Although Saka ended up scoring a banger in the second half for Arsenal’s 2-0 win, there was something special about Havertz’s goal.
For a long time, Arsenal has lacked a physical presence, i.e. someone who’s aerially capable of manipulating overhead crosses and leading the attack. Well, the Gunners now have that, with Havertz as the striker. As much as we want him to score a lot of goals, trying to set him up in a 1 v 1 situation with the goalie is not how to get the best out of the German forward.
Maximising his aerial threat is what gets the most out of him. Havertz needs more crosses played into the box, particularly from the right-hand side. Saka does his best, but he is often double-marked and can only dribble himself out of danger. Ben White, while overlapping, also matches that fine standard, but it is not a reliable method of chance creation.
This season, we need Odegaard to do more from RHS; we need him to try the Saka-esque half-space crosses more often, which could end up just being the assists the German hitman needs to be on the scoresheet.
The days of dribbling through opponents’ defences before finding a shot should be long gone. Yes, it can still be done, but with the physical presence of Havertz now in opposition boxes, Arsenal now just needs to hit their crosses into the box, and their No. 9, who is a great aerial target, would do the rest.
Interestingly, Havertz, after the Wolves game, hinted that they train in a lot of situations (like the one for his goal), so that gives us hope that we could just end up seeing the best of him in attack. I believe he has the potential to score 20+ goals; what do you think?
That says it all doesn’t it?
Daniel O
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