Donkai Havertz | Arsenal Watch

bosnian_red

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Not a huge fan of his, think he was vastly overrated last summer but fair play today, did his job well and got the winning goal. That alone is probably worth that fee to them.
 

MU655

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He was great today and has improved recently. Needs to step on next season, though, as his league campaign was underwhelming.
 

Ekeke

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Finally lived up to the hype today. Worth the £68 million already with that goal and performance in the final?
 

Pow

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Needs to put that amount of effort in every game. Fantastic.
 

thepolice123

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Its not just the goal. His use of the ball was excellent and created the best chance of the match too. Great talent.
 

harms

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I was always surprised (probably not the right word; annoyed?) by those who wrote him off earlier this season. It’s clear that there’s a brilliant player there who just needs some time to adapt.

Not a bad end of a season for him. He’s not a Mbappé-level talent, but the kid is quite special.
 

izec

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People were too quick to judge him under Lampard and his first season. He looked shit, but as i said at the start of the season, i would judge him next season. He was fantastic tonight
 

redshaw

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Cream rose to the top.

Not a particular fan of his but pleased he scored and won a CL. Chelsea signed a boat load of quality and then got a quality manager in, too many were quick to say he's a flop. Hopefully United can still compete next season.
 

TheReligion

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Going to apologise to him now. He looked garbage under Lampard but his improvement towards the end of the season has been impressive. Looks a classy operator.
 

HerrLeinad

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Going to apologise to him now. He looked garbage under Lampard but his improvement towards the end of the season has been impressive. Looks a classy operator.
I said it before but Havertz is what you get if you put Özil into Ballack's body. He is a weird mix of usally very different player types, he is very silky on the ball / technical but also very tall, a good header and good finisher (ie why he often got compared to Ballack). It's a combination you rarely get from offensive players and sometimes it doesn't always work to Havertz advantage because Lampard wasn't the first coach who moved him around the field due to his versatility (Havertz played as CM, winger, AM and striker at Leverkusen...).
The only thing which always worried me about Havertz is that he doesn't have just the technical qualities of Özil but a similar tendency to let the game happen to him and imo a lot of the earlier comments here reflected that perfectly. People thought Havertz stuggled just with the PL but he also had times at Leverkusen where he looked completely desinterested and ordinary. He is of course still a very young player so one shouldn't be too harsh in that regard but imo that's the thing that could hold him back. Yesterday he did however turn up and that's what he needs to more consistenly add to his game, this urgency and energy while still being calm on the ball is what he needs to fulfill his potential.
 
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He'sRaldo

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I said it before but Havertz is what you get if you put Özil into Ballack's body. He is a weird mix of usally very different player types, he is very silky on the ball / technical but also very tall, a good header and good finisher (ie why he often got compared to Ballack). It's a combination you rarely get from offensive players and sometimes it doesn't always work to Havertz advantage because Lampard wasn't the first coach who moved him around the field due to his versatility (Havertz played as CM, winger, AM and striker at Leverkusen...).
The only thing which always worried me about Havertz is that he doesn't have just the technical qualities of Özil but a similar tendency to let the game happen to him and imo a lot of the earlier comments here reflected that perfectly. People thought Havertz stuggled just with the PL but he also had times at Leverkusen where he looked completely desinterested and ordinary. He is of course still a very young player so one shouldn't be too harsh in that regard but imo that's the thing that could hold him back. Yesterday he did however turn up and that's what he needs to more consistenly add to his game, this urgency and energy while still being calm on the ball is what he needs to fulfill his potential.
Sounds like you're describing Pogba here.

Funny enough he also has been playing DM for us for the past few years, when he really should have been playing further forward.
 

Zehner

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Sounds like you're describing Pogba here.

Funny enough he also has been playing DM for us for the past few years, when he really should have been playing further forward.
A little bit but more so in terms of body language. But Havertz' usually still has very tidy and more risk free decision making. He used to hide a bit from responsibility and hesitated to grab the game by the neck. Still moved the ball around well etc. but from a player with his abilities you expect a bit more than just to not make clear mistakes. In combination with his nonchalant body language that backfired when things weren't working out for the team. Pogba IMO is different since he probably takes too much risk where Havertz doesn't take enough.

