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I have finally seen the light
most football analysis is worthless
there really isn’t much more to it than putting one right in their fucking goal hole
There were many objections to the moving Odegaard left article which were already addressed in the article tbh, including the idea that Odegaard could be just as productive on the left, if not even more. Moreover, the article also makes this point which perhaps explains why Odegaard himself has been less productive this season:
Where Martin Ødegaard comes in (or more aptly doesn’t come in) is exploiting that increased pitch via finding those “remote spaces”. Martin Ødegaard largely attempts to find solution within the right hand side, he takes a lot of touches (which is a large reason why he retains the ball so well) and due to the open angles he operates in he’s rarely forced into playing outside of his comfort zone (which I’ll touch on later). This tends to reduce the isolations that occur on the left hand side due to him not directly accessing whoever is holding width, as well as leading to teams being able to more confidently tilt their block towards the right (as seen often with how many players always seem to be surrounding Bukayo Saka when he receives the ball)- if he doesn’t consistently attempt to access the left then the right can be clogged up more as immediate danger isn’t neccessarily present. As Pep Guardiola put it “In all team sports, the secret is to overload one side of the pitch so that the opponent must tilt its own defence to cope.” The issue with Ødegaard is that he’s really good at making the defence tilt towards the right but he’s not so good at punishing the defence for their tilting and therefore he is no longer forcing the defence to tilt- it’s entirely deliberate on their part. That’s the main problem with how the right half space is used, here (in my opinion) are the solutions.
Ødegaard at RCM means goals and that is why he will continue to play there.
When he has the ball on the right hand side of the box he is one of the most clinical players around. A couple of touches into space and he finds the corners as well as anyone. He’s not going anywhere.
His issue is that we lack central penetration and that’s because we made the mistake of relying on Thomas.
We shall sign a LCM, move Rice to the 6 earlier than expected, and Ødegaard will be Ødegaard again.
Recruitment might have dropped the ball here. I think performance on the pitch is protecting them.
I have very many unpopular opinions on this subject the same way I did when we bought Pepe, and when we bought Auba after Lacazette.
I think Kai is a good player but if you’re signing a player whose best spot is the RHS — the same spot your captain and best player plays, that’s terrible.
It’s true that the club is weirdly trying to push Odegaard back into build up roles; we have so far invested £100M in that( Vieira and Kai Havertz), yet it seems Odegaard is inevitable.
They also seem not ready to actually play Odegaard as an LCM. They instead seem to be in the market for a Luiz. We’d be starting and cementing Odegaard there as their Kai/Vieira investments pick up pace.
Basically if everything goes wrong, recruitment will have to answer for why they spent close to £100M on a solution that wasn’t solved. Because yes, Odegaard isn’t a good bulk creator, unless he learns it with time, but the people bought for it are taking so long to do it( or Vieira who doesn’t physically fit in), that there will be questions.
I am kinda bored and mad at everything in my life so I need to do something I have never done and thought that it would be nice to fly to london to watch some arsenal match in a pub and seeing english culture as well so can someone give me some info on what to do?:DD
I went to London once about 11 years ago. I found out that most of the museums are free. Only had a week and never really got over the time difference and jet lag. Spent most of the days in museums and falling asleep by 7 pm. Good food is available, shopping etc… but their collections of stolen artifacts is a sight to behold.
What are you interested in or attracted to about the idea of London?
Ffs Gareth, keep our boys out of this nonsense
Our highest expected goals against this season is 1.4. Last season we had 11 games with xGa greater than that. Our highest xGa game last season was Liverpool away with 3.9 xGa (20 shots total) and with a midfield of Partey, Xhaka, Odegaard, and Holding in defense - surely however, the issue went beyond Holding.
That amount of xG away to Liverpool has depressed me. We win that game it could have been different 😭
Need Ukraine to beat Italy. Would be amazing
If Bayern get Varane it would be very funny because if ETH survives that long you just know he’ll sign a total bum
Rashford was rlly on his 2016 Ramsey last szn
Even though i don‘t like him, i could totally see us go for Rabiot either in January or in the summer. I hate his attitude but he suits the left 8 really well and his contract is expiring next summer
He has always looked so clueless at the final third every time I’ve watched him. He does look fun in the midfield
I hate his attitude
Rabiot hasn’t shown bad attitude for atleast 4 years and he has been on good form for like 2 years now
So maybe you should stop judging him for his behaviour when he was younger, people change
My god man, I’m watching the England vs North Macedonia highlights and the second highlight is Harry Mcguire making a horrible pass and committing a foul that should of been a penalty… I can see why Southgate chooses him.
Gavi injury made me realise something. It’s fucked how football works. Club managers running players into the ground because their job is on the line and need to get results or they’re sacked. National team managers playing the same best players because they need to qualify or they’re sacked.
And you get to the point where an 18 yo plays 100 games in two years and gets a massive injury that might ruin his career. It’s just sad man.
100 games in 2 years is about 1 a week isn’t it? I hear what you’re saying but I’m not sure if I subscribe to it, injuries are a part of the game at all levels and always have been. If he was still with the under 23s or whatever he’d still be playing every week, and there’s nothing to say his ACL injury is due to fatigue
On average it’s one a week, but that average is so misleading it’s not even worth giving a second thought to
Your forgetting summer breaks. Months without any football.
That means during the season, he’s playing 1.5 games per week, closer to 2 game per week. For 2 years straight.
I get that this isn’t a popular take but that number of games is no different to what he’d be playing if he wasn’t in the 1st team, and nobody knows how individual players’ load is managed between games. The nutrition, treatment and sports science involved in how they look after themselves has never been better. The difference in what they know know vs the 90s is night and day
For me it’s a bit of a stretch to suggest his ACL injury is purely a result of playing a lot of games
Worst thing is, Spain already qualified, so this match meant fuck all for them.
And now they lost one of their best players. Let’s hope they learn from it, because it’s beyond stupid
I keep saying we need to be more careful with our young stars but the response is always “all big players need to play this many number of games.”
It is all unsustainable and it is sad to see the welfare of players ignored in this way buy their custodians and football fans in general.
Weird how many Saturday 5:30pm games Newcastle have had
Extracting maximum home ground advantage by scheduling all the tougher games for the slot where their crowd are at the height of their rabid celebration of every throw in like they’ve just won the league
It’s not. It’s prime time for Saudi TV.
That’s Sky Sports bending over backwards for their Saudi overlords.
People believe Southgate is doing a phenomenal job with this England squad btw
Rice and Saka look to be starting tonight in one of England’s most useless matches this year as they’ve already qualified… Southgate is such a loser man.
Dion Dublin is a prime example of why they don’t allow officials to officiate games with a team from the same country at international level. His bias is off the charts!