- Is Timber a LB? I always thought he was a CB / RB. I remember someone here said that Zinchenko was basically Scholes at Lb which still amuses me.
- Did Arteta explain the decision to play Havertz in midfield in such a crucial game? I don’t know why he went for Havertz instead of a CF signing this past summer but if he has and he’s doing pretty well at CF just keep him there. Feels like he got over excited by the CL.
He’s a centre back by trade but started the Community Shield and the first game of the season at left back. Think under Pep and Arteta teams, we need to forget about the role of conventional full backs with their liking for playing centre backs across the back 4 and inverting them. He targeted Lisandro Martinez for that role initially because of his ball progression before signing Zinchenko, but he’s really struggled defensively at times.
As for Havertz, im still not sure he’s totally given up on this Havertz at 8 experiment, but it backfired at the weekend. My thinking is that after Jesus good cameo against Bayern he wanted to give him minutes up front, and also I think there’s a general feeling Jorginho sometimes struggles to play 2 games a week, week in week out.
Partey would have been the obvious replacement but he looked rusty as feck off the bench vs Bayern.
But yeah, it again showed against good teams we need a more traditional partner for Rice in midfield. In saying that, I thought we played well first half, we just were shockingly poor 2nd half for some reason.