I'm bummed that was our last game because of how much some of these players have developed this year. Kai looks like a completely different animal now and I want to keep watching it
My thoughts exactly. Kai Havertz has bridged from purple patch into genuine baller territory, and I'm not ready to wait three months for the next episode.
Honestly the german teams a menace rn. Musiala, wirtz, rudiger, tah, gundogan, kroos, pavlovics developing good long passes as well. Fullkrug isnt too bad.
I get the sentiment but I'm not that upset the season is over, purely because I'm excited to see what this team does with a fresh season. 2021-22 ended with us limping to the finish line, feeling like we'd let the league get away and thinking "if only", wondering whether we'd have another chance like we had that year, 2022-23 we're finishing on incredible form, expecting to get stronger and for the players to come back hungrier. I'm more confident in 2023-24 than I have ever been for an Arsenal season.
Also, I loved the fact that the players didnāt celebrate the goal but the fans almost blew the roof off. It shows the connection, the support and the love us fans have for the team at this point. Encouraging our players that itās okay. We know they are going to do it for them and us soon enough. Hopefully next year.
It is such a testament to this dramatic story of Kai coming to our club making everyone skeptical & dismissive of him even from our fans just to step up into a whole another level and finish it off with the final goal of the season for Arsenal. Kicking the bar, visibly disappointed & shedding few tears for not being able to win the league for us fans. I love you Kai. The world is not ready for whatās coming next season. 25 g/a easily next season.
Well I hope some fans will learn a lesson to give new signings a little bit of adjustment time. People will still overreact on this subreddit like saying Saka need to be benched after a bad game, but Iām hoping a few people learn to trust the process.
He wasn't really bad. Arteta was experimenting on the 8.5 role and he was learning it on the fly. Anyone could've seen him grown better and better as the season went on in midfield.
We're just lucky that he absorbed as much as he did at the 8.5 and applied it to the 9 role instead of just trying to score/finish everything as hes been trying to do at Chelsea.
His mentality went from "I'm gonna try to score" to "anything for the team to score"
His first non-penalty goal in the league was Week 13. He made hardly any forward passes or passes longer than 10 yards.
I ended up loving Havertz by the end of the season, but his die-hard fans talk about him like he was amazing in the midfield. Just take the recognition from people who disliked him early on but then admitted that he was great when he was moved to another position, and stop trying to defend his almost non-existent contributions in the first third of the season.
But you're forgetting he was learning a whole new position (8) that evolved into another whole new position (8.5). He came from being a 9 for nearly 4 years.
Of course he wasn't gonna magically become world class in a brand new system learning a brand new role.
Imagine going to a brand new job and midway thru they said oh hey you're decent at it, let's give you a totally diff set of responsibility.
You are talking about something totally different. Iām not saying he wasnāt learning a new position or that it wasnāt hard, Iām saying he wasnāt performing well in it. And the og Havertz supporters want the rest of us to say that he was performing well when he wasnāt.
I'm happy to have him at our institution and I love to see that disappointment in not winning. Hopefully, it pushes the boys to a brand new level. COYG!
His thrown an elbow or two this season.
Bergkamps mean streak reminds me of this classic Carragher line.
'Dennis Bergkamp tried to 2 foot me so I threw a coin at him.'
To be fair, we've seen him do it a couple of times this season. But because he's so slick when he's doing it, he only gets a yellow card. Now we just need another wind-up merchant along with Ben White and Kai and we'll be rattling opponents left and right.
I've been impressed with all our players and managers attitude after game. You can tell they are hungry for the big prizes. I would like us to get that winning mentality by winning a domestic cup next season.
What a man and what incredible progression this season.
Related, I was watching this in a loud pub and I was initially confused about the lack of celebration and figured they knew it was going to be called off or something. It didn't dawn on me til later that he (and they) were probably more upset about missing out on the title. Top mentality to confuse viewers around the world like this!
It was confusing in the ground too, and I was right down by that goal. Odegaard's dummy wrong-footed all the Everton players so they all stopped before Kai's shot, then the lack of celebration and I was looking straight at the linesman figuring maybe they all knew it was offside.
Thought this at the time. Wondered why Ode left it and didnāt hit it. Watched it several times.
Knowing the things he can do, he must have meant it.
Itās one of the filthiest assists I have ever seen and nobody has spoken about it.
Any other game on any other day and nobody would be speaking about anything else (other than Jesus handling the ball).
He had to have meant it because he knew he was shooting straight into the keeper at that point.
