Stevie Nicol blasted the call to allow Kai Havertz to take a penalty during Arsenal’s 4-0 win over Bournemouth on Saturday.
Given Kai Havertz’s struggles since joining Arsenal, and the fact that he hadn’t scored yet, the likes of Martin Odegaard allowed him to take a penalty in order to get his engine going.
In the first half, Martin Odegaard himself had netted from the spot-kick, but this time, he was happy to hand over the reins to Kai Havertz.
That decision left Liverpool legend Stevie Nicol fuming because he thought it was ‘unprofessional’ and it proves that Arsenal lack a ruthless nature to their game, as he told ESPN.
In the end, the 24-year-old ended up scoring to kill off the game, with Ben White adding the cherry on top of the cake in stoppage time.
But still, it didn’t please Stevie Nicol, who made his feelings pretty clear.
Kai Havertz’s penalty for Arsenal
“Unprofessional,” said Nicol. “That’s got nothing to do with the situation (re Havertz’s penalty record). The fact is that he isn’t the penalty taker.
“The point is, when you are trying to win a title, you have to do certain things and be ruthless all the time. Is the game over 2-0 away from home?
“So, it’s unprofessional not to have your best penalty taker. Why is he not taking the penalties before then? (If Havertz is the best penalty taker).
“When the game isn’t done and dusted. You have your best penalty taker and he’s your penalty taker. You have to be ruthless. Whoever is your designated penalty taker has to take your penalty. It doesn’t matter how many penalties this guy scored previously. Nothing to do with ‘it’s only Bournemouth’.”
Eases pressure on Havertz
That goal just settles everything down for the former Chelsea man because he was taking pelters left, right and centre.
Yes, it’s not a goal from open play, but it’s still a goal, nonetheless.
And now, if he scores in the Champions League against Lens tonight, then it only starts to build his road to proving people that he is worthy of playing for the club.
The post ‘Why is he’: Stevie Nicol blasts 'unprofessional' actions involving Arsenal 24-year-old appeared first on HITC.
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