Martin Odegaard was unable to explain Arsenal’s second half collapse against Brighton as Roberto De Zerbi’s side all but ended our title challenge.
After failing to capitalise on several decent openings in the first half, the Gunners fell apart after the break. Julio Enciso’s header on 51 minutes should have sparked a reaction from Mikel Arteta’s players but they had no answer to the visitors’ constant probing.
As time ran out, further sloppiness at the back allowed Deniz Undav and Pervis Estupinan to stick the knife in as an already deflated crowd exited the stadium in double-quick time.
Having been terrific in the last two games, Odegaard was as guilty as anyone when it came to not meeting the required standards.
He was understandably despondent when he spoke to Sky Sports. “It feels like [the title challenge is over],” he said.
“It is going to be very difficult now, we have to be honest. It is tough to take.
“It is not a good feeling at the moment. The way we played, particularly in the second half, I don’t know what happened to be honest. It feels like there is no hope now.
“In the first half we did a lot of good things and had moments to create big chances but we gave them more and more momentum in the second half.
“We wanted to come here and continue like we have in the last two games, get a good result and keep pushing. It is a big disappointment [in the dressing room].
“I don’t think mentality was an issue. We were good going into the game but in the game was a different story and we have to accept it and learn from it.”
In a separate interview with Arsenal.com, Odegaard was able to find a silver lining.
“The only thing we can do now is get back and finish the season in a good way, I think everyone deserves that, especially the fans. That’s the only thing we can do and we’ll have to see.
“We’ve done a lot of good things [this season], but at the moment it’s just disappointing the way we ended. Especially the three games before the Chelsea game, and then this game today.
“I think it’s a good sign as well that we are disappointed at the moment, we just have to make sure we keep improving. We’re just going to get better and better all the time and that’s the aim.”
Chin up Martin, yes I am disappointed but not angry. You have all massively over-achieved this season. Back in the CL with all the extra money for squad improvement and the bonus of CL football attracting top quality players. You all made a lot of people sit up and take notice this season and shut the spuds up good and proper!
Next season you raise your game to the next level!
Spot on
The fan’s winning mentality of mine tells me we resolved the quality issue pretty much but he cojones problema is still haunting us.
Yeah but they should of showed more flight today. At the game and it was like they threw it away after the city result. Well we all knew the city result but 60k all sat through it. Still, next year will be our yesr I’m sure of it!
Last year we didn’t believe at the core we would make champions league and so in the final furlong the mentality cost us. This year we believed we would get top four but didn’t believe we could win the league. Last 7 games have shown us the belief wasn’t there. Next season with a top striker to challenge Jesus, a top defensive midfielder and a couple more additions and we can win it. Believe
Martin, go surprise the champions league next season and give us a nice run. We can hopefully meet Newcastle in the competition next year and destroy them
Totally agree!
We only reckoned on 4th place – and look where we are!
PLUS the brilliant football played this season!
COYG!!
Proud, they played breath taking football at times this season. Looking forward to next season.
Oh didn’t they just!
Can’t wait to see what next season brings!
You and me both, Martin.
You and me both.
Gutted.
Will look different in a few weeks mate, I think we over achieved. Nothing caicedo rice and balagoun won’t fix. maybe trying get evan ndeika on a free wouldn’t hurt either.
I know what happened. Pressured decision making by the manager hasn’t been right for weeks (barring Newcastle). Embarrassing and very sad. Actually highlights just how much further than even Arteta thinks we have to go. Do you think man utd, chelsea & liverpool are going to be this bad again next season?
Maybe? Maybe they will be worse. Who the fuck knows? Chelsea are a shambles, Liverpool have to rebuild their entire defence and midfield and utd have plenty of problems of their own. Maybe we’ll also be better too?
Maybe. Unfortunately ‘maybe’ doesn’t win you the league.
It’s not because the team overachieved this season that we still congratulate them for bad performances. This is no winning mentality.
Nah, but billions of oil money does.
I can tell you, the three top six teams you referred to will largely improve next year. I am sad we’re proved pundits like Gary Neville right. They predicted at one point, we would collapse.