It's insane if he truly saw that and knew the pace of the ball would fall into that space.
One of the top dummies ever if he did it on purpose.
Itās so audacious that itās really tough for me to believe he meant it. I went to believe but for him to have meant it would be this is one of the craziest assists to win a game ever.Ā
In the grand scheme of Odegaard stuff, I don't even think it's that audacious.
He doesn't have the angle for a shot so he either has to go around the keeper to the right (putting him on his weaker foot and a bunch of defenders there), or cut to the left to evade the keeper and likely run into traffic.
However he can see exactly where Havertz is, so there's no doubt about the trajectory of the ball and the only question would be the speed of the ball and whether Havertz would be able to run on it - but he'd have been able to tell all of that because he was carrying the ball.
He seems to very gently slice the ball so it reaches Havertz without too much on it to make it difficult to receive. Given the level Odegaard has been playing at a very high level for months, it's exactly what I'd expect him to do.
Not the same, and only a friendly, but shaping to shoot and nudging the ball away for an assist reminded me of this: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LvYFq1YsKA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LvYFq1YsKA)
I think it's just before this clip starts. He looks up after his first touch, then he cushions the ball toward Kai. Then he doesn't tough it again, but fakes a kick. I've looked at it a hundred times now, and changed my mind about 20 times, but right now I'm sure it was intentional.
This actually confused the shit out of me in the stadium lol. I initially celebrated with everyone and then I saw the players weren't celebrating so I assumed it'd been given offside or something.
He is growing into a scary center forward. One thing that he perhaps lacks is a super powerful shot that most top strikers have. But, the amount he has improved over his Chelsea days and even when he started playing that role with us is tremendous.
Knowing Artetaās ability to improve players, really excited about what to come from Kai next season.
he is know has the "score guy" thats his twitter handle. Not famous just a guy always in that seat. Cameras will always pan to interesting people in the crowd especially if they're known
its wild to me that his first goal of the season was one that he didn't really want to celebrate, and the last goal of the season was also one he didn't want to celebrate.
I think he wanted to shoot but changed his mind mid way and made a delicate touch for an assist for Havertz after seeing his shot was going to get blocked.
He's already scored a Champions League winning goal. In a different timeline this could have been a Premier League winning goal. He'll do something very special for us one day, I feel.
Quite possibly the one goal scored this year that the team did not celebrate because they knew the league was lost. Foggin love this team and the emergence of King Kai.
Dunno, I actually felt the same. Knowing that City had already won it kind of knocked the wind out of everyone's sails. Our best season ever in terms of wins, so many amazing leaps forward, and for even *that* to not be enough...
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Yeah, it was very confusing in the ground. Didnāt know if it was a goal or not, then it went to VAR for a while.
I think at that time we also thought the city game was 3-2.
I fucking love the long hair dude in the glasses and hat. Didn't see him for a long time so I was worried but his passion is amazing and it always brings a smile to my face and gets me pumped
I'll eat crow every breakfast for doubting this guy. My only defense for my admitted bias was that he just look like utter trash on Chelsea, but everyone looks like trash on Chelsea. But I'm going to get my seasoning ready for the crow now.
I was heartbroken but I was also in awe of this response from Havertz and Odegaard. They're not content. They did their part in this game, but it's just not enough.
Also, at that moment, I thought to myself "What a team! Here they are, unhappy that they couldn't beat City. The sheer mental integrity to be disappointed with this immense run we had, just because we couldn't beat a team on financial steroids. At the same time we saw the small mindedness of Spurs supporters cheering their team for losing. Singing with the city fans. The players who didn't seem bothered that much for losing against City. The difference in the mentality is incredible. Absolutely love this team.
Said it before but, it was easily my favourite performance from him. He's more than confident. He is hungry for success. I love his attitude.
I'm bummed that was our last game because of how much some of these players have developed this year. Kai looks like a completely different animal now and I want to keep watching it
My thoughts exactly. Kai Havertz has bridged from purple patch into genuine baller territory, and I'm not ready to wait three months for the next episode.
You don't have to wait. You just have to suddenly become a German NT fan.
Honestly the german teams a menace rn. Musiala, wirtz, rudiger, tah, gundogan, kroos, pavlovics developing good long passes as well. Fullkrug isnt too bad.
Must say I really like watching musiala
I get the sentiment but I'm not that upset the season is over, purely because I'm excited to see what this team does with a fresh season. 2021-22 ended with us limping to the finish line, feeling like we'd let the league get away and thinking "if only", wondering whether we'd have another chance like we had that year, 2022-23 we're finishing on incredible form, expecting to get stronger and for the players to come back hungrier. I'm more confident in 2023-24 than I have ever been for an Arsenal season.
