My verdict on Kai Havertz
Since joining Arsenal from Chelsea this summer, Kai Havertz hasn’t really been able to hit the ground running yet. Some Arsenal fans are worried and unsure of the impact he will end up having at the club and if he will end up being successful under Mikel Arteta.
Havertz who brings a lot of experience to the side, looked to be a strange signing in the summer for most Arsenal fans and if you’d told me a year ago that Havertz would be donning the Red and white shirt of Arsenal, I would have never believed you. And so far his performances have be a little underwhelming.
Having a full pre-season in America with the side, he copped a lot of stick from fans and rivals, who just couldn’t understand where he was going to fit into this Arsenal side and why Arteta had decided to sign him. But after The Champions League Game on Wednesday against PSV, some Arsenal fans have started to realise just what attracted Arteta to the idea of having him at Arsenal.
Havertz who operates mainly in the centre of the pitch, does a lot of unnoticed work off the ball, getting into the perfect positions and looks to be able to read the game really well. Although he hasn’t be able to score a goal and get off the mark just yet, that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been close to doing so. For me, he’s just been unlucky, getting into the perfect positions, but just hasn’t been able to find the back of the net.
There was always going to be a lot of pressure put on Havertz’s shoulders to hit the ground running and perform, coming from a local rival, all eyes have been firmly planted on him and I think the pressure is showing a bit. He looks like he lacks confidence and just hasn’t found his feet yet. But if you watch him closely, he’s making all the right moves, doing all the right things and sooner or later the goals and assists will start coming.
Arteta has pleaded with Arsenal fans to not judge too quickly, give him time and back him, and personally I think that’s all he needs. We’ve seen him in big competitions, we’ve seen him perform for his country, so there not doubt about his talent but he just needs that little bit of confidence to get him going. With an already star-studded midfield of Odegaard and Rice, Havertz could be the perfect combination to make our midfield unstoppable.
Watch his moves on the night here…
What’s your verdict on Havertz so far Gooners?
Daisy Mae
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Kia Havertz to Arsenal in my opinion is like the tube amplifier system, the warmer it gets the better it sounds.
Played well anyone,
Who can’t see that has never played football at a decent level
He was one of the best defensive players in the game, because he won four aerial duels and three tackles
If he didn’t win them, PSV would’ve controlled the game
He’s not like Vieira or Trossard who possesses a low center of gravity, but we can rely on his physicality
With Raya, he seems to be a focal point as he was targeted on several occasions and those he did not win Arsenal did won the second ball.
Yes, Raya passed the ball to Havertz when PSV attackers pressed him
Every game you say he won four aerial duels.
Your second paragraph, seriously?
That’s Havertz’s strengths. Imagine if he lost those seven duels
Now they are seven?
Four aerial duels + three tackles = Seven challenges
I don’t believe what u say
U make analysis from standpoints of sentiment
Except in Sheffield, Burnley etc type of teams
In this current crop of Arsenal team, at the moment Kai can never be the best at anything
Unless the best at doing the wrong things
If he’s the best at anything, then u invariably mean his teammates have lost confidence and are making abundant of mistakes, mistakes so numerous than even Kai
He played well
He did okay
His performance has improved
He looked brighter
His confidence seems to be shooting up
Those are the statements that can be related to Kai
HE WAS THE BEST AT SO SO & SO is just a bloody lie
What else could I then believe about your analysis
Those stats are facts, not based on sentiment
I have a few questions to the fans who are making points against Havertz.
1. Considering how important Xhaka was to how we played last season, would anyone mind Xhaka being with us this season? Or to have some other player in his mould in our starting XI?
2. If we were to replace Xhaka with a young player with a much higher ceiling than Xhaka in terms of technicality and attacking threat, how much would such a player cost?
3. Would anyone want an AM with a completely different profile than Xhaka to replace him?
4. If Arteta valued Xhaka, but wanted an AM who wasn’t just a better midfielder than Xhaka but better at what Xhaka did for us last season, would getting player like maddison make sense?
I would love to hear the answers.
And, I will go on to say that people who are not able to understand Havertz, when he is not at his best atm, are the people who never actually understood what Xhaka provided to us. They just appreciated Xhaka because he made more runs into the boxes and scored a few goals last season while not being error prone. Those were the side effects of the role he played last season. What he actually provided seems to elude many a fans here. He wasn’t a technical dribbler and a creative playmaker, not was superb in his defensive qualities, but what he was willing to do was everything that our team required to tick and sync together. He did what the team needed him to do at any situation. Being absolutely unselfish, he could make others better, take up positions so that our forwards would get space to do their magic, a very unselfish role but without which our forwards wouldn’t have scored so many goals that we did last season. Most people only appreciate him scoring more goals and providing assists, not getting yellow and red cards and not making errors leading to goals. People appreciated error free Xhaka, scoring and assisting Xhaka, not the Xhaka that he was, and not certainly what his actual role was in the team.
I think Havertz will go on to have the same fate. He will only be appreciated for goals and assists and ditched for the lack thereof. Everything else he would do will just skip over people’s awareness.
Analysing the match against PSV, watching Havertz repeatedly, 2 of our goals were directly enabled by Havertz’s intelligent run into spaces, dragging defenders away for Trossard to have a free run, and a pretty straightforward contribution to the last goal.
But hey he didn’t score or assist so he is shit. I’m glad Xhaka didn’t start playing 8 since the beginning otherwise his performance last season would be seen by many fans as just ordinary. That just tells me how much managers and coaches can see and understand players than us mere fans.
Seriously, you are making all the sensible statements here on JA. Good luck mate 👍🏻
I’ve always thought Havertz is a good player that was wasted at Chelsea. He’s obviously not hit-the-ground running at Arsenal, make to look worse maybe by how spectacularly well Declan Rice has settled-in, but I’m not seeing any problems that can’t be fixed with a bit more practice and getting in-sync with the team. No need to panic yet.
His problem might be that the EPL doesn’t suit him.
I’m guessing, cos his performance improved a lil bit against PSV
Arteta will start him against Tottenham
They will not be a good decision
Like I’ve said, use Kai in easy games till he’s confident
PSV was an easy game
They didn’t have 1 single highlights
These are what Kai needs for now
Don’t stay hyping him after an okay performance against an opposition that wasn’t an opposition
He needs the simple games, where there isn’t really any pressure on him, at least 10 more of those
In premier League that will usually mean after we’re leading comfortably, 2/3 up
Cos no team can be really said to be easy in the league