Gary Neville predicted we wouldn’t make top 4. If you make enough predictions, one of them might be right. What a great season this has been. Now to finish strong and enjoy next year. I think we have rotated less than any other Prem side. Starting to show with some end of season fatigue, although maybe as much or more mental fatigue as physical fatigue.
Physical fatigue? City had to deal with CL and FA Cup and we didn’t. Where had the blessing in disguise of getting eliminated from Europa League gone? We collapsed under Wenger, Emery and Arteta with different players. Who should we blame? The physios or the Chef?
City have about two extra layers of like for like subs that we don’t. We all know why that is so berating out young Arsenal team for not being at that level is ridiculous.
FFS mate.
Have you actually LOOKED at the size and quality of Manchester City’s squad, compared to ours…?
Their fucking bench alone would keep most Premier League clubs happy.
Jeeeez. 🙄
Gary Neville can go f**k himself
Was watching Micah Richards trying to talk some sense into that fucking weasel at full time the other day. A former Man City player highlighting the difference between the two squads and how much we had missed Saliba – and the stupid little Man Utd prick wouldn’t have it. I honestly thought Micah was going to knock him out at one point – which really would have been the greatest moment in the history of television, but sadly it didn’t happen. And of course, old Cunt Whiskers himself, Roy Keane, stood there with a smirk whilst Vieira must have been… Read more »
Yeah Arteta out! Lets get C*nte in, he’s not on contract. If we can get some ncie players like Kane in we can be juuust like spuds. We have a fantastic team of young players, manager and assistants – all learning, any era in history (bar last couple with city under Pep) this is a walk since Christmas . Yeah it sucks to not go all the way but maaan. Imagine how fuckign amazing this have been. Everyone is hating on the Arsenal again. We are relevant. We are on the up. You play fifa vs godmode-cheatcodes. Got to be… Read more »
When did I say Arteta out exactly?
You sound exactly like them. Take what fits and ignore what’s not. It’s adressed at you in the forum but really its for anyone that feels it. If you been enjoying this ride with me this far I’m happy for you, brother.
On to the next, a season of glory and an era of Arsenal greatness.
You didn’t, your just one of those moaners, looking for simple answers to complex problems. The team has over performed this season in the third year of a five year plan. Somehow you felt entitled to win because of that performance and wanted to win the title. No your upset and looking to blame.
That’s what happend, Brighton’s manager said ‘ you’ll see the real Brighton’ 😶😶
Probably better that the points gap represents the real gap in quality. If it was a single point I’d be obsessed with the Brentford VAR call.
The reality is that the team have over performed this season and once City pulled away, we’ve run out of steam. Now the final games are dead rubbers.
Dear captain, what happened today was a complete shit show. Instead of keeping city honest, you were beaten by a team of footballing no bodies. I imagine Mikels team talk was not ‘go out and play like a relegated side’. Being a supporter can feel like punishment at times. All we want Martin is to see is our team giving 100% because you cannot fault that. But when you see pro-athletes with 5 days rest between games(some waiting for six figure weekly deals) barely chasing the ball, then serious questions need to be asked. Take a look at yourselves because… Read more »
Watching on TV, I thought Brighton played really really good football. Passing is great and it’s all very quick too. They did the same against Man U a couple of weeks ago.
I guess you’ve never had a bad day? Take a look at yourself. You’re the worst sort of entitled “fan” and if you can’t deal with the “punishment” of supporting this talented, improving, and yes, courageous Arsenal team then do yourself (and us) a favour and fuck off.
Your opinion or out is it Vonnie? You’ve never sworn, been frustrated or question players attitudes I assume, a true model. You call me entitled but you sir are a liar if you say otherwise. I get so frustrated for the exact reasons you have stated and simply have a different way of dealing with it, doesn’t mean I don’t back the team like everyone else. They are that good and that what makes all of this so painful, I feel more sorry for them than anything and self reflection is the only way they can improve. If that makes… Read more »
PLEASE – F##K OFF!
We DON’T need supporters like U!
You guys have done great this season. It’s just phase 3 of 5 of the process – we have achieved our aim for this season in qualifying for the CL. Taking the league would have been a great bonus. We move. COYG!!!