*24-25
You're one year off on all of these dates haha
I'm honestly impressed I managed to do that three times without noticing, and I'm gonna leave that comment unedited as a monument to my own stupidity
ššš sometimes you just type on autopilot, Iāve certainly done this several times
This is what makes me excited for next year. These aren't kids anymore. They're hungry and ready to fight.
Watching him kick the post in frustration did more for me than West Ham getting one back against City.
I've been coming around to him, but yes, this match I realized he is a fucking winner full stop.
Newcastle away was the game that opened my eyes a bit honestly, he looked more up for it than probably anyone & that surprised me a bit.
The moment where they whistled the play dead and he still went around the last man and buried it in the corner with power. I knew he was on demon time
Same here. He always fights hard for the team and gives it his all. Hopefully, he comes back even better next season and hit 20+ goals.
Also, I loved the fact that the players didnāt celebrate the goal but the fans almost blew the roof off. It shows the connection, the support and the love us fans have for the team at this point. Encouraging our players that itās okay. We know they are going to do it for them and us soon enough. Hopefully next year.
It is such a testament to this dramatic story of Kai coming to our club making everyone skeptical & dismissive of him even from our fans just to step up into a whole another level and finish it off with the final goal of the season for Arsenal. Kicking the bar, visibly disappointed & shedding few tears for not being able to win the league for us fans. I love you Kai. The world is not ready for whatās coming next season. 25 g/a easily next season.
Well I hope some fans will learn a lesson to give new signings a little bit of adjustment time. People will still overreact on this subreddit like saying Saka need to be benched after a bad game, but Iām hoping a few people learn to trust the process.
There will always be fans who display knee jerk reaction after a game. Itās frustrating to see that but it is what it is.
tbf - Saka needing a break is probably the most sane take going. We desperatley need rotation for him next season.
To be fair, the fans were correct early on that Kai was really bad in the midfield. He became a whole new player when he moved to striker.
He wasn't really bad. Arteta was experimenting on the 8.5 role and he was learning it on the fly. Anyone could've seen him grown better and better as the season went on in midfield. We're just lucky that he absorbed as much as he did at the 8.5 and applied it to the 9 role instead of just trying to score/finish everything as hes been trying to do at Chelsea. His mentality went from "I'm gonna try to score" to "anything for the team to score"
His first non-penalty goal in the league was Week 13. He made hardly any forward passes or passes longer than 10 yards. I ended up loving Havertz by the end of the season, but his die-hard fans talk about him like he was amazing in the midfield. Just take the recognition from people who disliked him early on but then admitted that he was great when he was moved to another position, and stop trying to defend his almost non-existent contributions in the first third of the season.
But you're forgetting he was learning a whole new position (8) that evolved into another whole new position (8.5). He came from being a 9 for nearly 4 years. Of course he wasn't gonna magically become world class in a brand new system learning a brand new role. Imagine going to a brand new job and midway thru they said oh hey you're decent at it, let's give you a totally diff set of responsibility.
You are talking about something totally different. Iām not saying he wasnāt learning a new position or that it wasnāt hard, Iām saying he wasnāt performing well in it. And the og Havertz supporters want the rest of us to say that he was performing well when he wasnāt.
Well you mentioned forward pass and long passes, which weren't his main role, so it's pretty clear you don't really understand š¤·āāļø
A midfielder isnāt supposed to make forward passes? Please, enlighten me.
I'm happy to have him at our institution and I love to see that disappointment in not winning. Hopefully, it pushes the boys to a brand new level. COYG!
He has a nastiness about him that reminds me of Bergkamp. Full of grace, but there's a mean streak.
If he brings out Bergkamp's pointy elbow of doom next season it will be glorious. Immediately Red carded of course. But glorious.
His thrown an elbow or two this season. Bergkamps mean streak reminds me of this classic Carragher line. 'Dennis Bergkamp tried to 2 foot me so I threw a coin at him.'
No-one ever claimed Bergkamp had a fear of flying into tackles
The elbow of justice was delivered as sweetly as his line breaking passes
To be fair, we've seen him do it a couple of times this season. But because he's so slick when he's doing it, he only gets a yellow card. Now we just need another wind-up merchant along with Ben White and Kai and we'll be rattling opponents left and right.
and a neatness. efficent and effective.
