Viktor Gyokeres responds to Arsenal legend who said Gunners display v Liverpool was ‘sad to see’

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Arsenal striker Viktor Gyokeres was a little quiet against Liverpool and has now hit back at a Gunners legend.

Arsenal were beaten 1-0 at Liverpool on Sunday afternoon, but it took something special to beat David Raya.

Dominik Szoboszlai’s sensational free-kick won it for Liverpool as Arne Slot’s side secured a potentially vital win.

So much of the post-match conversation has revolved around Arsenal not going for the win at Anfield.

The game seemed to be there for Arsenal at half-time, but Liverpool stepped it up after the break and eventually found a way through.

• READ MORE: Theo Walcott says Viktor Gyokeres will ‘unlock’ new version of Arsenal star who’s been at club seven years

Viktor Gyokeres hits back at Freddie Ljungberg

Criticism of Mikel Arteta was always going to come, but there is no great shame in Arsenal losing this game.

Arteta was without Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz, Martin Odegaard was only available from the bench, and William Saliba picked up an injury early on at Anfield.

The Arsenal boss may have felt that keeping the game tight was the best approach with those names missing, but the Gunners were on the receiving end of a world-class winner.

Former Arsenal hero Freddie Ljungberg wasn’t impressed, telling Viaplay that he was disappointed with the style of play.

Ljungberg branded Arteta’s style of play ‘sad to see’, criticising Arsenal for taking too long over free-kicks and ‘minimising risk’ at all times.

Fellow Swede Viktor Gyokeres has now hit back at Ljungberg, telling Aftonbladet that it’s easy to make such comments when not on the pitch.

Gyokeres praised Arsenal’s defensive solidity, but accepts that he would have liked to pose more of a threat going forward.

Gyokeres added that it’s difficult to play every part of the game ‘perfectly’, especially against a team as strong as Liverpool.

“It’s easy if you’re not on the pitch to say what you think and feel about a match,” said Gyokeres. “Then it’s difficult to steer it where you want. We did well defensively, and they didn’t get many chances. Then we would have liked to do even better offensively. It’s not easy to do all the pieces perfectly every match,” he added.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	LiverpoolLiverpool	3	3	0	0	8	4	4	9
2	ChelseaChelsea	3	2	1	0	7	1	6	7
3	ArsenalArsenal	3	2	0	1	6	1	5	6
4	TottenhamTottenham	3	2	0	1	5	1	4	6
5	EvertonEverton	3	2	0	1	5	3	2	6

Freddie Ljungberg has also defended Mikel Arteta

Gyokeres may have only seen or been told about Ljungberg’s criticism of Arsenal’s style, but he did also defend Arteta.

Speaking on Viaplay, Ljungberg suggested that everybody should respect Arteta as the Arsenal manager.

Ljungberg thinks that Arteta is happy with Arsenal’s style of play and clearly believes that his methods are the right approach to win the Premier League title.

“We have to respect Arteta. He’s the manager of Arsenal football club,” said Ljungberg.

“We’re talking here from the outside. We don’t really know what’s happening on the training ground, and that’s how he wants to play. He’s employed to be the Arsenal manager, and that’s how he wants to play football.

“He’s quite clear that he’s not disappointed in how they play, like ‘that’s how I set them up to play, that’s how I think we’re going to win the league’.

“We’ll have to see after 38 games if that’s the right way to go or not, but he seems very, very clear that this is how Arsenal is going to play football.

“I feel when you listen to Arteta, that this is the type of football he wants. This is how he wants to control things, and if that is a set piece, or that is that they play through Odegaard or Saka or whoever it is, they make something special, and bang, they can score and they win 1-0, he’s happy with that. I feel like we’ve been quite negative here, but we need to respect as well what Arteta says. It looks like that’s the game plan,” he added.

Ljungberg played in Arsene Wenger’s brilliant Arsenal side and may wish Arsenal were still playing that way.

Arteta has taken Arsenal in a different direction, though, and will hope to see Gyokeres fire the goals to take the Gunners back to the top this season.