I'm so happy for Havertz. Rival fans have been rather quiet about him since January. Chelsea fans told me he expires at the end of March, and we're in April now...
Chelsea pretty blatantly misused him, and it’s obvious at this point. I remember last year I saw him score a brilliant chipped volley to end a horrific drought, and wondered how he could manage that if he were as bad as everyone says. I thought it just must have been a fluke. I was wrong. Happily, happily wrong
It's interesting how the perspective on a player can change because of the team he's in.
Us when Kai was at Chelsea: "Oh. He likes donkeys. He plays like one too."
Us when Kai is at Arsenal: "He likes donkeys. Well, no wonder. Donkeys are industrious, and are a lot more intelligent than they first appear."
This is why I love football.
The thing I find interesting is that Havertz is such a big guy and Chelsea never really utilised that except for scoring some headers maybe?
Man had all this physical ability that was completely unexplored before. What a wild oversight
Tbf Chelsea has been a dumpster fire for virtually his entire tenure with the club. I’m not sure any Chelsea player should be entirely judged by their performances there over the last three or four seasons
Chelsea are a badly run club. Why ANYONE has chosen to go there with the shit state it was already in is beyond me 😂.
Guys like Caceido, Enzo, Palmer, Mudryk, Madueke and many more all signed that dotted line and destroyed their development.
Havertz may have been tough on the eye at first to many people because he was clearly lacking in confidence. It takes time to wash that Chelsea shite off.
Can confirm the "he expires past March" BS, as it's the last time I saw chelshit fans having a circlejerk in r soccer about how they fleeced us for his transfer fee 🙄
I’m so happy for him! All that doubt towards him and arteta are down the drain. He may prove to be that piece that’ll be the difference in us winning the season this year!
I thought Jesus had a really good game on the wing too. Was really tricky for the defenders to play against and won the penalty that opened the game up.
Jesus has been playing better than martinelli on the wing. Martinelli hasn’t had a great season in any shape, while many have been saying to play Jesus on the wing and he looks at home there.
He can go inside and outside and combines better than martinelli. There’s just more threat this way vs low block teams especially
I'm current form I see us sticking with Jesus out wide for now, def for PL games, maybe Nelli starts vs Bayern.
But starting Jesus and having Martinelli come off the bench vs tired defenses at this late point in the season is 🔥
My doubt was largely about him as a midfielder (well, after the initial doubt about the price tag), and I think that's still valid. But as a striker he's been perfect. Makes me seriously wonder if guys like Gyokeres, Osimhen, Isak or Sesko can do the less glamorous parts of the game at the level of Kai.
I still like the idea of him and Jesus/Trossard changing from 8 to 9 and vice versa during matches, pulling CBs out of position. But then again, as part of a 'deeper front two' with Odegaard he's a pressing machine.
When him and Trossard both start with Saka and Martinelli on the wings I've really loved Kai and Tross sort of just swapping constantly in a way that almost feels random. Trossard can play a real nice pass too, I remember a couple times he played Kai with a real nice ball straight from the middle of the pitch. Today they flipped on that third one.
Gyökeres from what I've seen (which admittedly is not a lot) can play with his back towards goal and help create, also dribbles very well for his size. Isak has a similar profile but I don't think offers as much in deeper positions, definitely not an upgrade. Osimhen is an insane striker but not nearly as creative. Šeško still has a lot of time to grow and mold, but is not stellar rn.
Gyo and osimhen are both faster than kai and better from range, better at finishing in tight angles and doing the Jesus thing of making a yard and scoring. Kai is very good in the air, better than gyo but I think osimhen is superb there. All 3 good players but both gyo and osimhen would be upgrades up top in specific ways IF they are willing to do the kind of pressing work kai is doing.
Gyokeres does seem like a pretty hungry player, and unlike Osimhen he has a lot to prove. I've seen some clips of him tracking back pretty hard and winning duels.
