DAILY STAR
Kai Havertz started for Arsenal against Fulham but was hauled off with the Gunners a goal down before his team-mates sparked a revival, with Piers Morgan among those taking aim at the forward.
Piers Morgan has criticised Mikel Arteta for changing Arsenal’s tactics to try and shoehorn Kai Havertz into the side.
A few eyebrows were raised when Arsenal forked out £65million to sign Havertz from London rivals Chelsea this summer after a fairly unremarkable three seasons at Stamford Bridge.
Havertz did score the winner in the 2021 Champions League final though struggled to truly justify his £70million fee Chelsea paid to prise him from Bayer Leverkusen.
It was expected a change of environment might favour the talented German forward, 24, who had courted interest across Europe prior to joining Chelsea. However, Morgan is among a number of fans who are unconvinced Havertz can be a hit on the north side of the capital after another disappointing display against Fulham.
Arteta opted to shuffle his preferred lineup from last season once again, this time dropping defender Gabriel to the bench and moving midfielder Thomas Partey back to right-back in order for Havertz to take one of the three midfield berths.
This infuriated Morgan, who took to Twitter 25 minutes in, with Arsenal already a goal down following Andreas Pereira’s goal in the first minute.
“I don’t get Arteta changing our whole system to accommodate Havertz,” the TV presenter fumed. “Just isn’t working. Put Gabriel back in next to Saliba, move White to right back, and stick Partey in the middle where he belongs. And take off Havertz.”
A number of fans were in agreement with Morgan’s verdict, with one replying: “Accurate. It’s painful.” Another said: “Arteta wants to justify the sign-on fee of Kai Havertz that’s why the lad is on the pitch. He’s made no impact in the game.”
One fan suggested Arteta was too busy attempting to emulate his mentor Pep Guardiola at Manchester City. “Just comes off like Mikel trying a bit too hard to impress Pep with some 3D Chess tinkering,” they wrote.
Another supporter feels the experiment has already been going on too long as they wrote: “I have always said this from the first match this season. Havertz being in the team makes the team subpar, just passing in midfield but no attacking force. Increased forced errors from the players and no cohesion. Games we normally win easily is now becoming laborious.”
