Martin Odegaard was left out of the Real Madrid squad for their first game of the new La Liga season.
The Spanish giants went into their opening game of the campaign without the 22 year old and, at the time of writing, held a 3-1 lead over Alaves.
The Norway captain has been strongly linked with the Gunners over the last couple of days, with some reports suggesting a deal is imminent. The fact he wasn’t included today will only add to that.
Arsenal need more creativity, especially after a 2-0 defeat to Brentford on the opening day, and although Mikel Arteta’s side had 22 attempts on goal, they didn’t really trouble the Premier League new boys too much.
Odegaard has always been the main target this summer, with talk of James Maddison not as credible as some sources have made out. With Chelsea coming up next weekend, after their 3-0 win over Patrick Vieira’s Crystal Palace, it’d be good to have Odegaard in place for that one.
Fingers crossed.
Underwhelming signing…….Sorry.
It’s not, it would be a great signing given our current level. Our manager is underwhelming. Massively.
Who’s that Vieira they mention? Rings a bell…
#NoPointsForPerfectHair
#ArtetaOut
Like Arteta, he’s an ex Arsenal player and not-very-good manager.
Managers are as good as the players they have.
Rubbish.
The players are as good as the system they play. That is down to the manager.
Even Xhaka had a good Euros while he wasn’t being commandeered with the Arteta handbrake.
I think he would be a great signing
I share the same stance as Colin based on what I saw last season. Granted it was only half season and he was recovering from an injury but I didn’t see him revolutionize our style of play when he was here. I don’t really think his presence and work ethic elevated the overall game of his teammates. He just doesn’t feel like a transformative signing that can finally force Arteta to stop this style of crab football. Genuine question. What is that you see in this lad that we can’t find elsewhere for cheaper than €50 million? What makes him… Read more »
Get this guy in to the club and once this turmoil ends I think this guy could shine.
Who knows how long this turmoil will last though,,,,
Couple more seasons an all the deadwood an hangers on are gone an we can start a fresh maybe,,,
Great times lol
Great signing? I think good signing at the price, and he has the potential to make it a great one if he can realise his potential. Jeezus we need some bloody goals though…
How many goals and assists did he get last year. Hes unbelievably overrated. Not to say he isn’t good or cant become world class but from what hes actually produced for us so far its all mediocre. He is supremely talented, great touch, good feet, left foot etc. but he wasn’t very direct or took control of games or had that many big moments. Just seemed to faff about and play exactly how Arteta seems to instruct the team to play. All the players who have that maverick in them seem to be on loan. Arteta wants bots so i… Read more »
No amount of creativity will help if no one makes runs in front of our ball carriers, and we do not make runs, we do not attack the ball, that is an Arteta problem. Ødegård is not overrated, but nobody makes runs ESR, Saka, Pepe got the same problem. A team of zidane clones will not do any good with no attacking movement.
I think he’s sufficiently rated, but still has a ways to go. If we get him in I’ll be satisfied in attack. Although, I think the bigger issues are coming from team direction…
One for the next manager to develop.
He won’t make any difference to the Arteta Handbrake. You could have Pelé, Best, Maradona and Bergkamp out there and they’d be passing backwards and sideways.
The sooner we have a new manager, the sooner we move on.
For anyone complaining about a lack of end product, I leave you this compilation of all his end product in his most recent full season (on loan at Real Sociedad in La Liga) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcwBSpJFX80
Shit hot signing, you just want something new and shiny. He’ll be magnificent
Not to mention with Chelsea and City on the horizon, familiar with the club, manager, setup and teams in the league, to hit the ground running…. unlike a new shiny player would need to learn.
O-K-signing, not great. Most importantly, I very much doubt it will be transformative. Last season he blew hot and cold and isn’t really a goal-scoring threat. Good touches, good passing but we need more.
He was still instrumental in helping us gaining 3rd highest points in the Premier League between Christmas and the end of the season.
With all my heart I hope you’re right
Lol. What are you smoking? He had one good game against west ham and did fck all the rest of his time with us. This is a bad signing waiting to happen.
Faaking deek head!! We finished 8th!!!
Trying reading the comment properly before commenting on it yourself.
Martin said thst he helped us gain the 3rd most points between x-mas and the end of the season. He didn’t say we finished 3rd. D’oh!
