How Mikel Arteta has unlocked the potential in Kai Havertz and turned transfer flop into Arsenal’s gamechanger
THE decision by Arsenal to spend £75million on Kai Havertz was met with surprise and derision by fans across the Premier League.
German international Havertz, 24, had been largely labelled a flop during his time at Chelsea having failed to look comfortable as a No9.
But if you take a step back, were Arsenal truly overpaying for Havertz?
He is a German international with 42 caps and 14 goals, and scored the winning goal for Chelsea in a Champions League final.
He is also a versatile attacking player having played as a No8, No10 and No9.
When the deal for Havertz was announced there was a sense that Mikel Arteta had planned to play Havertz in the midfield where he would add physicality and attacking quality.
In recent weeks, though, we have seen Havertz truly come into his own for Arsenal as he has been leading the line once more.
With Arteta wanting his side to be compact in the attacking phase, we have seen Havertz develop into the perfect profile of player to play as Arsenal’s No9.
Here we will examine some of the key tactical points that have seen him start to perform so well under Arteta.
Movement
When Havertz was playing for Bayer Leverkusen before he signed for Chelsea, he typically played as a No10 or second striker.
His movement and ability to find and exploit space in the final third was one of his biggest strengths.
He would typically play with the freedom to roam around the final third and occupy spaces in the channels from where he could receive the ball and look to create for team-mates.
This movement made Havertz extremely difficult to defend against as defenders were regularly pulled out of position.
When Havertz initially moved to Arsenal, whether he played from the midfield or the forward line, the German struggled to find and use pockets of space effectively.
There was a sense that he was low on confidence and wanted to play within himself in terms of keeping things simple.
While there is not necessarily anything wrong with that, this was not a style of play that played to Havertz’s strengths.
In recent weeks, however, we have seen him start to roam more often as he drops in and out of positions around the final third to create a threat.
Earlier in the season there was an argument to be made that Arsenal were almost too structured in their approach in possession.
They were very strong in terms of their defensive positioning in transition but they lacked something of a spark when they were attacking.
As a result, they were not scoring as many goals as they had been the previous year.
Indeed, for a long time this season, their main attacking threat has been to get Gabriel Martinelli or Bukayo Saka on the ball and ask them to do something 1v1 against their direct opponent.
Now, Arteta is using Havertz to create a threat against the opposition and drag defenders out of shape.
This then, in turn, creates space that his team-mates can use further up the pitch.
By using Havertz in this way, Arteta is effectively unlocking the same kind of performances that we saw from the forward while he was at Leverkusen.
By allowing Havertz to play as a central striker but encouraging him to roam and be more free with his positioning, we have seen a huge change in performance levels from the German forward.
Arteta appears to have found a way to retain Arsenal’s defensive solidity while creating more threat in the attack.
Movement in the area
Now that Arteta has started to use Havertz again as a striker, we are seeing him have more of a significant goal threat as his movement create angles in the penalty area.
When Arteta has used Gabriel Jesus as the No9, we see a tendency for Arsenal not to occupy the penalty area as Jesus will drop out to try to link deeper or pull wide to get on the ball.
Havertz, on the other hand, is extremely intelligent with the way that he moves and pull off defenders in order to find space to attack crosses and passes into the penalty area.
Havertz likes to play either directly on the shoulder of a defender or between two central defenders.
He waits and times his movements for a point when the defender shifts his focus to the ball.
He often produces one quick run before adjusting his run to attack a different angle and meet the ball.
Having a central striker who can act as a focal point and effectively pin the opposition central defenders in place is extremely important for a top team.
If your striker is constantly dropping out or coming wide then the central defenders have an easier game as they have time and space to organise themselves behind the ball.
Arteta trusts Havertz to drop out and be mobile in the initial stages of the Arsenal attack, but also to position himself as a focal point and occupy the central defenders when Arsenal break into the final third.
At Chelsea, we never saw this effective version of Havertz as they struggled to efficiently create opportunities to cross and enter the penalty area from wide areas.
Now Arteta is trusting Havertz to act as essentially the key player in their attack.
Linking play
We have already discussed how important it is for top teams to have a forward player who can act as a focal point for their attack.
Arteta appears to be unlocking the potential of Havertz to play on the highest line and occupy central defenders.
What has made him even more effective in recent weeks, though, has been his ability to play with his back to goal and give his team a platform to get into the final third.
Havertz is 6ft4in but his height sometimes makes you forget about his supreme technical ability.
This means when he is playing as the central striker he can receive the ball effectively under pressure and quickly lay it off with one or two touches which bring other players into the game.
Having a player like Havertz who is able to receive in tight areas and quickly bring others into the game means Arteta can build the play at the tempo he wants while maintaining compactness.
Havertz is so technically strong and physically strong that he is able to play with his back to defenders effectively.
Arteta seems to have found a way to use Havertz to not only play to his strengths but to unlock aspects of his game that made him one of the most highly rated young players in Germany.
Conclusion
If Arsenal are going to be successful in pipping Liverpool and Manchester City to the Premier League title then the new role handed to Havertz will have been key.
Arteta has shown that he trusts the German to lead the line – and his profile appears to be perfect as he links everything together.
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