Arsenal drew 1-1 with Nurnberg at the Max-Morlock-Stadion in their first pre-season friendly ahead of the new campaign. Mikel Arteta fielded a strong starting lineup to take on the 2.Bundesliga side, with the likes of William Saliba, Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard all featuring in the XI....CONTINUE READING THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
However, new signing Kai Havertz, who joined the Gunners from Chelsea for some £65million last month, was named on the bench.
It didn’t take the Gunners long to score their first goal of their summer and it came via the left boot of a familiar source. A trademark Bukayo Saka sequence was too much for the Nurnberg to handle with the England international crashing home his effort from inside the box.
A new look XI took to the field for the second half as Mikel Arteta made six changes, while nine of the starters were replaced by the hour. The change in personnel certainly hindered the Gunners’ fluency, however, and Nurnberg drew level thanks to a Karl Hein hospital pass which killed Jorginho – who bagged an own goal from distance. This article will focus on why Kai Haverzt’s Performance showed that Arsenal were wrong to sign him.
Havertz was introduced at half-time, playing in the central midfield role that he is expected to occupy under Arteta. Likely gone are the days of the former Bayer Leverkusen star being shoehorned into an extremely unnatural centre-forward position, just like he was at Chelsea.
The 24-year-old drifted around the pitch, linking up with his fellow midfielders and striker Gabriel Jesus. He was unable to create any major moments – but that will not worry Arteta at this early stage. Haverzt’s underwhelming performance yesterday showed why Arsenal were wrong to sign him….READFULL
