Donkai Havertz | Arsenal Watch

Die Mannschaft now resort to shoehorning a gangly number 10 into the left back position. Sad times. They are struggling against average opposition in the build up to a tournament they are hosting. They look worse than the FIFA WC 2006 squad and it would a tremendous shock if they could emulate them.

Kai Havertz is going the way of Fernando Torres. I doubt he has the mentality of Maguire to bounce back. If he can reinvent himself as a fullback then great, but once his defensive deficiencies are exposed, his confidence will free fall.
 
Dwight Corke said:
Die Mannschaft now resort to shoehorning a gangly number 10 into the left back position. Sad times. They are struggling against average opposition in the build up to a tournament they are hosting. They look worse than the FIFA WC 2006 squad and it would a tremendous shock if they could emulate them.

Kai Havertz is going the way of Fernando Torres. I doubt he has the mentality of Maguire to bounce back. If he can reinvent himself as a fullback then great, but once his defensive deficiencies are exposed, his confidence will free fall.
Click to expand...

Worse than the 2006 team?
 
stefan92 said:
Currently on par with the match against Italy in early 2006. Now it depends if the team this time bounces back as well as they did 2006
Click to expand...

Individually the current team is much stronger
 
Dwight Corke said:
Die Mannschaft now resort to shoehorning a gangly number 10 into the left back position. Sad times. They are struggling against average opposition in the build up to a tournament they are hosting. They look worse than the FIFA WC 2006 squad and it would a tremendous shock if they could emulate them.

Kai Havertz is going the way of Fernando Torres. I doubt he has the mentality of Maguire to bounce back. If he can reinvent himself as a fullback then great, but once his defensive deficiencies are exposed, his confidence will free fall.
Click to expand...

The 2006 team was fantastic, a great mix world class players, very good support players and young talents. We were a top 3 team in the world at that time, this team is nowhere near that. 2004 would be a more apt comparison.
 
Namena namena eh eh waka waka eh eh 60 million down the drain ….
 
Only 60 millions for THREE (3) points ! Absolute bargain.
 
He's playing the goal scoring left back role perfectly.
 
People take the piss but there's a player there.

I think the CL went to his head a bit and not exactly sure what his best position is.

In the right environment and it he's sorted mentally will be a class player.
 
Mb194dc said:
People take the piss but there's a player there.

I think the CL went to his head a bit and not exactly sure what his best position is.

In the right environment and it he's sorted mentally will be a class player.
Click to expand...

Very few Chelsea fans share this opinion. Hopefully he does kick on. He seems like a very nice person otherwise.
 
CannonBalls said:
Very few Chelsea fans share this opinion. Hopefully he does kick on. He seems like a very nice person otherwise.
Click to expand...

I’ve been saying, if you put him up front, you have a punchers chance of getting something out of him but the midfield experiment needed to end. I don’t wish him ill or anything but I won’t lie and say I haven’t enjoyed his struggles.
 
WeePat said:
I’ve been saying, if you put him up front, you have a punchers chance of getting something out of him but the midfield experiment needed to end. I don’t wish him ill or anything but I won’t lie and say I haven’t enjoyed his struggles.
Click to expand...

Was not a dig at other Chelsea fans just an observation.
Also he could play the Second Striker role for us but I feel he is best when he plays with a striker and not as a striker.
 
Scored for his country during the break, now scores for his club. Hopefully this means he'll kick on a bit. With Vieira out for another 2 games, we're going to need him to contribute even more.
 
CannonBalls said:
Was not a dig at other Chelsea fans just an observation.
Also he could play the Second Striker role for us but I feel he is best when he plays with a striker and not as a striker.
Click to expand...

Yeah striker or second striker. He just needs to be near the box. There’s too big a burden on Rice when he has to baby sit Havertz. Martinelli suffers too when he has to rely on Havertz being a competent midfielder. Up front he can be somewhat of a poacher as well as offer decent link up play.
 
Maybe the international break helped him in a way. He’s been stinking for Arsenal but this would be a hell of a time to find some form and start producing for them. That was a huge goal today.
 
WeePat said:
Yeah striker or second striker. He just needs to be near the box. There’s too big a burden on Rice when he has to baby sit Havertz. Martinelli suffers too when he has to rely on Havertz being a competent midfielder. Up front he can be somewhat of a poacher as well as offer decent link up play.
Click to expand...

Currently the midfield is dysfunctional.
Rice surely have made us very hard to beat but we need to find the midfield balance.
Even White-Odegaard-Saka on the right are not clicking.
And yes Martinelli suffers for multiple reasons. Havertz (LCM) is one, Jesus being injured is another. On the left as Zinchenko comes inside, Jesus is the 3rd player for link ups.
 
Mb194dc said:
People take the piss but there's a player there.

I think the CL went to his head a bit and not exactly sure what his best position is.

In the right environment and it he's sorted mentally will be a class player.
Click to expand...

No there isn't.
 
WeePat said:
I’ve been saying, if you put him up front, you have a punchers chance of getting something out of him but the midfield experiment needed to end. I don’t wish him ill or anything but I won’t lie and say I haven’t enjoyed his struggles.
Click to expand...
The experiment for him to play as #8 so far has been extremely poor. The whole left side struggles with him.
 
