to the CF, while the wingers maintain width. O'Reilly did it again just yesterday doubling up with Haaland from LB. The problem is our FB's aren't midfielders or converted wingers but rather they're CB's - so it's doesn't work as well. However, Timber has the highest G/A of any fullback in the league this season.

The most obvious problem with having Saka inside and the FB's on the flank is that they're not as good at passing or dribbling past their marker. Just think about it - every time we have Madueke get the ball facing the fullback - do you actually want Timber in that position facing an opposition defender? The likelihood of the ball being lost goes up exponentially if it's the full back needing to provide the width. Remember Sagna and Clichy anyone.

Having the wingers on the outside means the ball can actually be progressed towards the box, having the fullbacks on the outside means you probably won't even get to the damn box.

awooga83

Tam haha no that's totally how we play, the lack of quality in putting balls back across to me shows that can't be the focus.

Gurgen

City are very vulnerable to quick direct passes into space and counters. A good way to use Gyokeres, but of course we will opt to pass to Raya 49 times instead.

lorddulaarsenal

Gurgen I don’t think they are as vulnerable to that as they were. Khusanov has been excellent anticipating and recovering such situations

Gurgen

lorddulaarsenal they were still vulnerable to it in the first half v Chelsea

lorddulaarsenal

That guy is basically Koscielny pumped with testosterone

Gazza M

Gurgen theyre extremely vulnerable to fast transitions and leave plenty of space. real exposed it too. we're too constipated to take advantage

as for viktor, its largely been a massive disappointment. his signing has been a millstone rather than a spark for our title ambitions
pretty much the most pessimistic predictions were proven correct - we signed a guy who whose strengths we dont cater to AND the step up in level has limited his impact. those two factors combined created too many headwinds for his signing to be a success

awooga83

daredevil I understand the principle but we lack any quality really in the forwards area and Saka (at least before his recent struggles) was probably the best of those so he should be close to the box. He didn't exactly progress it that well out on the wing bar getting corners.

daredevil

awooga83

So how much worse do you think Timber would be getting double marked?

awooga83

daredevil like tam said you don't have to play that way. We don't play attacking football with intent with the actual forwards trying to hire I the opposition through them. We are to comfortable playing safer ineffective football

Tam

Or maybe, maaaaybe, don’t follow the crowd in deploying tactics that are proving ineffectual for your players and the skillsets you have at your disposal.

daredevil

Tam

I don't think it's the crowd - it's literally the two best teams in Europe. There was once a time when Wenger was criticised for falling behind and not keeping up to date with the cutting edge tactics.

I do reiterate - there are few revolutionaries in football. Wenger was one, Pep was another. Arteta as much as I rate him is not one - he's a great imitator so he's not going to come out with something drastically new. His entire 'success' is built on copying what the elite are doing.

Sicario2

VG is hit and miss but Kai is a fucking joke. No way in any world should Kai be ahead of him as striker. Anyone who thinks so is deluded as fuck.

Qwiss

Sicario2 totally agree. Are a knows it too, that's why he's trying to make him a mid again.

Burnwinter

daredevil His entire 'success' is built on copying what the elite are doing.

Disagree with this, it's just scuttlebutt really. He's clearly innovated in ways that have influenced the league more broadly. The real (and really the only) problem is that his "success" is not actual success, that is, winning major trophies. Win a few of those and he can get the plaudits for his innovations, and that's the end of the story.

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