If he had helped us win the Europa League, then maybe. Joining a team that finished 8th is not a sign of a great player, just a player lacking options.
Or like Ben White or Pepe, fluked his way to commercial success.
Yet failed at home to help us score 1 goal only and when when wanted Intensity he kept on walking over to take a corner rather than running there and that was a big Semi Final.
But Ødegaard played his first league game for us against United on 30th January 2021. By that point we had already played 7 games since Christmas Day, 5 wins and 2 draws. Why bring up our form since Christmas if he wasn’t here at the time?
This gets banded around a lot on here but it kind of reminds me of Emery going 20 odd games unbeaten, when we got quite a few undeserved results. We did well enough in the second half of the season but bar that Xmas period, we didn’t play that well. Those points we got in the second half of the season owed more to our defence than attack IIRC. Ended up with the 3rd best defence in the league overall, but the 9th best attack.
Martin, positivity about anything is no longer welcomed in the comments. Get with the negativity program.
I appreciate the pre-emptive apology, Colin.
I accept it, and wish you happiness and health.
Your friend and mine,
Mayor M.
Agree.. We need players with personality. Pepe, Auba, ESR, Leno, Gabriel, Xhaka do not have strong enough characters to get us out of bad situations. We need to sign players with personality and Odegard is not one of them. Maddison would have been a much better signing.
I fully agree is a bad idea to sign odegaard he has very little impact on a game and we know that from the Semi Final against Villarreal….
Aouar was the most obvious choice.
I think we’d already have Aouar if we wanted him
Agree. And so would anybody else if they really wanted him. There has to be a reason somebody clearly available is not being snapped up
Any signing would be made underwhelming by our existing manager and his tactics.
Slyly agree, a neat and tidy player, but maybe not the killer we’re craving. I think a large part of my ambivalence is distrust in the manager as well, the way he seemingly wants us to play.
Not a bad signing to be fair if the money’s right but absolutely not going to fix our midfield issues
Decent signing, I can’t help feel he’s too timid a player though. We need more steel and directness.
Still need a striker, starting Right back and a backup goalie or no chance of a Top 6 finish.
I agree with you 100 percent.
As far as the striker concern – I would go for Isak.
Isak was great in the Euros and I’d love to have him with us but unfortunately he just signed a new deal with Real Sociedad.
If only we had 50 million laying around…
… If only we had a tall, strong, fast, athletic, young French ball playing CB lying around…
… If only we had a home grown, direct, athletic, goal scoring, midfielder lying around…
… If only we had a tall, commanding, cocky, home grown, impecable handling, great distribution GK lying around…
Haha
Sorry to say but I am getting bad vibes off Ben White.
Can pass a bit, but far too short for a PL back 4 and gives no fear to the opposition. We have been weak for so long back there and we just bet the house on this little guy? He doesn’t move the needle at all. And I’d be happier with Holding back there to be honest. And spend the 50 million at the business end of the pitch where we need it more than anything.
He’s about the same height as Koscielny. He worked out ok.
Koscielny was good overall and he usually had an inferior defensive partner/whole back line.. But he himself was also calamitous at several points in his Arsenal career.
He’s about the same height as Mustafi (White is actually 1cm shorter) and that worked out well.
Looks like the English Mustafi to me. At least White won’t get the same level of abuse from fans and criticism from pundits because he’s English, though.
In that case, we should at least give Ben the same amount of time we gave Mustafi – which was about 6 months😁.
CB like CM is about partnerships so as he is the new kid on the block, we have to establish who his best partner for the league is. It’s a shame he had a debut to forget but hopefully it becomes a distant memory.
Mustafi in his first six months was amazing. Then he was out injured for three months, and after that we never saw the same player again
You’re probably right. I said 6 months because I think he played in that 5-1 Bayern game in the Champions League which was February 2017 if I recall. I believe after that game was when the media criticism and meme jokes started.
Everyone thought that Mustafi was really good when he joined, we never seemed to lose when he was in the team. People loved Kolasinac too at first–his aggression and willingness to challenge anyone down the flank was just what we needed. Can we wait at least a half season before deciding Ben White is shit?
Bollocks. Kozzer is 186cm or 6’1″. Ben White is 182cm or 5’11”.
