Former Manchester United defender, Rio Ferdinand, has disagreed with Gary Lineker over the former Barcelona striker’s comment that Arsenal’s Viktor Gyokeres needs to start scoring against the ‘top teams’ to avoid being labelled a ‘flat-track bully’.
Ferdinand said that no one cares if the former Sporting Lisbon star is scoring against big teams or not, insisting the striker will win the Premier League title for Arsenal.
Gyokeres joined Arsenal from Sporting Lisbon in a deal worth around £64million.
He netted six times for the Gunners in his first 14 appearances across all competitions and four of the goals came against a lowly rated Premier League side while the other two came in the Champions League against Atletico Madrid.
As a result, Lineker called the Swede a ‘flat-track bully’, a term used for sportspeople who thrive against inferior teams
“I don’t want to call him a flat-track bully, that’s a bit unfair,” Lineker said on the Rest is Football, adding that even at Sporting CP, the striker did not score many goals whenever his team played against top teams.
“So far his goals have been against Burnley, Forest and Leeds,” he said, insisting that the Sweden international should show himself in big games.
Defending the player, Ferdinand said his goals against ‘smaller’ teams will win the title for Mikel Arteta’s side.
“I don’t agree with all this, ‘he’s a flat track bully, etc.’ Who cares if he is?” He said on Rio Ferdinand Presents.
“That might be just what Arsenal need. Of all the great strikers who’ve played in the Premier League, none of them scored most of their goals against the biggest teams.
“Where did Arsenal drop points in the back end of last season? The smaller teams. If he’s the type of player that’s going to go and bully those types of teams, you should go and win the league. That’s the missing part of the jigsaw you were looking for.
“So, all this, ‘but he can’t do it against the bigger teams’, who cares? Someone else will find a way. Arsenal have got 11 different scorers in the Premier League. Nobody else has more than that.
“If he can bully the rubbish teams and the average teams, I think you’re going to win the league.”
While in Portugal, the 27-year-old scored 97 goals in 102 games for Sporting.