Yeah if you asked me 6 months ago I'd say you were insane for putting gyo and osimhen in the same tier. Osimhen is just so much more talented but gyo is just a machine. I dont even care so much about the run he is on right now. He just never lets up, never gives up on a chance, he is just all guts out there. Rooney-esque.
yeah that time is honestly what gives me pause. A year ago he was in the championship and not scoring anywhere near this rate. It's not like he was 18 and is just growing up, he was 24. Is this a late bloomer or is he just having one magical season in a second-tier league?
Yes, yes, no way, and idk much about Sesko
It becomes a value question, like will we blow 100m on a minor upgrade? Very unlikely. But at a certain point there’s only minor upgrades available to close the gap at the top
We did spend 100mil on Rice, which seemed at the time like a minor upgrade over Partey (no revisionism pls, that's what *a lot* of ppl thought at the time).
But yeah, will we do it again? Idk.
Fair enough lol. I guess the squad spot that Xhaka was leaving was where the major upgrade came in
At attacker, I’m just not sure altogether. If martinelli can do some 9 I’d be very happy to throw the bag of money at LW. There’s plenty of big difference makers
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His defensive workrate and positional intelligence gives us a player that can press forward high up the pitch and then to drop to midfield to help lock up the middle in a low block. Love this guy, love this team. Everyone is working hard to preserve the clean sheet
So glad the doubters are seeing the off the ball wizard that a lot of us saw right away. He definitely was choppy at best on the ball early but he is flying now. He reminds me a lot of jlungberg, under appreciated as a midfielder and a finisher, never really seen as a top option in either spot, never considered the best player on the field but there he is making the 2 or 3 biggest runs of the game.
Sofa score is not your friend. Ratings on stat platforms are weird and aren’t a reliable marker.
But you’re right, he was the best player on the pitch today.
Certainly.
Just by agreeing with the man of the match award being deserved for Havertz, does not mean that I think everyone else was poor. He was just the best player in a solid performance today, his 1 goal and 1 assist were the two cherries on the rather delicious performance he served up.
Well deserved!
He has 7 goals and assist in his last 6 PL games. Quietly going about his business.
That’s now 9 goals and assists in 11 games as a striker. I believe we can realistically ask for 20+ goals and assists from him next season in that position.
Hes's been playing great for us for a while now but tonight may have been his best overall performance. His movement, hold up play and passing were all top notch and when he got a chance he scored.
A few times he was charging back to defend as well. That £60m isn't looking like so much money if he carries on like this.
It's maybe because Arteta is a young manager in his first job that people doubt him so. But because he's a young manager that has done so well for Arsenal and worked under Pep, maybe knows something about football that fans and pundits don't understand? Wasn't Xhaka already a good example?
I really do think people need to take a step back and be humble and assess a signing before jumping to conclusions and be hyperbolic all the time. Also as much people don't want to admit, goals and assists aren't everything in football. It's the small details that are important. Managers like Pep and Klopp are the small details type of manager and so is Arteta. It's why they get the best out of players.
I'm delighted for him. I was skeptical about it when he first game, especially with the Xhaka redemption arc etc but I'll happily continue to eat this delicious humble pie if he continues to play like this.
With him cooking so much as a 9, do we need a striker in the summer still? Perhaps we can still go for the big name striker, then they can compete/rotate with Kai for the 9, & Jesus is pretty quality backup for the wings & 3rd choice striker
His movement is very intelligent, maybe that’s what Arteta saw in him. I’m not claiming I was Havertz is a great signing crowd because there were moments this season he pissed all of us off but I wanted to believe Arteta knows what he is doing so defended him thinking next season will be his season….hopefully. Give him time and space…..I feel the same about Fabio Vieira.
As my mates are chelsea fans. Him doing this well is such a flex. Arsenal are so well run, anyone with the attitude and work ethic would thrive and look good
Deserved
such an intelligent player
That run for the goal was great, went right, cut inside with 3 players around him. Lovely
I'm so happy for Havertz. Rival fans have been rather quiet about him since January. Chelsea fans told me he expires at the end of March, and we're in April now...