Ben White isn’t worth 50million, its that simple. Didnt win one aerial challenge against B rentfords striker. A guy who has never played prem level. If we were rolling in money i wouldn’t mind but we are not and we had other areas that are literally bleeding out. Midfield has been shite since Santi left…Laca and Auba have been hit and miss even when at there peaks. Laca hasnt scored more than 15 foals in a season since he has been here.
“Didn’t win one aerial challenge against B rentfords striker”
That’s nonsense: https://streamable.com/k53cfc
“A guy who has never played prem level.”
Also nonsense.
People have every right to be critical, but don’t just make stuff up.
Exactly Blogs, it annoys me how people just allow emotions dictate their comments.
Mate, football and football fandom is all about passion and emotion.
When the ball hits the back of the net in a title decider and your team have won the league, you don’t just stand there like Mr fucking Spock, calmly saying “We’ve just won the title captain, how logical”, you go fucking mental.
What then comes out of your mouth is dictated by your emotions, despite the illogic of hugging an entire stranger.
That, coincidentally, is the trouble with this team of ours. Too much logic, not enough passion.
Ivan Toney has played one game at pl level afaik?
Yes i think that’s what he was referring to. Also to be fair i feel as though the arseblog live did note somewhere a comment like white had lost all his aeriel duels, but i may be misremembering!!
Not saying i agree with the comment but it’s sort of understandable especially given the crazed fog that is hanging over all of this after a ridiculously unsatisfying season opener!!
Ah, thought he meant White. I see now. Still, the first part was nonsense!
Sure showed me..He won one aerial duel.
People have every right to talk stupid and nonsense things all day. After all we are just humans.
He’s referring to Toney
If the ball flying over Toney’s head and onto White’s is considered an aerial duel, I’m not sure I can trust the stat, either way.
Yeah I watched the clip after Andrew posted that comment and thought, is he trying to disprove his own point? 😂
Did you watch the whole clip? It had several aerial duels and long balls played to Toney that White managed well.
It’s good to actually fully understand that which you are debating.
I did, and you are right, the last few maybe he won.
but to categorically state it’s nonsense that white was the loser in the overall aerials is wrong.
even on the podcast James disagreed and the stats show white won 3 and lost 4.
The point is that White came off badly against an average striker. It is unfair to judge one performance, but this is exactly what many of us were concerned about with a short centre back. We got bullied at the back too easily.
Let’s hope Gabriel won’t be out too long.
Yes, that was my point. I thought that was obvious.
Exactly. White only won the ones that actually went direct on to his head. Been to long since blogs played football himself. Key word is DUEL.
I made it 1 out of 4 actual duels won in that clip: 1st one, the two players are not next to each other. Ball goes over Toney and White heads it. 2nd one, White wins. (1 of 1) 3rd one, Toney wins. (1 of 2) 4th one, Toney fouls White and nobody wins the ball. I don’t see how that counts as a duel. 5th one, Toney flicks the ball behind him and it hits White. That’s not an aerial duel. 6th one, the duel is between Toney and Xhaka. Ball misses both and White does well to control… Read more »
thank you Crash!
you did the work I and many others couldn’t be bothered to do.
In the streets we call this playing smart
. You really dont have to be shoving each other around to call it a duel. Its not WWE mate.
…and a new manager…
Top 6 is out of our reach
Top 10..
With Arteta, yes.
With another manager, perhaps not.
Mate, the top half of the table will be out of reach with the perpetual handbrake of LEGOball suffocating any sort of inspiration or improvisation.
It’s my guess that the players must absolutely hate the constraints – and goes some way to explaining why Ozil didn’t fit in with the rigid mechanical borefest. He wouldn’t have had any reservations about letting Arteta know either. For me, it’s becoming ever clearer that that was the reason why he was omitted.
Obviously we need a new manager who can motivate and use these players properly. The squad is underperforming now.
And buy Willock for 65 millions
And a new gaffer
I don’t know about back up, we need a first choice keeper who is more than a good shot stopper. Reminds me of Almunia.
And at least one very good cm
We need a new manager and sporting director. Not even prime Zidane can function under such restrictive conditions.
I’ll take him and at this point anyone. Still so down about that performance.
A step in the right direction. Edu and Arteta must know their jobs are on the line so I trust they will do what us necessary over the next couple of weeks. If they manage that, I’m personally happy to wait and see how the season develops.
