RunTheTrap
Kai Havertz Offense League
I was never in favour of this transfer but I’m gonna hold out on criticising him because Arteta sucks at attacking play.
*balls out to the right hand side.Too many excuses made for the player imo, to me it's simple and always has been, he is not a versatile or varied enough package and we have almost never seen him contribute significantly when the game state is difficult. I didn't like most of what he did against West Ham accept for the 2-3 superb balls he played out to the left hand side.
To my eyes every aspect of his play is limited, range and type of short pass/long pass, situations where he has a physical superiority (basically 0), situations he's comfortable striking the ball in (although he can connect very sweetly where he is comfortable), situations he looks to receive the ball in. He has one real strength and that is the ability to find a cutting delayed timing but even here, there are only a few areas of the pitch he'll deliver the killer ball too (RW, over the top occasionally, cross from the RW occasionally). Really good players earn the right to surprise the opposition with a delayed option by first showing them that pressing them isn't going to work and if you allow them the fast option they are going to take full advantage. He is a Goldilocks player.
Lol, at least ESR had a shot today. Ødegaard offers zero shots most games. Even in his most heralded game against West Ham he got no goals or assists.Better than ESR today
Yep. Nothing special but the very nice points boonthegoon made on the last page--Better than ESR today
What is interesting is that there is a narrative that we have improved in attack as well as not improved in attack(Because we have scored goals in set pieces). They come out in different contexts here.
I don`t think we improved our buildup play at all with Laca up front. We did improve the way we hassled the opposition and set up quick attacking moves more by winning the ball from the opposition because that`s the game Laca facilitates. While that in itself may not be a bad thing, I don`t think we should become a team which can`t play a slow buildup game in the long run.
Having more attacking players on the pitch actually makes us more defensive because once we get the ball in the midfield, we can`t keep the ball and push up as a team because we don`t have players good enough to keep the ball. The best attacking teams in EPL play without classic strikers these days(City and Liverpool). Chelsea is another team which keep complete control of the game by having more "defensive" players on the pitch. We have 2 strikers and Saka who for some reason is playing like a "direct" winger always running at the FB these days. I feel the balance in the team is off in attack at the moment.
--very much stand.Well, I think Ødegaard is the best option we have to play any kind of possession game. He is not a prime Cesc/Özil for sure but Chelsea keep control of the game with Mason Mount there who is not Cesc/Özil level either. My point is that we need more passing between midfielders. I am not suggesting that Ødegaard will turn us into title contenders here but he is definitely good enough to improve us IMO. Play enough games with ESR, Saka and Ødegaard and I think we will improve in attack.