How Kai Havertz has fared in new Arsenal midfield role
Thierry Henry would later describe HIghbury as his own personal garden but Arsenal's all-time record goalscorer did not enjoy a seamless start to life in north London.
Arriving as Nicolas Anelka's replacement, Henry failed to score in his first eight appearances for the club and used to tell the story of how one of his many wayward shots actually hit the clock at Highbury's Clock End.
Henry was not only adapting to a new club but Arsene Wenger had set about moulding the left winger into a centre-forward. Two decades later, Kai Havertz is undergoing the same teething problems after a high-profile move from Chelsea in the summer.
With the caveat that just 8% of the new Premier League season has been played, here's how Mikel Arteta's £65m acquisition has fared so far in a new midfield role.
Creativity
The atmosphere at the Emirates has never been better but the fervent crowd groaned in unison when Havertz nervously shovelled a pass backwards, turning down the green grass towards the opposition goal in Arsenal's 2-2 draw with Fulham last Saturday.
Arteta, as ever, was quick to defend his signing - who ranks as the highest-paid player in Arsenal's squad - but Declan Rice couldn't hide his disdain in real time, flapping his arms in frustration.
While that memorable snapshot may suggest a hesitancy to look forward, only Bukayo Saka (nine) has created more chances than Havertz (five) for Arsenal this season - although, none of his new teammates have converted these opportunities just yet.
Positioning
It's never a good sign when nobody can agree on a player's best position - just ask Paul Pogba. After lining up as a centre-forward against Manchester City in the Community Shield, Havertz has started on the left of a midfield three against Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace but finished each Game back in the number nine role.
For Fulham's trip to the Emirates, Havertz finished the match on the bench but impressed Arteta with his box-crashing movements. "Today it was tough in certain moments," Arsenal's manager conceded. "He got in great areas and the ball didn’t arrive. In a lot of situations, he should have scored a lot of goals already this season. That's the thing that is missing."
It was an interesting approach to blame the other players that are performing to their familiar high level for the flaws of the new arrival.
All three of Saka, Martin Odegaard, and Gabriel Martinelli have already taken more than 100 touches in the opposition's final third. Despite playing comparable minutes, Havertz has registered just 61, almost as many as Thomas Partey (59) who has been awkwardly shoehorned into a hybrid full-back/defensive midfield role.
Growing up as an attacking midfield, Havertz admitted that he needed to "get all the movements back into my brain" during pre-season. Yet, he doesn't inspire a great deal of confidence once he arrives in the box.
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Finishing
Havertz has more yellow cards than shots on target for Arsenal at this embryonic stage of the Premier League season. The German did test Manchester City's Stefan Ortega twice during the Community Shield, a performance which Arteta oddly described as "superb", but almost apologetically struck the ball with little force or direction.
The few Premier League chances that Havertz has been on the end of were met with the same meek lack of confidence. Yet, this wayward finishing is nothing new for a player who hasn't scored a club goal in five months.
Since the start of last season, no Premier League player has underperformed their expected goals (i.e. scored fewer than the statistical model would predict based on the shots taken) than Havertz, who can boast six non-penalty goals from an xG of 10.8.
Fluency
Arteta spent much of the post-Fulham debrief staunchly defending Havertz but inadvertently exposed the struggles of his new arrival when he explained: "In the second half we made some changes and the dynamic changed, we had better relationships."
Within the first ten minutes of the second half, Arteta had made three substitutions; Oleksandr Zinchenko replaced Partey as a competent hybrid full-back, Eddie Nketiah offered a fixed central point in place of Leandro Trossard and Havertz trudged off for the game-changer Fabio Vieira.
Vieira also cut a forlorn figure for much of his debut campaign in north London after a £34m move from Porto last summer. Yet, 12 months in the setup has clearly helped him form the "better relationships" that led to his combination with Martinelli and Nketiah for Arsenal's two goals.
During the midst of his struggles to adapt, Henry reflected: "I think the boss wants me to play in a more central role. That’s fine, but it means having to learn about timing your runs in a completely different way. That takes time." Havertz needs and deserves some time as well.
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