His first games for Chelsea were different though. He was very imprecise and his technique let him down a few times. I think this came down to his nerves and maybe the physique of the league as well as less structured positional play under Lampard. Not what we were used to seeing from him.
 

Pexbo

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Still think he will be a success, I think Werner will to some extent too despite how shocking they have both been under Lampard.

They both look shot of confidence and void of ideas, with better instruction coming from Tuchel I expect them both to improve a lot.
Just saying.
 

bosnian_red

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He's been terrible for Germany in that half, easily their biggest problem. Hiding, looks scared, completely froze.
 

VorZakone

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He's been terrible for Germany in that half, easily their biggest problem. Hiding, looks scared, completely froze.
Didn't you know? 1 goal in the CL final and he's world-class again.

Passive player. Doesn't impose his will on the game.
 

bosnian_red

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Didn't you know? 1 goal in the CL final and he's world-class again.

Passive player. Doesn't impose his will on the game.
It's one thing about being passive or Ozil like. Seriously can't criticize him enough after that half. He's playing cowardly, he's hiding behind opposing players instead of opening up to be an option in attack, he's walking around off the ball instead of busting a gut to get into a position, and then when he gets the ball he's so slow to get rid and is just losing it.... if I was Muller or Gnabry I would tear him a new one after that. That was truly dreadful.
 

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Didn't think he was that bad. Had two or three easy possession losses but that's about it. Not worse than Gnabry for instance. I don't think this criticism is very nuanced.
 

WeePat

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He's been terrible for Germany in that half, easily their biggest problem. Hiding, looks scared, completely froze.
He's doesn't look great out there, but he's generally looked really good when playing for Germany.
 

bosnian_red

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He's doesn't look great out there, but he's generally looked really good when playing for Germany.
I understand starting him, he was excellent in the CL final (goal probably gave him a lot of confidence) but he looks shit scared today
 

WeePat

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I understand starting him, he was excellent in the CL final (goal probably gave him a lot of confidence) but he looks shit scared today
Yeah but also previous Germany games, he's played well in those. I don't think he got the nod just off the back of a great performance in the CL. Granted he's almost completely anonymous today, but Germany's attack looks totally out of sync which doesn't help.
 

TheMagicFoolBus

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He's been terrible for Germany in that half, easily their biggest problem. Hiding, looks scared, completely froze.
Really? For me their biggest problem was Low thinking that a midfield of Gundogan and Kroos could keep up with France. Mind boggling that Germany have probably the best 6 in the world yet they're sticking him at RWB - Kimmich hasn't looked comfortable on the flank at all imo and losing him from the middle has been disastrous. No idea why they didn't call up Baku from the U21s, especially if they're going to play 3-4-3.

Also, Low is a complete moron - see Volland coming on so that he could play LWB for some reason...?
 

bosnian_red

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Really? For me their biggest problem was Low thinking that a midfield of Gundogan and Kroos could keep up with France. Mind boggling that Germany have probably the best 6 in the world yet they're sticking him at RWB - Kimmich hasn't looked comfortable on the flank at all imo and losing him from the middle has been disastrous. No idea why they didn't call up Baku from the U21s, especially if they're going to play 3-4-3.

Also, Low is a complete moron - see Volland coming on so that he could play LWB for some reason...?
2nd half Havertz definitely improved. Kimmich is world class at RB or in midfield, and I don't really think the midfield was much of a problem as it's not like France were getting all the time in the world in there, it was them lacking the attacking quality. But yeah ideally you would definitely want Kimmich in the middle.

If we're looking at balance, I'm not sure I'd play either of Gundogan and Kroos. Goretzka when fit and Kimmich can be the midfield 2 like for Bayern, Muller the 10 and play Gnabry and Sane on the wings. Can't be a bad idea to just get Bayerns midfield and attack minus Lewandowski out there. Put Werner or Volland as a striker and hope they figure it out with a hot run, Gosens and someone versatile like Can at fullback, and then Rudiger with Hummels or Gunter in the middle. Sucks for Kroos and Gundogan... but when you can pick the 5 players between the defence and striker that Bayern uses... why wouldn't you? You get the club chemistry and they're all world class players in the middle 3 anyway.