All Hail King Kai: by Noah
While the result and blasphemous refereeing overshadow Arsenal’s overall performance at Newcastle, I would like to give props to one player in particular. Mr. Kai Havertz. For the majority of the season, he’s been a much-maligned figure and has come under intense scrutiny from the fanbase.
We all know that St. James’s Park has the 2nd best atmosphere in world football (behind the mighty Emirates of course) and so often, this causes players to underperform (think PSG’s entire squad). Not Havertz though, he relished it. His challenge on Sean Longstaff resulted in 3 Newcastle players getting booked for protest. He won everything in the air, flew into challenges, and was one of the only players who progressed the ball forward.
Despite his encouraging performance, I still see fans slating him all over AFTV. Over the years at Arsenal, we’ve developed a habit of scapegoating players. Mustafi, Xhaka, and Özil, to mention a few, and it looks like Havertz may be joining this list.
As Arsenal fans, it is our duty to make sure this doesn’t happen. Last year when we were top of the league and doing so well, we never scapegoated anyone. Now, the second something doesn’t go our way, we revert to old habits. As fans, we have to show how much we have grown as a club and get behind our players. We must embellish our team’s motto “Victory Through Harmony”, and only then will we become better.
If Havertz’s recent performances are a sign of things to come, we will soon be seeing the best of Kai and a return of free-flowing football back to our beloved Football Club.
COME ON YOU GUNNERS!!!
Debate in the comments ↓↓↓↓
Noah
If a player has been consistently poor, which he has been, then it means they’ll be criticised. It’s that simple.
Do you have any concept of how much money he is earning for the performances we’ve seen? Actually think about it and put the amount into perspective.
Yes, whi is scapegoating him. We are pointing out and being backed up. He is not performing. Can we please stop excusing him!!!!!!
Yes he was flying in, but making rash tackles and should have been sent off! He’s certainly learned something from Xhaka.
He played well, apart from his two hard tackles
I was just disappointed in Magalhaes, who used his acting skills too much to win fouls
I think Magalhaes should be benched for a while and let Kiwior show what he can do to defend without too much drama
He did not play that well. Newcastle for some reason left us a lot of space so Kai could run with the ball which hardly ever happens in most games due to no space. That made Kai look better than other games since he had more touches and looked more confident. Yet in terms of end product, he had several good opportunities to give a final pass or defense-cracking pass, and failed in all attempts. His end-product was horrible and cost us 5-6 promising attacking situations,
He didn’t play well
Nice deflection tactics though to change the topic being discussed.
I agree wholeheartedly.At the beginning of the season I thought Gabriel has turned the corner and had become more composed and assured.However in the last 3/4 matches he has looked panicky under pressure and has made rash errors of judgement which have cost us goals.On the few occasions I have seen Kwior I have been impressed with his all round game and it well be time for him to be given regular game time.
I agree Magalhaes should be benched for Kiwior. GM is gradually becoming leggy. Tomiyasu really did well as inverted left back..
Jorginho was meant to tackle like Havertz but he was too sluggish at times. The Boys did well they were just unlucky not to have drawn the game they matched new Castle physical approach but White wasn’t in form yesterday.
Havertz cost of transfer is what it is and it’s not his fault. He did well against NewCastle. It’s time fans stop overly criticism it won’t help anyone. Encouraging him will make him worth his purchasing price
He did not play well!!!!!
What exactly did he actually do, tha actually achieved something?
He is like a ghost.
A scapeghost🤣🤣🤣🤣
The writer clearly supports mediocrity and under performing if he sees nothing wrong with Havertz performances since joining us and long before.
Generally speaking, I like optimistic articles. But to say I disagree totally with this piece would be an understatement. I do believe that when fans, almost with one united voice, say a player is not doing the business, that they are generally correct.
I disagree that he had a good game at newcastle , quite the opposite IMO.
We all saw how lucky he was NOT to be red carded for that foolish shin high lunge. How many goals or assists has he contributed since arrivng; hardly any is the TRUTH!!.
In fact, later this week I wil be sending in an article on MA ‘s worst mistakes in the last two seasons (this and last season) HAVERTZ will definitely feature I promise you.
MA had the hindsight of seeing HAVERTZ MASSIVELY UNDERWHELM AT CHELSEA FOR THREE FULL PREM SEASONS, yet still chose to WASTE a massive £65 mil when we badly need a proper, younger, reliably fit defensive midfielder to support Rice AND a proper top class central striker.