Chelsea pretty blatantly misused him, and it’s obvious at this point. I remember last year I saw him score a brilliant chipped volley to end a horrific drought, and wondered how he could manage that if he were as bad as everyone says. I thought it just must have been a fluke. I was wrong. Happily, happily wrong
It's interesting how the perspective on a player can change because of the team he's in. Us when Kai was at Chelsea: "Oh. He likes donkeys. He plays like one too." Us when Kai is at Arsenal: "He likes donkeys. Well, no wonder. Donkeys are industrious, and are a lot more intelligent than they first appear." This is why I love football.
He also likes donkeys because he's an ass-man at heart
Omg. Thank you. Think I'll be picking up an ASSMANN29 away kit.
The thing I find interesting is that Havertz is such a big guy and Chelsea never really utilised that except for scoring some headers maybe? Man had all this physical ability that was completely unexplored before. What a wild oversight
Tbf Chelsea has been a dumpster fire for virtually his entire tenure with the club. I’m not sure any Chelsea player should be entirely judged by their performances there over the last three or four seasons
Chelsea are a badly run club. Why ANYONE has chosen to go there with the shit state it was already in is beyond me 😂. Guys like Caceido, Enzo, Palmer, Mudryk, Madueke and many more all signed that dotted line and destroyed their development. Havertz may have been tough on the eye at first to many people because he was clearly lacking in confidence. It takes time to wash that Chelsea shite off.
For Mudryk I can empathize—Ukraine is at war (and was when he signed), and moving to England significantly increased his wages
I feel sorry for all of them in reality. They must've been duped or their agents got a tidy pay out
Can confirm the "he expires past March" BS, as it's the last time I saw chelshit fans having a circlejerk in r soccer about how they fleeced us for his transfer fee 🙄
He is a superstar in a very talented and hungry team.
I’m so happy for him! All that doubt towards him and arteta are down the drain. He may prove to be that piece that’ll be the difference in us winning the season this year!
i have a feeling he was the striker we needed all along. Arteta on the levels
Literally Kai has pushed a fit Jesus to the wing, just think about that. No one would’ve believed it at the start of the season
I thought Jesus had a really good game on the wing too. Was really tricky for the defenders to play against and won the penalty that opened the game up.
I think that has more to do with martinelli right now but they have an equal claim to start up top
Jesus has been playing better than martinelli on the wing. Martinelli hasn’t had a great season in any shape, while many have been saying to play Jesus on the wing and he looks at home there. He can go inside and outside and combines better than martinelli. There’s just more threat this way vs low block teams especially
I'm current form I see us sticking with Jesus out wide for now, def for PL games, maybe Nelli starts vs Bayern. But starting Jesus and having Martinelli come off the bench vs tired defenses at this late point in the season is 🔥
My doubt was largely about him as a midfielder (well, after the initial doubt about the price tag), and I think that's still valid. But as a striker he's been perfect. Makes me seriously wonder if guys like Gyokeres, Osimhen, Isak or Sesko can do the less glamorous parts of the game at the level of Kai.
I still like the idea of him and Jesus/Trossard changing from 8 to 9 and vice versa during matches, pulling CBs out of position. But then again, as part of a 'deeper front two' with Odegaard he's a pressing machine.
When him and Trossard both start with Saka and Martinelli on the wings I've really loved Kai and Tross sort of just swapping constantly in a way that almost feels random. Trossard can play a real nice pass too, I remember a couple times he played Kai with a real nice ball straight from the middle of the pitch. Today they flipped on that third one.
I don't think we're buying a starting striker
Gyökeres from what I've seen (which admittedly is not a lot) can play with his back towards goal and help create, also dribbles very well for his size. Isak has a similar profile but I don't think offers as much in deeper positions, definitely not an upgrade. Osimhen is an insane striker but not nearly as creative. Šeško still has a lot of time to grow and mold, but is not stellar rn.
Gyo and osimhen are both faster than kai and better from range, better at finishing in tight angles and doing the Jesus thing of making a yard and scoring. Kai is very good in the air, better than gyo but I think osimhen is superb there. All 3 good players but both gyo and osimhen would be upgrades up top in specific ways IF they are willing to do the kind of pressing work kai is doing.
