Eric Ten Hag wanted to make a point

As we blogged yesterday, Manchester United treated the game as a competitive fixture, whilst Arsenal played it as a friendly.

Man U were aggressive and direct, and Ten Hag was certainly not “trying anything new”. The way Man U played against Arsenal will be how they play for the whole of next season.

One comment on the She Wore Facebook page summed it up: It was obvious Arteta had said “this is a friendly. Take no risks, etc.” Ten Hag had said “we need to make a point here”.

And I think that is a fairly accurate assessment.

Ten Hag would have been happy with his teams gritty, determined, aggressive win, but neither he or his players would have learnt much. Arteta and the players would have learned plenty. And you do not get any points for a pre-season friendly…

Havertz hate

Two games in, plus the mess around charity thing, and the hate from so called Arsenal fans towards Kai Havertz is also showing. I really do not know why.

Those that are hating on Havertz are clearly not Arsenal fans. They have an agenda to push. And that agenda is by throwing hate to towards Arsenal players for attention.

They are the same fans that hated on Granit Xhaka, that hate on Edu and Mikel Arteta. The same people that wanted PierreiEmerick Aubameyang to “bag goals for fun” for Chelsea so that it would support their anti-Arteta agenda.

I saw a quotes from one YouTuber from 12 months ago saying “people are hoping he [Auba] flops like they hope Chelsea do and also hope Arteta comes good”.

Auba scored 1 goal in 15 Premier League games, Chelsea finished 12 and Arteta’s Arsenal finished 2nd. He could not have been much more wrong. And that is why those sort of fans opinions are so easy to ignore.

They do not think Havertz is a bad player. They just want him to be a bad player for Arsenal.

Had Arsenal missed out on Havertz and he joined Manhcester United, they would be complaining that “Edu can not land top players”. Changing the narrative to suit their agenda.

Imagine if these fans were about when Dennis Bergkamp joined Arsenal, or Thierry Henry, or Robert Pires. All of these had very slow starts to their Arsenal careers, and yet each one became an Arsenal legend.

The fans hating on Havertz have also begun hating on Rice. It is just really odd behaviour to carry around so much negativity at all times throughout your life.

New boys will take time to settle

It is not exactly a genius view point saying that new signings will take a while to settle. Almost every player needs to adapt when they join a new club. And that is why I do not really get the over-the-top reaction to performances by Declan Rice, Kai Havertz or Jurrien Timber. And price-tag really does not matter.

Rice is going to have to get used to playing for a team that dominates posession, rather than a team that looks to defend first whilst battling relegation. He will be spending more time looking for forward passes, than the sideways and backwards football David Moyes plated.

He is also going to have to adjust from being the superstar of the team, the man that drives his side forward, to being a cog in Arteta’s midfield.

He is playing a similar role for Arsenal as he does for England, where he sacrifices his attacking game to allow others to flourish, so he has the game to do it.

Meanwhile, Havertz is having to re-learn his position.

He was signed from Leverkusen by Chelsea as an attacking midfielder. Various managers then shunted him around from position to position. His versatility counting against him.

Once he has got consistent game time in the left sides central position, you will see a superstar.

As for Timber, the Premier League is a huge step up from the Dutch league. Hoewever the signs are there already that he is a class player.

Guardiola has been known for slowly integrating new signigns into his team. It takes them a while to learn how he wants them to play. We are going to go down a similar path.

You will not see Havertz or Timber week in week out whilst they settle into the new way of playing. And those of you talking about fees, jus tlook how little Jack Grealish played for Manchester City in his first season…

The importance of Thomas Partey

When we signed Havertz, I called that he would end up playing as an attacking left sides 8. In pre-season thus far Arteta has utilised him there.

I also added the caveat that between Havertz and Rice, Arteta now has an option to go attacking or defensive in his midfield make-up.

When we play lesser teams in the Premier League, expect us to go with the midfield of Havertz, Rice and Odegaard.

Rice will control the game from deep as we dominate in posession, whilst Havertz will allow us to overload the box.

We have not seen much of Gabriel Jesus in pre-season, but hit movement is so important to how we want to line up.

As Jesus drops left to create an overload with Gabriel Martinelli, or right to join Bukayo Saka, it will be Havertz that will push forward from the midfield position.

Then when we play tougher games, I expect Havertz to drop to the bench, Rice to push further foward and Thomas Partey to come in.

Against Manchester United, we went for the more attacking midfield of Rice, Havertz and Odegaard. It is pre-season which is when new things get put into practice. But I am sure that when we face Man U in September, it will be Partey, Rice and Odegaard. That will give us a bit more defensive stability and control over the game.

That does not mean Havertz is to be dropped. I expect him to start the first 3 games of the season. It just gives us a bit more tactical fluidity.

You often see Mancester City change things up depending on the opponent.

Pep Guardiola would go with Kevin de Bruyne, Jack Grealish, Bernardo Silva and Riyad Mahrez against weaker teams. Then in tough games, Ilkay Gundogan would come in providing them more defensive awareness and control.

It will be so important next season for Arteta to have the option of Partey and Rice to go more defensive where required.

Chelsea and West Ham fans more invested in Arsenal than their own teams

It was interesting following social media as the game went on. It seemed like opposing fans were more invested our performance than we were.

Arsenal’s tweet replies were filled with West Ham and Chelsea fans (and some odd Aston Villa fans that are still trying to create that rivalry) mocking us for losing a friendly.

West Ham fans who spent a month telling us Rice was the best defensive midfielder in the world and how we should pay £120m or shut up, now saying they had our pants down over him, we overpaid, he was not that good and carried by Tomas Soucek. The same Tomas Soucek who their fans slated throughout last season for not being good enough.

Chelsea were also celebrating Arsenal’s struggles, pointing out that Havertz was a poor player, whilst ignoring that he has been their best player over the last couple of years.

On the Chelsea fans, had we won 2-0, they would have been all over Man U’s tweets making the same comments about Mason Mount.

The game was 10pm on a Saturday. Why were they spending their time indoors, watching a friendly on a dodgy stream that was not their side, whilst posting on social media? What sad little lives they must live! Get out on a Saturday, get down the pub, out for a meal with the misses. But of course, we know that they probably don’t have mates, don’t have a misses.

Arsenal have a similar fanbase as mentioned above. Odd incel fans that need to get out more.

The Chelsea and West Ham incel fanbases are going to be heavily invested into Arsenal this season. They will probably get more delight over us losing a pre-season friendly than they do their team winning an actual game.

Note: I understand social media tends to breed these wierdos and, like with Arsenal, the match going fans are very different. Those that go to Stamford Bridge or the London Stadium and do not live their lives on Twitter have already moved on from Rice and Havertz.

Keenos

We have less than 50 of our original #Arsenal beer mat sets left.

We will not be restocking. When they are sold out, they will be gone forever! #ArsenalFC #AFChttps://t.co/R4ww6cE7Nz pic.twitter.com/I0xVBEjUgo

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