Some Arsenal fans still can’t believe they only paid £30 million to sign Martin Odegaard from Real Madrid. Given how fantastic the Norwegian international has been at the Emirates, he’s priceless.
Since moving to the Emirates, the 24-year-old has risen from strength to strength. Even his countryman, Erling Haaland, recognises his progress since becoming a Gunner.
Regardless of how good he is, Stan Collymore observes that the Arsenal playmaker needs to pull up his socks in terms of his leadership obligations as the Arsenal captain. While welcoming Arsenal’s choice to award him a new deal, Collymore feels the ex-Real Madrid man needs to push his teammates more to get the job done.Collymore said on CaughtOffSide: “Martin Odegaard is reportedly close to signing a contract extension at Arsenal.
“If and when that is officially announced, that will be really, really good news for the Gunners.
“He’s been excellent since he joined from Real Madrid a couple of years ago, and with his current deal set to expire at the end of next season, making sure they do not lose arguably their best player for next-to-nothing is really smart from Arsenal.
“Odegaard is hugely important to Mikel Arteta’s plans and project, so by keeping him on board really shows the ambition of the club and where they’re aspiring to be.
“Odegaard was named the team’s captain last year, and while I think he’s a phenomenal footballer; he’s incredibly technical and easily one of the best midfielders in the country, I am not 100 percent sure he is captain material.
“He doesn’t strike me as the type of player who is going to drag the others over the finish line. We saw that last season, or didn’t see it, I should say.”
It’s true that Odegaard isn’t as vocal as he should be, but he was more of a calm leader who led by example last season. Granit Xhaka, who left in the summer, was vocal enough on the pitch to push the team, which aided the Gunners.
Players like Declan Rice will need to help Odegaard rally the other teammates and make this season a success.
Do you think Arsenal should name another captain who is more “hands on” instead of Odegaard?
Darren N
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I was never of the opinion that Odegaard was natural captain material, but he has done OK IMO, and we were not spoilt for choices at the time. Rice is a natural captain, but I don’t think he needs the arm band to lead.
Rice or Gabriel for me ,Rice as fitted in perfectly and is a vocal player and looks a proper leader as he was at West Ham .
Gabriel as those same qualities and for me a captain should be able to see everything in front of them .
Agreed. Players who play in deep area can see the situation in the games better than the ones in advanced areas
Nonetheless, Odegaard leads by example and he’s been doing a decent job
There are a lot of leaders in our team, you don’t really have to wear the arm band to play a leadership role so i don’t think we need to change our captain or should i say arm band bearer.
There is no immediate plan to give Declan Rice the captaincy with Martin Odegaard currently wearing the arm band in my opinion.
There is however a belief that Rice has immediately become one of the leaders in the dressing room, a position that could eventually see him becoming a full time captain.
Currently the Englishman is part of the leadership group which consists of Odegaard, Jesus and Ramsdale.
One thing for sure there is an abundance of leaders coming through the system the gaffer has built.
It’s Odegaard,Jesus and Gabriel in that order mate. Ramsdale is far behind even behind the new boy Rice.
Rice has played 4 games and you want to make him Captain, Really?
Gabriel looks great with Wilo beside him, when we lost Wilo Gabriel fell apart cost us 4 goals in 3 games.
Martin is a True Captain on the field and off the field he is not a shouter like TA, but who is these days? I Rice a shouter I don’t think so
Martin is the only Captain i have ever seem whatever the result walk round the pitch at the end of the game thanking us the fans
As for not pulling us thou last season? How many assists did he make, scored against West Ham, if the defence screw up, Gabriel, Zinny, Rob what can he do?
Martin and Arteta are very tight, Martin is def Mikel’s leader on the field, firing up the fans. For me Best Captain since TA, not just because how good he is on the field, but the work he puts in off the field, he gets it, to him the armband means more then just a armband
You should probably start paying less attention to what collymore says, and more attention to arsenal games.
Odegaard is a great captain for us, the best we’ve had for many years.
He is vocal, he represents the club and his coach well, he motivates and organises his teammates, and he interacts well with the crowd. What more do you want?
Stop stirring, get behind the team, or stop pretending to support them
Well said @Arseweb.
There are various ways to show leadershio. Odegaard is also captain of Norway, so his international manager also supports Arteta’s recognition of Odegaard’s leadership ability and selection of him as team captain.
As for Stan Collymore, can anybody remember when he captained any team he was in?
Wasn’t he already Norway captain before Arsenal?
Yes
We tend to mistake blustery behavior for leadership?.. Most of y’all think being a leader is having the ability to raise voices at people.. think again..
Thank God Arteta knows better!!
Good points.
Unfortunately, there is a persistent ridiculous belief that the most important characteristic to demonstrate leadership is the ability to shout at everyone.
The assertion that Odegaard is not vocal enough is quite frankly ridiculous and demonstrates an outmoded idea of what being a leader is all about.
The implication that a lack of leadership was primarily responsible for our late season drop in form last season is equally nonsensical.
Unfortunately @Jimmy Bauer the ability to “think” is not for everyone. You might be asking for too much urging people to “think again”.
Mine is Zinchenko; he already is acting as an onfield coach; Vibrant, passionate, visionary and skillful…a Dynamite…forget his size Zinch3is the Leader to trophies …Rem last season and see him arouse the fans and the team…
There is obviously a lot more to it than this nonsense but if he is getting the blame for not dragging us over the finishing line, he has to get the credit for taking a side that nobody tipped for the title that close.
