Things haven’t started as well as Arteta and the boys may have hoped, but there’s hope they’ll get better.
If there’s one thing Gooners are hoping for, it is that Kai Havertz finds his footing and finally lives up to his expectations.
The German international has been criticised for his poor performance for Arsenal in their first three games of the season. There are even calls that he should be dropped when Arsenal play next.
Even so, some Gooners hope to still see the best out of the ex-blue. Like these Gooners, I’m convinced the midfielder will get better, and here’s why. Before a player joins a new club, he must have built an excellent on-field relationship.
In Havertz’s case, playing as a left-sided No. 8, a role he is still trying to grasp as he has yet to play it since moving to England, he ought to have built some chemistry with the left-back, left winger, and centre-forward.
Of these 3, he has played with three different left-backs and two different centre-forwards, and Martinelli is yet to be in his best form. This poor on-pitch chemistry has undoubtedly affected the ex-Chelsea man’s game.
In a consistent line-up, players can build chemistry on the pitch, complement each other, and get the best out of each other. This claim may not guarantee Havertz’s immediate improvement.
Still, it gives a perfect reason why Havertz could still be good for Arteta’s project over time.
Jack Anderson
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We will wait for him to come good, even if it means us falling out of the title race to accommodate him because he’s our messiah
Far too brief , Jack, to be taken as a serious argument to keep Havertz in the team while he finds his feet and fits in, assuming , as I probably should not, that he EVER DOES fit in. You claim, without a shred of actual evidence,”the poor on pitch chemistry has undoubtedly affected the ex Chelsea players form “!
That is no more than a half baked theory, I suggest, with nothing except your own theory, to substantiate it.
I say you are very mistaken and that A PLAYER WITH OVER THREE YEARS FULL TIME PREM EXPERIENCE ALREADY, should be expected to fit in far better than he has shown, either at Chelsea or at our club
You provide the flimsiest of “so called evidence” and fail utterly to make a proper case for your contention. SADLY!
He needs to warm the bench and get agitated to fit in by wirking hard and smart. The team has lost its mojo just because Kai must be made to fit in …what is this ?…
I believe the left-AM role is kind of confusing for a left-footed midfielder, because Odegaard and Vieira struggled there
I think Xhaka performed very well because of his excellent positioning skills and he’d watched the whole game from the deep-midfield area, hence his great tactical understanding
Havertz would likely understand the role better after a few more games, but I bet Arteta will play safe against Man United by playing Rice there. Rice’s height will also help us escape from Man United attacker’s high-press
gai MA would be committing football suicide, were he to continue to use HAVERTZ against United.
I CANNOT ENVISAGE HIM MAKING SUCH A MISTAKE.
Rice has played there once for us, so he’d likely do it again to help us win the midfield battle
jon, will your faith in Arteta continue if he continues to select Havertz?
Word is ESR has told Arteta that he wants a transfer, if Havertz is selected in front of him. That is ESR’s career at Arsenal fonished, if true.
By the time Harverts understand the role, Man City will probably be out of reach..
What does height have to do with neutralizing high press GAI?
Ramsdale could escape from the opposition’s high-press, by sending the ball to Havertz’s or Rice’s head. Their aerial dominance would increase their teammates’ chances of winning the second ball
Gai, Ramsdale has not been doing that.
Sylva, our last three oppositions opted to sit back and wait for counter-attacks, instead of chasing Ramsdale out
Exactly, once again you are arguing against your own point. You’ve just admitted it’s not working.
We just assign Havertz or Rice in the left-AM position to anticipate the opposition’s high-press. The three teams we played against didn’t do that, but Man United would likely do it
Given an opportunity as witnessed late on in the Fulham game, I would Vauch for Vieira in that position but then i would play a back 4 with Gabriel and Saliba anchoring. and Kiwior as LB and White as RB Partey at CDM.
So Rice would be benched for Vieira, Odegaard and Partey? Because there can only be three central midfielders in the starting line-up
And Kiwior would play inverted-LB ahead of Zinchenko and Tomiyasu?