Ok, but why must they do nothing all summer, especially Edu who has to be the one in charge of transfers, otherwise what the fuck does he actually do? Why do they need to start the season with only signing Ben White to improve a starting 11 that is clearly not good enough, have a predictable result and performance, and then say “oh shit, we are still really bad, maybe we should address the issues of last season”? People need to stop accepting this bullshit. There are clowns running this club starting at the ownership. How many seasons have we… Read more »
I’d be absolutely thrilled if we get him. Potentially World-class in a season or two. But I hope we sign another attacking midfield prospect alongside Odegaard and ESR. Odegaard and ESR are too few attacking midfielders in a 25-man squad.
Absolutely key to remember we’re signing someone who is 22 and not remotely a finished product based on what we saw last year. Of course my concern is simply who is signing him, and I think it’s reasonable to be concerned about any bit of money this leadership spend now, no matter who it is and why.
A good player is a good player. I don’t think a new manager would mind having Ødegaard in his squad.
Unless it’s Zidane.
Odegaard has the consistent ability to make the ball go exactly where he wants it to go. That accuracy is needed when creating chances. Odegaard will be amongst the league’s best chance creators, if not this season then surely by the next one.
I really don’t see what you’re seeing. He had minimal impact when he was here. “Technical” is the word bandied around to describe his attributes. Well, if technical means he floats around on the edges, dips a toe in here and there and gets bossed by anyone over 5’10, then I guess that’s him.
Also, Arteta had the bad habit of sticking both Odegaard and ESR in the same starting line up last season. A move that shoves ESR out wider and actually has negative impact on both players. They can’t play together.
Cool. A new right back option!
Funny how many of us forget ine crucial position in the team, where we dont have even one good player. Central midfield. We had Cazorla, Ramsey before. Even Wilshere was good, compared to now (Chaka, Elneny). I think thats the heart of a team, a player that can transit the game, a player that has vision a capability to pull from defence to attack. And not even a rumour of us getting a central midfielder. That really is a shame.
Agreed 100%. Strengthening that position should be priority.
The squad is 1 injury/suspension away from both Xhaka and Elneny starting.
Midfield has been shocking since we brought Xhaxa in 2016 and Cazorla got injured.
Xhaka signing defined Arsenal as a non-pressuring, non dribbling midfield side who look to pass front, back and sideways. This gives us no teeth. Ideal midfield has players who pressure opposition, can dribble past players pressing them, distribute, carry and progress. A player who just passes and cannot dribble and do defensive duties is a step backwards.
I think there was the short-lived pursuit of Locatelli. I can’t remember anyone else. This is why I wanted us to sign a versatile offensive midfielder (like Nkunku) who can comfortably play in attacking midfielder in the event of injury, rotation or a drop in form. It will be a few years before ESR or Ødegaard can play in central midfield comfortably The club has already done quite well in finding a LB, CB and DM who can play in multiple positions, so why make an exception for their search for an AM? I’ve read some rumours linking us to… Read more »
Zakaria seems to be over his injury problems and is available for circa £15m?
Not a player I’ve watched apart from in the Euros. Is he any good?
I’ve heard talk about this Partey guy being pretty decent.
We don’t see much of him though, always injured or coming back from being injured, a waste of £45 million.
I hope you are wrong.
Give the lad a chance he’s a proven midfield destroyer he just hasn’t had any luck and poorly utilized to boot
I will agree that Partey is pretty decent, but there is “but”. His injuries prevent him from a longer run in the starting line up. Firslty, he needs to establish himself and then make a step up. I think we have a great signing in him but we are still on the wait for him. Even if all things go in his favour I think he will be more a defensive midfielder then central midfield option. Or in a formation with two center midfielders he will always be the more defensive one. We need a fast, technical player with vision.… Read more »
Hope this guy does well and fulfills his potential if he returns. No doubt we will fuck up the transfer. Likely wont get it done until the last day of the window. Wasn’t too impressed with him last year but there is a good player in there.
Watching motd and seeing us as the footnote just broke me… I know we played yesterday but we got the 2min coverage treatment.
A lot of sports media have been “preparing” for Arsenal to be a permanent midtable club for some time now.
Our highlights reel on MOTD1 have been noticeably shorter since 2019-20. Even with favourable scheduling outside of blackout hours, some broadcasters were not interested in televising some of our games
L Not that they care but it should serve as extra motivation for the players and coaches to improve the club’s standing. Unfortunately motivation isn’t this club’s strong suit.
