Kai Havertz: Page 2 - The Arsenal discussion community: One More in the Tolly

Kai Havertz

Mirth

Gazza M and hopefully that will be the difference to his time at Chelsea. Obviously Havertz underwhelmed but it never looked like Chelsea knew what to do with him because Werner and then Lukaku flopped, he got pushed into an unfamiliar role.

flobaba

Welcome to the Arsenal Cobra Kai!

Pepe LeFrits

Mirth This could either go really well or really badly.

I find it hard to see this going really badly, unless he suddenly turns into a crock or something. I think at absolute worst he'll be a useful if frustrating player who has a couple of fairly unremarkable years and plods off to the middle east in a few years for a reduced fee.

He hasn't lived up to his potential yet but he's still a quality, PL proven player who can play a variety of positions and even if he never quite turns into a world class player for us, will help ensure that our attacking options are more resilient and are better equiped for competing in multiple competitions.

Qwiss

Pepe LeFrits He hasn't lived up to his potential yet but he's still a quality, PL proven player

He has his qualities, most of them shown before he went to chelsea and in the very rare Chelsea game, often in Europe. I'd say he's the opposite of "PL proven" though, what he's shown in the PL goes against him. If Arteta sees something all those Chelsea managers didn't and gets him playing to a level where he looks like a £60m player then he'll have done a brilliant job.

Rohit

Exciting, notwithstanding the 3 years at Chelsea. He's not a center forward though. He has top technique, great vision and an ability to find space very few can match. Really look forward to seeing where he will play and how Arteta will use him.

naz

goon likely how we'll line up. Plus if Jesus gets injured again, he can go up front.

He offers flexibility across the entire front line really

QuincyAbeyie

If Arteta has a clear plan for him in Xhaka's role, I'm excited to see if it works out even if the price is way too high.

If he's bought simply as depth to keep playing where's he's consistently failed for the last three years, that excitement evaporates quickly.

lorddulaarsenal

Bloke who ventures in to the box more than anyone not named Erling Haaland. Think we can see what our Tet is after.

“Get yourself on the end of Bakayo’s, Gabby’s, Leandro’s and Ball Slap’s crosses bud”

lorddulaarsenal

What the untrained eyes also fail to spot is that he’s great and playing little slide rule passes to the wide men.

Countless times he made a short pass to set Sterling on his way.

Clrnc

Meatwad When even meatwad get excited for overpriced player from a rival, we have to listen.

Huge huge potential, not sure how we ended up helping them make a profit for someone they wanted to sell and only wanted to come here but excited to see him and Odegaard behind Jesus. Jesus and Havertz going to match made in heaven. One space occupier, one space finder.

Clrnc

I am excited because understanding space is literally the most unique trait of an attacker. Which is why someone like muller has been so successful in his career and constantly popping up with important goals

Mirth

Clrnc that article has me excited now.

Pepe LeFrits

Clrnc Good read, thanks for that

goon

Clrnc

And when you think about how Xhaka played in that left 8 role…

Clrnc

Clrnc See who was his biggest supporter at the top @Claudius

Clrnc

Mirth Yeah which is why I kept saying he has the Ramsey trait. Late runs into the box from midfield position. He scored so many goals like this for Bayer and was very clinical for a 10. Playing him as true 9 or even false 9 takes that away from him as the CB has no one other than him to mark.

Clrnc

goon I think it must be Kiwior at LB though to make it work. Xhaka does alot of dirty work for the constant MIA Zinchenko. We will be too open with Havertz and Zinchenko.

Basically going towards City formation of playing 2 10s and having a CB at LB (Ake/Akanji)

goon

I know someone posted this already but worth reposting in case it was missed. The bit at the end exemplifies exactly how I think he will be used.

goon

Clrnc

Seen this said a few times but I disagree. it’s Gabriel that babysits Zinchenko more than Xhaka, who’s usually well up the pitch… being fed the ball by Zinchenko!

But will be interesting to see. I’d love to see us go all out with total football personally.

lorddulaarsenal

goon

I recon we may switch to a back three with either Zinchenko or Timber alongside Rice

Sicario2 - Tier 1

Yep, the biggest risk of Havertz replacing Xhaka is that we will lose the latter’s defensive qualities unless we fundamentally change the way we play/set up which could be the case.

QuincyAbeyie

Actually Xhaka's stats defensively were really poor since playing his more attacking role.
(obviously the percentiles can't be used since it's vs other forwards for Havertz and vs midfielders for Xhaka, but the absolute values are similar as well)

Ricky1985

lorddulaarsenal

That's effectively how we played last season anyway.

Given the players we've been linked to, I expect we'll still see 3 pure defenders and 1 fullback that moves into midfield. The difference is next season we'll have the option to set-up both ways - Kiwior and (a tucked in) Timber vs White and (a tucked in) Zinchenko. So, we'll be way less predictable and not as reliant on Zinchenko's fitness.

I think Caicedo was the first choice for that role, but having watched some videos of Timber, it looks to me like he can offer a lot of what Caicedo could from the tucked in RB role.

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