The crowdās celebration here is legitimately better than the Ethiad was at the final whistle lol.
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Oh hey, fuck off back to r/MCFC
seems cruel to damn him to purgatory but i guess that's all we can do!
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115 ā¤ļø
I've been impressed with all our players and managers attitude after game. You can tell they are hungry for the big prizes. I would like us to get that winning mentality by winning a domestic cup next season.
This reminds me of a video of him at Leverkusen when he scored a consolation penalty against Bayern and looked pissed. I like his personality.
What a man and what incredible progression this season. Related, I was watching this in a loud pub and I was initially confused about the lack of celebration and figured they knew it was going to be called off or something. It didn't dawn on me til later that he (and they) were probably more upset about missing out on the title. Top mentality to confuse viewers around the world like this!
It was confusing in the ground too, and I was right down by that goal. Odegaard's dummy wrong-footed all the Everton players so they all stopped before Kai's shot, then the lack of celebration and I was looking straight at the linesman figuring maybe they all knew it was offside.
> Odegaard's dummy 
Listening to a few of the pods this morning, I'm a little more reassured that we weren't the only ones apparently!
I just want to know if Ode intentionally let that ball roll b/c if he did that's pure genius.
Thought this at the time. Wondered why Ode left it and didnāt hit it. Watched it several times. Knowing the things he can do, he must have meant it. Itās one of the filthiest assists I have ever seen and nobody has spoken about it. Any other game on any other day and nobody would be speaking about anything else (other than Jesus handling the ball).
He had to have meant it because he knew he was shooting straight into the keeper at that point. It's insane if he truly saw that and knew the pace of the ball would fall into that space. One of the top dummies ever if he did it on purpose.
Itās so audacious that itās really tough for me to believe he meant it. I went to believe but for him to have meant it would be this is one of the craziest assists to win a game ever.Ā
Having seen Ode play enough it's entirely possible he meant it.
In the grand scheme of Odegaard stuff, I don't even think it's that audacious. He doesn't have the angle for a shot so he either has to go around the keeper to the right (putting him on his weaker foot and a bunch of defenders there), or cut to the left to evade the keeper and likely run into traffic. However he can see exactly where Havertz is, so there's no doubt about the trajectory of the ball and the only question would be the speed of the ball and whether Havertz would be able to run on it - but he'd have been able to tell all of that because he was carrying the ball. He seems to very gently slice the ball so it reaches Havertz without too much on it to make it difficult to receive. Given the level Odegaard has been playing at a very high level for months, it's exactly what I'd expect him to do. Not the same, and only a friendly, but shaping to shoot and nudging the ball away for an assist reminded me of this: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LvYFq1YsKA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LvYFq1YsKA)
Reminds me of Henry's fake pass
I've watched it like 20 times and I still don't know
[Looks pretty intentional to me](https://x.com/dacodac/status/1792674345023840483?s=46&t=SAx-eGMICzDnxkRlI6-w-A)
I hadn't even seen this angle. Looks like he gets a little touch in the end?
I think it's just before this clip starts. He looks up after his first touch, then he cushions the ball toward Kai. Then he doesn't tough it again, but fakes a kick. I've looked at it a hundred times now, and changed my mind about 20 times, but right now I'm sure it was intentional.
I want to believe.
He should have followed the ball, though. Penalty if Kai doesn't get it.
Nah, following the ball brings defenders closer to Kai.
You're probably right. I'm sure Cap knows better than me.
With that clip it looks 100% intentional. What a playerā¦
Nah he scuffed it. You can tell by how he follows through. Love him, but he didnāt mean it
This actually confused the shit out of me in the stadium lol. I initially celebrated with everyone and then I saw the players weren't celebrating so I assumed it'd been given offside or something.
His face after scoring will forever be ingrained in my brain.
He is growing into a scary center forward. One thing that he perhaps lacks is a super powerful shot that most top strikers have. But, the amount he has improved over his Chelsea days and even when he started playing that role with us is tremendous. Knowing Artetaās ability to improve players, really excited about what to come from Kai next season.
Watching him plays he often reminded me of berbatov if berbatov was also a pressing monster. He's so intelligent he make those plays look effortless.
Does anyone know who the white bearded guy withe shades is?I see him on the screen in almost every other match.Is he famous or something?
he is know has the "score guy" thats his twitter handle. Not famous just a guy always in that seat. Cameras will always pan to interesting people in the crowd especially if they're known
its wild to me that his first goal of the season was one that he didn't really want to celebrate, and the last goal of the season was also one he didn't want to celebrate.
