Yeah presumably because he realises someone has to occupy that zone to create the overload. This also illustrates why so much of the pundit class ranting about lack of effort/belief from the players is so out of date. It takes a lot more than running around to impact the game. Especially for the defensive side, if you haven't been given the structure to deal with this, just running around a lot could make things a lot worse
I always got a laugh out of Ozil being called lazy, and I STILL laugh when I see people say it now about Kai who puts in massive shifts.
Right? I've kind of been getting into some of the anorak rugby youtubes and the complexity of the defensive/offensive patterns are amazing. Especially it lead me to appreciate that players can't just adopt a 'must win mentality' and change the game. if your systems aren't working - it will look like a mess on the field
The problem with Kai is he’s not doing anything at the level of the other people being paid the most at the club I have warmed to him and understand what he brings to the team. I think it works without a 9 as he can swap with Jesus and trossard well and be a threat but I can’t see it working if we bring in a good forward in this way I kind of like him as an out and out 9. He was really effective vs Liverpool and his finishing needs work, but he’s quicker than u think and good technically and in the air
Also, Ben white inverted because kiwiour can’t and their left side was shambolic. Bowen is not a 9 either
Kiwior has been played so sparingly that I don’t think we really know whether he can invert or not. In his first season at Spezia Kiwior played as a DM. At Leeds and Brighton White played a handful of games as a DM. The choice to have White invert in this game and Kiwior play as a traditional left back may have been entirely tactical, given that Kudus was a much bigger threat on the left wing than the seldom played defender Moyes used on the right wing.
We’re better off with Kai, an off ball dueling monster who wins headers and possession higher up the field for us
Weird one but what about Kai as an inverted lwb? He is really good defensively, not slow and good technically
With Vieira and Partey being out, we're a little thin in midfield: it's Havertz, Odegaard, and Rice, and then ESR/Jorginho/Trossard. Not sure Havertz can actually be a 1v1 defender.
Thanks for sharing the comparison. If you had told me Kai would be substantially better defensively than peak Granit, I wouldn’t have believed it. I’d have also expected Kai to be better than Granit offensively, too. Clearly, Havertz is a player that still defies our expectations. It will be interesting if/when we figure out what his baseline and ceiling really are.
He’s not a progressive passer, either, which is the thing that Zinchenko does that gives us the ability to essentially play a double pivot and two high attacking mids. It’s not enough just to stick another body in there.
Havertz does well in tight spaces I just don’t think he’s the answer as an 8 and is better for me, as a forward