Martin Odegaard says Arsenal were afraid to press home their advantage after taking a 1-0 lead against Everton at Goodison Park last night.
The Norwegian scored a lovely goal just before half-time, but in the second period the Gunners couldn’t find a way to score more against a struggling Toffees’ side, before two late goals condemned us to a 2-1 defeat.
Asked afterwards if he thought it was a mindset problem, he said, “I think it is. When you’re leading 1-0 you get afraid to lose the win and in my opinion that’s what we did wrong today.
“You go for the second goal and that was the intention, but we didn’t manage to do that on the pitch.”
“It’s very disappointing. I think it’s a game we should win or at least get a point. It’s not our best game but still they they gave us so much space to play.
“I think in my opinion we stopped doing what we had to do. We stopped playing football after after we got the lead, especially in the second half. We just kicked the ball long and and gave them the game they want to play.
“We have to keep keep the ball better.”
Everton 2-1 Arsenal – player ratings
Odegaard rejected the notion that there’s a problem with away games, despite this being our third successive loss on the road, focusing instead on the need to be more consistent throughout each match.
“Of course there’s there’s a difference but I don’t feel like that’s that’s the problem,” he said.
“I think we showed periods today that we can we can control and dominate the game, and also the last game against Man Inited we did the same in periods ,but we have to we have to do it for 90 minutes.
“And yeah, it wasn’t wasn’t good enough today.”
Cue the ‘Arteta out’ comments…..
It is annoying and it makes a long season so much longer, so much more gruelling than it needs to be, but this is football and despite everything, we love it. The key, of course, is not to take everything, including oneself, so seriously.
Only Arteta can quiet the clamour with wins and the kind of progress we were seeing a month ago. We all want that. Two home wins in a row would be fantastic.
Bland comment. Up to Arteta. Another bland comment. Repeat.
You – as always – seem to be more upset by Arteta Out comments by the teams rubbish performances that lead to the Arteta Out comments.
You’re a strange one 😀
Not so much upset as a bit of a tired sigh for me. I enjoy discussing what could have been done better / figuring out what went wrong / commiserating on anything less than 3 points, but the rest of it just gets a little tiring. People can want MA gone if that is their wont but to parade it around every time we lose tires me out. Like Chris said below, I’ll back him for as long as he’s our manager. Each to their own.
Agreed….but that’s not what Futsboller does. I don’t like extreme opinions, regardless of pro/anti.
If Arteta sold Futsboller a car & the engine blew up after 10 miles, he would be talking about how great the reception was on the radio for those 10 miles !!
Not sure what is “extreme” about the opinions I express on here. I don’t think Arteta is above criticism (I said quite clearly in another post that he simply cannot be defended for the Everton performance), but I also don’t think it is at all valuable to call for his head after 2 consecutive losses. I was under the impression that everyone on here who hasn’t completely written the manager off was willing to support him and the team so long as we were fighting for the top four (which ultimately means fighting for fourth). We’re four points off 4th… Read more »
Fair play if you said he had no excuses, I didn’t see that one. It would be a much needed change. I think you’re extreme because you have tied your self up in knots here on countless occasions to defend Arteta while simultaneously saying you’re not afraid to criticise him. And because of…. well…..put it this way
– how many articles after the Man Utd game before you commented on a shockingly bad performance? And what was the first thing you commented on ? Enough said.
Hopefully your new found sense of realism will stay 👍
We don’t always agree, but I respect your opinion as much as any here and love the debates. This is just DPK’s shtick. Personal attacks to try and make himself look cool and smart. Doesnt really work, just comes off as FIGJAM.
Wow. I mean coming from you, that really is quite something. It’s like hearing Trump calling someone nasty or a liar. Just WOW ! 😂
👊👊👊👊👊
I don’t love it. I watch out of compulsion. I much prefer the George Graham era when we could rely on the likes of Adams to execute a game plan and the genius of Wright to win games. This team has no clue how to win football matches.
George Graham finished us in 10th once.
Was sacked after taking a bribe from an agent to bring a couple of his players here.
Took the Spurs job after managing us.
And is probably best known for playing some of the most negative anti football this country has ever seen.
