Arsenal summer signing Kai Havertz has continued to struggle since his arrival from Chelsea, and was again ineffective in his side’s victory over Burnley yesterday.
Havertz was starting in a midfield role in the absence of Martin Odegaard, despite calls for him to play in a more advanced role or even as a striker, but yesterday’s game saw him take up some interesting positions.
With Leandro Trossard starting as a false nine, Arsenal’s shape almost represented a 4-4-2 at times, with Havertz pushing up to join Trossard as a second striker. He was effectively playing a role which many claimed would help see him improve his performances, but he still put in a sub-par display.
Havertz criticised despite Arsenal victory
Speaking on TalkSPORT, pundit Jame O’Hara claimed that Havertz was far off the desired level against Burnley, as he was substituted in the 59th minute.
“Kai Havertz is really struggling to do anything in this Arsenal side,” he stated.
“He got dragged after 59 minutes today. He just looks so off the pace.”
Arsenal were leading courtesy of Trossard’s first-half goal, but found themselves unexpectedly pegged back. Mikel Arteta was readying Fabio Vieira to replace Havertz almost instantly following the equaliser, but William Saliba eased any worries as he scored less than three minutes later.
However, Vieira was still introduced, and Havertz brought off before the hour mark, with the German failing to contribute anything of note against a side with just one league win this season.
Havertz’s ineffectual performances cannot continue
In recent weeks, Arsenal have played promoted sides Sheffield United and Burnley, comfortably beating both, and some players have used these opportunities to silence their critics.
Eddie Nketiah scored a stunning hattrick against Sheffield United, whilst Trossard and Oleksandr Zinchenko, whom have both come in for recent criticism, were superb in helping Arsenal to victory yesterday.
This reflects particularly poorly on Havertz. Whilst struggling to perform in tough away games may be somewhat forgiven following his struggles so far, these home games are a good opportunity for Havertz to impose himself on matches, and perhaps even add to his meagre goal tally.
The fact that Havertz was the first player Arteta decided to substitute in order to push forward for a winner, shows that he was not trusted to improve his attacking display on the day, and given the ease in which Arsenal eventually won without him, it was not a good day for the German.
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