"Odegaard is tearing up the rulebook!" - Sporting CP 1-5 Arsenal | On The Whistle

Hello guys. There is a widely held belief in football that it takes time for a player who has been injured to return to their best. Often a length of time that's roughly commensurate with how long they've been out. The greater the lay-off, the longer the wait for a player to recapture their best form, to get back onto the same wavelength as their team-mates. Martin Odegaard is ripping the rulebook up. Within, frankly, from his first game back, he has shown a level of performance that is out of the ordinary. What he's doing is unusual and exceptional. For a player to spend not just weeks but months essentially on the sidelines and return at this level is... I've never seen anything quite like it before. And it's exciting to see him looking close to his best already. And it makes me think there may be another level to this. There may be more to come. There may be something else on the horizon. There may be a level in Martin Odegaard that we're about to unlock. What a night for Arsenal. 5-1 winners in Lisbon. I think it's the joint best European away win in our history, certainly modern history, up there with 4-0 over PSV and of course the 5-1 in the San Siro. A fantastic result against a team who turned over Man City, although judging by their recent performances, maybe that's not quite the honour it once was. But this was a brilliant performance. It was interesting on British television, the TNT commentary focused quite a lot on how poor sporting were. And I'm sure there was something to that. But I think Arsenal did a lot, particularly in that first half, to make them look poor. I thought we played with purpose. We played with imagination. Now that Odegaard's back in the team, we played with hunger, intelligence, maturity, everything you want to see from an Arsenal team in Europe. We were helped by an early goal for Gabriel Martinelli. That really set the tone. But I liked how ruthless we were with the opportunities that we got. And yeah, as I say, this was just a fantastic display. I watched it in quite unusual circumstances. I was on a train back from Liverpool. I'd been doing some work up in the northwest and I had my iPad up and was sort of reliant on data signal and some quite dodgy Wi-Fi. But I saw the vast majority of the game and I really thought we were excellent. I have to say, I didn't necessarily see this coming. Maybe I almost felt it was too simplistic to say, well, we miss Odegaard so much that you just plug him back in and everything will look fine. But based on the Nottingham Forest game and this game, I started to think maybe it is that simple. Martinelli got the first, Havertz the second. Both well-worked moves coming down the right-hand side so much in this game. It came down the right-hand side. Gabriel Magalhaes, I loved his goal. Brilliant delivery from Declan Rice. Great run, great leap, good contact. For all the pretty football we played, I loved that goal. And that really was right before half-time and I don't think 3-0 flattered us. I think it was fair. I think we'd been that good and for all the talk about Giocares, we didn't see him in the first half. He didn't get a kick. He did do better in the second half and I'll be interested to see, let me know in the comments, what you made of his performance. I thought Saliba and Gabriel handled him really well, but it was interesting that even then there were moments where he broke out. You know, that moment where he hit the post showcased his power, his shooting ability. It was a good save from David Ryan, not his only good save on the night. So yeah, I think he's an interesting prospect, but I'm not sure he's necessarily the one for us. We'll see. He'll doubtless be playing for a big club within about a year or so. They got a goal back straight after half-time from a set piece and the crowd suddenly were engaged in the game again and he thought maybe it could turn. But Arsenal did really well to recover the situation there. They won a penalty. Martin Odegaard, who else, brought down a penalty box. Saka tucks it away. Is that the best penalty of his Arsenal career? Very possibly. Very clinical, right in the corner, unsaveable. And then Trossard gets the fifth with a header after Mikel Mourinho's shot from outside the box. Wow, what a result. What a statement. People will be talking about Arsenal as a real threat in this competition now. I think people will start talking about them as a potential winner, particularly given City's troubles. And it's really changed the mood. It's really changed the mood music around the club. I'm just bewildered by Odegaard, honestly. He came straight back into the team at Chelsea, hit the ground running and has gone from strength to strength. And so have we. I'm so impressed by it and I can't wait to see what's next. What is next is a game against West Ham at the weekend. I'll be there at London Stadium covering the game for the Athletic. So yeah, it's my first time there for a game, I believe. I've been to the stadium before, but not for a football match. It's never really appealed to me, I have to be honest. But yeah, I'll be there. I'm going to leave it there because it's late now, guys, very late. And I've got a fair bit on my plate this week, but I wanted to get some sort of video out. I'll speak to you all soon. Fantastic night for Arsenal. Take care. Bye bye.