I'm not convinced this over forcing the narrative when when he does something good will help in the long run, some of the comments I see strikes eeirly resemblance to how we tried to convince ourselves Torres was on the right path everytime done the basics (the celebrations after his Bournemouth goal reminded me a bit of how we overegged Nando's first goal for us too).

But I do agree with @WeePat there is potentially still a player in there somewhere if he plays up front, i will always maintain we should have given it a go for the season in 21/22 given the lack of options in the market.
 
How can a player just suddenly become so bad? It's the same with Sancho. Imagine saying that in 2020. They both looked like they were going to be one of the best players in the world at Leverkusen and Dortmund respectively.
 
I don't see much more than a squad role for him. Hopefully, he gains some confidence and is able to fill some gaps here and there, and come off the bench to provide some extra punch up front like he did on Saturday. We still need a replacement for Xhaka. And we probably need a striker as well. This committee isn't getting it done. It's not disastrous, but it's generally not enough.

Most of all though, we need to see some better form going among our players upfront. Saka hasn't been great, but what has happened to Odegaard?
 
No idea whether he comes good or not but Saturday's goal is another indication of why this was a high floor transfer. He may never be worth the 65m fee but he'll be a useful squad player with a very unusual package of traits and attributes at the very least, a tactically astute player who is a willing runner and athletic enough for high intensity midfield battles while also offering a target for aerial outballs against the press plus a different kind of threat making these late runs into the box and crashing the back post. Between Saturday and the City match he has been centrally involved in two of our most important three goals of the season (the other being the Rice goal against United). His defensive contribution has also been really good in the left 8 role and he clearly is better in that regard than options like Smith-Rowe, Vieira, or what we got last year from Xhaka.

Obviously you want more for 65m but that player just described can still play a very important role for a side challenging for the highest honors. Quite possibly he'll be a disappointment but he'll never be a Pepe or Sancho-level bust. I can think of a lot of worse big money transfers in the PL within the last couple years.
 
Powderfinger said:
No idea whether he comes good or not but Saturday's goal is another indication of why this was a high floor transfer. He may never be worth the 65m fee but he'll be a useful squad player with a very unusual package of traits and attributes at the very least, a tactically astute player who is a willing runner and athletic enough for high intensity midfield battles while also offering a target for aerial outballs against the press plus a different kind of threat making these late runs into the box and crashing the back post. Between Saturday and the City match he has been centrally involved in two of our most important three goals of the season (the other being the Rice goal against United). His defensive contribution has also been really good in the left 8 role and he clearly is better in that regard than options like Smith-Rowe, Vieira, or what we got last year from Xhaka.

Obviously you want more for 65m but that player just described can still play a very important role for a side challenging for the highest honors. Quite possibly he'll be a disappointment but he'll never be a Pepe or Sancho-level bust. I can think of a lot of worse big money transfers in the PL within the last couple years.
Click to expand...

Long story short. He’s like Fred but more expensive.
 
Powderfinger said:
No idea whether he comes good or not but Saturday's goal is another indication of why this was a high floor transfer. He may never be worth the 65m fee but he'll be a useful squad player with a very unusual package of traits and attributes at the very least, a tactically astute player who is a willing runner and athletic enough for high intensity midfield battles while also offering a target for aerial outballs against the press plus a different kind of threat making these late runs into the box and crashing the back post. Between Saturday and the City match he has been centrally involved in two of our most important three goals of the season (the other being the Rice goal against United). His defensive contribution has also been really good in the left 8 role and he clearly is better in that regard than options like Smith-Rowe, Vieira, or what we got last year from Xhaka.

Obviously you want more for 65m but that player just described can still play a very important role for a side challenging for the highest honors. Quite possibly he'll be a disappointment but he'll never be a Pepe or Sancho-level bust. I can think of a lot of worse big money transfers in the PL within the last couple years.
Click to expand...
This is pretty much where I'm landing with him. I don't actually have a huge problem with him this season. Had he cost £30m from Fulham, I'd actually be fine with his performances so far. But the fact that he was both vastly overpriced and gave Chelsea a ton of FFP maneuverability seriously bugs me.
 
Let's keep this going lads. Shit player, can't hack it, tap in merchant, waste of money.
 
it's kind of wild to me to realize that he's still only 24 years old. It feels like he's been around forever with all the attention and conversation that he draws. But he still has a ton of time to grow and develop. I've been very critical of him. But he's starting to grow on me A BIT.

I'm still not entirely sure what HE DOES. He's not really a technically gifted player imo. Not a brilliant passer. Not a great ball carrier. Pretty good header and decent physicality. But his best trait just seems to be that he finds good positions. Which is worth a lot I guess

Long may his goal scoring form continue though
 
Another average performance but gets glossed over because he scored a goal he didnt mean with loads of space.
 
Gene Loblaw said:
it's kind of wild to me to realize that he's still only 24 years old. It feels like he's been around forever with all the attention and conversation that he draws. But he still has a ton of time to grow and develop. I've been very critical of him. But he's starting to grow on me A BIT.

I'm still not entirely sure what HE DOES. He's not really a technically gifted player imo. Not a brilliant passer. Not a great ball carrier. Pretty good header and decent physicality. But his best trait just seems to be that he finds good positions. Which is worth a lot I guess

Long may his goal scoring form continue though
Click to expand...

He's a lesser version of Thomas Mueller
 
You must log in or register to reply here.