Sweden’s manager says people ‘don’t understand football’ after what he’s heard said about Viktor Gyokeres

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Sweden manager Jon Dahl Tomasson has responded to criticism of Arsenal striker Viktor Gyokeres.

Gyokeres has scored three goals in ten appearances across all competitions for the Gunners this season, after having hit the back of the net 54 times for Sporting CP last term.

The Swede was acquired by Andrea Berta to be a prolific number nine, and he’s yet to find his feet in this regard in N5.

That said, Gyokeres has impressed with some of his recent displays, leading the line with his tireless running and ever-improving hold-up play.

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Jon Dahl Tomasson hits out at Viktor Gyokeres critics

Arsenal spent £63 million on Gyokeres in the summer.

Arriving with an impressive goal-scoring pedigree, the expectation amongst most was that he’d instantly become the Gunners’ most productive player in front of goal.

However, he’s somewhat struggled to adapt to the physicality and intensity of the Premier League, finding it significantly more difficult to get into good positions to convert chances than he did in Portugal.

This has, unsurprisingly, led to criticism of the player from sections of the media and from fans.

Jermaine Jenas claimed last week that Gyokeres isn’t good enough technically, a common critique of the player throughout his time in North London so far.

Sweden boss Tomasson has hit out at some of these evaluations of the striker, stating that those who can’t see the player’s value ‘don’t have a clue about football’.

“Viktor Gyökeres is in very good form at the moment and is very good,” he said in his press conference on Monday.

“If people say he doesn’t have an impact on matches, then they don’t understand football and don’t have a clue about football. He creates space for other players, works on the ball and makes runs.

“It’s excellent, and he scores goals almost all the time, so he has an impact and has been very good. It’s always nice, as you need time when you come to a new club.”

Viktor Gyokeres’ underlying statistics at Arsenal aren’t good enough at the moment

It’s still early in the season, so reading into such a small sample size of data can be misleading, but the underlying metrics aren’t overly encouraging for Gyokeres thus far.

Taking just over two shots per 90 minutes and accumulating just 0.34 non-penalty expected goals per match, the 27-year-old isn’t likely to score the volume of goals that will silence critics with these metrics.

Creatively, his numbers are also down significantly from last season, reflecting how uninvolved he has been in certain periods.

That said, these numbers have been deflated by games against Manchester United, Liverpool and Manchester City, where he managed no shots.

Managing eleven shots in his last three outings across all competitions, he has shown a notable improvement and appears to be heading in the right direction as he grows accustomed to his teammates and improves his fitness.