A member of Mikel Arteta’s squad at Arsenal has publicly admitted that he’s not been good enough for his country in recent matches.
Arsenal have 18 senior players away on international duty, many of whom are currently engrossed in crucial World Cup qualifiers.
Bukayo Saka scored for England on Thursday night, while the likes of Gabriel Magalhaes and Jurrien Timber have produced impressive performances for Brazil and the Netherlands, respectively.
Meanwhile, things aren’t going quite as well for another Gunners star, who is under pressure for both club and country.
Viktor Gyokeres says he’s not been good enough for Sweden
Gyokeres is facing criticism at Arsenal for his performances, having scored just three goals in his first ten appearances in a red and white shirt.
However, he’s arguably facing more intense scepticism around his displays for his nation.
Swedish media delivered a brutal review of Gyokeres’ performance against Switzerland on Friday night.
The Scandinavian side were beaten 2-0 by the Swiss, courtesy of a penalty from Granit Xhaka and a strike from Johan Manzambi.
Jon Dahl Tomasson’s side now have a difficult task on their hands to qualify for the World Cup in North America next summer, as they sit bottom of their qualification group, eight points behind leaders Switzerland.
Gyokeres and his strike partner, Alexander Isak, are facing the brunt of Sweden fans’ frustrations, and the Arsenal star isn’t hiding away from this.
“Of course, it’s not good enough,” he told Fotbollskanlen after the Switzerland clash.
“With this team, we have to do much, much better — in every part of the pitch. It’s clear that we need to make things click a lot better than they are right now.”
Viktor Gyokeres isn’t responsible for Sweden’s struggles
While Gyokeres could probably do more in a Sweden shirt, there’s only so much you can ask of him and Isak.
The Swedes have the issue of being a top-heavy side; their best players are strikers, which means nothing if they don’t have anyone who can get them the ball.
19-year-old Tottenham midfielder Lucas Bergvall and Brighton’s Yasin Ayari anchor the middle of the park for Tomasson’s team, and these players don’t have the capacity to reliably feed Gyokeres and Isak the ball in dangerous areas.
The two strikers can certainly do more when they’re not playing against European minnows, but ultimately, the rest of the squad isn’t at the level required to beat more talented teams.
The two star strikers will face the majority of the criticism, but as Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s Sweden era showed, a centre-forward can only carry a team so far.
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