More than enough
I am just afraid we will overpay for yet another player based simply on the fact that Arteta loves him. White is a fine chap, solid defender but he cost us more than Varane coste Manure. I am not per se against Odegaard but I’d rather have him on loan as I was not persuded he was nowhere near worth 30 mil and would preffer to have money invested in Neves or Aouar because they are more creative but I fear exactly for thst reason Arteta doesn’t fancy them to Odegaard. You can’t script the whole football game and that… Read more »
Two massively different situations white and Varane. The only thing in common is that they play cb.
We all know Varane would not even think about the Arsenal of 2021.
The point here is that with this kind if money you are buying someone like him. Not a small defender
Varane was that cheap because of his age, his contract length, and Madrid needing the money. Under normal circumstances (and a bit younger) he’d have cost maybe double what United paid for him. It’s a great signing for them but it’s a special case and, of course, not a deal we could have done without CL football.
You’re right, they’re really nothing alike. one is world class and an absolute steal, and the other is unproven, a tad small, and a massive overpay.
Yup, but we’re all just going to have to pull up our big boy pants and face the fact that the Varanes of this world aren’t going to a club in our position right now. We’re going to pay over the odds, because we have to show ‘ambition’. No amount of pissing and moaning is going to change that.
Just truckloads of cash and some crafty acquisitions.
I don’t really want us to chase the Varanes of the world, I want us in for the next Varanes, like that Willian Saliba guy that has been tearing up the French league for the last few seasons. Just not sure massively overpaying for inexperienced (small) English products is all that.
Then don’t use that stick to beat the club with, probably.
Ben White has an entire year more experience in the PL than Saliba, who chose to run home to France on loan this season rather than put in the work at a PL club learning the league, as the club would’ve preferred.
Ben White has been with the club TWO WEEKS and people on here are ready to call it.
Madness.
When we click the team looks like world beaters. Problem is for that to happen everything needs to be just right. When it does people think we’re finally coming good then it’s back to sideways crab-ball.
We’re effectively a small club at this point. We look good against the big clubs when we can play ultra defensively and just counter but really struggle against teams we need to attack, largely down to how slowly we play. Unless the tactics change it doesn’t really matter who we bring in.
Ødegaard not worth near 30 mill….u serious guy?
I know the height of the ceiling of this guy, and its about a skyscraper taller than Maddison and troublemaker Aouar.
I really dont want another “good” headache like Nasri.
Ødegaard is more talented and better.
If we end up with Aouar, then I see it as a last resource backup solution, at best.
You know the hight of theceiling of this guy?
Who are you? Ancelotti in disguise? 😁
At this point, I’m not sure even Messi would get us out of our misery…
We won’t be buying our way out of this. The issue is Arteta. He either needs to tweek his tactics or go. Everything needs to be perfectly aligned for his tactics to work. Even with signing Odegaard you get the feeling that it was him or bust. That’s quite the gamble and I believe due to his inflexibility in thinking. Hopefully we get this done but everything right now seems to a lot harder than it needs to be.
Arteta’s Arsenal never attack using the middle third of the pitch. An opposing team’s dream scenario!
They’d better know what they are doing. If we don’t end up with him or anyone extra in that position our season is basically fucked before it’s really started. Chelsea and City in the next two games while they’re both fit and raring to go is the worst timing possible. We could have done with playing them when they’ve had a European game beforehand. We couldn’t have been handed a tougher start but to think that is also a sign of how bad we are now. That last game was more embarrassing than the defeat to Villa before we bought… Read more »
Don’t get me wrong, I really hope he signs and love him as a player but if we created 22 chances and couldn’t put any away it’s a goal scorer we need… and no, not yet another player from Chelsea.
Unless they would let us have Havertz I hope the love affair where we spend big on Chelsea is well and truly over.
I would take werner in a heart beat. He was banging goal in for fun in Germany. Had a rough year finishing, but you can’t question his build up play, workrate and technical qualities. That’s the sort of buy low market value we should be looking at. Not that we’d have much of a shot at it… (tbh).
Not saying he can’t improve but Werner was awful last season. For as hard as he tried he couldn’t score for love nor money. He was shite in the Euros too.
