{"id":5884,"date":"2025-08-17T22:50:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T22:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/5884\/"},"modified":"2025-08-17T22:50:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-17T22:50:07","slug":"viktor-gyokeres-underwhelming-arsenal-debut-english-media-reaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/5884\/","title":{"rendered":"Viktor Gyokeres ‘underwhelming’ Arsenal debut: English media reaction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arsenal<\/a> claimed all three points during their season opener with Manchester United, but new striker Viktor Gyokeres struggled to make much of an impact.<\/p>\n

The lack of a clinical number nine has been a glaring flaw within Mikel Arteta\u2019s side in recent years and the signing of Gyokeres was made to address those issues.<\/p>\n

After scoring 97 goals over the last two seasons for Sporting, Arsenal pushed the boat out to sign the Swedish international in a deal worth \u00a355million, rising to \u00a363.5million with add-ons.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re quietly confident that the 27-year-old will eventually find his feet in the Premier League, but his debut did raise a few question marks.<\/p>\n

In 60 minutes, he didn\u2019t register a single shot, only took 21 touches and had a pass completion rate of 44%.<\/p>\n

While those stats don\u2019t make for particularly great reading, it\u2019s worth stressing that it\u2019s still very early days for the Arsenal striker.<\/p>\n

With that in mind, here\u2019s how the English media reacted to Gyokeres and his debut against United.<\/p>\n

Daily Mail<\/p>\n

\u201cWorked hard and occasionally bullied Yoro with his strength, but an underwhelming debut,\u201d is how Nathan Salt from the Daily Mail<\/a> described Gyokeres.<\/p>\n

\u201cA couple of loose touches and no shots before being replaced on the hour. Struggled with hold-up play, leaving Arsenal without an out-ball under pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Standard<\/p>\n

\u201cUnderwhelming competitive debut,\u201d wrote Matt Verri of The Standard<\/a> who gave Gyokeres a 5\/10 match rating.<\/p>\n

\u201cHad the beating of De Ligt for strength but did not make the most of rare chances when given space in behind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arsenal Insider<\/p>\n

\u201cArsenal fans will have no complaints over the work rate and endeavour of Gyokeres and he gave Matthijs de Ligt a real battle,\u201d wrote George Light from Arsenal Insider<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, whenever there was a slight glimpse at goal, the Swede lacked a little bit of composure and was subsequently substituted on the hour mark.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 27-year-old is still finding his feet after a disrupted pre-season and he will feel that his first goal in the league is only round the corner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Football London<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a game that was not lacking in narrative, especially when it came to the two strikers on show (or not, as it happened, with Benjamin Sesko left on the bench), it was not the ideal start,\u201d wrote Tom Coley from Football London<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cArsenal and United had both been battling for strikers over the summer with Andrea Berta pivoting towards Gyokeres ahead of Sesko.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was the chance for one of them to have a perfect introduction to life in the Premier League. It wasn\u2019t to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

GOAL<\/p>\n

\u201cThe summer signing showed glimpses of his power and pace but the former Sporting CP striker had an unwhelming outing,\u201d wrote Richie Mills from GOAL<\/a> who gave Gyokeres a 4\/10 match rating.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t hold the ball up particularly well, lost the vast majority of his duels, and created no chances.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daily Express<\/p>\n

\u201cStruggled at times with the physicality of the United centre-backs, but Viktor Gyokeres certainly gave as good as he got,\u201d said Amos Murphy, writing for the Daily Express<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cCame close to what would\u2019ve been a delightful assist midway through the first half, but team-mate Gabriel Martinelli mistimed his acrobatic effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps unfairly jeered off the pitch by the United fans, with Gyokeres linked to an Old Trafford switch earlier in the summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt least they\u2019ll get a chance to examine his credentials even further when he lines up in the Champions League for Arsenal later this season.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Athletic<\/p>\n

\u201cDid not do nearly enough on the ball despite charging around,\u201d wrote Max Mathews from The Athletic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWas jeered off by the United fans. A disappointing full debut.\u201d<\/p>\n

Micah Richards<\/p>\n

\u201cHe struggled today, but we didn\u2019t expect him to be at his best,\u201d Richards said during Sky Sports\u2019 post-match coverage.<\/p>\n

Chris Sutton<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t start writing Viktor Gyokeres off after an hour of football. That\u2019s the danger nowadays,\u201d Sutton said on BBC Radio 5 Live.<\/p>\n

Clinton Morrison<\/p>\n

\u201cViktor Gyokeres fed on scraps,\u201d Morrison said on BBC Radio 5 Live.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is difficult for him. There\u2019s still a lot more to come from him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gary Neville<\/p>\n

\u201cArsenal had to change,\u201d Neville said on co-commentary after Gyokeres was substituted for Kai Havertz.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe front three, especially the wide players, are not playing anywhere near good enough in this game.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ NEXT: Arsenal\u2019s 2025-26 pundit predictions: Will the Gunners finally win the Premier League title?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

TRY A QUIZ: Can you name every Arsenal player to score vs. Man Utd in PL since 2000?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arsenal claimed all three points during their season opener with Manchester United, but new striker Viktor Gyokeres struggled…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5885,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10,18,13,14,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,5,7,8,5927],"class_list":{"0":"post-5884","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-featured-news","12":"tag-featurednews","13":"tag-headlines","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-latest-news","17":"tag-latestnews","18":"tag-main-news","19":"tag-mainnews","20":"tag-news","21":"tag-top-stories","22":"tag-topstories","23":"tag-viktor-gyokeres"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}