Kai Havertz (29)

Bringing up Xhaka is funny, Havertz is getting criticism half a season in (Quite rightly because we need him to work) Xhaka was tanking the club for SIX seasons and we weren’t even title challenging in almost all of them. Don’t miss him for shit.

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Yep, he was definitely one of the main culprits for our spring slump last season

Yeah, we’ll see about that

@GC-Maniac: His role is clearly different to that of what he was tasked with last season, bringing up goal stats means nothing

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Xhaka had 7 goals and 7 assists over the Premier League season last year and Kai Havertz has 4 goals and 1 assist this season. That includes the pity penalty at Bournemouth.

I’m not saying Xhaka would have cured all our problems or Havertz is solely to blame for the recent results, but the left side of midfield is a big problem this season. It’s no coincidence in my view Zinchenko and Martinelli’s form has fallen off a cliff this season.

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People talk about Partey, Zinchenko, Ramsdale, Odegaard, Saka and others during that period letting us down.

You know who they never talk about?
Xhaka. Dude wasn’t even there. His best moment in the whole thing was picking a fight with TAA that resulted in waking up Anfield and subsequently Liverpool.
Once our season was over, he remembered to show up against Wolves when nothing was on the line.

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That’s my mistake. I genuinely thought Kai had more based on something that was posted in here.

I think we miss Partey way more than Xhaka tbf. When/if he comes back into the fold, we’ll be clicking again (just hope all is not lost by then)

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Plenty of people called him out for the Liverpool foolishness

And to your point about him at Leverkusen he is BALLING there, he is a key part of that team and has lifted their midfield play to new heights

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If Kai’s job is to have a late run into the box, and not playing as a passer nor working on buildup, why Martinelli and Zinny’s drop of from was his fault?

Come on, make some sense please.
Ode has the ball on his feet most of the time, then it would be Saka and Rice next.
Isn’t their job (not Saka) to facilitate the attack a bit more to the left instead of jamming our right side?

Also, Martinelli did have his chances (a lot) but how many times he screwed up the chances?

If his only job is to have late runs into the box is that not sacrificing overall balance in midfield? And he’s not exactly setting the world alight doing that.

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This is exactly why he will not be a solution here, situational player who is limited in what he allows the team to do.

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No one said and expected him to light up the world.

The setup was by Arteta, not Kai.

Our manager sees something different from general fans.

No clue why the piss on the player and sounds it was all his fault.

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So? You keep saying stuff like this and I mean yeah it’s kind of obvious but he HAS to try and make it work now lets be honest here

I did say I don’t think he is to blame for the team output being down, it’s a collective fault. But still even so he isn’t the solution to issues we’ve had

so what is our solution?

when the whole front line is stoned cold and lost their scoring boots, who is our solution and who can be our solution?

Same question should be posted on Jesus, Saka, Martinelli and Ode’s thread also; but why the criticism is only on Kai? Because he was not with us last season and a newbie on this team?

It seems like the internet thing to do after one poor game.

The Brentford game is long lost in memory.

It won’t just be one player being the solution but rather multiple players, a wide player of a similar profile to Saka and Martinleli, a DLP and also proper striker.

Havertz is none of those things.

Those guys have been getting plenty of critcism in their threads or haven’t you been paying attention, you’re way too bisaed about Havertz tbh

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I agree, and please post your original question and concern on other threads as well :slight_smile:

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Leverkusen were on the up before that with Xabi Alonso. Their young players like Frimpong, Tapsoba, Boniface and Palacios better, Wirtz fully recovered from his injury too.

If we’re talking about the summer transfer that made the real difference maker it’s Grimaldo, not Xhaka.

Ultimately, despite that run from summer of 2022 to the WC where the dude was playing like Gundogan, Xhaka is a player that excels at keeping things ticking. He’s almost always available and will give you that 6-7/10 performance(when he’s not doing his brainless shit) almost every week.

We already have player like that in Jorginho. I doubt a midfield of Xhaka-Rice-Odegaard would do any better than Rice-Jorginho-Odegaard, Havertz-Rice-Odegaard or Rice-Partey-Odegaard.

It’s not like our players are missing the target because they reminisce Xhaka moments before they make an attempt at goal.

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I have actually maybe you haven’t been paying attention

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Fair enough, I trust Arteta see’s something that I don’t as a normal fan. I want Havertz to work but don’t think it will unless he’s just a back up utility player across the front 6.

Who would have foreseen that Alex Grimaldo was the missing piece to ending a decade of Bayern winning the title?

Not Bellingham, not Haaland, Alex Grimaldo.