This sort of confirms the eye test.Our passing through the middle this season hasn’t been incisive enough.As good as Rice is,his passing isn’t as incisive as Partey ( not a slight at Rice,thats how good Partey is at this particular aspect), Havertz is a downgrade from Xhaka when it comes to buildup, through balls etc and Ode hasn’t been at his best( maybe its because of the change in tactics,maybe because of having to compensate for the lack of creativity from the other 8 or maybe due to the niggle he has been carrying or a sum total of all this).

On top of all this,when Jesus isn’t available and Eddie is preferred over Trossard in that 9 role,there is a further loss of creativity through the middle because Eddie cannot drop deep and help the attack like Jesus.

So basically the only real threat comes from Sakanelli and teams just put 2 guys on them and kick them around all game because the refs won’t do shit.

All of this leads me to wonder what Mikel’s vision for our midfield was with the summer signings.Was it

1)Rice-Partey-Ode

Or

2. Havertz -Rice -Ode

If it was 1,I don’t quite get what the point of spending 65m on Havertz was.You don’t go out and spend that kind of money on a project signing that too one that isn’t a starter.

If it was 2,I have to question the idea of essentially replacing 2/3 of our midfield from last season in one go.

In hindsight,I think we would have been better of spending big on a ready made partner for Rice in midfield.But whats done is done,and I trust Mikel so hopefully whatever Mikel’s vision is comes good and Havertz becomes a success.