But “lucky old us”, we got HAVERTZ, yes HAVERTZ, and last season we got Viera.
TWO BAD MISTAKES MA
Wake up. Havertz is…….de facto….not good enough.
“flew into challenges”
And which almost got him sent off
I can’t agree more! We were so close to winning last season and all that it seemed to need was a couple of astute buys to propel us the the league title this season. I’m not saying we won’t win the league this year but a young fit athlete midfielder and a striker was needed imo! The manager buys Havetz which most of us had seen his career at Chelsea and said no way he’s gonna turn it around with us but we have to trust the manager. (Frankly there’s nothing we can do about it anyway. He will buy the players he wants) But at this present time this signing has really backfired. We took a huge burden off chelsea and put it on us! I hope he comes good but I can’t see it!
Aaaoow! Sentiment is evil….! I don’t believe you. Is it scapegoating when without cause or pressure, you go spend £65 million on a reject , give him a lucrative contract, sideline promising talent in the team and push him to play in a team that’s working so hard to rise above the mediocrity that’s been a norm for so long. The article is so disrespectful Arsenal stars, past and present. WHY IS HARVERTZ at Arsenal, WHY???? Forget what he cost the club, Why is he there?
I find it baffling why certain fans are so determined to include a player in our team who consistently demonstrates that he hampers our performance. I can’t comprehend what he brings to the table or what justifies his spot in the squad. In my view, he only obstructs our progress, and it’s evident that his teammates actively avoid involving him due to his limited skills. I consider him to be ineffective, making him our most disappointing signing since Sonogo.
Havertz is a shitty player, and he has been so for more than three years. Arteta got it wrong the same way he got it wrong, extending Nelson,Nketiah and keeping Cedric, the same way he got it wrong by signing Jorginho.Raya etc. I cannot understand the cult following Arteta has. Before I digress, Havertz can’t shoot, tackle, dribble, play make or defend. So, what is expected from a 65-million-pound player with a 200k plus a weekly salary? Personally, I will take my chances with Nwaneri or someone from the academy.
We should recall Patino from loan and loan Havertz back to Blackpool
@Admin Pat – agree!
Kai put in quite a shift. Let’s face it, fans who have to find an excuse, have to put down their own players, are NOT real fans.
They don’t understand teams, players have good days and bad.
And yesterday Kai had a good day despite the loss. Away at Newcastle the lads battled really well. Just some bad luck on a dodgy goal. COYGs
A good day? Lost possession 15 times, had a pass succession rate of 70%. Good job he didn’t have a bad day. Those are not my figures by the way.
It’s entirely reasonable that our committed and enthusiastic fans may have robust opinions regarding our players who consistently underperform. These devoted supporters invest not just their finances but also their time and emotions into following Arsenal, and they undeniably have a valid right to voice their frustrations and express their perspectives without facing ridicule.
Havertz doesn’t turn with the ball when there is space behind him. He always passes the ball backwards. He is just making up the numbers on the pitch. It is like playing each week with 10 men. He doesn’t bring anything special to the team. He is only playing because the manager feels embarrassed to leave a £65 million player out of the team. Arteta should swallow his pride and loan him out to a German side in the hope that they may buy him at the end of his loan. Why did Arteta or Edu pay £65 million for a player out of form? ( Ps. Nketiah can only score at home against weak teams, so he should be sold as quick as possible before he gets any worst) Rather have Tossard as a false number 9 to replace Jesus than the underperforming Nketiah.
Agree with all your points
I don’t think we can rely on Havertz and Nketiah to handle the business. What does Havertz really offer? Goals? Speed? Defense? Balancing midfield?
Nketiah continues getting chances and continues not stepping up. 6 years, nearly 150 appearances, that excuse doesn’t work anymore.
This team is weaker than last year, looks like a backward step.
Rice is a key player, but trying to do the job of 2 midfielders.
Partey and Jesus are too injury prone to be reliable and should be replaced in the Summer.
Havertz is looking worse than Pepe, and fast approaching Willian level disaster.
Nketiah, poor lad. A championship level player out of his depth, and being falsely told he can perform at this level.
Rather Balogun have his chance than continue with this failed Nketiah project.
He’s gone, sold to Marseilles.
The challenge that Kai “flew into” earned himself a yellow card, and 3/4 for the protesting Newcastle players, so he won that contest, but very little else.
Should have been red though 💯%
No way! Just a yellow.
Learn the rules Vamos – both Havertz and Bruno should have been sent off.
