Five PL goals and no assists, yet this player is vital to Arsenal’s attack

TotalArsenal

Arsenal have the second highest number of goals in the PL, and yet nobody features in the top of either the PL goal or assist tables. Leandro Trossard is ‘top’ with five goals and four assists, followed by Gyokeres with five goals and no assists. Saka and Rice have four goals and three assists each, and the rest of the goals and assists are split among the remaining Arsenal players. I find these stats remarkable, and the question is whether this is a coincidence or all part of a plan.

It is also a question of what matters most: the means or the outcome? There has been a lot of focus on Gyokeres lack of goals (and assists!), but does it really matter if the rest of the team are scoring the majority of the goals instead? Now, I am sure that Mikel brought in Viktor with the hope that he was getting a CF who would bang in loads of goals. The handsome Swede is certainly not banging them in as much anymore, but he never seizes to try and do so. He is a handful, a constant threat to any defence. Leave him space and he will punish you, and this is vital to our attack. With the parked busses Arsenal meet almost constantly, we need a CF who rams and cajoles, who creates pressure and chaos. I think Viktor is doing a great job at this, and he is getting better and better.

Having Kai back is a bonus, and Jesus has been a veritable shot in the arm to our attack, but I don’t think either will replace the never-give-up Swede anytime soon. Jesus has great qualities but is a different type. Kai is quality and can certainly stand in for Viktor, but we may see the lanky German more as a second striker or even playing in the nr10 position; a position which is up for grabs at the moment.

Viktor clearly needed to adjust to the physicality and lack of space of the PL. Arsenal play a different sort of football than he was used to, and the expectations on his shoulders weigh a ton. But I like to judge a man on his values and his efforts, on his character and self-belief, and I have seen enough to know that this guy will, by hook or by crook, get there. That will be good for him and also good for the team…. as long as we don’t lose the ability to keep spreading the goals and form a threat from all areas and by all players. This is our real strength, and Viktor is already a major player in our ‘plan of attack’.

By TotalArsenal.

30 thoughts on “Five PL goals and no assists, yet this player is vital to Arsenal’s attack”

  • Some goal, Total. What a fab debut.

    Thanks for the post. But for injury, I think Big Gabby would have been up there with our top scorers this season. He’s missed a couple of presentable headers in the past two games but will soon get his eye back in. Still has a way to go to match Steve Bruce’s 19 goals from Centre Back in the ’90-’91 season. I can’t remember if he took their penalties but that is some total for a defender.
    Despite his efforts we still pipped them for the title that season. Let’s do the same tomorrow morning. See ya’all at 6.30am NZT. COYG.

  • I watched the Ladies’ game on YouTube and while the home side had some dominant spells, our ladies rallied to go ahead and once they got the 2nd, you just knew Chelsea weren’t coming back.

    Great debut by Ethan. Buzzing for him.

  • LINE-UPS
    Arsenal:
    Raya, Timber, Gabriel, Saliba, Hincapie, Rice, Zubimendi, Odegaard, Saka, Trossard, Jesus.

    Subs: Arrizabalaga, Mosquera, White, Lewis-Skelly, Merino, Eze, Martinelli, Madueke, Gyokeres.

    Manchester United:
    Lammens, Dalot, Maguire, Martinez, Shaw, Dorgu, Mainoo, Casemiro, Fernandes, Amad, Mbeumo.

    Subs: Bayindir, Heaven, Malacia, Mazraoui, Yoro, Ugarte, Mount, Cunha, Sesko.

  • Strong line up; it must spell it out to MLS now since he should have been in with a shout, after doing well at Inter Milan. However, I really don’t fancy the prospects of Amad Dialo against Lewis-Skelly, until he is back to his best.

    I hope Hincapie can play the full 90 mins, seeing as he has only just returned from injury. Risky move too, but if it works out….
    I feel Arteta should have continued with Gyokeres and bring Gabby Jesus on late. Let’s see if Gyo can do better with a tiring defence then.

  • I feel for Eze but he will get his time soon enough, but maybe not this season (except we suffer injuries). The fact is he needs to improve on his defensive contributions and be ready to track back hard, after losi G the ball.

    The way we play currently, with the midfielders playing closer to the defence in a build-up, it exposes the team when there’s a counter-attack should our No. 10 cause a turnover as further up the pitch as Eze prefers to play/stay. With time, he will understand why the team moves as a unit, defending or attacking.

