“He has been miserable this season”. “What happened to him”? “Let’s try something else.” These are a bunch of messages about Martin Ødegaard like the Gooner News website from social media in February. There is worse – in March Arsenal Fan TV posted a video with the following title: “Is there a world where Arsenal sells Ødegaard?” Merciless: One of Arsenal’s supporters roars along the way in a match recently. Several of the supporters have strong opinions on the team’s Norwegian captain. Photo: Peter Cziborra / Reuters / NTB This is a debate among some fans now, after a fifth straight season without a significant title. It’s not just the fans who are critical. But recently, a heading of the neutral newspaper The Athletic said that Ødegaard has been “revealed” and that “Declan Rice is Arsenal’s future captain”. Much of the criticism goes far beyond the line. Ødegaard has had better seasons, and he can give the team more. But he still gives them a lot. As expected and then we don’t even take all the miles he puts down every match. If we look at the numbers for what he does with the ball, they have not changed much. The big difference is that Ødegaard scores fewer goals. This season he has boomed unusually much. In recent years he has been a sharp ender scoring more chances than expected, and he was specially accurate in 2022-23, when he knocked 15 goals in the Premier League. OUT: Arsenal Captain Martin Ødegaard dips after Arsenal smoked out of the Champions League last week. Photo: Benoit Tessier / Reuters / NTB This season he has reached several good positions, but only scored two league goals – one on penalties. And it colors a lot of the impression. Goals have so much to say for what we mean about a player. They make headlines, they appear in statistics everywhere, and they can hide parts of the game that are not good. But Arsenal’s coach Mikel Arteta places great emphasis on how much chances Ødegaard gets, ie “expected goals”, because he knows the form dip in front of goal will hardly last. “His numbers are very similar to what we expect, including how good he is at getting chances,” said Arteta in February, according to the website Arseblog. The figures show that Ødegaard scored more than expected in 2022-23, and that he has scored fewer than expected this season. Martin Ødegaard’s “target drought” Season: 2022-23 Objective: 15 «Expected Objective»: 9.9 Dimensions per 90 min: 0.43 «Expected Objective» per 90 min: 0.29 Season: 2023-24 Objective: 8 «Expected Objectives»: 7.4 goals per 90 min: 0.23 «Expected dimensions» per 90 min: 0.22 Season: 2,4.24-2. “Expected dimensions” per 90 min: 0.19 Source: fbref.com So yes, Ødegaard struggles in front of goal. Otherwise, he doesn’t do much differently than before. He does this best in the Premier League actually strikes goal -oriented passes more often than ever. Prior to this weekend’s matches, Ødegaard had set up 0.30 goals per 90 minutes in the Premier League this season (ie per full match he has played). It is the best he has delivered in league games since lending to Dutch Vitesse six years ago. Ødegaard has fewer goals this season than the previous one, but he has also played much less due to injuries. The cut is a little better now. Martin Ødegaard’s Objective Season: 2022-23 Objective: 7 Objective per 90 min: 0.20 Season: 2023-24 Objective: 10 Objective per 90 min: 0.29 Season: 2024-25 Objective: 7 Objective per 90 min: 0.30 Source: fbref.com In addition, he is the best in the league to move the ball forward. CREATIVE: Ødegaard is still important for Arsenal’s attack. Photo: AFP imagines Ødegaard getting the ball at the middle line. He looks up and turns a pass along the ground who finds a partner 20 meters further in the field. Suddenly Arsenal has the ball in a dangerous area. In the nerd language this is a “progressive pass”. They are valuable because they move the entire attack closer to the opponent’s goals. Ødegaard beats 10 of these passes per 90 minutes he plays, according to the website fbref.com. They give him no goal point. You rarely see them in the highlights. But there are such numbers Arteta follows. If you see who others who beat such passes often, you find the best playmakers in the league. “Progressive passes” in Premier League 2024-25 Player: Martin Ødegaard * Passes per 90 min: 10.1 Player: Bruno Fernande’s passes per 90 min: 9.2 Player: Trent Alexander-Arnold Passes per 90 min: 8.7 Player: James Maddison Passees per 9.2 Player: Kvin Whole league matches *The numbers are picked up before the weekend’s matches Source: fbref.com so there was a reason why Arteta had to change the entire attacking game when Ødegaard was injured this fall. The drummer is the team’s creative driving force. The broken right side at the same time does the numbers not tell the whole story. Maybe Ødegaard has been more hesitant with the ball than before. He does not win duels as often as he usually does. He could play better in big matches. He does not shoot as often, perhaps because confidence in front of goals is weakened. GENIAL: Bukayo Saka is Ødegaard’s most important teammate Photo: Reuters but Ødegaard has had very difficult conditions this season. The ankle injury in September kept him out for two months. As soon as he returned, he played a full match away from Chelsea, which was so intense that he was over the next international match. And then the entire right side of Arsenal has been destroyed by injuries. Arsenal’s best attack duo are Ødegaard and Bukayo Saka, the superb right -wing that scores so often and creates so much. The two ravage along the edge with wall games, overlaps and rotations. Often they bring the right back Ben White. This season, the case has started about half of the league matches, while White has started 10 of them. The absences affect Ødegaard, who is a combination player. Play without point We cannot ignore that Arsenal have hardly had injury -free tips. Neither Gabriel Jesus nor Kai Havertz have stirred a ball since February, and Arsenal have been using central midfielder Mikel Merino on top. He does not take the same races as Jesus and Havertz, giving Ødegaard fewer opportunities with the ball. There is probably also something that Arsenal has played more defensively. Arsenal legend Thierry Henry has a theory that Arteta was so hurt by the loss against Manchester City in the title match in 2022-23, that he has since entered big matches with the main goal of keeping the cage clean. Henry said this to Sky Sports in February: – They are now a team that is very good at death balls, but they do not play as before. Ødegaard does not control the store anymore. The ball does not go to him as often, but rather on the edges to win free kicks and corners. Legend: Thierry Henry (right) believes that Arsenal has become more defensive in the big matches. Here with another legend, Ronaldinho, at a basketball match in 2023. Photo: AFP It does not help that Arsenal has got five red cards – no teams in the league have more. Many things have gone wrong. When Arsenal goes from 91 league goals (last year) to 64 league goals so far this year, it is about far more than just one player. Responsible but as captain and playmaker, Ødegaard is held responsible. When teammate Declan Rice plays so well next to him, the contrast becomes even greater. At the same time, there is no reason why the difficulties will continue for Ødegaard. The target dryer usually disappears in the end, and next season Arsenal will get the stars back from injury. It takes a lot if Ødegaard does not get better conditions after the summer. Can he perform better? Absolutely. But that he should be benched? Sold? Just asking the question is crazy. Ødegaard is an important gear in a larger system. This season it is not he who has broken down – it is the machine itself. Published 11.05.2025, at. 11.39 Updated 11.05.2025, at. 11.46
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