Suppose you were designing the ideal Arsenal game for Viktor Gyokeres, what would it look like? You would want his team mates parked in the final third, weaving intricate patterns before Martin Odegaard played the killer through ball. You don't want to rely on Gyokeres' hold up play, his passing or his pressing. You just want to set up camp where you can feed the guy who is supposed to be your bagsman and he can, well, bag.
This 1-0 win at Napoli was not far off that vision of an ideal Gyokeres game. Before the Swede was withdrawn in the 74th minute with the scores level, Arsenal had had 287 final third touches to Napoli's 42, Odegaard alone with 50% more possession in those dangerous areas than his opponents in their entirety.
The Gunners weren't just knocking on the door, they'd brought sledgehammers to break down Massimiliano Allegri's rearguard. They just were swinging them in all sorts of wild directions. That was not necessarily a Gyokeres failing. Arsenal's problem in the first three-quarters of this game was that Mikel Merino, Piero Hincapie and Bukayo Saka missed a string of chances in increasingly ludicrous fashion. Saka in particular has rarely had such a promising opportunity as the left footed close range 0;7 xG shot that he somehow contrived to lift over Alex Meret's bar.
Clearly these players in those moments should have done much better. Then again at least they got in positions to miss those chances. Gyokeres ended this game without a shot to his name, a dubious honor he shared only with Ezri Konsa and David Raya, and with fewer penalty box touches than full backs Hincapie and Ben White. There were also four shots that he teed up though only the 70th minute opening for Christos Tzolis off the back of a smart interception constituted an inviting chance from which Arsenal might have scored.
Now of course there are qualities that any center forward can bring to the game that are not necessarily captured in the data. Off ball movement and runs in behind can create space for others even if the ball does not come to the striker. When the ball is in the final third, pinning your center back and darting around the penalty area might create avenues for others. You might, however, expect some of those runs to result in the ball coming his way. Gyokeres did not want for service but when Odegaard was fizzing passes between the lines it was too often to a striker who seemed a beat behind the tempo.
CBS Sports And really that off ball work is not what you sign Gyokeres for. If Mikel Arteta wanted someone for the link play or the target man work he had Kai Havertz and Merino. When Gyokeres arrived from Sporting with a goal a game record behind him, he was supposed to be the output machine that the others are unlikely to ever be. To do that, he is going to have to get shots. Nearly a quarter of his starts in the Premier League and Champions League have ended without Gyokeres taking a shot. Barely two and a quarter non-penalty shots per 90 as a starter, just 0.41 non-penalty xG: these just are not the numbers you would expect from a striker in one of the most possession and territory-dominant clubs in Europe.
Maybe Gyokeres' impressive xG per shot (0.217) is a mitigating factor, a sign that this is a forward who is not required to pull the trigger but to lurk in pursuit of a superior opening. And maybe these numbers are being warped by just how much of a slog last season was for Arsenal and Gyokeres. With Havertz and Merino often injured, the yeoman's work fell to their marquee new signing. That does not look like being the case this season. The supply line is crackling, the shots popping up for everyone else. The 4.05 xG this team put up Wednesday night might have been gaudy, but it was only a partial outlier for a team who have purred in big games against Manchester City and Chelsea already.
The chances should be there for a top striker and the one thing that years of data from across football tells us is that the one trait elite forwards share is that they got those shots. They might not convert them more effectively than the rest... unless they're Lionel Messi. That isn't really the point. The best keep getting those chances.
Gyokeres does not. And if he cannot get those openings when Arsenal are camped in the opposition third, when are they going to come his way? When is it going to be a Gyokeres game? On tonight's evidence, rarely, if ever.
Add CBS Sports on Google Join the Conversation comments
