In the Marvel Universe, Captain America wakes up in the future and it’s safe to say Steve Rodgers finds the new modern world utterly bemusing and slightly terrifying.
I love Kai Havertz, there I have said it. As a Chelsea fan we will always have that Champions League Final-winning goal, of course. I was torn about his leaving for Arsenal and we will get to that later.
Being of my vintage, many of my favourite players hail from the late ’80s and ’90s. Back then, 4-4-2 was de rigueur but if you were really sophisticated then you tweaked that to a 4-4-1-1 with a true No.10.
In the ’80s, France and Juventus had Michel Platini, Argentina and Napoli had the peerless Diego Maradona. Brazil had Zico, and Holland and AC Milan had Ruud Gullit, who seemingly just played wherever on the pitch it made most sense.
The true 10s that I loved peaked in the ’90s; these were true shadow strikers rather than attacking midfielders, the trequartistas.
Italy produced several: Roberto Baggio, Gianfranco Zola, Alessandro Del Piero and then later Francesco Totti.
Dejan Savicevic dazzled for AC Milan, Eric Cantona strutted for Sir Alex Ferguson’s United and Dennis Bergkamp frequently made everyone look a bit silly whilst playing for Arsenal or Holland. The system of play forced these players to the fore, and they revelled in it.
Even England got in on the act with Peter Beardsley, Matthew Le Tissier and Teddy Sheringham, all top-class genuine No.10s. Hidetoshi Nakata flew the flag for Japan. Alvaro Recoba had some wonderful cameos for Internazionale.
As we moved into this century, these players began to fade from view. Totti was possibly the last genuine top-class No.10 in this true role. Italy played a 3-4-3 at the 2006 World Cup with him as the fulcrum, Roma also built their team around him. Deco also flickered for a few seasons and my apologies for any others I have forgotten.
Ronaldinho was glorious and unplayable but it’s almost impossible to pin a position on his genius, such was the level of his sorcery.
Around the same time Kaka was devastating for AC Milan at the tip of a midfield diamond but he had already started to signal the change to a more attacking midfielder mould of player as opposed to second striker.
One player in the ’90s who excelled at No.10 in a much more fluid system was Jari Litmanen in Louis Van Gaal’s mid-’90s Ajax playing a bold 3-1-2-3-1 before the team was dismantled.
But this piece is about Kai Havertz, so what does any of this mean and why have things changed? You can point fingers at Van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola, Marcelo Bielsa and Jurgen Klopp, in tandem with modern medical sports science.
Jurgen Klopp of Liverpool celebrates with the FA Cup during The FA Cup Final match between Chelsea and Liverpool at Wembley Stadium on May 14, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Michael Regan – The FA/The FA via Getty Images)
Van Gaal’s Barcelona in the late ’90s had a certain Rivaldo. The Brazilian wanted to play at 10, Van Gaal wanted him to play off the left and so he did. Tactics were changing, a sign of things to come.
Del Piero was a classic 10, but had mastered his signature move, drifting wide left before cutting in on to his right foot and curling the ball into the opposite top corner, a move that Arjen Robben would patent on the other side of the pitch several years later. As tactics changed, Del Piero adapted and moved wider.
Jose Mourinho arrived on the scene, and whilst not immediately on his arrival at Chelsea, eventually turned the Premier League on its head by moving to 4-3-3 and inverting his wingers – cue Arjen Robben. Fergie and Arsene Wenger followed suit.
So, what about Lionel Messi and Iniesta, I hear you ask? Neither were true No. 10s in the sense I have referenced. Messi simply destroyed teams from everywhere and Iniesta’s starting position was much deeper – which again we will get to.
4-3-3 has been this century’s tactic of choice, tweaked to a 4-2-3-1 sometimes but these central attacking midfielders have become more midfield than striker and those have also drifted away.
The traditional wingers and the No. 10 in a 4-4-1-1 have morphed into the ‘wide attacking midfielder’. Robben has already been mentioned twice, Mohamed Salah, Neymar.
Players such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Kylian Mbappe have evolved with this new wide attacking start position and simply destroy teams with pace and power. Marcus Rashford is another exponent.
(Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Other players such as Mesut Ozil and Mario Gotze saw their influence drift; Dele Ali, Jesse Lingard – granted there are other factors at play. Paulo Dybala’s career has never really caught fire like we thought it would.
Dimitar Berbatov was another who was filed as a ‘cult hero’ because he no longer fitted or gelled with the expectations for a modern forward. A player I could watch all day, I would add.
Pressing has also become so important for attacking players, which feeds into a wider trend of a flattening of the skill set for modern footballers. Pace and power are required. The Bielsa disciples had come to fore.
