23 Jul 2023 09:55:27
Jesus lads, give Kai a chance.

Look what the boss did to Xhaka the last couple of years

Sy look at what x players, the media said about granit

Banbury we all know we need a quality cf and I'm sure Mikel and Edu know as well

There's a month left in the window.

1.) 23 Jul 2023
23 Jul 2023 10:15:00
Did they say he was good for him to have 6 poor seasons and a decent one? Did they say he was a liability, couldn’t tackle or a mistake waiting to happen?

I was a huge Granit supporter because I trusted the club but season after season Granit let me down.

What were the press saying about him bud?

2.) 23 Jul 2023
23 Jul 2023 10:16:14
100% agree Mal.

3.) 23 Jul 2023
23 Jul 2023 10:23:29
Point taken Mal and thanks for the sense check. I’m annoyed at this frustrating club not the player. Hopefully he does well and he smashes it.

4.) 23 Jul 2023
23 Jul 2023 10:33:48
It’s not our job to give him a chance Malaga. It’s the managers.

It’s our job to cheer him on while on the pitch then apply critical thinking when assessing his performance after we’ve given that unconditional support throughout the game.

You are minimising peoples rightful doubts by reducing the argument to one performance and also pointing to a previous completely different mindset of player to use as some hypothetical formula for future success.

You are hoping an outcome will materialise for Havertz with no other evidence other than the fact Xhaka improved under Arteta while most of us on the other side of the argument are saying the problem is not one isolated game or preseason form.

It is, as I’ve stated before on here, his mental fragility and indifference when his team is up against it. He is perfectly content to float through a game (or season last year if you watched Chelsea) without going outside his comfort zone to try turn the tide of a game by injecting intensity into his game or seeking to find onfield solutions outside what he considers the managers tactical expectations of him. Quite bluntly, he goes hiding.

If one thing was proven last night, it’s that if we’re going to play a trio in midfield, 2 of those players cannot be Odegaard and Havertz. It can’t work because they don’t smell danger early enough and so much space open for opposition to counter attack from wide and almost instantly our holding midfielder and back 4 are exposed and we don’t have good enough defenders at LB or in Gabriel at CB to defend such overloads running from midfield or wide areas.

Havertz was a mistake. Not because there isn’t a player there, but because we don’t need him. He’s not the 8 we needed, he’s demonstrated it nowhere and that £65M could have got you an Ivan Toney CF with plenty of change leftover.

Tactically astute managers with pacey dynamic players in their midfield and wide areas will expose us this season if Havertz and Odegaard play as positioned last night, and because Arteta can be stubborn in his pragmatic approach I think we could see this very early in our season if it’s not addressed quickly because a team like Brighton would spank us as they did at seasons end let alone what Klopp and Pep would do if they seen us select a midfield trio comprised of those two.

It’s a genuine concern I would say Malaga.

5.) 23 Jul 2023
23 Jul 2023 10:46:10
It’s embarrassing how much Kai’s getting a kicking on ere, looks like 23/ 24 seasons scapegoat has been found already and the lads only played cameo parts in 3 friendlies one of which he scored in with a sublime touch n finish but I didn’t see anyone talking about that tho eh ??‍♂️ people are that eager to jump on him to highlight his weaknesses but then why not praise him when he shows the brilliance he can bring too ??‍♂️
Yes he might not be the signing some wanted but he’s here, he’s Arsenal so…suck it up!
Arteta n co know what there doing!

#letthemgel

❤️?.

6.) 23 Jul 2023
23 Jul 2023 11:41:53
Great post Mark, I didn't see the game but after reading the posts below I had resigned myself to another 8th place finish and a return to the Arteta in out shake it all about debates off the back of this game as this preseason friendly erformance must have been off the scale awful for so many people to be so upset and to have caused so many who were previously excited about the season ahead to suddenly become full of fear and trepidation of what lays ahead for us. Hey ho the Arsenal revival was good while it lasted ??⚽.

7.) 23 Jul 2023
23 Jul 2023 10:26:53
Morning sy, they said exactly what you said about him

Mikel did what previous managers couldn’t do and find him a position that made him a much better player

I know you still lack confidence in Mikel but i'm still a believer in the project.

8.) 23 Jul 2023
23 Jul 2023 14:51:43
Jegooner,
Two things can be true simultaneously mate. I don’t see how he’s getting a kicking when people objectively highlight deficiencies he continues to demonstrate and by the same token he of course should and will be afforded time to gel and be supported like any other donning the shirt.
But surely we can agree there’s an expected standard, whether it’s a friendly or champions league final.
Our manager made the squad train afterwards on the pitch so I’m sure you can imagine where he stands on that point.
It was only a friendly guys, in the same way if we’d won 5-0 it’s means nothing really this is the same resul wise. But you use these games to try things and to learn about certain scenarios and I’m telling you we will get undone by good managers and good dynamic attacking sides if Odegaard and Havertz occupy 2/ 3 midfield positions. They are too easy to play through and against and it would leave us wide open. You wouldn’t play Fabio Vieira there so why Havertz?