Martin Odegaard has praised the character of his Arsenal teammates after Mikel Arteta’s side successfully overcame Burnley in ‘a war’ at the Hawthorns Turf Moor on Saturday.
The Norway international’s first goal of the season – a beautifully struck free-kick on the half-hour mark – was enough to seal the points on an afternoon when the Gunners’ defence was repeatedly tested by the home side’s physical approach.
While Odegaard accepts Arsenal ceded possession of the ball more than he’d like, he’s optimistic about the way things are developing at the Emirates after a difficult opening month of the campaign.
“I feel good here and at home and I am really excited to be part of this club and part of the project, excited by the future,” he told the Evening Standard.
He added: “I believe in this team. Even though we lost some games in the beginning, I had the same faith and belief.
“We are a young team, but we showed character [against Burnley]. It is not easy to play this kind of game. I think we did really well.
“It was kind of a war in the end. We know their strength and we played their game a little bit more than our own game.
“We controlled the game a bit better, but in the second half they played their game and they are good at it.
“We had to be a bit smarter and keep the ball when we won it, but again we fought well and won. It was not beautiful, but a crucial game and important to get the win.”
Arsenal take on AFC Wimbledon in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday before attention turns to the north London derby at the Emirates on Sunday.
Mikel Arteta is expected to ring the changes for the visit of the League One club. The likes of Gabriel Martinelli, Alex Lacazette, Eddie Nketiah and Flo Balogun are all itching for minutes and there is a chance Academy youngsters, including exciting prospect Charlie Patino, could also be involved in the squad.
Bit harsh on West brom to say Burnley play at the hawthorns!
What is the deal with this site and the Hawthorns? 😄😄
Just an FYI for everyone, I’m reading this comment in Jerry Seinfeld’s voice.
😬I don’t get it…. Am I right, people?…😄😄😄👍
Don’t Burnley play at Turd Moor?
It was a hard fought but deserved victory.
On a side note, I watched west ham vs United and Cheski vs Spurs and found myself routing for United and Cheski. My brain seems to have moved Spurs and West ham into the rivals group and City, Liverpool, Cheski and to a lesser extend ManU into a group that we are not competing with.
I know exactly what you mean. Shouldn’t be the case but my brain is doing exactly the same thing.
I partly get what you mean. We are not in contention for the top 4, and are now competing to get into the top 6. But that’s dangerous frame of mind which can lead us to full certified mediocrity. We risk yo-yoing between in and out qualification for Uefa without having a chance of getting into champions league football ever again. If we had played mid-week and had fielded a weaker team, we might just as easy lost at Burnley. But because we are not involved in midweek Europa nights, this season represents our best chance to get into Champions… Read more »
I will downvote myself too.
This brain of mine is settling for mediocrity which my proud Arsenal G4L ego wouldn’t let me do but, come to think of it;
Are we really competing with any of the afore mentioned clubs (United, Cheski, City and Scousers?
I was definitely routing against Sp*rs myself yesterday (though not for Chelsea, there’s a difference!), if only with the hope that if can put a couple of goals past them next weekend, we’d actually pass them in the table. Did not route for Man U though, no way. To answer your question, I see a slim chance for us to finish in the Champions League spaces, but it would probably need others to fall off. I think Liverpool (through injuries) or Man U (through poor in-game management and management of egos) could drop as the season goes along. Petro-clubs Man… Read more »
If we start collecting points and keep smashing everybody, we wouldn’t have to worry about who needs to drop off for us to get into CL. They’ll be the chasing pack so they need to worry who’ll get there after us. Dreams aside, this is a new team with very young players, some hiccups are a more logical expectation than unrealistic high expectations, which can ultimately damage the whole project. One can dream but can’t let it affect the reality.
We’ve got more dreamers on here than Freddie Garrity.
Making metals fly in the air used to be a dream to some but just look at us today. This present project at the Arsenal are what dreams are made up of.
Dreams or nightmares….?
Chelsea brings former PFA PotY off the bench. Subs-on and starts £150M of backup striker and keeper.
That is a whole different world apart.
The thing that this just amazing about all three–but not Liverpool–is the number of top-level available players. Three of them have top tactical managers as well, but I’m not sure that makes that much difference except against the other three. I mean, Tuchel is brilliant and all, but even Sean Dyche would have known to bring Ngolo Kante on.
“I was definitely routing against Sp*rs myself yesterday (though not for Chelsea, there’s a difference!)”
Indeed there is.
As a friend of mine put it so eloquently a while back:
“In an ideal world, they’d both lose.”
But I guess our utopia will have to wait while we figure out the quantum mechanics of such a vision.
Easy – it’s called a draw! They both loose points.
And if a couple of red cards (each of course) had been shown – Yay more losers.
