How Odegaard is Revolutionizing Arteta's Arsenal

What do you see in front of you guys, Gabriel Jesus and Martin Odegaard, two attackers? What if I told you that was an illusion and that was a lie? Now think of evolution by what they tell you in school. Think of evulsion. Think of evolution. When you think of evolution, you see atoms expanding and changing and all of that sort of stuff. Since Mikel Arteta has walked into this football club, you've seen many fragments of this football club develop, be changed, and so on and so forth, people. Since the man has walked in, there's been many added layers. We've seen goalkeepers change, midfielders change, first-team regulars be changed, first-team regulars become squad players. There's been many twists and turns in this magical Spanish technician and tactical genius, which is Mikel Arteta. In order to improve, you must at first expand things and expand your horizons. And I think it hasn't always been clear to us honest football fans just what Mikel Arteta is doing. But I'm here to assure you there's a method to his madness and there's more on the horizon, people. There's a lot of things that have happened. Again, he got rid of Leno and you could label that as a change. I would personally say the next step of this Arsenal evolution started with Mikel Arteta when he had brought in Martin Odegaard. As the man has once said, he wants to suffocate the opponent more, create more chances, concede zero chances, and play further from our goal. When you look at playing further from our goal, how do you do that, people? Logically, that's being higher up the pitch, is it not? If you don't know what I'm referring to, essentially that's being higher up the pitch further to your opponent's goal and playing more on the front foot. Arsenal are one of the best teams off the ball in the world, and that is a fact. You can go and look at it. You lot can see it, people. And I think it's because of Mikel Arteta and the players and the coaches, but I think Martin Odegaard is the most important player in that. When you think of Odegaard, you think of creativity and stuff like that. You think of goals and assists. You think of chance creation. You think of, you know, the best Norwegian player within the Premier League. But you look at his pressures in the attacking third at a point, he was the best in the Premier League. The best form of attack is in, the best form of defence, apologies, is in attack. And you probably saw it in the Wolves game a few years ago. And then you've seen it several times on a regular basis. Nowadays it's Jesus and Martin Odegaard. They're our first defenders. Refer back to the start of the video when I said, if I talk, you know, do you see first two attackers or do you see Martin Odegaard and Jesus? I see two defenders in that first graphic because that is what Jesus and Odegaard are. Now, logically, one's the number eight or an eight and a half and a 10, one's a striker, but they lead from the front people on a regular basis. Martin Odegaard and Lacazette initially, and then it expanded and evolved. And you can see plenty of examples on screen of such. It didn't work last season at the Etihad, but there's got to be a reason in the last few games when we played Manchester City, even when the scoreline appears that we've been battered, it's been more of a case of fine margins. And it's because of what we do off the ball, really. And Martin Odegaard is central to that. Martin Odegaard essentially is the eyes and ears on the football pitch for Mikel Arteta. If you picture Martin Odegaard as a PlayStation pad, Arteta is the one playing it from the sidelines, if that makes sense. And there's so many things to admire about Martin Odegaard and what Mikel Arteta is doing. Now, fortunately, it works for us in our last Premier League game against Manchester City. I do believe generally off the ball has improved and it's come at a cost of our creativity, but stats don't necessarily back that up. Off the ball makes the difference. If you really want to see a football game where it's won and lost, how it's really played, it's off the ball. To many people, Arsenal versus City was boring. When you look at it from a different lens, it was anything but people. We also, you could see it in the North London Derby. And I'm sure whether you're at the Emirates or you're watching the games on a regular basis, you can see Martin Odegaard either as the first or second man to lead the press. And if not that, on a regular basis, he's waving his hands and conducting exactly where he wants his teammates to go. It makes more and more sense as the years go on as to why he's been given the captaincy beyond the obvious. Great player, people. And as you know, the defensive structure's improved and it makes sense why Mikel Arteta said he would find people £5,000 in that All or Nothing documentary every time