Zhekelais s debut 60 minutes of complete invisibility, experts call for patience

Arsenal signed a fixed transfer fee of £55 million + 8.5 million floating clause this summer, Swedish striker Zhekelais performed poorly in the Premier League opening match against Manchester United.

In the Premier League opening match against Manchester United, Arsenal's new aid Tsai Keirish showed a significant gap with the team's overall performance.

The Swedish striker only completed 22 touches, less than 6% of the team's total 386 touches; the pass success rate was as low as 44%, far below the team's average 75%.

Offensive end, Zhekelais scored 0 shots, while Arsenal created 9 shots in total, including 3 of them; in terms of air confrontation, his 17% success rate also lags significantly behind the team's overall level of 52%.

It is worth noting that after watching the entire game, the foreign blogger counted that Zhekelais teased his hair 21 times in this game, only one less than his touches in this game.

data comparison intuitively reflects that Zhekelais has not yet integrated into the tactical system: as the Golden Boot of the Portuguese Super League last season, his ball-taking stability and finishing efficiency in a high-pressure environment have significantly declined, and he did not even complete a successful breakthrough when he was replaced in 60 minutes.

In contrast, Arsenal still broke the deadlock with set balls through overall cooperation while having a disadvantage in ball possession rate (39%).

After this game, the British media collectively commented:

Daily Mail (5 points): "The ability to get the ball behind your back is insufficient, and it cannot become a stable ball point under high pressure. The performance in 60 minutes is a disaster."

"Standard Evening News" (4 points): "The body fights against De Rigt but wastes 3 counterattack opportunities, and the pace of the Portuguese Super League is significantly different from the Premier League."

The Athletic": "He ran away but took the ball slowly, and was intercepted by Manchester United defender Yoro many times, and lost the ball 7 times to the highest in the team."

Despite his poor debut, football celebrities still called for rational view:

Mica Richards (Sky Sports): "He only participated in 3 preseason games The second round of training, lack of tacit understanding with teammates. Arteta's tactical system requires time to be run-in."

Chris Sutton (BBC): "I deny a shooter with 97 goals in two seasons in 60 minutes? This is the impetuousness of modern football."

Arteta admitted after the game: "We failed to create deep space for him, and the insufficient quality of crosses on the wing limits his performance."

Zhekelais' struggle reflects the contradiction of the Gunners' tactical transformation: Portugal relies on counterattack space during sports, while Arsenal's 61% possession rate requires the forward to participate in positional battles; after Havertz came on as a substitute, the team's offensive fluency increased, and the German's retracement response was more suitable for the existing system; it is reported that Arsenal's initial goal was Leipzig forward Sesco, and Zhekelais became a low price due to "Alternative" has aroused fans' doubts about the management's recruitment strategy.

Despite the silence of his debut, Zhekelais still has a chance to save him.

The next round against the newly promoted Leeds United, the weak team's defense may become its first goal breakthrough in the Premier League; Arsenal's opponents in the group stage include Paris Saint-Germain, and Zhekelais scored 6 goals against strong teams in the Champions League, and the attributes of the competition are to be verified; Haaland only had 1 goal in the first three rounds of the Premier League, and finally scored 36 goals, leaving fans room for imagination.

63.5 million pounds of investment can be repaid? Arteta's "patience" and Dzekelish's "resilience" will determine whether this transfer is a "parallel" or a "slow-hot superstar".