With the team short on attacking players at the start of January, it was going to be important to find someone to both fill the void as well as add quality to the team. Viktor Gyokeres, fresh off a loan at Swansea City where he had failed to score in the league, was the man brought in to fill that need and it has been an underwhelming spell at the club for the Swede thus far. After showing a modicum of promise, while clearly lacking a bit of confidence, in his early appearances, it doesn’t reflect well on Gyokeres that Mark Robins quickly moved towards a front-line of Maxime Biamou up front on his own rather than persisted with the new signing.
A tall, fairly quick, hard working forward, with decent technical ability to boot, the raw ingredients are there for Viktor Gyokeres to at least be a decent striker at Championship level. However, his tendency to drift out wide when playing as a central striker and the lack of conviction he appears to have when in promising positions are why Gyokeres has struggled to force his way into the team. There have been flashes of the player that Gyokeres could be, causing problems for defenders by getting in their faces, along with some neat touches and turns to open up space. It’s those moments after those flashes that have let Gyokeres down, where he has taken an extra touch or paused instead of getting a shot away or driving towards goal.
Whether it’s a lack of confidence that has let Gyokeres down or simply a lack of ability, it’s hard to tell because he hasn’t really been given a chance by Mark Robins to build a head of steam – having had a few starts along with a few late substitute appearances. It doesn’t look like he is in the right environment to succeed and, with Tyler Walker fit and Matt Godden seemingly close to a return, it is increasingly unlikely that it will happen for Gyokeres at Coventry City. Like the signing of Matty James, he is another important piece of business who hasn’t made the impact we needed him to, which raises the question over whether we could have made smarter, more impactful, signings in January.
Sideways Sammy 