If it’s even temporarily, Arteta must remove him from the firing line. He looks like a fish out of water. In the incident where Saliba passed him the ball with acres of room for him to turn and play a pass forward, he gave the ball away trying to pass back to Rice, epitomizes his performance in the three games so far. He looks devoid of confidence and seems as though he is terrified to make a mistake. Hopefully, Arteta does not wait until the entire fan base turns against him, because in reality, Havertz does not select himself.
The German was never an easy player to judge and although there can be no doubt over his grace or techniques his inconsistency and the gaffer struggling to identify his best position mean he was a massive gamble from day one.
The gaffer belief in his ability to help Havertz improve will be tested, Havertz and Arteta is good for each other, surely there is an attraction in having more options at his disposal, A lack of depth exposed our run in during the last campaign.
Yes the German needs time, but playing him ninety minutes in every game is like forcing water up hill, a different approach is needed, an heavy involvement in seven more games should afford his feet to be properly wet in our system.
Never understood signing Kia in the 1st place. Good player but not what we needed to replace Granit, That’s Declan so where exactly where was he bought for? Waste of alot of our budget on an average Chelsea reject and have another on the bench full time for £12m when again we needed a player like Partey.
If we lose Saliba again who do we have to step in as Timber has fallen also? Holding isn’t good enough and we don’t have any one else now we see letting Gabriel go as Mikel tinkers with the team every game day!
Starting to annoy me is Mikel, did some dodgy calls also on out amazing fall off the title race when we had 10 points clear at a stage.
In my honest opinion we will be in the top 4 but just about, we will not challenge for the Title but do believe we will do okay in the Champions League but maybe Quarter Finals stage.
Something isn’t right with Mikel & the squad
In all honesty, MA way of managing this will only make the matter worse as the other player will not be happy putting 150% effort in training only to be benched for a player the is new in and to the system.
I’m afraid that as much as fans love and have supported MA, if he continues with his stubbornness and his proud ways of doing things, the fans will soon turn their back at him and it would be terrible for him by then. He, MA really pissed me off in the last game.
Apparently, the dissention among players at the selection of Havertz has already begun.
Does not surprise me.As I said to Jon F yesterday , the likelihood of ESR leaving on top of the Tierney departure fills me with dismay.The benching of Gabriel is another concern particularly with the injury to Timber .Just what is Arteta trying to prove.Man Utd,Liverpool, Chelsea, Newcastle and dare I mention a revitalised Spurs, are all playing with conventional back three or four set up.Even Man City played a flat back four against Sheffield on Sunday.Only Arsenal are adopting “inverted” tactics which may improve our possession(which is already one of the highest in the League) at the expense of a drop in the performance of our wingers and chances created.If ESR goes I will continue to support our Club but not our current Manager.
Grandad, you and I both. I cannot understand Arteta”s pig headedness on such issues or his sending to Coventry of any player, who has the temerity to approach him with issues, regarding their careers and selections.
Yes.
As a substitute not as a starter. Slowly intergrated not forced into the team
I’m surprised I’ve not seen comments of “the Arteta knows it all” fans that said we were whining after 2 games.
We saw it coming because everyone is being confused (including players) on the formation and tactics. I’m sure the confusion is getting to MA with Man U on the card.
AVOIDABLE MISTAKES & PRESSURES
After Arteta bought him explicitly as a midfielder, I don’t know why the fans are comparing him to a striker. His stats in the first 3 games as left no 8 is already better than Granit Xhaka if compared to the first 3 games last season. But these fake fans are either really stupid to understand or got paid not to do so. Social media is a money maker. Just look at AFTV.
Surely you don’t really believe what you have just wrote?
We’ll give him all the time to become effective. Just not in our starting lineup. Once we are comfortably ahead then we should gently ease him in. We had no patience for Lokonga, Pepe and many others. So why him?
Because he cost loads? Doesn’t matter you can’t kid the fans.
This is time to win games and we have the capability of doing this. Why should we instead spend the time experimenting with Havertz. He can play from the bench and have all the time to adapt rather than us giving him time during crucial matches we should be winning
Arteta has done very well since he took over Arsenal and it appears he has the majority of fans on his side. That can change very quickly especially if he continues to try and put square pegs in round holes.