The ex-Liverpool and Villa striker Dean Saunders claims the Gunners are going to be hard to beat in this coming season with Havertz in the team, saying on talkSPORT, “[The] Back four looks good, goalkeeper Ramsdale looks good. I can’t see them losing many games next season.”
He said so while speaking about how influential Kai Havertz could be for Arsenal’s title charge. Havertz joined from Chelsea a few weeks ago, though he hasn’t received as much attention this week with all the talk being on Rice and Timber’s arrivals. Even so, with him set to be utilized as an attacking midfielder, Saunders is predicting he could be the next Frank Lampard. Lampard is one of the finest goalscoring midfielders the Premier League has ever seen; his stats in front of goal are mind-blowing. He had 177 goals in 609 games.
The theory is that Havertz, who loves to attack and find himself in the opposition box, could do a Lampard at Arsenal. About Havertz being compared to Lampard Saunders claims,”I look at Arsenal, you know, Martinelli on the left, Saka on the right, Jesus down the middle. Rice sitting, Havertz joining in with Martinelli down the left channel making runs.
“For me, Havertz is a bit like Lampard; like arriving in the box late, he can’t play with his back to goal.”
“Havertz is a bit like Lampard.” 👀⚽️
🔴 “Arriving in the box late. I think he’ll do well. I can’t see #AFC losing many games.”
Dean Saunders expects Arsenal to be a solid force, next season, with their new signings. pic.twitter.com/ceoU7tnVgG
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) July 7, 2023
[On if he can score as many goals as Lampard] “No, he’s not as good as Frank Lampard; not many were.
“But in that position where Xhaka played, making runs, getting into the box, joining in, and finding gaps, I think he will do well, and you’ve got Odegaard on the other side.
Havertz is an upgrade to Xhaka; there’s no doubt about it. Hopefully he, along with Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice, can turn out to be the best midfielders, not only in the Premier League but also all over Europe.
Daniel O
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“Havertz is an upgrade to Xhaka; there’s no doubt about it.”
If he’s going to play the same role as xhaka, then there is a doubt about it, because xhaka’s role involved defending, and havertz hasn’t played that position before, at least not regularly. There’s no doubt havertz is a more talented attacker than xhaka, but I couldn’t say any more than that without seeing him play…
Probably means the box-to-box role that Xhaka played last season.
Yes, that’s what I’m saying – has havertz played that role before? It requires defensive discipline, not just attacking talent. Havertz should be better than xhaka going forwards, but does that make him an “upgrade” for the box to box position?
It’s Havertz’s natural position which he played in Germany, but for som reason Chelsea ignored that and played him up front.
Not my understanding – he played as a no10 or out wide before joining Chelsea and he plays up front or AM for Germany. His ‘natural’ position is attacking midfielder, not a box to box central midfielder imo – I’ve seen nothing to suggest otherwise aside from this post
👍
I share your sentiment too.
Only thing bothering me on his signing. Rice can’t defend for Havertz and Odegaard all on his own expecially if we have Zinc playing the LB position again.
We will be defensively weak with only Rice marking in our midfield. and i still don’t believe Rice is an upgrade on Partey either.
My hope remains that rice is replacing xhaka in the first team and partey is staying, or will be replaced by someone of similar quality – easier said than done re partey but it would explain the tchouameni links, which seem crazy to me otherwise.
Agree, having odegaard, havertz and rice together in midfield could lead to us being overrun at times – I do think rice is a very good DM (better than partey *defensively*, I suspect), but there’s a limit to what one man can do
Havertz is going to be influential as a direct result of Declan Rice sitting at the base of that # 6 slot.
I am completely underwhelmed by the Kai Havertz signing.
If MA was looking for a No 8 then Savic would have been a much better bet at less than half the price.
But MA knows much more than I do and obviously he can see a lot in Havertz to want to pay £65 million for him so who am I to argue?
That’s kind of how I feel, if he’s been bought as an 8
I agree with Saunders.it seems to me that many people forget that Havertz was played out of position for most of his time at Chelsea and under 3 different managers.also,he was not happy at Chelsea and wanted to leave,the impact of which cannot be underestimated .
Playing as an 8 would also be out of position for him – he might be able to do it, but it’s not how he’s played before, so that remains to be seen