    With a huge prize ahead, Arteta is not taking any chances with the sentiments.

  • All agreed, Eris.

    Eze’s time will come again. Hincapie is a class act and MLS gets plenty of playing time given his age.

    Three home PL losses today; let’s hope we can reverse the trend.

    CoyrrGs

  • Not sure why we are nervous around this Manchester team. Starting from Saliba, Odegaard, and then Zubimendi, we seem to worry about their press too much. Even Gabby Jesus can’t control passes, which is a strength of his.

    Hopefully, Arteta gees them up and we do much better. I fully expected a good win here. If Trossard is going to keep holding onto the ball and looking to play Holywood passes against opponents, while ignoring runners, maybe Madueke needs to come on some time soon.

  • Back to the routine of our very professional, slightly boring PL performances …
    Were it not for that howler/reminder of the Mustafi-Sokratis years, they’re such a sorry bunch that we’d be snug as bugs inn the warm rug of our 1-goal lead, though.
    We should be very wary in the second half though, because Carrick has the Cunha-Mount-Sesko (?) solutions on the bench, which might give his setup a sexier, more dangerous look.
    As for us, well … I beg to differ with you completely, gentlemen. I think Ødegaard is a chunk of ice freezing our moves in the bud, whereas Eberechi is the flame igniting bonfires from the very same position (actually, not exactly – Ebz occupies the pocket of space, 10-15 yards further up the pitch, where we need our creator to be, and which Martin Ø constantly shies away from).
    Now Eris, my dear friend, I really do hope we didn’t buy Ebz to blame him for not defending well enough – if this is the case, the money we spent on him would have put to much better use, should we have gifted it to whatever charities inspired our generosity.
    I think we do know the “best version of us” – Ebz for Martin, and Mikel M CF, but I don’t expect to see it picked any time soon. Having said that, we still have in store enough to beat that lot, and soundly too.
    COYG

  • Looks like fatigue has finally caught up with many lads (Zubi a case in point …).
    The week rest that’s comin’ up is all they need. Massively disappointing result, but still all to play for, let’s get over this quick and move on …

  • Four points clear, boys. Two handball calls that could/should have gone our way. Who understands that rule anymore???

  • A kick in the guts, but it just was not our day. An uncharacteristic mistake by Zubi and two superb finishes killed us. Var was a farce, and we just have to move on. Yet I wish we start to show some more belief in these sorts of games. The leadership role(s) needs attention.

  • The big difference between the Prem and CL is that in the CL we get a penalty and United’s 2nd goal is chalked off…

    Tierney was VAR, born in Manchester and apparently a Wigan fan…

    Of course he is!

  • TA, on the key points of the article, the fact Arsenal have the second highest number of goals in the PL, yet with none of our boys featured in the top of the PL goals/assists table is a direct consequence of having played three previous seasons without a known top striker. We have learnt to rely on every player and spreading the goal scoring responsibilities, culminating in latching onto the weapon that is set-piece goals efficiency. Now, even that has suppressed our offensive creativity, as we do appear to seek out set pieces (nothing wrong with that) which appears to have forced a bit of laziness in our front players; you know, like it’s okay if we don’t take risks to score since we can always try from the next set piece.

    By bringing in Gyokeres, Arteta apparently wanted to have an arrow head to bang in goals aplenty, but that isn’t working because he didn’t get a full pre-season and the team had not been weaned of the team structure that relies on spreading the goals. It is a huge tactical shift which can’t just happen overnight. We need to play more to Gyo’s strengths as we adapt to the change of having a top striker. It was only When he came on that Martinez and Maguire broke sweat and got bumped; Gabby Jesus did his thing but he’s just come back and really looks like he still needs to be eased back carefully. Arteta has listened to the clamour on social media and brought him in a pressure cooker game last night and must regret that now.

    So, just saying the spread of our goal scorers, even when we now play with a top striker, is not the result of some grand plan but simply the continuation of the way we’ve learnt to play over three seasons where we came a creditable 2nd in the league. And yes, I also believe Viktor Gyokeres will come good, the more the team trusts him.

  • Yesterday’s loss was a chastening one and just simply tested the resolve of the players and fan base and has served to have the club question itself. A loss like that has the effect of doubt creeping in about getting over the line.