Werner the Champions league winner. Sure his finishing was bad. But he’s proven he can do it in the Bundesliga and everything else in his game is world class. It is no coincidence that Chelsea had so much success even with him spurning chances.
The chances were not of any decent quality. We had about 2 decent chances
Yesss!!! With Odegaard I’m convinced we won’t be relegated.
What is the point, another ok-ish player with average speed and goal contribution. Also he will not be able to save Arteta’s impotent poundland-City playstyle.
Sack the useless coach first, buy players later.
Get rid of arteta we don’t lose to brentford never and it’s inexcusable
We should underestimate opposition with the Super League attitude.
The problem was the hands-down way we lost and the inevitable goals we give away.
We should have better spent the 50mil on a CM instead of a CB. Can’t see the improvement White brings over Holding. Its early days I know, and i hope White will have time to change that to prove us wrong.
Until MA shows what system he is playing, it doesn’t matter much who we sign
It’s very early days.
Don’t start all that. He’s had the best part of two seasons and we’re now in free fall.
White has been with us 2 seasons?
We’ve been in free fall for 4 years minimum.
Yay…
So tammy abraham sells for 40m and we get only 30m for willock and cant get xhaka out for 20m.. sad stuff
*£26m for Willock (including add-ons). To be fair, forwards tend to be pricier than other positions but yeah we did undersell Willock😐.
Xhaka’s estimated market value is less than £20m, a club that was serious about selling Xhaka would have accepted Roma’s second offer of £15.5 million. +-4 million away from a players market value isn’t a lot in the grand scheme of things.
Willock valued higher than Xhaka says alot
Some reports say Roma’s offer was less than 12 mil.
Really? The reports I read were that Roma made a second offer of £12 million + £3.5 in add-ons totalling up to £15.5 million.
Tierney, Odegaard, ESR, Saka, White, Lokongo, these are long term squad building steps. There are some very solid pieces there.
I’m going to enjoy watching them put the pieces together.
Bad idea to sign Odegaard really he scored only 2 times in his loan spell and created very little let’s be real…
Can’t believe we sold in form Willock and now set to buy Odegaard for twice the price….
Arteta has given Guendouzi away to Marseille next year for as little as 12 million and has destroyed our team and sacking Emery was clearly the wrong thing to do.
Emery was like a first relationship after a long marriage. It was never going to work.
Arteta is like wanting to prove that we can have another wenger like relationship. We are investing so much in Arteta but are failing miserably.
Get him in! Arteta really wants him and could mould him easily into his sideways passing and horseshoe tactics.
When Arteta gets sacked, the next manager may well play 3-4-3 or similar to accommodate a back three of White/Saliba/Gabriel…..in which case Odegaard would be surplus to requirements. I just hope we get him at a price that we can recoup, if that happens……
Should be playing 3-4-3 now. White might not look so shit, and it would give a reason for us having not sold Ainsley Maitland-Niles when someone offered us good money for him.
All of a sudden, this guy is the one to save our season.
You could bring in Messi and Neymar and arteta would still find a way to make them useless. We are simply focusing on just symptoms
I don’t think anyone thinks he’ll save or season… but then, what one realistic signing in the world could save our season? There’s no way the real game changers are interested in us.
Our current level of attractiveness is very low, so getting a player of Odegaard,s calibre and potential is great. He improves the first XI immediately, and has the potential to become a worldie down the line (with another manager!).
Would a game changer be a player who has match winning goal contributions (GC)? There are a decent number of creative players aged 25 and under who had a high ratio of match winning GC to overall GC last season: – “Franck Kessie, Carlos Soler, Christopher Nkunku, Ludovic Blas, Pedro Goncalves, Angelo Fulgini, Michael Olise, Yusuf Yazici, Matheus Pereira (at CAM) and Houssem Aouar” Obviously Kessie isn’t happening and Nkunku would take some convincing but the rest were very realistic targets at the start of the window. The game changers are there, it’s just the club being rigid. When United… Read more »
Think he can be a decent signing again
But if gonna block the progress of ESR or Martinelli. Then we should look elsewhere
There’s not alot of football this season, unlike before
Your point on this blocking progress of the other players in a season without Europe is well made.