He was before my time, so I don’t know how it felt to support a team managed by him, but I struggle to understand how some fans still hold this guy in high regard
Well believe me it felt better than supporting a team managed by Emery or Arteta.
And is probably best known for playing some of the most negative anti football this country has ever seen.’ That’s just not true. Towards the end it was very poor to watch (but that statement is still completely OTT ! Wimbledon, Bolton, Burnley – the list is endless of far worse teams) ….but George’s teams in his 2 title wins played far better football than they are given credit for. Overshadowed by what Arsene did afterwards but I think he deserves more for those times. Rocky, Limpar, Davis, Merse, Mickey T….some classy players in there who played some great football.… Read more »
At the time we did not know the later football that was a revolution. 1 – 0 to the Arsenal meant something. We knew we could defend the lead and be confident in the game plan that we would not be broken down. at 1 – 0 now I have no confidence at all. we have good players now ( not great players) who seem unable to take the initiative and go for it, backwards/ sideways passing keep ball does nothing for me, have a go take players on and be entertaining, if we lose at least we had a… Read more »
I completely understand and share the frustrations with our erratic game management.
I’m just trying to keep in mind we have the youngest squad in the league. Unfortunately it showed at times. Unfortunately the failings of some of our senior players were also a large part of the problem.
I can’t look at some of the basic errors (like clearing a ball from our back corner right out in front of our box) and some of the overall poor individual performances and think ‘that’s the manager’s fault’. There is no way possible Arteta thinks that stuff is Fine.
Bring back Rambling Pete
You weren’t there man.
You have say that in American war accent as if talking about Vietnam. The humour is probably lost on anyone who didn’t get it. In context to your comment it made me chuckle. Taxi for Bergkamp
It was fucking great, Anfield in 89 the best night of football ever. I don’t think we’ve played an entertaining game under arteta.
It is often dire, but spurs, Leicester, and villa were all pretty entertaining. It got my hope up, that’s why it hurts so much now. I honestly cannot understand how the same players give such different performances
The villa game gave me a bit of hope as well, the last hour of the Leicester game was the opposite. Without ramsdale we could have lost badly. It can be hard to watch this team at times. I think it was put best on one of the podcasts, Tim Stillman maybe? He said it was like orienteering.
He broke the northern dominance won us our 1st title in 17 yrs. Brought thru the hale end boys that we all connected with. Won a 2nd title losing only 1 game away to cfc (we were 1 nil up only 1 sub allowed in the day and after 15minutes we played with 10 men bcos of the filthy chavs. We scored tons of goals that season played brilliant counter attacking football. He won us both league and fa cup in the same season and won us only our second European cup. As finally if you haven’t watched it re… Read more »
You think anyone would have patience for that football and that team now?? You’re having a laugh.
The invincibles scored 76 goals, Graham’s title winning teams scored 73 and 74.
I’ll support Arteta until the day he’s no longer our manager, crazy notion eh? And honestly I’m not making excuses but how Godfrey managed to stay on the pitch is beyond me, leaving one on Tomi like that then holding his hands up like ‘woah, I meant to kick him but not in the face’ what a joke. But yeah, long aerial balls into a 5’0 Laca? Come on Mikel, when is that ever a good idea?!!
Not making excuses, but here’s an excuse… 🤦🏽♀️
Regardless of what type of narrative you want to create here, arteta’s team selection, inability to adjust tactics or inspire a performance from his players are at fault for the last two defeats- his inexperience has shown and the results bear it out.
At least he’s honest. Some small ray of hope.
Instead of arteta out, how about Odegaard out. We were on a great run before the Liverpool game, then we start MO instead of keeping him on the bench and boom, team is unbalanced and lose 3 straight with this dude starting every defeat. He offers fuck all. Easily bundled off the ball by inferior competition, buzzes around the edges with a flick here and there… a typical “circus” footballer as the Dutch call them….cute little backheels and deceiving “stats” that in the end give the team nothing. A third rate Ozil type, Madrid laughed all the way to the… Read more »
2 goals in 2 games.
Gave utd the win.
That’s the MO who has scored 2 goals in the last 2 games. Remind again how many our capt has scored lately and how many missed sitters?