    The players were unusually nervous, showing they have been paying attention to all the noise outside, so played the occasion rather than the game. Forget about a Throw-in coach, we need an expert Psychologist to build back confidence while Arteta has to remind the boys just how good they are and how well they have done, so far. We have to re-focus the boys on the prize and how important this is for the club (players and fans), as a whole. Hopefully, they get it and pursue it with pride. I don’t listen much to Roy Keane but I agree with him when he said our boys have to embrace the pressure rather than fear it. We looked afraid at times, yesterday, after dominating the first 30 minutes!

    On individual players, I thought all came short of the usual standards except Saka, Rice, and Gyokeres. Why Trossard lasted up to 75 minutes, I’ll never know as he just wasn’t beating his man, yet held on to the ball cutting back, then passing backwards, when a cross may pose a greater threat. Don’t get me started on his knack for just carrying the ball across the field, in our defensive areas. When he did try to thread a pass, it aways seemed to get blocked because he chooses the intricate when a simpler pass was available. He absolutely had zero threat all game. For me, he should have come off at half time. Zubimendi was put under pressure by the pace of Saliba’s pass. His choice (penchant, even) of going backwards proved costly as he miscued his pass to Raya. That goal was the turning point.

    Arteta must also address our recent habit of going defensive the moment we score against other top teams. We let ManU in so soon after going ahead; something that is out of character with this team. So, the question is can we handle the pressure? The gaffer has work to do and I am glad he knows it.

  • Interesting points Eris, I’d imagine that the club already has psychologists who routinely work with players as all big clubs do. Our game management was poor following our opening goal and our equaliser, we needed calm heads and instead got over-excited, 2-2 would have been fine all things considered. We’ve conceded late goals too often this season and that comes from a lack of composure in stressful situations that only experience can rectify, hopefully it won’t cost us again this season?

  • Kev, I know we do, so whoever it is, they have their work cut out for them.

    It is even more pertinent because we have been on a poor run in the league, the past 3 games; 2 points from 9 says so. We could easily drift and that’s got to be looked into.

  • On Saturday, all the home sides won, except Burnley who played out a draw.
    On Under, all the Away sides won the games.
    On Monday, the home side had to improve in the second half to graft for a draw. This league is hard and will throw up a few more twists and turns yet.

  • All good observations, Eris.

    I will stick with the bad day at the office approach for Sunday’s game. 9 games in January and to lose one is not a shame. But Leeds need to be takwn down, next weekend.

  • Fortunately Eris both Aston Villa and Man City have stumbled at the same time as us so the damage to us isn’t terminal, title winning seasons tend to have their ups and downs and we are coming out of ours, we’ll be fine.

    Keep calm and carry on. ✌️

  • Food for thought indeed, Eris …
    You’re very likely to have a point about Gyö’s far-from-being-ideal pre-season in particular imo. Whether they will fire on all cylinders, or not, is often based on how well/hard they’ve worked during these few weeks, for big units like him.
    As for the rest … we do have to score from open play more; I think we can all agree on this. Set Piece FC, Own Goal FC, Thrown-In FC (??), all of this is/was very funny, but our first goal at San Siro is the kind of team goal we have to produce (much) more often …
    Declan and Mikel M are suspended for tomorrow’s game … I’m looking forward to it, though, if only because there’s an outside chance Myles might be given his first start in midfield:
    Havertz
    Jesus-Eze-Madueke
    LewisSkelly-Nørgaard
    Calafiori-Hincapié-Mosquera-White
    Kepa
    ????
    Yes, I’d love to see GJ9 be given a shot at “LW”. He can thrive there, or so I think anyway.
    Btw, Eris, I think you’re spot-on about Leandro’s performance last sunday, too. Adrian Clarke kind of confirmed it when he showed a big blank where there should have been incoming key passes from the left …
    COYG !!

  • I think it’s a misconception that Arsenal play to get set pieces. Set pieces happen and then it is criminal not to maximise on them. That is the big difference with early Arteta and late Wenger teams: they were so ineffective with set-pieces.

    Of course Arteta wants to score more from open play, but it is only getting harder to do so with space at a minimum and teams getting more and more tactical astute whilst sitting deeper and deeper. Creating that space is becoming harder and harder. Ask Odegaard end Eze..

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