Mikel Arteta says choosing Martin Odegaard as Arsenal’s new captain was “the right call”.
The Norwegian hasn’t been a Gunner for long – he signed last summer having spent six months on loan – but it hasn’t taken long for him to make a big impression on the boss.
Facing the media after the 6-0 win over Sevilla in the Emirates Cup, Arteta said: “What I’ve seen over the past 18 months since he’s been with us, he’s represented the values of this football club, the team, the teammates and the staff in the best possible way.
“He’s displayed an ambition to take this club to a different level, to push this team and contribute within it, and as well the way he is respected by everyone inside the organisation.
“He’s also the captain of his national team and I think it was the right call, and I’m proud to announce that because I think he’s a really good person to deliver that commitment to the club.”
Both midfielders with stints at Real Sociedad on their CV, not to mention a shared experience of leaving their homeland at a young age to pursue their football dreams, it’s perhaps unsurprising that Arteta and Odegaard have hit it off.
Having watched Odegaard forge a promising partnership with new signing Gabriel Jesus – the Brazilian kept up his promising pre-season form with a hat-trick against Sevilla – Arteta also praised the Norway captain’s footballing ability.
“I think he makes Gabby better and he needs a threat in front of him because he’s a player that can find the last pass at any moment.
“When he’s in close or open spaces, we need someone to make him look better and I think the connection is already there and with the wingers too.”
Arsenal start the new season on Friday against Crystal Palace. By and large, the vibes coming out of the camp are positive. Why wouldn’t they be? Aside from a slip-up against Brentford in a behind-closed-doors friendly earlier in the week, we’ve won all the games and scored plenty of goals.
Asked if he’s pleased with his side’s summer, Arteta said: “I am. We had a mixture of spending time here in London and being away, and we have played competitive matches against very different opponents and formations and ways of playing and behaviours from teams.
“We have had different conditions as well, we were in Germany and we had to acclimatise with the weather there, and we went to the US and it was the same, now we play with different context and atmosphere as well, so in general I feel like the team is prepared. The ball is going to start rolling on Friday night and it will be a different story.”
I really never appreciated how short Jesus is. Or perhaps how tall Odegard is?
I think Odegaard is standing on Torreira
jesus is riding one of those tiny bikes in the full shot
Does anyone remember a picture of Mertesacker and Santi celebrating the FA Cup win–where they look the same height? Because Per is on his knees.
Actually, I think you’ll find he’s walking on water…
It’s baby Jesus.
Excellent!
Hope this time we don’t have to see an absentee captain.. with long term injuries like Arteta. Kos. Vermaelen. etc
God… there’s always one, isn’t there?
The curse’s been broken.🙏🏾
He already has great chemistry with Saka, Jesus will benefit too. Odegaard is a bit like Ozil except he works harder and over time will probably score more. And he has that Bergkamp ironclad mentality and professionalism. So fucking excited!
I like Odegaard too. However he has some way to go before he could be compared with Ozil who was a true genius. Also very untrue to come out with the fallacy that the German didn’t work hard. Ozil may score more than 44 goals but 77 assists will take some doing.
I meant Odegaard at the end of course and not Ozil.
Football is a team sport, Ozil was a genius, but ultimately poison for the team. Much like Ronaldo at Utd. Odegaard is young and absolutely has a long way to go, but he’s a truely modern team player that is perfectly equipped to return Arsenal to the top.
That is ridiculous to say ozil almost singlehandedly won us the Premier league when Leicester ended up winning it, ozil did not have the quality around him to win the prem and if we had a world class striker in that season it would have been a different ending to his arsenal story.
But please stop this hate of former players it didn’t end how we wanted it to and both parties are to blame when ozil put his career on the line to speak on human rights issues facing Muslims in China I will forever aplued him for that
Wasn’t it easier for Ozil to give a call to his friend Erdogan and ask him to speak on behalf of the Ouighours than putting Arsenal business in danger?
What, you mean don’t speak out against genocide because it might have a detrimental affect on a football club…? Talk sense FFS.