Brighton who are in the running for Europe are a team of footballing nobodies?
Rubbish!
Relatively speaking, it wasn’t meant as trash talk more of a generalisation. It wasn’t meant to offend but I suppose you may have been tracking the rise of these players for some time, I don’t know your background. You maybe a scout or analyst and I’m completely out of line.
That was meant for Chris’s comment not yours!
It feels like the fire inside burned out with the Newcastle win. This game was always going to be tough. Brighton are a great team. I suspect that they’ll find it hard to keep all those players together over the summer. You cannot let your foot off the gas in the Premier League and we’ve seen that today. It’s sad to see the title challenge end with a whimper but I’m also so proud of this lot. You have to have a practically perfect season to get ahead of City and we did that for a huge chunk of the… Read more »
Brighton got pumped 5-1 last week by Everton! They are not that fkn great!!
Still can’t work out how that happened. They play really good football.
heart broken for these young men.. you made us proud seriously.. you blessed us with pride this season.. its been terribly hard supporting the team the past years.. but this season.. you gave us a feeling of euphoria that shut some of the stupidest mentalities until a few weeks ago. Grateful.. the boys will bounce back and prove everyone wrong just like they did this season.. PROUD!
Fight again next season, we improve the squad, our tactic, mentality, ruthless, inconsistency, and keep making Man City as our benchmark, and if next season still fail, we keep fighting again the next season and the next one again. 2nd place this year is way above our expectation, super proud of this team
Great season with a very disappointing end and that’s what frustrating. For next season, now with the label of title challengers and CL, how will we fare? So many fans are happy that we are now back with CL money, we need to remember how it was a few years ago where it was the main objectives of the kroenkes. So it would not be surprising to see that the transfers will be done late once again! let’s see. brighton has already made 3 purchases. all fans can see what kind of players are needed. 2 mids, 1 def and… Read more »
I like Odegaard a lot, sometimes when I see him play I can’t believe what we paid for him. But there are other times where I understand why Real Madrid let him go, a performance like this would not be tolerated there. I sincerely hope we see more of the former consistently next season.
A good player, but you are right – he never turned up at all against Man City as well. The sort of games where truly great players turn up – players like Henry and Vieira would take control. I dislike Gary Neville but he was right – we are a young team but we lack a solid spine of players to pull young players through these challenges. I would not be particularly disappointed to see our central midfield completely replaced – they have played well when the pressure was off but wilted when it was on. You don’t win the… Read more »
I never meant Odegaard being sold – more Partey and Xhaka
I was referring to Xhaka and Partey – not Odegaard
I agree about central midfield. Xhaka isn’t getting any younger and Partey is inconsistent. I would consider replacements of Rice and Caicedo and upgrade there but you can never be sure how it goes when you entirely exchange the most important part of your team. I guess one of Xhaka or Partey would have to stay to smooth the transition.
We didn’t turn up and we lost Martin and it’s over 😕
Re: article – I do Odegaard, you especially bottled it when it got tough. No one expected us to win in Newcastle but yesterday! And please don’t do basketball impressions when you score, pathetic celebration. Sad as he’s got amazing talent
I don’t care how he celebrates if he keeps scoring goals for us. Isn’t he our highest scorer this season?
Got sucked into a game of attrition which wasn’t our normal style of play during training the whole season and then the difference is that they had a huge centre forward with space to run into our high line. Whereas they Kept a lower back line but compensated with higher energy levels all over the pitch.
A clever way to play us by Zerbi, negating his technical weakness by playing more attritional man to man. And the difference is a horrible lump of a striker who knows how to make a nuisance but don’t have technical ability or the experience
I have enjoyed most of the season. Results lately have shown our immaturity, next year with some more players we will improve again.
To be honest, I never thought that we were going to with the Prem at all. I always saw this season as getting back into the Top 4 and we have done that. How we have CL football again and we can hopefully persuade the right players to join us. Coming second to City isn’t a disaster. It is a huge improvement and we are above Utd, Spuds, Liverpool and Chelsea, so that is pretty satisfying.