Arsenal Legend Flags Striker Worry After Title Blow
Patrick Vieira has expressed significant apprehension regarding Arsenal's summer signing Viktor Gyokeres, labelling his lack of goals a genuine "concern" in the wake of the Gunners' damaging 3-2 home defeat to a resurgent Manchester United. The loss at the Emirates Stadium has tightened the Premier League title race, with Manchester City now just four points behind the leaders.
Set-Piece Reliance Exposed in Deflating Loss
Arsenal's over-dependence on dead-ball situations was starkly highlighted during Sunday's match. The hosts' opening goal, a Lisandro Martinez own goal, originated from two successive crosses, while Mikel Merino's late consolation came directly from a corner. While the team has been exceptionally proficient from set-pieces this campaign, the statistics reveal a worrying trend in open play. Only three Premier League sides have scored fewer goals from open play than Mikel Arteta's men this season.
The £64 million acquisition of Gyokeres from Sporting CP was intended to address this very issue. However, the Swedish international has managed only five league goals, with a mere two strikes since mid-September. His form has dipped so markedly that he has recently lost his starting berth to the returning Gabriel Jesus.
Vieira's Verdict on the Attack and Team Mentality
Speaking on Sky Sports, the former Arsenal captain did not mince his words. "Of course it is a concern because you want your No. 9 to score goals," Vieira stated. "You want them to get into double figures and that’s not the case right now. That is the concern but Arsenal are still top of the league so that means they are doing something good."
Vieira suggested the solution lies in a more collective effort to service the forwards. "It’s a collective game and there’s a lot of players with four or five goals. They need to create more for the strikers and put them in better positions to create chances and score goals. By doing that maybe you need the ball in the box more rather than recycling the ball. They have a physical presence so they need more balls in the box and more players in the box."
Beyond the tactical analysis, Vieira, the last captain to lift the Premier League trophy for Arsenal in 2004, questioned the current squad's psychological fortitude. "They are still four points clear, but there are still questions about the mental strength of the team," he added. "It’s not just that they lost the game, it’s the way they lost the game. (Bukayo) Saka and (Leandro) Trossard didn’t produce enough to worry United."
He called for greater leadership and bravery on the pitch. "They need a leader to lift the spirit of the team. They need to understand when they are on the pitch they have to play with more energy and more risks. They have the quality. They didn’t play with the freedom to express themselves. They need to go back to the basics and to express themselves, play with freedom, and go forward."
Arteta's Response to the Criticism
When Vieira's pointed comments were put to Mikel Arteta in the post-match press conference, the Arsenal manager offered a measured response. "That’s fine, we accept every opinion, where it comes and where it’s coming from and they will have the right reasons to say it," Arteta said.
He contrasted the performance with their recent display in the Champions League, attributing the loss to technical errors rather than purely mental factors. "At the end we have to show the mental strength that we have on the pitch when it comes to a match day and we were absolutely brilliant in Milan and today we weren’t that good. I don’t know if it was mental because of how much they played, but because we were poor, especially technically in certain aspects of the game against a team that, when you make those mistakes, they can punish you big time and that was the difference."
The defeat, which marked Manchester United's second consecutive win under caretaker manager Michael Carrick, serves as a major setback for Arsenal's title ambitions. The Gunners must now regroup quickly, with a Champions League group stage finale on Wednesday before a return to Premier League action against Leeds United next weekend.