Attacking players are also coveted for their pressing (defensive skills) – Klopp’s lauded trio of Sadio Mane, Salah and Roberto Firmino pressed teams to death. Fullbacks are picked for their attacking skills and the likes of John Stones and even Ben White are now expected to move into midfield a la Philip Lahm. It seemingly doesn’t matter that Trent Alexander-Arnold can’t defend.
Goalkeepers are picked for their ability with their feet, cue David De Gea languishing without a club. Footballers are becoming more rounded and less individual in their skill sets.
Jack Grealish has had two seasons of having that individuality squeezed out of him. He only goes past a player now to draw a tactical foul, preferring to cut inside and pass backwards and across having stretched the defence wide and creating a hole for another.
Attacking midfielers such as Mason Mount are coveted for their tactical discipline without the ball. Jude Bellingham is excelling playing at the tip of the diamond for Real Madrid, a player I would class as a classic No.8.
So, back to Havertz. I’m a Chelsea fan and we supposedly were able to buy this generational talent (a much-overused phrase) due to the financial ruin wrought that summer by COVID.
Havertz arrived, he started slowly, no matter, he showed nice touches, COVID, Frank Lampard was an inexperienced manager, COVID, a new country, lots of new teammates, COVID, he showed nice touches.
Frank got sacked, Thomas Tuchel arrived, Chelsea lucked into a Champions League Final and Havertz provided the finishing touch to Tuchel’s tactical masterclass against City and then swore afterwards on television – box ticked.
Romelu Lukaku was signed, Havertz would play off his shoulder, assists and goals would rain down on the Bridge – except they didn’t, and this leads us to the Kai Havertz paradox.
(Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
The great 10s previously mentioned dropped between the lines, found space, conjured assists and provided goals also. Havertz at least drops between the lines.
A Chelsea season ticket-holding friend of mine messaged me last night during the Arsenal game saying he was watching ‘Kai Havertz being Kai Havertz’. Now this doesn’t sound particularly insightful at first look, but it is a simply perfect description of what we were watching.
I listened to a podcast where a listener wrote in to say that “Kai Havertz plays football like he’s working from home.” Again, I thought this a wonderful description of this amazingly talented but currently pointless footballer who was almost certainly born 20-30 years too late.
Havertz’s goal output for Germany is much better, around 1 in 3. International football does not have nearly the same level of intensity or pressing.
I desperately didn’t want Chelsea to sell him, I wanted him to stay and provide a combined 30 goals and assists for Chelsea (ambitious in our current predicament, I know), but I also wanted to sell him and I’m glad we did.
I didn’t want him to go to Arsenal but I’m glad they have got him. I really want him to do well as a footballer but I don’t want Arsenal to win anything.
Mikel Arteta has probably made a big mistake by signing him yet if I were him, I would have probably done the same thing. It’s the Kai Havertz paradox.
Arteta possibly thinks that Pep would find a way to get the best out of him and couldn’t resist. Jurgen Klopp wouldn’t even bother trying. Both these ideas would compel me to buy him, even knowing it could be a huge mistake.
Arteta does much to mimic Pep and it’s not the worst idea. For Stones at right-back moving into midfield, read Ben White. David Raya has been loaned as keeper because he’s good with his feet, like Ederson.
Mikel Arteta (Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
Rodri shields his defence behind a super attacking pair of 8s in Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne – read Declan Rice, Martin Odegaard and Havertz.
KDB may offer some hope and direction for Havertz. In the ’90s, the Belgian would have been a wonderful 10, he would have had no chance as an 8 back then. But in Pep’s world with so much possession he can play deeper and affect the game gloriously.
One other player not mentioned yet is Antoine Griezmann, who again is a classic 10. He struggled terribly when he moved to Barca having to move wider. France solved the problem for him and he was wonderful for them at the World Cup in that deeper KDB No.8 role. But again international football offers less intensity.
However, Havertz does not possess KDB’s range of passing and doesn’t enjoy the luxury of Griezmann’s position in the France team – his options are limited. He has shown he is ineffective at 9, the wide positions don’t seem to work for him either and there is no room for a 10 as Odegaard is captain and needs that space also.
In an age when AI is taking over and your washing machine can teach your child Mandarin, Havertz is an analogue footballer in a digital world, he is painting watercolours when the manager wants NFTs.
Kai Havertz, born in the wrong age and suffering like Steve Rodgers. I want him to do well, and I want Arteta to be right, but I don’t want them to do that well either.
I have no idea whether it will work out or not, but as long as Kai Havertz keeps being Kai Havertz, that will be good enough for me.
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