I thought it was Uighurs? But what do I know.
Agreed with you that we shouldn’t bad mouth ex players of ours and I agreed everyone has the right to entitle to her / his opinion. My opinion on this is, please do not speculate unless you actually know and see what you are talking about. Coming back to team on hand, what a team!! Really looking forward to see the progress!!
Martin R came on here previously & said (entirely seriously) peak De Bruyne wasn’t in the same league as peak Ozil. (not just that Ozil was better but clarified when questioned that he 100% meant not even in the same league)
There’s just no point in debating with that sort of extremist nonsense.
By the same token, ‘Extremist Nonsense’ perfectly describes the ignorant hatred that was, and still is, being hurled at Mesut Ozil. If you hate on Ozil, then you have absolutely no idea of what the game is all about or what constitutes a great player.
Give me the genius over ten box to box Duracell bunnies any day of the week.
As I mentioned in a post above, high press is all very well, but it’s in danger of crushing any individual expression.
Seriously, who wants 90+ minutes of 20 outfield guys haring around like kids in a playground?
When you consign the likes of Ronaldo to the dustbin, you are also doing the same to the memories of players like Best, Maradona and Bergkamp.
Is that what you want….?
The thing is though, that’s a bit of a false dichotomy. It’s not necessarily an either/or between a player with technical ability and stamina, but finding the right balance.
Özil was a generational talent, no doubt about that. But nobody is suggesting we field a squad of 20 Özils (Rolls Royce of a player when you can get the engine started) any more than they are suggesting we field a squad of 20 Mark Nobles (decent engine, but ultimately still a bit crap). To challenge for top honours you need to have a mix of hard-working graft and natural craft.
I’m not saying you don’t.
What I’m saying is for every Talbot you need a Brady.
Otherwise, what’s the point…….?
Unless you’re Brian Talbot or Brian Talbot’s mum, how can anyone who professes to be a football fan downvote that…?
You can add Le Tiss and Gazza to that lot… players that make it worth watching the full 90 for 3 mins of pure poetry, imo.
Poison? He helped us break our nine year trophy drought.
Well said. If anyone made the ball do the work from impossible angles, it was Mesut Ozil. His ability to read the game and catch everyone out – sometimes his own team mates who clearly weren’t on the same wavelength (which, incidentally, was one of the reasons that gave rides to his frustrations here; he didn’t always have the brightest sparks playing alongside him) – was second to none. That he didn’t fit in with Arteta’s high press wasn’t anybody’s fault – the game has changed in the past twenty years. I fancy that players like Brady, Hoddle and even… Read more »
I know exactly what you mean, Q. I remember our FA Cup Semi Final at Wembley against Wigan in 2014, Ozil put Yaya Sanogo through time and again, only for the chance to break down because Sanogo wasn’t at the races and the chances went begging. I remember a mate of mine saying “Ozil’s getting pissed off. You can’t blame him. What is the point of having a talent like him when he’s got to work with the likes of Sanogo?”
*My bad, it must have a league game because Ozil didn’t play in the 2014 FA Cup Semi Final.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qs9kBhToxx4
Always worth a watch – I just wish he’d had more playing time with HFB… they had a really good natural fit and understanding.
In fairness, Mesut did play with some decent scorers; Alexis, HFB, Rambo, Auba (in his prime); Santi…
What a maestro.
He makes De Bruyne look like a pub team player.
Wow. That video just reminded me how good Ozil was.👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
And that’s thing… shit tends to stick and it’s really sad that most of it landed towards the last seasons of his time with us.
I prefer to accept that it didn’t work out… that there are always (at least) 2 sides to any story… and that we had the fortune of watching a very special player in our colours for a wonderful, though brief, chink in time.
*rise
they play the same role and both are good at finding the killer pass and trying fancy stuff. but the commitment martin has every match is two divisions above what mesut showed every now and then. i’d personally pick martin over mesut any day in any competition of any sport. he’s just much more competitive.
The only think Ode has over Ozil is work rate. In terms of creativity and grace on the ball, Ode has some way to go yet.
