You can’t tell me otherwise; Martin Ødegaard’s performance in the second half of the Arsenal versus Crystal Palace Carabao Cup clash was his best since returning from injury.
By halftime, it looked as if it was going to be another frustrating night for us Gooners. Palace went into the break with a 1-0 lead—thanks to a Jakub Kiwior error that allowed Jean-Philippe Mateta to break the deadlock in just the 4th minute of the game.
Keen for a response in the second half to keep alive our ambitions of finally winning a league cup, coach Mikel Arteta made some changes that turned things around. One of those changes was introducing Martin Ødegaard in place of Ethan Nwaneri.
Ødegaard took the game by storm. As a true game-changer, in just 45 minutes, he provided 2 assists, created 4 chances, completed 2/2 dribbles, and had 42 touches.
Prior to this game, some Gooners had started turning on the Norwegian playmaker, insinuating his levels had dropped. Some felt his decreased influence was why Arsenal were struggling to score from open play in the league. He took that criticism personally.
Ødegaard’s performance versus Palace reminded Gooners that he raises the level of everyone on the pitch as the captain. He has true leadership qualities. Since he came on, the tempo and the sense of urgency increased. That influence saw Gabriel Jesus pick up a hat-trick from his 2 assists and Saka’s. Ex-Gunner Nketiah scored later on, but it couldn’t do much to turn things around for his Palace side.
One would look at Ødegaard’s masterclass and hope it’s the start of his redemption arc.
At Just Arsenal, we gave him an 8/10 match rating. Simon Collings of the Evening Standard also felt he put up an 8/10 performance, calling the Norwegian playmaker’s display a captain’s performance.
Up next for our Gunners is a league clash with the same Crystal Palace. If Ødegaard steps up like he did Wednesday night, then Arsenal are leaving Selhurst Park with a big win, and I doubt most of those goals will be from corners.
With 2 draws in the last 2 league games, Arsenal needs to get back to winning ways ASAP to maintain their grip in the title race.
Daniel O
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Martin Odegaard is surely exceptional but therein lies the problem. Arsenal thrive and flourish only when Odegaard plays and plays well. We surely need a quality back up to Odegaard in the January window for this season to be successful. After all, Odegaard is human and he will have his off days and also needs to be rotated considering the fixture schedule. That said, Nwaneri is still very young and needs time and experience to grow into a very good player, which I am sure he will become one day. so we need quality depth in one of the most critical positions. In my opinion, we need 1/2 key signings in the winter window to have a great season.
The problem is getting someone of necessary quality who is prepared to be a back up player especially in the January window when clubs obviously don’t want to sell their best players.
I think we can get someone who can play CAM but also out wide, so they can play with odegaard and replace him as needs be and aren’t just going to be sitting on the bench all season.
@gunnerforlife.
But isn’t Nwaneri already ready to deputise for Odegaard?
Maybe his levels did drop temporarily recently. The guy became a first time father on Dec. 1, on top of coming back from significant injury, give him a break.
That is what you want to see from players, especially your captain.
Had a real stinker last game, one of his worst in an Arsenal shirt. Deserved to get subbed out, needed to self reflect.
He responded with brilliance and productivity, what you want to see from your captain.
Actions speak louder than words, and that performance hopefully sparks the team to a run of wins.
Havertz is a quality player in the number 10 role where he blossomed in Germany and has done well for his Country in that position.In my opinion, while you cannot but admire his aptitude for hard work in the team effort he is not a natural finisher and never will be.The solution to having a good back for our Captain is to acquire a natural central striker in the summer window which could free up Havertz for an attacking midfield role.
But then what happens to Nwaneri?
Agreed. Furthermore, Nwaneri will get better and he will still get game time to do so.
Arteta is already on record suggesting that Nwaneri is capable on either wing and could even play as a centre forward in due course ,presumably when he is fully developed pnysically.
I don’t think Odegaard’s form has dipped very much except for his goalscoring. OK, he is not a centre-forward but two seasons ago he scored 15 league goals, last season 8 goals and this season is yet to score except for a penalty. He has had countless shots from the edge of the box but most of them go wide of the target, which is inexcusable from that distance.
Given that Martinelli (also 15 league goals two seasons ago), Trossard and, to a lesser extent Havertz, are also failing to take clear goalscoring opportunities, this is one of the key reasons for the team’s recent struggles.
Some of the writers on here seem to think that scoring goals is the sole responsibility of the striker and that a team can cope with attacking players (even forwards) who don’t score, as long as they provide a few assists. Teams that challenge for league titles are packed with goal scorers and not reliant on one man up front.
The endless “bigging up” of Neto because of a few assists in the last couple of seasons, even stating that he would be a “massive upgrade” for Arsenal, is frankly absurd given that he occupies one of the forward positions and that his 4 goals in 64 Premier League matches is probably the worst record of any forward in the entire Premier League.