We might be competing with one of them, as it’s unlikely that all four meet or exceed expectations at the same time. We don’t know which of them yet, but it is quite likely that one of those four has an underwhelming season and ends up in a fight for 4th-6th, which we could also be in the mix for.
Hammers, Spurs and Foxes all found varying levels of low yesterday. Moyes brings on Mark Noble ice cold to take a PEN. Nuno can’t find a way to buy Kane a shot. Rodgers mojo is out-of-alignment– good players playing poorly.
If our young pros keep putting one foot in front of the other this season? We might be pleased with the results.
Penny finally dropped, has it? No. We don’t compete with City, Liverpool, United, Chelsea or even Leicester. Open your eyes further and you’ll realise why; we’re being managed by a rookie, out of his depth, who has overseen us finish 8th twice on the bounce – and is still calling for more time and patience. Patience being the operative word; we play a brand of so-called football that is a prime contender for the slowest, dullest most boring pap in the history of the game. You might well consider West Ham and the Spuds to be our second tier rivals,… Read more »
I don’t agree that fans have the impact you suggest. Adjusting our expectations as fans shouldn’t seriously impact the expectations internally. But it’s pretty safe to be questioning expectations internally, to be honest.
I agree the club most likely doesn’t care what the fans’ expectations are. However, if the majority of paying Arsenal fans (tickets, broadcasting and merchandise) are no longer willing to contribute their income to mid-table football, then the board will look for coaches (and players) who can deliver better than that. Stuff that does impact internal revenue can force the club to adjust expectations.
Arsenal is like IKEA. Most of their customers would prefer the company use better quality wood but they are perfectly fine with paying upper-range prices for particle-board furniture because it’s a revered brand.
Sorry Bishop, I can never root for those two clubs to win a match. Even if we are indeed competing with Spuds and West Ham for Europa spots. I genuinely dislike Manure and Chelski more than any other football clubs in England even more than Sp*rs. Many of their fans are amongst some of the most entitled and arrogant in the country. The Utd fans here in London were some of the worst when I was back in school. That certainly wasn’t made any better by how sports media used to (and somewhat still) speak about those clubs like they… Read more »
London based Utd fans – anything worse?
That 2-2 between Chelsea and Tottenham in 2016 always brings a smile.
Tottenham lost the chance of winning the league, neither of them won AND they were both kicking seven shades out of each other, every foul a winner.
A London-based Utd fan once boasted to me that no London club had ever won the Champions League (pre-Chelsea 2011/12). Imagine that😂😂.
Was that 2-2 in 2015/16 season? The same season where Hazard almost went a full calendar year without scoring a goal? It’s incredible how no media pundits ever brought that up since😁 Yet we’re still hearing about Chambers vs Montero 6 years later.
Obviously, they are different calibre of players but sports media in this country have their narratives.
Thanks for reminding me of a fucking superb night.
When Hazard curled that equaliser in, that mss may have handed Leicester the title (when it should really have been wrapped up by us) but it crucially also denied the Spuds winning it – which was fucking hilarious.
I’ll never forget Eriksen’s emerald green face as he walked off the pitch. Lovely stuff.
I understand the preference for anyone to beat Sp*ds no matter how vile, but can’t bring myself to want United to win. Sp*ds v United, now that’s a really difficult one
In those games, I’m cheering on a stadium sized meteorite.
😁😁
Red cards. Always pray for Mike Dean.
Mike Dean.
Supercunt.
Whatever gets us highest in the table and I think you’re right.
A couple years ago, I was watching–and cheering–Liverpool against Chelsea (or City, can’t remember) with a friend who is a Liverpool supporter. “You should really be hoping for a draw, shouldn’t you?” he asked. No, whether or not either of these teams dropped points made absolutely no difference to where Arsenal would finish.
Nothing would make me happier than Ronaldo scoring 20+ goals for United and them still finishing below us. Can you imagine? He’d start biting heads off haha.
Really impressed with the team’s character and willingness to keep going. I’m actually an admirer of Burnley as a club, they have a really small catchment area, in a part of the world where it must be tempting to follow Utd or City. Managing to reach (let alone stay) in the top flight is a massive achievement. I’m also comfortable with teams ‘playing to strengths’, it’s part of football’s attraction that it can be expressed in so many different ways. However, I get really sick of the bravado and b*llshit with the likes of Gudmundsson going in late on Tierney… Read more »
Did you say foreigners? With white, Tierny, and goalkeeper Saka too?
Silly, Saka doesn’t play in goal
Forgot ESR?
Haha, I think he forgot Ramsdale’s name so mentioned him by his professional title.