This pre season reminds me a lot of those first few years after Pat left. Lots of optimism with a dash of caution knowing we’re missing a world class CM.
most teams are missing a world class cm tho, not many about. we’ve got an impressive queue waiting to step up
I think you’re underestimating what Zinchenko brings to the left side and how he frees players like Viera, the Smith, Sambi and of course Xhaka from defensive duties when they play the no 8 role. I’m actually looking forward to Zinchenko playing as an 8 alongside Kieran when he’s fit. If we need another signing, Arteta knows best buy I don’t see where. In other words I’m really excited for season ahead and the signings we’ve made. That Turner guy still had some points to prove to me though.
Yep – Zinch IS that midfielder, once KT is fit. We got a BOGOF from Citeh!
Turner’s a downgrade on Leno. Here’s hoping Ramsdale stays fit all season.🙏🏾
Call me an optimist but, with just 38 games to go, I say the league title is ours to lose.
We’re doing well so far, zero goals conceded and level on points with last season’s champions.
Don’t get too excited. IIRC, we were in the same position at this point last season.
Top of the league alphabetically too!
Actually, forgot Bournemouth are back up again..
Fuck Bournemouth, cheating with their ‘AFC’ purely to screw with us. You’re Bournemouth, we’re Arsenal. We are too of the totally irrelevant league hasn’t even started table !
I liked Bournemouth and the way Howe had them playing, but I was happy they went down because they were the only other team besides Arsenal that had played in the top division without being relegated. A few uninterrupted years at the top for them, and over a hundred for Arsenal–but still.
With Tottenham in the relegation zone.
Hahahahahaha…I like what you did there
For the first time in a long while, we enter a season with strong positive vibes.
If we can bring in Tielemans, there is no reason we can’t cut a reasonable chunk of the gap between us and the top 2.
We will score more goals, concede less, win more games and lose less games than last season.
Even without Tielemens we’ll still cut the gap to the top two.
Yes, but I think with Tielemans there, we’ll even slash more.
I’m looking forward to us stuffing those cunts up the road.
Pay back time.
Speaking of which, the mugs have just lost at home to Maureen’s Roma.
Spursy as ever.
Just wish Tammy had scored – boyhood Gooner, that lad.
I wonder if there will be another behind closed doors friendly for Tomiyasu, Tierney, Smith-Rowe, Vieira to get up to speed.
Next week will probably come too soon but there is an eight day window between the Palace and Leicester games.
Loving the team at the moment but also really eager to see Fabio Vieira in action too. From the very limited things I’ve seen and read of him, he’s probably the most exciting signing we made alongside Jesus. All in all a wonderful summer so far in preparation for Palace on Friday
Who will be Odegard ‘s assistant?
If you’re talking about a ‘Vice Captain’ as such, then you’ve got Ramsdale, Xhaka and Tierney. Natural born leaders.
Did anyone else saw during pre-game team huddle/talk against Sevilla that Xhaka did all the talking? Odegaard may be officially the captain, but players still look up to Xhaka.
We are doing so well in pre season and transfers. Yet the mirror always find a negative. They hate us.
“Mikel Arteta’s exciting Arsenal progress risks leaving Emile Smith Rowe in the shadows”
Mate, The Daily fucking Mirror have always hated Arsenal.
Don’t read that shitty rag!
At the start of last season we had Aubameyang and Lacazette as our main goal threat. Anyone missing them?
Auba, maybe. Laca, definitely no.
Ok – just this once, I’m going to be that bloke:
A long time ago, in a season back in time, with squad many light years away from this one, I called MO as future club captain and next Arse legend.
My exact words were ‘Watch this space, lads’.
I got crucified (note the seamless Jesus link there) by numerous colossal idiots on here, who were slating him as a ‘useless loan’ and ‘please god we don’t spend good money on buying him’ .
Mostly the same cretins who were clamouring for Arteta’s head.
Mwuhahahahahahahaaaaaaaaa!
That wasn’t necessary, Bro.
In fairness, I did own it right up front, though.
Bring on the Eagles. COYG!!!