I completely agree. Can't have a conditioning issue for an entire season after a full pre-season and no summer football. It's just his limitations that we all knew about but weren't quite sure how he would translate into PL football and the answer is clear that he is as mid a striker as it gets. Only salvage value for him would be an exchange (plus some cash) for Alvarez (I haven't watched him this season so don't know how he compares but from his Man City form, feels like he will be better) or maybe Yildiz (if Juve will bite).
conditioning? conditioning? players actually have to guard against losing weight and muscle mass during the season. he'd have to be the laziest and most unhealthy eater in the game to have conditioning issues with the amount of games he's played.
Meatwad he was overweight in terms of muscle. Its happened to plenty of players before and it'll keep happening. He's clearly leaner and quicker in the second half of the season.
Qwiss if he's in better condition now, why isn't he playing better if that was the reason for his bad play?
Meatwad he's been much better since the new year than before.
lorddulaarsenal He arrived this summer overweight and he’s not been able to get back to the fitness levels he was previously at.
Not able to in 8-9 months?
As for his poor performances here, it is probably a combination of his limitations as a player and how little we play to his (few) strengths.
All I’m saying is he is not in as good as physical condition as he was this time last year. That’s pretty undeniable
lorddulaarsenal what is that based on out of interest? Appreciate it's not a holistic metric but in our first game of the season, he covered the most ground of anyone on our team so I'd suggest he was in decent enough nick from the start.
It’s visual. Look at his build and in particular his legs. You can also see his movement is less springy.
There are levels to fitness. Footballers can max out on this for a year or two and then they drop off.
Bale and Alexis are prime examples
Quite telling that he didn’t start today I’d say
Tells me Arteta is flailing around grasping for some big switch to save him.
Qwiss nah it’s more a case of this is the first real time this season that Havertz has approached full fitness
Qwiss Tells me Arteta has finally got a CF fit enough and happy to put Gyokeres on the bench where he deserves to be.
I don't think gyok is starting another key match this season
tazmania I think his time with us is done. If he’s not moved on this summer he will play a significantly reduced role next season
I wouldn't be surprised. He doesn't score enough to compensate for the lack of contribution to our build up
lorddulaarsenal I really hope so. I understand the logic behind this signing but he's not improved our attack at all. And if anything, he's a net negative.
Don Pacifico logic is probably as simple as we’ve failed to fill striker for years. Get a body in. Without Gyokeres, we are in a battle with United, Villa and Pool
Just need to accept we monumentally fucked up last summer and go again and sign some proper footballers in attack... then his and madueke's position in the team will sort itself out.
Doc this. gyok is a failed project and we need to cut bait and run. im hoping arteta is ruthless on this.
I think arteta made the right choice starting havertz today too. we're unable to high press without havertz in the team, and the high press is our only source of open play creativity. gyok needs be reduced to supersub for the remainder of the season.
The way he was used today was unacceptable. Smacks of trademark Arteta pettiness and scapegoating. Personal bullshit over what's best for the team. Like forcing players through too many minutes while he punished Eze.
Qwiss that's what I fear here too. Arteta will play his favorites when the chips are down, whether they're half broken or not
Claudius I think that's it. Whether he was the only option we could have got but that definitely felt like the rationale we took.
