Rio Ferdinand has revealed what he thought of Viktor Gyokeres’ performance vs Liverpool, “I need to…”

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Arsenal slumped to defeat against Liverpool at Anfield in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon.

The Gunners battled hard without some of their key players, but ultimately came up short courtesy of a stunning late free-kick from Dominik Szoboszlai.

The result leaves Mikel Arteta’s side three points behind Liverpool, having played three matches.

Viktor Gyokeres led the line for Arsenal, and the Swede’s performance has certainly sparked discourse online and amongst pundits.

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Rio Ferdinand says Viktor Gyokeres was ‘disappointing’ against Liverpool

Gyokeres received criticism for his display against Manchester United in Arsenal’s first game of the season, and his showing against Liverpool wasn’t too dissimilar.

While he worked hard and tried to battle Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate, he was ultimately ineffective and didn’t impact the game frequently enough.

Finishing the 90 minutes with just five passes completed and no shots taken, it was a day to forget for the Gunners’ new number nine.

Rio Ferdinand wasn’t impressed with what he saw from Gyokeres, lamenting the striker’s inability to ‘bully’ either of the Liverpool centre-backs.

“Gyokeres has been disappointing today hasn’t he?” the pundit said on the Rio Ferdinand Presents YouTube channel.

“He made one good run in the channel and he played someone in, but against power, quick, strong centre-halves, he doesn’t look like he can bully them, and I need to see more.

“If he can’t bully them with strength or pace, what’s next? Does he have the nous to get a yard in the box? I haven’t seen it yet.”

Viktor Gyokeres’ statistics vs Liverpool

It was a poor showing from Gyokeres.

While he demonstrated his physical capacity to beat Van Dijk and Konate in sprints into the channels, and held the ball up well at times, he was far too peripheral on the day.

Completing just eight passes across his first two Arsenal appearances, the 27-year-old added just five more to his tally at Anfield.

Not dropping deep to facilitate build-up and not breaking into the box to get chances, he ultimately offered very little.

He’ll need to start producing more frequently if he’s to justify his price tag. That said, it’s still early in his Arsenal career, and this was as tough a test as he’ll get all season.