Number one issue is the mentality of this team. They are weak and scared as fk. 1-0 up early on at Man UTD and we sat back let them come at us like it was the 90th minute. Same against Everton, we sit back and let the come at us. We got away with this risky tactic against Leiscter but it won’t always work. Just grow some balls and go for the second. Saying that we should get rid of Arteta asap, I have been saying this all along. Ppl keep making excuses for him. The only thing he did… Read more »
Control and dominate the game. I think he has bought into this Arteta shit. We were never controlling and dominating game. Win the next two at home and a few will be trusting the process again. 2 and half ffs. Think ole and United, that’s where we are at. It will change when he is sacked.
It’s true here. We scored against the run of play we avoided losing 4-1 by about 6 inches. Ponderously slow (as ever with xhaka in midfield) lacking end product. That’s 2 games in a row against leaky teams that we simply couldn’t take advantage of and simply didn’t attack fast enough, not even the great pass master xhaka could pick the mighty Everton apart… Wasn’t he answer we were all waiting for? These are two of the most frustrating losses under Arteta’s tenure because both were completely winnable and both were disastrously managed and abysmally team selected at a time… Read more »
Who do you think is going to do better? How would changing manager at this point make any sense? Honestly I can’t understand how childlike some people’s reactions are. He’s built his team now, he’s a young manager learning on the job, and we’re, overall, on an upwards trajectory. It’s not gonna be straightforward. Ole had one of the best squads in the world and couldn’t compete with pool and city. Ancelotti went to Everton. Remind me where they finished last season? He’s now top of La Liga. Conte arguably one of the best managers of his generation. Just won… Read more »
I agree the mentality is shot, but part of that is on Arteta. I’ve lost count of the number of times a player has a decent game, then finds himself sidelined. Most recently Lokonga had looked lively and positive, then is frozen out in favour of Elneny (Arabic for average) and Xhaka. If I were Lokonga, my confidence would be shaken by that.
It must send a great signal to the young guys when Eddie plays despite refusing to sign a new deal, auba horribly out of form gets selected too long, balogun never sees the light of day again after a single chance, lokonga and AMN dropped after MOTM and xhaka selected no matter what he does. Xhaka is basically the trump of our team – he could walk down the street and shoot someone and he’d still get picked… And he’s an anti vaxer too!
I was with you until your Trump and anti vaxer bullshit
Political jokes are always guaranteed to piss someone off. I guess I could have just stuck to the joke of picking Xhaka despite anything he does – that’s ironically funny enough… Enough to bring tears to my eyes…unfortunately not the good kind.
We had so much space so we decided to play really slow.
You go for the second goal by doing nothing. For me Arsenal are simply the team that when an opponent team is struggling for form and desperately need three points they know they can put a little bit of effort in an they know that Arsenal will buckle and cave in. The trouble is that Arsenal are full of players like Odegaard who lack the spine and fight to dig in and win dirty when the pressure is on. Arsenal are just a bang average boring team with a fan set that believes the team is bigger than it actually… Read more »
Of course it does. We have been watching a team coached by him who cannot string 5 passes together, reflect the timid, overhought nature of their manager, plus have zero idea/creativity/freedom to utilize whatever attacking potential they have. Make no mistake the attacking outcome is disgraceful even by these players who don’t hit the grade Arteta expects to implement his sterile arrogant, laboratory style of football. Let him experiment somewhere else. This is ludicrous.
For me, the only question now is a simple one: should we persist with Arteta?
The answer has to be “no”. He’s had two years to turn us into a top-four team and has failed. A better manager would get more out of these players. We’re heading for another eighth-place finish: not good enough.
Any other top-six club would have moved him on by now, but not us. He’ll be here until at least the summer.
Something’s seriously wrong when Spuds have a world-class, multi-title winning manager and we’re coached by a thirty-something rookie.
Thanks, Stan!
Are we any better than under Emery? I can’t see it.