I thought Kai had a decent game yesterday after so many non-performances. The highest rating I would give him is 6.5. This tells us how bad he has been in the past (mostly in the 3’s and 4’s).
The only role I can find for him is striker because of his height plus first touch and hope (more hope than belief to be honest) that he becomes an Olivier Giroud because we are stuck with him. I cannot see anybody else wanting to take him off our hands and paying anything like what we paid for him. I actually think we would have been better off keeping Nicolas Pepe than buying Havertz because he can at least be a sub for Saka in some games.
Truth is!!!!! He actually lacks quality.
Ask yourself this and answer truthfully.
Is he worth 65mil, is he worth 300 mil a week, has he improved us?
No is the answer to all those questions.
But we are stuck with him. May as well try him as a striker. Surely, he can’t be any worse than he is as a midfielder.
He can.
No he can’t and you will be proved wrong.
I don’t think it’s fair to blame Nketiah yesterday when he git no service at all. The system Arteta uses does not create chances for strikers. Everytime we blame the strikers for not scoring ask if they had any service. Strikers miss chances so a team needs to create enough to miss and score. Yesterday was so bad the wingers never crossed balls into the box and the midfielders didn’t thread any dangerous passes. That is the reason why Jesus always comes back looking for the ball rather than wait for the ball in dangerous areas. If you compare the chances the likes of Bergkamp, Fabregas and Ozil used to create vs the current team you can see that we have a big problem. Even Odegaard doesn’t create many chances he actually scores from chances created for him. We really lack a proper 10 to service the strikers. The use of inverted wingers who operate basically allows the wingers to score as they usually cut in to shoot instead of crossing the ball into the box. It’s easy to double up on Saka as he always looks to cut inside and shoot us8ng his strong left foot instead of running past the defender and crossing if he was right footed.
I just think that getting Havertz and relying on Jesus/Nketiah will cost us any chance in the premier League
We need to stop starting Havertz, go back to Ramsdale and somehow get a better striker in January to save the season
noah, this is surely a funny article , right ?. if not, then, i think you have been steering your ark for far too long. kai has absolutely nothing to offer. ask yourself why did chelsea let him go ?>
If somebody thinks Havertz played well,
what a sad endictment on the rest of the team!!
I think what we saw in Newcastle was the new maladjusted Arsenal created by our fearless leader “Mikel Arteta”.
HE brought in Havertz, so he has to play.
HE brought in Raya so he has to play.
We are nearly a third of the way thru the season and are lucky to be sitting in fourth.
Our midfield looks out of sync, i believe Havertz and Odegaard do not mesh, so our offence looks wrong.
Teams are double teaming Saka and Martinelli and we have little answer to stop this.
If Gabriele is playing badly it is because our midfield is so porous.
Even if we get a forward, it will NOT solve all our problems.
Newcastle were very aggressive against us, and I think that will be the blueprint used by the rest of the league.
We need some stiffening in midfield.
PS, the problem is NOT VAR, the problem I see is inconsistent foul calling by the refs.
A foul in game A, can be a play on in game B.
A foul after 10 minutes can be a play on, where the exact same foul after 60 minutes can be a Yellow Card.
Pushing somebody in the back and onto the ground is foul under the laws of the game, except on Tuesdays and in the penalty area!!
If Webb can do one thing it is to ensure the referees get their dodo together and stop refereeing the “match” and start refereeing the players..
If they commit a bad foul after 5 minutes give them a yellow card. If they commit another bad foul during the game give them another yellow and send them off.
Do Not give an opposition player a red card just to equal things up>
I have a theory, Pochettino went halves with Havertz’s agent on the £65M to plant Havertz in our team and derail our season. If he was any good, Poch would have kept him, simple as. The Chelsea fans that I know were laughing their socks off when we paid £65,000,000 for him and said he’s not worth more than £20M and we would be better of without him completely. They were glad to see th back of him
My thoughts on Harvert, on the Newcastle united game was that, he played well but our right back Ben White didn’t overlap much to create Chance for Saka neither did Ben White put in a better crosses for our forward Nketiah to score….
Kai is not a bad player, I can see him playing better than our 9’s we have in the team currently.
Kai should be our striker and
trossard/ veira play as our left 8.
Saka should also try and interchange position with Martinelli when doubled on.
Coyg
His percentile stats for striker over the last two year were not great reading. One of the worst in Europe.
Are you saying that you can see Haverts playing better than Jesus? Please explain how