The stats did not make for particularly pretty reading.
On his first competitive start for Arsenal, Viktor Gyokeres had 21 touches and completed four passes. He did not have a single shot in his hour on the pitch.
The £64million summer signing was far from the only Arsenal player to struggle at Old Trafford, even if the Gunners still found a way to win 1-0 thanks to Riccardo Calafiori’s header.
There has been huge demand for Arsenal to sign a striker in recent seasons and now they have done so, the challenge for Mikel Arteta is getting the best out of Gyokeres.
Here, Standard Sport assesses how Arsenal can do that…
Look for the pass in behind
Arsenal’s system for the bulk of their recent title challenges has been built on control.
There is little risk taken, structure prioritised over individual freedom, and so the instinct is not necessary to look for the quick pass in behind.
Gyokeres created zero chances, had no shots on goal and managed just 21 touches, only three of which were in the opposition box
Getty Images
There was an effort from the Gunners to play forward with more purpose against United, though the quality was not there and it in turn left Arsenal vulnerable to counters. As Arteta put it, the first half resembled “a basketball match”.
Even with that desire to be more purposeful in possession, it is clear Arsenal will need time to adapt to Gyokeres.
His runs in behind were often ignored, with his team-mates regularly choosing the safer pass on counter-attacks, and it left Gyokeres with limited service.
“In the finalising situation he didn’t have that many chances to do that, because as I said in the previous action before we had to play that last ball and the line was standing still with 40 metres behind,” Arteta said.
“We didn’t manage to put the ball through to exploit his quality.”
Arsenal have not had a striker in recent seasons with Gyokeres’ instincts to run in behind and it showed at Old Trafford.
Gyokeres struggled to get into the game, and even when he was making the runs in behind his team-mates weren’t finding him
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Martin Odegaard predominantly looks for Bukayo Saka to his right, but the Arsenal captain and his team-mates must get used to being braver in releasing Gyokeres.
The forward was played in out wide in the second half for near enough the first time, only to trip over the ball and lose it.
Gyokeres can certainly get sharper, but he also needs more service.
Those passes do not need to be perfect, either.
It is striking just how big Gyokeres is and he will relish the physical battle against any defender he comes up against this season.
Matthijs de Ligt was tasked with marking the striker and twice the United defender was sent tumbling to the ground after going shoulder-to-shoulder with him.
Gyokeres was bullied off the ball too easily at times and was let down by his first touch
Arsenal FC via Getty Images
Any ball into the channels can be turned into something with Gyokeres’ pace and strength.
The striker drifting wide to make those runs should draw defenders out and leave space inside for the likes of Bukayo Saka, so often doubled up on, to exploit.
Gyokeres is not going to drop deep and link play in the same way that Kai Havertz does, and the German unsurprisingly looked more comfortable than his fellow forward when coming off the bench.
He can, though, brush aside defenders if Arsenal unleash him.
Negotiate the non-negotiables?
No Arsenal player will get away with not pulling their weight off the ball under Arteta.
Asked after the match for his verdict on Gyokeres’ performance, the Arsenal boss pointed to the improvements needed in his pressing game.
“You can tell, especially in our high pressing, the rhythm that we demand, especially in the first half,” Arteta said.
Gyokeres was replaced by Kai Havertz on the hour-mark
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“Again, he took a bit too much time. It’s something that we have to work on him, especially there.”
Gyokeres will not be given the freedom to stand on the halfway line and wait for his moments in attack, but Arsenal do risk negating some of his key strengths.
For one first-half counter, Odegaard was driving at the United defence and looked up to play the pass, only for Gyokeres to be 30 yards behind him and only jogging past the halfway line.
The striker had been tracking back and sitting deep in Arsenal’s shape and was not able to get up in attack in time to offer an option on the break.
Allowing Gyokeres to have a slightly more advanced role out of possession would surely enhance Arsenal’s counter-attacking threat.