In some ways the defeat to Brentford feels like a good thing – “WTF !!!” you are all saying. 1) I always have high expectations for each season because it’s Arsenal, but let’s be honest we are now reflecting the mid-80s arsenal, not the late-90s version – we are so far behind the top 4 it’s not even worth considering. 2) The current churn of players will take a least two more windows. It was never going to be a quick deal in sorting it out. Hopefully, we will be left with a young, hungry and talented group of individuals… Read more »
Good player but not what is urgently needed ! What about a bit of a power in the side hmm ? A bit of physical ? Maybe a bit of “Billy Big Bollox” attitude to impose us on the opposition? Or maybe just a big mallet to pound Arteta’s perfect hair into place whilst beating out his piss poor tactical formations & pretty but ineffective patterns?
Infusing Odegaard into the slow ineffective style of MA will not help us significantly.
He is more of the same, but high quality of course. Seing ManU battering Leeds yesterday with high pace an fluid Football shows that MA really are leading us down the wrong path
Good player, neat and tidy, but almost certainly not going to elevate this team. Just seems like another player that won’t score goals. Hopefully he’ll evolve into that but my take is that’s not what Arteta is signing him for nor is concerned about. I know it’s unfair to say it, but Bruno Fernandes just got a (no penalties) hattrick yesterday and that’s what we really need to be on. A dynamite player, a real match winner. Someone to take the game by the scruff of the neck, because we really lack that outside of ESR and Saka, and it’s… Read more »
I am not sure any number of players will disguise our sorry style of play. We watched Martin last year and we were still passing an an arc and scoring very few goals.
meh… at this point it’s very difficult to get excited about any signings if we can’t perform on the pitch. Yey I guess?
Anyone remember if there was a change in our passing network with him in the team? Was it less left oriented?
Yes, it was, and we had more points of attack and outlet. Our finishing department sucked ass last year though.
All I see with this deal is ceballos 2.0
Gunner since the 70’s so have seen plenty good days and plenty bad ones along the way…..the issue right now and has been for a while ( leaving aside the shite ownership that we can’t change) is that our whole management structure isn’t working….and I feel we can throw whatever money at it…still won’t be working anytime soon…..I feel Brentford should be a real wake up call for absolutely everyone…..apart from Tierney and Smith Rowe who could walk off the pitch with honour the rest of our team were out muscled and out thought by a young keen and physically… Read more »
Odegaard would be a nice addition, but he’s no solution to the dreck our beloved club has become. Arteta is way over his head. The tactics are dreadful. Push it up the left to Tierney, cross to no one. Occasionally push it up the right to an isolated Pepe, watch him try to beat 2 men. Rinse, repeat. Watched the ManU-Leeds match. 6 goals scored, every last one of them came from attacking up the center of the pitch. All 6 came from decisive actions: runs off the ball, passes that broke the lines. All 6! Arsenal under Arteta have… Read more »
Leeds continuously commit themselves high up the pitch and leave themselves open to fast attacks and counters.
Brentford didn’t play so open.
All the attacking midfield players in the world won’t be any good if there’s no movement up front, once we’re sat outside the box and the opposition have 11 men behind the ball there’s nowhere to go. We need a target man, a plan b.
Arsenal…the foremost club, maybe in the world, where having fans attend will reduce chances of winning within the first weeks of a long season. COYG. PS I realize we will likely have a tough early season yet I will be hoping we come roaring into form because….that is what “support” is defined as when we say “ I “ support “ Arsenal. COYG
Can we sign him then already?
Yea…I see Odegaard as a piece of the solution but far from the final piece. He’s a good player and maybe having him and ESR on the pitch at the same time will offer us the creativity we so lack. But plying them together will come at the expense of time for other important players, namely one of Saka or Pepe.
Also, I hope we sign a striker who is a better player than Abraham because his move to Roma for 30+million makes Arsenal Football Club look quite ridiculous and weak otherwise.
Bring him in, he’s quality…
Would love it if he signed. The ability he gives us to have ESR or Saka on the left with Tierney, Pepe on the right and Martinelli scoring goals through the centre, pressuring the old guard to up their game. And with a fit Partey and this new lad Sambi looking impressive in midfield. I like Ben White and Gabriel coming back makes me feel top 6 strong everywhere but right back. Still loads of time to sign a back up gk and a better right back although I reckon we’ll be stuck with Chambers unless Bellerin can find a… Read more »