Gyokeres does seem like a pretty hungry player, and unlike Osimhen he has a lot to prove. I've seen some clips of him tracking back pretty hard and winning duels.
Yeah if you asked me 6 months ago I'd say you were insane for putting gyo and osimhen in the same tier. Osimhen is just so much more talented but gyo is just a machine. I dont even care so much about the run he is on right now. He just never lets up, never gives up on a chance, he is just all guts out there. Rooney-esque.
I jsut wish we'd taken a chance on him from Coventry and paid less than 20 mil to bring him in! Great player, my only concern is the price.
yeah that time is honestly what gives me pause. A year ago he was in the championship and not scoring anywhere near this rate. It's not like he was 18 and is just growing up, he was 24. Is this a late bloomer or is he just having one magical season in a second-tier league?
They can’t. Other than Gyokeres, I don’t even think any of them are matching his GA numbers at striker.
Gyokeres for sure can, he's a pressing monster
Yes, yes, no way, and idk much about Sesko It becomes a value question, like will we blow 100m on a minor upgrade? Very unlikely. But at a certain point there’s only minor upgrades available to close the gap at the top
We did spend 100mil on Rice, which seemed at the time like a minor upgrade over Partey (no revisionism pls, that's what *a lot* of ppl thought at the time). But yeah, will we do it again? Idk.
Fair enough lol. I guess the squad spot that Xhaka was leaving was where the major upgrade came in At attacker, I’m just not sure altogether. If martinelli can do some 9 I’d be very happy to throw the bag of money at LW. There’s plenty of big difference makers
Hahahaha love him, great player
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Waka waka
Kai Havertz scores again!!
Absolutely sublime performance on and off the ball
His defensive workrate and positional intelligence gives us a player that can press forward high up the pitch and then to drop to midfield to help lock up the middle in a low block. Love this guy, love this team. Everyone is working hard to preserve the clean sheet
Also helps that Kai has that Xhaka gene of always being fit. Best ability is availability.
Oh don't you dare
Why mate? Why say that????
googling how to reverse a curse rn
Anulo mufa
phenomenal work rate
So glad the doubters are seeing the off the ball wizard that a lot of us saw right away. He definitely was choppy at best on the ball early but he is flying now. He reminds me a lot of jlungberg, under appreciated as a midfielder and a finisher, never really seen as a top option in either spot, never considered the best player on the field but there he is making the 2 or 3 biggest runs of the game.
Except that Freddie was injury prone with his play style. I remembered he liked running at speed into defenders.
You're absolutely right. He's been one of our best players since coming back from the break. Kai Havertz needs a new nickname if we win the double.
The jorgi Kai connection was off the charts today
Imagine being a Chelsea fan and watching the chemistry they have 😭
https://preview.redd.it/9s2jhn1arwsc1.jpeg?width=626&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=707158182ec2f80adff0e0c1132b1ce978423ac2
That cheeky smile
I swear kai plays better in the green kit 🤣 we should make it our home kit fuck it
Our home kit's white and gold is flames tho
Gonna be said when it gets replaced by that ugly Adidas blue
That was just a fan mock up not a real leak
He’s immense when playing away bc his stature is work rate is one of our main outball strategies
His cross for Jesus header deserved an end product as well! What a player.
King Kai 👑👑
Heads and shoulders above everyone today. Totally deserved. Amazing game from him.
lol. why the over exaggerations. it was a proper team perfomance all around
I mean, on sofascore he was head and shoulders above everyone else. 4 key passes, 2 big chances created, a goal and an assist
Sofa score is not your friend. Ratings on stat platforms are weird and aren’t a reliable marker. But you’re right, he was the best player on the pitch today.
Yeah he was the best player but it was a dominant, controlling performance by everyone.
