Viktor Gyokeres a ‘real waste of money’ but is he worse than Joao Pedro? | OneFootball

Viktor Gyokeres is splitting Arsenal fans between those who believe he is a massive waste of money and his loyal defenders.

We also have (very long) mails about Liverpool. Send your thoughts on this Big Weekend to theeditor@footbal365.com

This Arsenal fan is worried about Gyokeres

I think we need to talk about Gyokeres.

It’s been almost half a season now and his performances have left a lot to be desired.

This was really hammered home on Wednesday night when he was replaced at around the 70-minute mark by Gabriel Jesus who was returning to this side after a year on the sidelines, recovering from injury.

The Brazilian was able to register more shots (one hitting the post) in his short cameo than Gyokeres all game. Jesus’ link up play, runs, positioning and overall footballing ability was so clear to see in contrast to Gyokeres, that I almost felt bad for him.

During his performance, the Swedish international’s only real contributions to the game were two half-assed, off-target headers which barely troubled the keeper. He found it very difficult to do anything at all in the game. Not linking up much with his team-mates on the wings and never really getting into any positions that allowed him to take shots or trouble the keeper. I expected much better, especially against Club Brugge, but nope.

Even against Villa his game was poor. A brilliant cross from Rice in the dying minutes of the game was the kind of pass you beg for as a Striker, but Gyokeres was not there to meet with it. It was bread and butter stuff yet, still nothing.

Before his injury, he was doing just OK but I feel like a lot of fans came up with excuses to try and justify his lack of goals and performances. Sure, he got injured but when you watch him play, you can tell that the reason he is not getting goals or anything much is because he just is not good enough to play in the Premier League (or any top-flight European league).

I hope he can pick up his performances soon or he’s looking like a real waste of money and is definitely our weakest signing of the Summer so far. It genuinely looks like he is our fourth choice Centre Forward when everyone is fit because, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say, even Merino is likely to finish on a better GA than him.

Let’s see if he can maybe get a shot or goal against Wolves at least, but even then, it’s in the bigger games where we’re looking to get a result against tough opposition, not against lower sides that I expect our 65m signing to excel. M, (Sporting CP’s Luis Suarez who replaced VG has 11 goal contributions in 13 games. I’m noticing a pattern) AFC

This Arsenal fan is defending Gyokeres

Kinda find it bizarre how different your writing was when speaking about Gyokeres and Joao Pedro. Let’s not forget here, they cost the same amount. People seem to think Arsenal forked out a serious amount of cash for Gyokeres.

Last night was the first game Gyokeres has started since November 1st where he played very well and scored against Burnley. The “return of pessimism” being blamed on Gyokeres is very harsh. For starters, he didn’t against Chelsea or Villa. And then Merino has been in good form. It’s right that even though he’s back from injury that Gyokeres needs to earn his spot back. Talk about an overreaction.

Joao Pedro has 4 PL goals and 3 assists in 1187 mins (14 starts) He also has 1 CL goal.

Gyokeres 4 PL goals in 874 mins (10 starts). 2 CL goals too where he got Man of the match against Atletico. He hasn’t been prolific enough but prior to that injury he was showing good all round play which was helping the team. I feel like people are just dying to critique him but the way you spoke about Pedro compared to him was just really weird to me. Also, what’s the logic that Wirtz is above him? Like I genuinely don’t know how you’ve come to that conclusion. Dion Byrne

Liverpool not playing chess with Salah

I think Simon is wildly overestimating Liverpool’s 4 dimensional chess game with Salah. There’s been absolutely no talk about fee, but I think we all know it’s not going to the previously quoted £100m+. We know this because he’s a few years older and also fallen out massively with the club, therefore they’re a willing seller. My guess is it would be £20-30m at most. Saudi clubs are rich, but not stupid.

Of that money, Liverpool will have spent £20m in wages, signing on fees, image rights et al over the first half of the season because he’s the highest paid player at the club. They may make a very modest profit, if that. Shifting his huge contract on will be the most important thing.

They didn’t sign him up to sell him on, they signed him up because with Alexander-Arnold leaving and Salah having the season he had, the Liverpool fans would’ve marched on Boston with pitchforks if he’d gone on a free. Their real mistake was giving a huge contract to a player that needs the attack built round him, selling the component parts that made him function, and spaffing £250m on two forward players that also need the attack built round them. They tried to rebuild for a post Salah world whilst making him their highest paid player. Lewis, Busby Way

Is Salah playing 5D chess?

Everyone seems completely convinced that Mohamed Salah’s outburst last week was an act of ego, petulance, or the start of an inevitable exit. But I’d like to offer a different angle, one that no one seems to be talking about.

What if Salah’s “I’ve been thrown under the bus” interview wasn’t about himself at all?

What if it was a calculated move to protect Arne Slot?

Before you roll your eyes, look at the timeline:

1. Liverpool were struggling and the “Slot Out” noise was building

Results had dipped, performances looked flat, and pundits were sharpening their knives. We’d already had the usual rumblings about “losing the dressing room” and “the wrong man for the post-Klopp transition.”

Salah knows exactly how this cycle works. One more bad result and the focus was going entirely onto the manager.

2. Salah never publicly blows up like this

In his years at Liverpool he’s managed his image to perfection. He’s avoided controversy, rarely shown frustration, and basically never turned on his own club in public.

Then suddenly, and conveniently right after a 3–3 draw that put the spotlight firmly on Slot, he unleashes a club-shaking interview?

That’s not emotion. That’s a move.

3. His comments immediately shifted all the pressure onto him, not the manager

Within hours, the entire news cycle changed from:

“Is Slot out of his depth?” to “Has Salah destroyed his Liverpool legacy?” Just look at the headlines:

The Guardian: “Salah says he’s been thrown under the bus” Reuters (and Wayne Rooney): “Salah is destroying his Liverpool legacy” Sky / Carragher: “A disgrace”

Slot basically disappeared from the conversation overnight. If the aim was to stop the snowball rolling toward the manager, it couldn’t have worked better.