Arteta has been backed completely – this is now his squad. No more of those excuses. Emery was never back. We never even got the players he wanted. One is a manager – with full transfer powers; one was a coach. One has never managed another football team in his career and never qualified a team for the champions league; One has 11 titles and has qualified three teams into the champions league multiple times. I don’t think Emery was the answer, but he was never backed – so if you want to do this revisionist shite then at least… Read more »
I’ll take a young team struggling to find form under Arteta ahead of an old team struggling under Emery any day, of any week, anywhere.
Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I’d agree with Fats one day.
The Man Utd game was the most horrible game recently………..for so many reasons
For some reason Arsenal dont appear to be able to raise their game to beat teams who try a bit. Its like they set the level before kick off and then, more often than not, fade away. Man utd and everton were both having bad runs and it boggles my mind that the players werent aware that they might dig in a bit more. If we gave it back then chances are those teams would have a wobble too and maybe it changes the result. I wish i knew what it was. And im not going to accept the lazy… Read more »
^agree completely. I keep thinking it’s the young age of many of the players, but then where are the veterans to lift the level? It’s all so annoyingly confusing and really drab to watch. There’s been no SPIRIT in Arsenal for too long.
These two defeats have made me completely disheartened. We had a decent period then Liverpool away fixture happened, ok, it is one of the best squads in Europe, confidence was still there and we responded well against Newcastle. UTD and Everton away were two great opportunities to make a statement that we will challenge that fourth place. Two games in a row we made a shambolic squad look ten times better. I feel that we genuinely missed a chance to show some character and firmness. A complete regression into mediocrity.
It’s very frustrating hearing this from one of our player, we all know this but we can’t complain to avoid damaging their confidence, but it’s now in the open from one of the culprits 😁😜
To be fair to Odegaard he’s hardly played this season, and when he does, he tries to play forwards and make something happen,
Things need to change, or Mikel will have to be moved on
He’s “hardly played?” Nonsense. He’s got almost 830 minutes across 13 PL appearances.
Yes you’re right. It doesn’t seem like he’s played that much
Why aint Arsenal playing to Abu”s strengths?His play is based on speed .
Of course every player has to adapt.A very good player doesnt become a poor one overnite.
I believe MAs build up play is too slow ,.Consequently defenders have time to
mass in nos .
I have been saying we need players run at defenders. Watch Gray run at White.
White was praised but in the last four games he has been exposed in a one on one.
What strengths? Missing easy chances?
White has looked very ordinary in the last four games. I seriously worry about his upside as a defender. He looks solid, but is there really a world-class defender in there? Saliba on the other hand looks like there could be a world-class defender in there. Seriously thinking the answer might be a midfield of White-Konga moving forward and Saliba-Gabriel at the back next year.
Somebody needs to ram it home to them that us fans are now REALLY TIRED of the players especially the senior ones being unable to press home the advantage/take game by the scruff of the neck/finish off the opponent’s etc
African Cup of nations can’t come soon enough, we will lose Auba, Partey (no loss on current form), Elneny (bit-part player) and Pepe (who is never played anyway). be nice to see Sambi back in midfield and give Gabi a run up front!
I wouldn’t mind seeing Balogun get a shot up front (seeing as though it seems Pepe’s Arsenal career is dead). WhyTF is Eddie playing ahead of Balogun? Is Arteta just sick of the job and trying to get fired?
He might be too much the manager and not enough of the coach on this one: trying to get a fee for Nketiah in January rather than losing him for free at the end of the season (i.e., look at Eddie play, we need him; look at Eddie score, you need him — give us a fee for this English player). I wish Arteta would just focus on how best to win a football game, but I could be way off on this one.
No you’re not off, but I really doubt we’re getting a fee for him either way. He stands to get way more out of free-agency. Even putting the team first, this is a bad decision. And even making the case for your hypothesis it’s a bad decision because we stand to make/lose a lot more from playing Pepe and getting a decent price / not playing him and selling him for pittance than a few quid we “might” make off Eddie in January.
Arsenal’s issue is that when they have the lead, they start playing short and backward, losing attention, instead of consistently putting pressure on their opponent, focused on their goal to score and score again. And if they lose the ball, they start shivering and, at last, are unable to block their By so behaving, they give the opposite team the chance to reverse the score.
They should learn from City and Liverpool that keep looking for goals till the end.