Viktor Gyökeres’ form still a talking point: Embarrassment? We have to... | OneFootball

Kieran Gibbs, former English international aged 36, who made his mark at Arsenal with six goals and 14 assists in 230 official matches between 2007 and 2017, came out this Wednesday in defense of Viktor Gyökeres – whose personal record was equaled – in statements given to the television channel ESPN.

“I don’t think we can call him a flop after just six months. We have to give him time. He’s a prolific goalscorer, a natural striker, and you can see that. There are other parts of the team that contribute to a striker firing on all cylinders,” he began by saying.

“I think they are conditioned. If we go back ten years, every Arsenal fan was crying out for a striker like this. I think Gyökeres only came to fit that striker profile that Arsenal so desperately wanted for so many years,” he continued.

“Most of the team is conditioned to play with a pure striker, so I think there’s just an adaptation period to Gyökeres. I love him, by the way. It’s just taking some time – and maybe not even that much time – for him, but the players around him also need time to get used to playing with him,” he added.

“If we look at the bigger picture, there’s been a kind of drought. [Gabriel] Martinelli, [Bukayo] Saka, [Noni] Madueke... I think we’re used to seeing big numbers from the attacking line, so it’s not solely his [Viktor Gyökeres’s] fault (...). For me, it’s purely mental. It seems like they’ve stopped enjoying themselves,” he concluded.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.