He isn't the player people want on-the-ball. Like I've said before, he's at his best as an accelerator, like in pinball. You play through Havertz to get up the pitch, either on the ground or in the air.
People are also acting like Xhaka was on the ball a lot last season. He wasn't. He was completely different than every other season he played at Arsenal, with record low touches playing far higher up the pitch making recovery run after recovery run. With that in mind, Havertz has been decent-good everywhere except in and around the box, where he's been abysmal. So has just about every other Arsenal player, to he fair, but that doesn't absolve him. Sure, he's had one or two poor passes that we've been punished for, but those don't really statistically stand out from the rest of the squad, either. Whether he has built up "good will" with the fans really has nothing to do with an actual analysis of his performances, it's just vibes.
I just wish the conversation was more centered on what his actual role has been, and will be moving forward. His finishing and attacking play has been extremely poor, but we should at least acknowledge that scoring and assisting are not his primary functions in this setup.
