Chelsea forward Kai Havertz names his best playing position
Chelsea attacker Kai Havertz has lifted the lid on what he feels is his best position on the pitch.
Quite measured in his answer, Havertz stated that he is flexible with any of the front three positions but prefers to play inside the box most often.
Havertz has often been deployed in various roles across the forward line. Thomas Tuchel would slot him as an interchangeable inside right forward, but also as a lone striker or an auxiliary number nine.
Under Graham Potter, Havertz was allowed a bit more freedom to attack the box, as evidenced by his several attempts from his head. For Bayer Leverkusen, he mostly thrived in a number 10 role as well, playing as a false nine or behind the striker in a central position.
He then went on to score his first-ever away Champions League goal for Chelsea, finding the top corner from a pocket of space outside the 18-yard box, in turn reminding us of his class and why the Blues snapped him up for £75.8m.
On a night where they were assertive and free-flowing, Chelsea had to secure qualification into the round of 16 through Havertz’s pearler. The German remarked “Everyone should know by now what I can do. I’m flexible up front and I can play a lot of different positions.”
He continued, hoping to build on rediscovering his form “Of course, sometimes it’s good to play in different positions and sometimes it’s bad. But in general, I’m an offensive player. I like to be in the box, I like to score goals, I like to arrive in the box often and I don’t care if I’m there as a No.9 or a No.10. If I’m in the box, I’m there to score goals and that’s it.”
That was just Havertz’s third goal this season for Chelsea. He’ll hope to gain Potter’s trust in the games to follow, after having been an unused substitute in the 1-1 draw against Manchester United. Chelsea then suffered a 4-1 drubbing against Potter’s former team Brighton & Hove Albion which dropped them to 5th place on the Premier League table.
Chelsea is next in action against Dinamo Zagreb in Champions League group stage play on November 2nd.
-Roy Akarshak
Twitter: @RoyAkarshak
Photo: Oleg Bkhambri. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.