Viktor Gyökeres (14)

Can’t believe the criticism he’s getting from all over media. Show me the “good” stats Saka, Martinelli and Ødegaard had yesterday…

His movement was very good. But our creativity and attack was crap overall. Hardly Gyökeres fault. Pathetic.

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Did you really think this yesterday!?

I thought there was a definite shift in tactics in TRYING to get the ball forward quicker/cut out passes. This I think was part of the reason we had so little posession, instead of the backwards sideways passes less risky passes we saw previous, players were trying to progress quicker. We clearly were not up to scratch with it, but I did not think our play was measured or controlled vs last season.

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Yesterday was more of an outlier I think. But in general, our style of play is among the slowest in the league when it comes to moving the ball from defence → midfield → attack.

We’ll see if there’s a significant change in style in the next few games I think.

OK…

I for one think Arteta is trying to change the tactics - not very successfully yesterday but I think evident.

People were also saying he wouldnt start Gyokeres vs Havertz.

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Excellent, that’ll upset the knobber of a “fan” who complained on You Tube that we have too many chants “It’s getting embarrassing” he said.

I say it’s time to make some new chants for each of our coaching staff too.

Thought he was pretty crap yesterday but what the fuck was Odegaard ignoring all his runs for?

they need to build some chemistry fast because there were 3/4 opportunities to slide him through on goal, completely missed.

I’d start him against Leeds but unless something major changes I’m going with Havertz to get us through the Anfield, Forest, City, @Newcastle run of tough fixtures. We can’t have our striker dropping another performance in those fixtures like Gyok dropped against United. At a bare minimum, Havertz is going to be absolutely up for the fight in the biggest fixtures, help the fluency of our play, and do an elite job pressing the opponent.

Gyok didn’t have a full preseason and is adjusting to a new league and team. He can have some more time to bed in and get used to the speed of the league and then work back into the first XI in October when we play a bunch of weaker sides and we’ll need his flat track bully goal scoring prowess.

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Let me buy you a protective vest to deal with all the potential bullets coming your way.

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havertz will only give impact on the pitch as subs, he cannot carry this team under pressure when play in starting xl

Still early days but I have to say, some of the runs that Saka and Martinelli made were just unimaginative. Running in straight lines, expecting Ode to find the pass somehow.

The one thing we have going for us right now is good ball winners in the midfield in Rice and Zubimendi. Those turnovers are crucial to get Gyokeres into goal scoring situations with the opposition defense retreating.

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At Anfield, we may only get 1 or 2 clear cuts. We need Gyokeres on the pitch.

Would you be saying that for Sesko if we bought him instead ?

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Bournemouth had 3 shots on goal, and scored 2. I think we’ll have more than just 1 or 2 chances. But yes, we need Gyok to be firing to really have a chance.

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Bournemouth seemed to carve their way through their midfield and shaky defence. We’ll get more chances certainly.

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You don’t remember when Kai arrived, all the smart runs he made to not receive the ball?

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Depends how he looked.

Sesko’s adaptation to our playing style would have been easier. He might have flopped but he would have been more involved in our possession play and wouldn’t have struggled to press with the required intensity.

I think Gyokeres just needs time. But if we have to win a big game tomorrow Havertz is the better choice.

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Viktor probably only started at Old Trafford because Havertz is returning from a slight injury in pre-season.

Call me insane, crazy or some other names but I’m going to see how our new signings do over the course of the season. I want them to integrate as quickly as possible but I also want to see our existing players integrate and play to the strengths of our new signings as quickly as possible.

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For me, it’s poor to have a player on the pitch who barely touches the ball and loses every duel for 65-70 minutes. That’s no different to having 10 men on the pitch.

I hope that game from him was just a ‘Welcome to the Premier League’ moment, and he will go from strength to strength after a few games.

Arteta & Heinze need to do coaching sessions with Ode, Saka, Martinelli, Madueke and Gyok. We simply can’t afford to have a front 4 who don’t interact with each other well on the pitch.

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I’m amazed at the amount of criticism after one game tbh. But hey, I wanted Isak instead so maybe I should join in without seeing the big picture too.

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