4. Liverpool’s reaction looked like part of the choreography

The club instantly backed Slot. They didn’t hesitate. No “we’ll review it internally,” no distancing themselves.

They supported the manager and let Salah take the bullets.

It wasn’t “player vs. manager”, it became “player vs. club,” and Slot was carefully kept out of the line of fire. That doesn’t happen by accident.

Why would Salah want to protect Slot?

This is the part everyone is missing.

First: Salah has lived through managerial chaos before, in the national team, at Chelsea, even watching the Klopp transition from the inside. He knows a mid-season sacking derails everything: dressing room morale, tactical continuity, even summer recruitment.

Second: Salah is a senior figure now. Whether people like it or not, he’s essentially part of the leadership group. Senior players often act as stabilisers when the pressure gets excessive, think Henderson defending Rodgers, or Milner protecting Klopp in the early years.

Third: Slot isn’t universally unpopular among the players. Reports from inside the club (and the reaction of guys like Robertson) suggest they want this to work. It’s in Salah’s interest too, learning another new system under another manager at 33 isn’t exactly ideal for him.

Fourth: If Salah is leaving next summer, he won’t want his final season defined by the club sacking a manager because of “dressing room unrest.” Protecting Slot also protects Salah’s own legacy.

So yes, there are perfectly logical reasons for a senior player to step in and take the pressure off the manager, even if that player might not be here in a few months.

5. Salah can absorb the blow. Slot can’t.

Salah is a club legend. He’ll survive the backlash. Fans may argue over his motives, but no one questions his contribution or his status.

Slot, on the other hand, is one bad week away from losing authority.

If this was a choice between:

Salah taking on the heat or Slot being hung out to dry by the media, it makes sense why a senior player might choose the former.

So here’s the point

People are acting like Salah suddenly lost his head. But the evidence actually suggests the opposite: this was a deliberate, veteran move that:

diverted pressure away from a struggling manager, united the club around Slot, and put the narrative spotlight squarely on Salah instead.

We always talk about “leaders in the dressing room”, maybe this is what it looks like in 2025.

You don’t have to agree, but at least consider that Salah might not be blowing up the club… He might be trying to hold it together.

Cheers, Sandeep (Liverpool fan who thinks this is more chess than chaos)

A long old mail about Arne Slot’s Liverpool ahoy

I retired in March 2019 and have seen every Liverpool game since that day, a few were watched twice. These are my observations/conclusions about individual players in their positions and Slot tactics:

* Left/right forwards. Gapko on the left and Salah on the right have been successful drifting in from the wing and finding the space to launch a shot, often a curl into the far corner. Salah has the ability to also dribble through traffic should the opportunity present itself., but now slower. However, PL teams have gotten much better at defending, and the Gapko/Salah moves are well known and have been more successfully defended recently. It is the reason that Diaz was such an asset, why Jeremy Doku (over Grealish, unfortunately) is such an asset to MC. I believe creativity and aggressive attacks on defenders by the wings is the new formula for successful teams.

* 4-3-3 provides much more stability than 4-2-3-1 which seems to be growing in popularity. I also thing the 4-3-3 forwards that are much more fluid in positioning provide greater threats, but permitting the forwards to drift out of position is crucial.

* The ponderous (as in the chains in the Alastair Sim version of the Christmas Carol) possession tactic against a low block allows the defending team to reposition too easily. I believe a chaotic multi-sided attack into the box is more likely to catch defenders out of position or to make mistakes. I hate what Slot has done against the low block.

* The ponderous (again) possession game when Liverpool has gone up a goal is too often subject to a counter-attack. I would suggest that Arne Slot prefers caution and would be better served if Liverpool went for the 2nd and 3rd goals aggressively. But there has been another negative consequence of this: the pressing DNA of the team from Klopp times has been lost, and the pressing is not just the defensive pressing but the offensive pressing. Gone is the wave after wave of attack, and now we have a slow tide coming onto shore. Apologies for the poor analogies.

* Robertson over Kerkez every day until Kerkez steps up to the field vision Robertson has.

* At the moment Bradley over Gomez, which we saw in the game against Internationale.

* Develop Konate, don’t discard him. Why did he do so much better last year? And if Robertson slid, work with him as well. Back to Konate, he NEVER makes a penetrating pass into the box, and will always pass off. Why is he not developed to be the Matip? Isak was a mistake.

I believe Slot took the title last year because he was given an incredible lineup of players. There were signs in the latter part of the 24-25 season that the team was no longer pressing on the accelerator in the latter stages of the game, and that carried into this season. I was alarmed that Robertson was not making the runs into the defending half because he was instructed not to do so. Even the first 5 or 6 wins showed evidence of lethargy and lack of cohesiveness. The team lost the penetrations provided by Roberson and TAA from their midfield travels. Attacks are glacial and not blitzing.

I could go on and on, especially about the mid-field service to the front, but will hold back. Two weeks ago I was hoping Arne would be sacked and Klopp brought back, but I am starting to be hopeful that Slot is making the necessary adjustments. It’s interesting that he’s gone with a 4-3-3 in all the Champions League games.

Having said that about Liverpool, I do have to say that I am fortunate to see such incredible talent across the majority of teams in the EPL, the fact that many of the weaker teams have gotten coaches that are adding cohesiveness and results to faltering teams (Crystal and Everton, for example), and even the phenomenal job the referees are doing [I ref’ed hockey, and know what the job entails even though there are obvious differences]. Love every one’s analyses as well, because they enrich my understanding of the game.