Waka waka, eh eh.
I have never hid the fact that I wanted Kai Havertz since his Bayer Leverkusen. He looked to be set to become one of the best goal scoring midfielders of his generation. An ability to find space in a crowded box and clinical in-front of goal. And then he joined Chelsea.
He was not as poor as some made out during his days in West London, but he certainly did not hit those heights of Leverkusen.
A victim of Chelsea’s turnover in managers and playing style, he suffered playing in different positions on a weekly basis and his career risked drifting. Then Mikel Arteta saved him.
Havertz start to Arsenal was slow. He was clearly low on confidence and it felt like he was learning how to play football again. Certainly learning hot to enjoy football. The instinctive footballer who scored 38 goals in 2 seasons in Germany seemed long gone. But Arteta kept the faith.
Whilst others began criticising the signing, claiming it was £60million down the drain, Arteta continued to manage the situation well. He would come in and out of the team as Arteta, helped by Havertz’s team mates, would try to rebuild the shattered confidence.
A so-called “pity-penalty” showed that the team were behind him, and knew that he would eventually come good. But still the German struggled. Then 13 games in to his Arsenal Premier League career, everything changed.
Havertz was signed to score those goals in tough games. To find space in defences that had packed the box. And against Brentford he did just that when he came off the bench to score the winner.
Four days later he would open the scoring agains Lens in an important Champions League match, before getting Arsenal’s 3rd and a crucial equaliser against Luton in the crazy 4-3 game. 3 goals in 4 games, all of them key. This is why he was bought.
Against Brighton, he had an opportunity that has arisen numerous times this season – finding space on the left hand side as Eddie Nketiah drew centre backs to the middle, he found himself one-on-one with the keeper. Havertz of August, September or October would have hit the ball at the keeper or blazed over.
But this is a Kai Havertz who is now finding his stride again. Getting his swagger back. He finished clinically in a similar style to his Champions League winner.
Havertz now has 5 goals in 26 games for The Arsenal. Certainly not a great record, but 4 of the 5 have come in his last 6 games.
It is not just his output that has looked better, but his overall game play. He is learning how we play, and him and Gabriel Martinelli are getting used to playing together on that left hand side. I have lost count how often he has played that ball around the corner to a team mate in the last few games.
Up next is Liverpool and Arteta will surely be looking to use Havertz, Martinelli and Zinchenko to overload Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Liverpool will always look to push their right centre back wider to cover Trent’s defensive frailties. This could lead to their behing a big gap between Konate and van Dijk. Space that Havertz will find. I would not be surprised if we are signing that Shakira song in Anfield again on Saturday.
In other news, I am getting fed up of players (and managers) getting booked due to refs making an error.
In Arsenal and Mikel Arteta’s statement, they highlighted that refereeing in this country is not good enough. And that was highlighted at Anfield on Sunday.
Diogo Dalot was booked for being frustrated that the referee made an error. Michael Oliver then doubled down on his error by booking (and sending off) Dalot for being frustatred at the booking.
Oliver got the decision wrong, booked a player for being upset about the decision, then booked the player again for still being upset. 2 bookings in a very short space of time. The same Oliver who once booked Gabriel Martinelli twice in 5 seconds.
Arteta also recieved another booking at the weekend. This time for daring to wave his arms in the air. There is always a lot of talk about “referees deserve more respect” but they should earn that respect.
Refusing to take accountability and randomly dishing out yellow cards to hide their incompotence will not improve officiating in this country. We deserve better.
Keenos
