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Martin Odegaard Proves Arsenal Are a Better Team Without Him vs Brentford
There’s one Arsenal player currently slowing down Mikel Arteta’s side in their pursuit of a first Premier League title in over two decades, and his performance in a narrow 2-0 home win over Brentford only underlines that the Gunners have outgrown him. Maintaining their five-point lead at the top of the table was the first order of business on Wednesday night.
A much-changed Arsenal side did just that. Despite starting the night without the likes of Bukayo Saka, Jurrien Timber, and Eberechi Eze, it was yet another headed Mikel Merino goal that got them off to a flying start within 10 minutes. They were then able to coast to victory, with their makeshift defence – which included the weekend’s jittery centre-back pairing of Cristhian Mosquera and Piero Hincapie – digging in until the final moments, when Bukayo Saka scored to put the seal on their 18th consecutive unbeaten match.
But while a win is a win, there’s one player, usually among the first names on the teamsheet, who needs reassessing in the Arteta era. As captain of the club, Martin Odegaard should be doing far more to help the league leaders continue firing on all cylinders than he is currently managing.
Martin Odegaard’s Uninspiring Display in Arsenal 2-0 Brentford
In rotated sides, managers usually still start a few first-team players – most often those in the leadership group – to make sure some sort of order is maintained. Declan Rice was one of those, while Odegaard, the captain, was another. But it’s fair to say the latter’s performance did very little to ensure the Arsenal we’re used to made an appearance under the lights at the Emirates Stadium.
Playing in attacking midfield, he was designated as the creator-in-chief. But instead of speeding up attacks and feeding the forward players, the Norway international slowed everything right down. His one shot was blocked, his passes were accurate 89 per cent of the time because they were sideways or backwards, and he lost all but one of his six duels.
Achieving a 5/10 rating for his full ninety-minute performance, it wasn’t exactly the display you’d expect from a captain trying to lead his side to a first piece of major silverware in the post-lockdown era.
Have Arsenal Outgrown Their Captain?
Rice has been tipped as Arsenal’s new captain in recent weeks, and it certainly begs the question over whether a Gunners’ side that has been slowly but surely getting better and better has now evolved beyond Odegaard. The criticism for his midweek performance online would suggest even his own supporters have seen enough, with one X user remarking:
“No coincidence that Martin Odegaard is back in the Arsenal team and the tempo is gone, felt it from minute 60 on Sunday, and now his 5 touches before passing is killing us.”
Another added: “Odegaard slows the game down so much,” as a third wrote: “Odegaard makes himself look busy but does absolutely nothing.” Meanwhile, a fourth concluded: “We have not missed Odegaard, he is so bad.”
His two injury setbacks at the start of the campaign certainly haven’t helped his cause, but an attacking midfielder’s job is to raise the tempo – and the fact he’s currently not doing that should raise alarm bells for a manager who has long demanded the highest standards from his players. Eze, it seems, is the superior option in that position right now, and his arrival makes you wonder whether the club has outgrown its captain.