the opponent makes a pass. And last season is when it truly took off, people. And there's got to be a coincidence as to why we all thrive from an attacking sense because a lot of the time we're picking the ball up when the opponent's off. Again, Martin Odegaard's defensive metrics are amazing, people. And again, he made more pressures in the final third per 90 minutes than any other midfielder last season. And that hasn't come at a cost, people. As you know, you see on a regular basis our 4-4-2 off the ball. But with Martin Odegaard getting 15 last year, it hasn't stopped him really. He's still peeling out onto the right-hand side, people. And I would love to be in a world where we've got a little mini Martin Odegaard on the left-hand side because I think we're a bit too right-hand centric. And at times it could be a bit predictable. I think with Zinchenko's injuries, Martinelli's injuries, Havard's inconsistencies, we've struggled to get that. I do believe creativity and chance conversion and chance creation, we need to do a lot better. But facts are, last season Odegaard was still there, four open touches, four chances created, four attacking sequences and all of those sort of metrics. And I feel the numbers are still kind of there this season. Obviously, the sample size or the sample pool is going to be a lot smaller because we've already played 38 games of last season. This season isn't quite that. But as I said, the sequences, the chance conversion rates, the chance creation, the touches, Odegaard mathematically or statistically isn't being harmed in that regard. You look at our XG for created slash conceded per 90, we're in the green, we're next to City and that people. At a point in terms of open play attacking sequences that ended in a shot, only Bruno Fernandes last season had more than Odegaard. So generally, ultimately attack wins games and ultimately goals win games. Mikel Arteta knows that and we're still there. Again, Martin Odegaard's a wonderful footballer, man. Again, you can see what he does off the ball with the pressing and as we've been speaking about throughout this video. But when I think of Odegaard, I think of football intelligence. He's got a wonderful left foot. He's got eyes in the back of his head. He's fantastic in tight spaces. He's fantastic at creating space for his teammates and exploiting it for his teammates. The best footballers are the best thinkers. Why do you think he keeps scoring those goals on the edge of the area? Because he knows other players are going to be picked up. I can kind of go through and he has developed into, you know, and better yet earned the label as a goal-scoring midfielder where Arsenal are concerned. You know, when was the last time we had a midfielder that got, you know, a handsome return of goals, let alone double figures? I'm loving where this Arsenal team is going. The goals are being shared around. The players have their best years in front of them. Martin Odegaard, the captain leads by example. He's a wonderful footballer. Again, people say this myth that Odegaard doesn't turn up in big games. Could he do more? Of course, every player could, but he's been dead, done it and wore the t-shirt. He's a wonderfully gifted player. A footballer that definitely where the Emirates is concerned that we've become accustomed to. In fact, I'm a Venga baby. We've debt. We had more physical players, but the era on re Perez, they all had ability and abundance. And I'm keen to see where Odegaard goes. Cause I think he's just scratched the surface. I don't think he's nowhere near where he could be. I know we speak about Saliba, Saka, Martinelli and players of that ilk for potential to be world-class stars or something of that. Nobody could tell me Martin Odegaard can't reach that. You know, arguably the man's a magician. When I think of the Emirates signings, you know, I do think some of the most important signings, Alexis has a claim to it. Martin, Mesut Ozil, apologies, has a claim to it. You could say Saliba slightly if I'm saying Odegaard, but Aubameyang has a claim to it. But in hindsight, I'm starting to believe it's Martin Odegaard simply because his signing for me in hindsight has now marked a new era in Arsenal football club and where we're looking to go. And obviously what Arteta is looking to implement. I don't know what Arteta is trying to implement in the longterm. And I don't know where that road will lead us to, but we can't sit here and say, it's not exciting people. Nothing is guaranteed in football. And I'm loving the road and the trajectory that Martin Odegaard and Arsenal football club across all aspects are on. Hopefully we keep going people. So yeah, people, we've come to the end of the video. Let me know your thoughts. Don't forget to like, comment, subscribe, helping your own way to grow DG Nation. One love folks. And I'll see you again soon.