Well said. Don’t forget Liverpool too. Lancashire is a neighbouring county for both Merseyside and Greater Manchester. Probably makes retaining academy prospects harder.
Very few people dislike them because they’re a small-town club. We dislike them because of their attitude. It transcends through the fans, manager and players.
Though Newcastle is a much more vibrant place than Burnley, Newcastle is an example of a small(ish) Northern club that doesn’t seem to have any of those hang-ups.
Yeah, I agree, plus add in that probably no-one crosses the Pennines to support a team (Leeds used to sing “What’s It like to lose a war?” to Utd), and the number of local clubs (Preston, Blackburn, Bolton, Blackpool), the catchment is pretty close to Turf Moor. I’m also drawing a fine line between being hard in the tackle, strong in the air, closing down, denying space etc. and even a bit of verbal intimidation. That’s all fine. It’s the whining and snide stuff that p*sses me off – anyone can do that. It’s fake hard, like backing off while… Read more »
If some of them spent less time getting shit haircuts, downing protein shakes and seeking charity and spent more time on learning how to speak properly and removing that giant chip they have on their shoulder re the ‘prosperous’ south they might become happier and more fulfilled people.
Actually mate, that’s exactly the prick-ish attitude I was referring to.
oh do lighten up mate it’s just a bit of fun. I said ‘some’ not ‘all’.
“Be as tough as you think you are”
That’s brilliant!
Your description is really accurate, but I have to ask why–having said all that–you can still say you’re “an admirer of Burnley as a club.” I ought to add that as a Premier League club, even one of the smallest, their “catchment area” actually includes most of Europe now; they can outbid almost any French club for example. Their reluctance to do this does not speak well of their own idea of what kind of club they want to be. The big exception–Cornet–was, not coincidentally, their best player in my opinion.
I meant supporter base and associated potential income. Their population is roughly one-third that of Islington – which means if Arsenal could only rely on their home borough, we’d theoretically still have 3 times as many supporters to draw from. The area itself is also one of the most deprived in the country. They massively punch above their weight, which means someone, somewhere behind the scenes is doing a really remarkable job. To give it some context, if you know the counties just outside London, it’s comparable to St Albans, Aylesbury or Harlow having a top flight team. I’m not… Read more »
Okay, I see what you’re saying. But I do think that when considerations of “culture and fit” result not only in a overwhelmingly English squad, but a noticeably non-diverse English squad, it’s fair to ask questions.
That did cross my mind as well but it could also be true that they’re looking for ‘profile’ of player who’s happy to play a limited style.
Maybe that’s being generous, the limited resources would mean that scouting networks are modest, who knows.
I imagine Dyche is pretty canny and has a clear idea of what he wants and I wouldn’t have thought he’s bothered about the background of a player if they can do a job for him.
Like the way odegaard is settling in he’s going to be a big player for us in the coming years I’d prefer to see smith rowe on his left and Saka to his right with Pepe on the bench though.
I don’t see why Saka and Smith Rowe couldn’t switch also. With Saka playing more centrally and Smith Rowe on the inside left, with Tierney overlapping. Saka and Pepe have a really strong combination when they’ve been together on the right.
Saka and Pepe can interchange periodically
I agree with the formation except Pepe has earned his place and he fits the age and growth curve of this team. He’s also improved a lot picking up longer goal kicks, heading and build up play. I think he’s earned a shot up top. All in all I do think the best team presents a choice between pepe and auba in that position. Tough choice, I lean towards pepe for age and that he can bring more in build up and possession than auba does, while still presenting a very direct threat.
I watched the game again, with no tension because I knew the result. I was surprised how good Pepe looked. Certainly our best attacking player on the day, with Odegaard second. I think the eleven we saw start against Burnely is actually our future–a fluid 4-1-4-1 (which is just a more accurate description of our 4-3-3).
Pepe can be very frustrating to watch though
One of the few genuinely gifted attacking players we have.
If only this team didn’t have to play with the fucking handbrake permanently on, just to please the clenched haired dictator.
I respect your point but I can’t see it with him but hope I’m proved wrong
Pepe is not on the same frequency as the other attackers. Its not that he’s a bad player, he’s just not the right fit. Saka, ESR, Ode click much better.
Rubbish.
They’re all good players – all being commanded to play a slow, boring, shite system.
Really enjoying this young team.
A scramble from one inch (which back in the day would have been offside, no questions) and a direct free kick.
You’re easily pleased, I’ve got to hand it to you.
Really hoping to see Patino, sounds like he is the next big thing.
Odegaard is a brilliant footballer
I hope Flo gets a start against Wimbledon. The lad deserves it.
Relegation battle is a very useful experience for the young lad. /sarcasm – sorry/
Don’t apologise mate.
The bottom half of the table is the bottom half of the table.