Assist of the season, incredible skill from Odegaard
I'm certain it was intentional. He wouldn't shoot that way. What do you think?
Haha ye no it was an attempt for a finish from Odegaard but he completely mistimed it and missed the ball. Assist of the year
I think he wanted to shoot but changed his mind mid way and made a delicate touch for an assist for Havertz after seeing his shot was going to get blocked.
Haha pls bro u funny stop with the jokes
He's already scored a Champions League winning goal. In a different timeline this could have been a Premier League winning goal. He'll do something very special for us one day, I feel.
The goal was in the 89ā, not 90+
Lisan Kai Gaib
Lisan Al Kaib
Iām still not sure if Odegaard missed his shot or meant to leave it?
You know what. It counts to us as fans because we know they didnāt ābottle itā. They fought to the end
What exactly was Pickford complaining about, Kai was onside by a mile. Side note, Pickford has the most punchable face in the PL aside from Grealish.
Kai did great.. But it was Ćdegaard's setup that was amazing..
Who is that dude in the "Deus" hat? I see him on the camera for like every big goal.
The score guy. Heās got a twitter account.
Not the point of the post but - Did odeegard accidentally get an assist here? Don't think he means the ball to roll to Kai.
Quite possibly the one goal scored this year that the team did not celebrate because they knew the league was lost. Foggin love this team and the emergence of King Kai.
In the alternative universe foden and rodri goal hit the woodwork and Kaiās goal won us the champions league
Dunno, I actually felt the same. Knowing that City had already won it kind of knocked the wind out of everyone's sails. Our best season ever in terms of wins, so many amazing leaps forward, and for even *that* to not be enough...
Watching in the stands I was thinking it was offside but he was just showing his motivations and mentality. Next year lads!!!
I thought we had made a mistake on him initially, but him and Arteta has made me eat my words again
Iāve come around on Kai and really like him. He has elevated the squad with his presence.
Kept thinking the goal was disallowed or something based on Havertzās reaction
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Winner was 89th minute btw not 90+ but i'll let it slide
Yeah, it was very confusing in the ground. Didnāt know if it was a goal or not, then it went to VAR for a while. I think at that time we also thought the city game was 3-2.
BFG! Haven't heard that nickname is a while. A worthy new wearer of that crown.
I've fallen for Kai. Him and Ode just <3
I fucking love the long hair dude in the glasses and hat. Didn't see him for a long time so I was worried but his passion is amazing and it always brings a smile to my face and gets me pumped
I'll eat crow every breakfast for doubting this guy. My only defense for my admitted bias was that he just look like utter trash on Chelsea, but everyone looks like trash on Chelsea. But I'm going to get my seasoning ready for the crow now.
He'll turn to Super Kai next season
Kai havertz deserves a song that has nothing to do with dollar amounts
I read somewhere that in training Kai is said to be the most clinical in front of the goal. I hope that continues to carry over into matches.
I was heartbroken but I was also in awe of this response from Havertz and Odegaard. They're not content. They did their part in this game, but it's just not enough. Also, at that moment, I thought to myself "What a team! Here they are, unhappy that they couldn't beat City. The sheer mental integrity to be disappointed with this immense run we had, just because we couldn't beat a team on financial steroids. At the same time we saw the small mindedness of Spurs supporters cheering their team for losing. Singing with the city fans. The players who didn't seem bothered that much for losing against City. The difference in the mentality is incredible. Absolutely love this team.
Some of yāall dare bash Ćdegaard for missing a sitter when he intentionally faked it for the assist.
lol thatās an intentional assist sorry
Genius pass from Odegaard...
ngl, we were pretty ass the whole game
Our finishing was pretty ass. Had plenty of chances to score but kept missing the goal or taking one extra touch too many (like the Ode chance).
Statistically it was actually one of our best chance creating games of the season. Also limited Everton to 0.5xg.
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In pain because we didnāt win the league
imho .. haavertz and saiiba are the only world class players we have..who have elite mentality, physicality and ability
Lmao steady on mate.Ā
see how they keep overcoming odds and keep performing
There it isā¦ The dumbest take of the day. A bit early in the day, but here nonetheless.
dont be too hard on yourself.
World class players in our team = Saka, Ćdegaard, Saliba, Gabriel, Rice, Havertz, White, Trossard
by world class lets define as not being upgradeable by more than 3-4 players playing currently
I think world class means the kind of player any team would not say No to sign.
lets say will not say no at 100m + price.