I’m not able to get to the Emirates very often but when I do go, I’m more than impressed by Odegaard’s capabilities as captain. He was also the first to thank the supporters and circuit the ground in doing so.
I’m delighted that Rice has great leadership qualities but I’m not sure that displacing Odegaard is a sensible move. Why rock the boat?
My thoughts exactly.
To take your point further SueP, I see Odegaard as a second MA, in as much as he also sees the importance of bringing the fans into the equation.
He inspires the crowd, which then inspires the players.
We have enough “leaders” out on the pitch anyway, and if Odegaard can inspire 58,000 Gooners to respond, ten fellow professional players should be a walk in the park!!
Having said all that, I do agree that, if one needs a vocal captain, it should be a defender, simply because he sees the game unfold better than midfield or attack.
They are finding a way to disorganize Arsenal again.
Leadership can be done silently as well. No need to be vocal and on the face. Important part of a leadership are rarely the words that come out of the mouth of a leader, but the actions of a leader that everyone look to. That part is the non negotiable and Odegaard does it with aplomb imo.
And the fact that he is young, also makes it easier for our youth squad to be genuinely inspired by. When a leader is an older guy, it can bring complacency in the youth, thinking we are still young and we will get there at that age. When a leader is young, and if he gives it all, then the rest of youth have something to really gauge themselves and push themselves harder than they think they can do.
I think it’s a very deliberate choice by Arteta.
Has been captain of his national team for years and I see no reason why he shouldn’t carry on being ours too. Having said that, we have a natural successor in Rice.
Well he has had one season as captain and has been absolutely brilliant in the role. He is intelligent, hard working and has a great relationship with the manager particularly in in implementing the tactical switches that Arteta is keen on.
The best captains in my time of watching Arsenal have been the big physical combative types like McLintock, Adams and Vieira, while Odegaard always appears far too nice for the job.
It’s a bit too early to make changes, but I can see Rice eventually filling that position.
Seriously what makes people question Odergaards leadership? He leads by example in the pitch, and most Carrie’s himself in a way that it synonymous with the class with we think we exude off the field as well. I couldn’t think of a better example as captain for arsenal as a club. And he still has room for growth. This is a guy who came to us when he could’ve stayed at Madrid. He came to grow, he’s getting a contract, captaincy and is a leader who is still so young and on an growth trajectory. It infuriates me that it is even being questioned when we haven’t been this good since 2007/08. And our captain was only a captain because he was the best player (Fabregas). Fabregas was less of a natural leader than Martin and bailed on us the second he could. The best example of his leadership is exactly what Holdini said he did, saw him and Kiwior having photos with the community shield and immediately stopped what he was doing to join in. That’s a true leader. He always respects the fans, look at the events he goes to. Even what he did by getting Rice’s shirt last year for charity. I’ve never been more proud of the club. I’d also argue Xhaka actually became a better leader after what happened, without the armband.
Spot on. Speaking of Xhaka, him and his new side Leverkusen are on top of the Bundesliga table after a thrilling draw against Bayern on Friday night. i’m really rooting for them and i hope he wins the league with Leverkusen.
Agree with everything you’ve said
Apparently, the arrival of Rice has got us talking about this. But, we all need to understand is that Captaincy isn’t all out voicing out loud or doing a bruno.
It is leading by example in training as well as on the field of play. And, Odegaard clearly strikes our minds in that aspect. Odegaard represent everything Arteta in humbleness, work hardship, punctuality, and sticking to principle.
Every club has several leaders on the pitch, players who organise, encourage and are listened to by others. We also have Rice, Gabriel and Jesus (when fit). The armband is more symbolically important on the pitch as Ode is one of many, but anyone who thinks he does not both coordinate our press and add an urgency to our game when we are struggling is not watching the games.
Off the pitch he epitomises the class of Arsenal. He is intelligent, humble, loves the club and is always there at events. Importantly he becomes an even better player with the armband than without. Rice is the only player IMO with a comparable skillset for this broad role, but I am sure, being the guy he is, even he would not be comfortable if he got the armband at Ode’s expense.
My view on who should be captain is a very logical and obvious one. It is that our manager is in a far better position than ANY of us to know what is best and that whatever he decides, which right now,is Odegaard, is the right decision for me.
I urge all TRUE Gooners to do likewise and endorse our managers decision.
To do otherwise, is to claim you know better than MA.
Does anyone on JA really think they have more nous than MA?
And if so, exactly how did you come to that conclusion?
I would love to know the answer to that last question, IF ANYONE is arrogant enough to claim thay know better than MA about who should be captain.
I know better. He said quietly, but I’m not arrogant in the slightest….
And I think SOME fans think they know better than Arteta, especially on his buying of Havertz…..
Also the awarding of a new contract for Elneny, the inclusion of Cedric… the list goes on!!
The criticism of Odegaard is based on an outmoded value system. In that universe a leader was a big brutish individual who got angry and shouted at everyone to get things done.
Not that it’s bad but being loud and brutish is only one facet of leadership. Actions on the pitch hit harder than any words one can throw.
Odeggard is the best captain at the moment. Rice will replace Xhaka as his 2nd in command.
100%, he leads by example. Reliable and can perform under clutch situation. I think this question should not be asked.
Odegaard; superb captain so far
He leads by example not by words
Let declan be vocal and martin lead the way to get results.
Some one who appreciates fans even when we lose is incomparable.
They are looking for a way to disorganise guns