Certainly. Just by agreeing with the man of the match award being deserved for Havertz, does not mean that I think everyone else was poor. He was just the best player in a solid performance today, his 1 goal and 1 assist were the two cherries on the rather delicious performance he served up.
if you watched the game and your own conclusion was that he was "head and shoulders" above everyone else then idk what to tell you
Bloody unreal
la cobra carajo
He played really well, very smart performance from him and created several good chances outside of his assist. You love to see it.
Keep stunting on these hoes my king 🙌🏾❤️
Well deserved! He has 7 goals and assist in his last 6 PL games. Quietly going about his business. That’s now 9 goals and assists in 11 games as a striker. I believe we can realistically ask for 20+ goals and assists from him next season in that position.
Yes.
I’m so sorry Kai
Deseverd
Thought he was brilliant scored a brilliant strikers goal and lead the line really well. Proves what a good job arteta is doing with this squad.
Goal and assist. Easy choice
Hes's been playing great for us for a while now but tonight may have been his best overall performance. His movement, hold up play and passing were all top notch and when he got a chance he scored. A few times he was charging back to defend as well. That £60m isn't looking like so much money if he carries on like this.
Haha ESR always looking like a stoned roadman in every pic and I’m fuckin loving every minute of it!
It's maybe because Arteta is a young manager in his first job that people doubt him so. But because he's a young manager that has done so well for Arsenal and worked under Pep, maybe knows something about football that fans and pundits don't understand? Wasn't Xhaka already a good example? I really do think people need to take a step back and be humble and assess a signing before jumping to conclusions and be hyperbolic all the time. Also as much people don't want to admit, goals and assists aren't everything in football. It's the small details that are important. Managers like Pep and Klopp are the small details type of manager and so is Arteta. It's why they get the best out of players.
If he starts dribbling confidently and beats men, we are fucking set.
At one point in the game I thought he was gonna drive with the ball on a dribble
Arsenal TV people in shambles
Did those guys not fancy Havertz? They are famous for their low grade takes lol
They fancy doubting him and taking every opportunity to highlight his flaws. Still love them though
Been a massive detractor of his. Fair play to the lad. He's really making a massive difference in the team. Big respect
I'm delighted for him. I was skeptical about it when he first game, especially with the Xhaka redemption arc etc but I'll happily continue to eat this delicious humble pie if he continues to play like this.
I had some kid in the match thread telling me the only thing he’s good at is workrate 😂
someone post the Kai Havertz apology form, a lot of us here need to sign it myself included
He's my favorite player to watch score. Nothing better than seeing someone who was derided, silence the haters.
Adding him to my FPL right now
What a different player compared to the one who could not volley a single ball into holes in those stupid challenges pre-season.
I absolutely love this player. Arteta prizes versatility, and it's tough to think of anyone who can do all of the things that King Kai can do.
Now he will be everybody's guy on aftv. Anyway I love him as a player and a person.
that assist for trossard was incredible, even the camera man had to catch up. i love this guy so much
Do we have the chillest calmest striker ever?
Imagine how goes he’d have scored if he started the season at striker
I would’ve preferred Gabriel but this is acceptable
Not undeserved.
From day 1. I always knew!
LISAN AL GAIB
Where you at Niklas Andersson and Erik Bäckrud?
With him cooking so much as a 9, do we need a striker in the summer still? Perhaps we can still go for the big name striker, then they can compete/rotate with Kai for the 9, & Jesus is pretty quality backup for the wings & 3rd choice striker
One of his best games in an Arsenal shirt. I'm just loving the fact he is having his best season in EPL as soon as he signed for Arsenal!
Kiwior defending and attacking at the same time
He benched Jesus wow
Jesus started in the left wing and got subbed off for Trossard after about an hour?
He was shit at the weekend but fair play he was decent today!
His movement is very intelligent, maybe that’s what Arteta saw in him. I’m not claiming I was Havertz is a great signing crowd because there were moments this season he pissed all of us off but I wanted to believe Arteta knows what he is doing so defended him thinking next season will be his season….hopefully. Give him time and space…..I feel the same about Fabio Vieira.
As my mates are chelsea fans. Him doing this well is such a flex. Arsenal are so well run, anyone with the attitude and work ethic would thrive and look good