Kai Havertz finally scored a goal for us. In the 52nd minute of the game, Ryan Christie hacked Martin Odegaard to the ground, earning Arsenal a penalty. Saka was about to take it, but he let Havertz take it instead.
The German goal brought the score to 0-3, after Saka and Odegaard had scored the opening two goals. The game finished with us winning by four goals, with Ben White scoring the fourth.
Now that the 24-year-old has opened his goal-scoring account with us, the hope is that he can build on it and regain his confidence. The ex-Gunner Kevin Campbell believes that some of us have been unfair to the £65 million summer signing, as he believes he is a very efficient player who is being judged for the wrong reasons of not scoring or assisting, which he can’t do when we continue to mock him and make him uncomfortable.
“For me, Fletch, he is lacking confidence, and any player who is lacking confidence will have bits missing from their game; that’s just the way it is. The fact of the matter is that Kai Havertz adds an efficiency to Arsenal that people won’t give him credit for because, as far as people are concerned, he cost £65 million and he should be scoring five or 10 goals a week. It doesn’t work like that; it’s a new system; he needs to learn how Arsenal play, and that attacking prowess has to come with confidence, and his confidence is low,” Campbell said on the Football Daily Podcast.
Let’s hope Havertz’s goal this weekend gives him some confidence. He’ll be able to build on it when we face Lens in the Champions League midweek. He played well in our 4-0 win over PSV in the Champions League the other week.
Arteta has an eye for talent, and I doubt he would have sanctioned a £65 million bid for the ex-Bayer Leverkusen star if he didn’t know how to get the most out of him. After seeing him open his goal-scoring account for Arsenal, Arteta admitted via Arsenal.com, “It will probably change everything, but first of all, if he had any question marks about how we feel about him, how much we love him, how much we appreciate everything that he does, I think that’s out.
“I think in sport, Usain Bolt said it once: I have to train four years to run nine seconds; sometimes you have to do a lot and you don’t see that, but in that moment you see it; I’m sure what he’s been through in the last few weeks, this moment is worth every moment of the other moments.”
Havertz has been roundly abused by Arsenal fans ever since he arrived, but the team and the crowd got behind him yesterday which will surely give him a confidence boost. Abusing your own players is never going to make them play better, is it?
Daniel O
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