Martin Odegaard Is Back, Are Arsenal Better Than Ever?

0:00This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. Why is that? There we go. Welcome everybody to my fan focus. It's Scarlett with you tonight. It's Thursday night, Champions League action. We're going to be keeping an eye on Man United. And guys, today this evening we are going to be talking about Martin Ode to God. Why are we talking about Martin Ode to God? Because I think he's defied the odds a little bit. We're going to talk about his early season form. We're going to talk about how Arsenal are shaping up. And we're going to talk about Manchester City. Are they actually good?

1:05They've won all three of their Premier League games. They won their opening Champions League game. But what should we make of them this season? What should we make of their results so far? What should we make of Enzo Marreska's contributions so far? Guys, all of that is to come. And I'm hoping we're keeping my fingers crossed here and even let me know in the comments what you think about this. That my sister Lola who has joined me for the goal difference streams is going to make an appearance on this live stream. So I want to thank you all for being here. And please smash the likes, join in the comments. Let's have a good time. Let's have a discussion. We're going to be talking about Martin Ode to kick off with. And let's get going. Let's get underway. So guys, if you weren't living under a rock last night, you'll know that Arsenal's Champions League campaign got underway. It was a 1-0 win in Naples from Mick and our TETA team. And I've got to say, looking at that result, if you might be from the outside, if you're not an Arsenal fan, if you didn't watch the game, you might just think typical Arsenal narrow way win, particularly in Europe, narrow way win didn't allow the opposition much scored one chance perhaps a receptor play.

2:22But that's where you'd be wrong guys because that is what's different about Arsenal this season. What I saw in Naples is a continuation of what I've seen so far this season, which is characterized by abundance. And who characterizes that abundance? Martin Ode to garden, his involvement in the team. So Arsenal actually created around 4xG and nappily around 0.2. Just to put it into context, obviously XG doesn't describe everything in terms of the flow of the game and the feeling of threat. But I think that's pretty illustrative in terms of the fact that Arsenal miss some really big chances. And I don't think that apart from Victor Yocker, as really you could say, that Arsenal have anyone in their team who is capable of consistently taking chances. But still, it was uncharacteristic. Sacka went through all goal last action at the first half and blazed it over and you're just thinking he's gone to school.

3:23So the person who unlocked the match was Martin Ode to garden. He was the score of the goal. He had goal against Chelsea. He shan't one in against commentary on the opening day. And I think any Arsenal fans watching, we've got a comment here from Ryan. Ode to garden has been brilliant. And I think any Arsenal fans who have engaged with Arsenal over preseason and since the community shield will be aware of Martin Ode to garden's resurgence. And I say this because I really don't want to diminish the role he had last season. I think at times he looked, you know, the player that we thought he was, particularly in 23-24. And he contributed, especially in that West Ham game, which was so crucial to us winning that title, guys. So, you know, I think every set of football fans will have their beliefs about what game turned the season for them. Well, I think pretty much everybody agrees that Arsenal won the league at the London stadium.

4:28And Martin Ode to garden made Trussard's goal because he undertook quite a difficult dribble. He twinkled totes his way into the area and he pulled it back for the Andrew Trussard to finish. So it was in large part of Martin Ode to garden's decisive action. And I believe he came off the bench in that game. And it's under James. Hello, how are you? Hello, how are you? It's nice to see you here. Thank you. Everybody for joining. Thank you to everybody in the comments. Keep it coming. Tell me your thoughts on Martin Ode to garden. Tell me who's impressed you at the start of this season. And we will discuss it. But guys, I want to look at the West Ham versus Arsenal game here because I think that's the starting point for the discussion. And. Okay, right. So, Martin Ode to garden actually didn't come on until the last 25 minutes of this game. He came on alongside Cai Havards who also had a really positive impact. And I think that tells you where Ode to garden was last season and where he's come from and just going to share this match report here.

5:34That tells you where Martin Ode to garden was because he came in with 25 minutes left. So Martin Ode to garden was a bit part player last season for Arsenal. I think I actually remember him talking about feeling fit and feeling hungry at the beginning of the season. And he, you know, was talking about being fit and it was in a very, it was a game against Leeds that he got dropped on his shoulder. And that's where it all started to go wrong because he then didn't come back, I believe, until around about the West Ham game where he then had a knee to knee collision with Chrisence, your son of a filth. So it was a catalog of unfortunate injuries for Ode to garden last season. And he's gone away and he's had the World Cup and I think the World Cup was such a positive experience for him. I think being a captain of that Norway side, I think was really invigorating for him.

6:35You know, he spent the summer doing this, he spent the summer doing the Norwegian road being best friends with Erling Harland. Just I think that sometimes, you know, like the World Cup is such a negative for England and you guys can can can add to this in the comments. The World Cup can be such a drain major tournaments on club football and you feel nervous about it and you feel uncomfortable about the possibility of your players going away. But in this case, I don't think Ode to garden was untouchable or asked for this summer and he has just returned to the kind of status that he was before of absolutely central to everything asked me to do well. So here he is having fun drumming. I'm going to come to your comments now just to say hi. Sebastian Constantine, I have it's impressive. I mean, you could equally say this about Kai Havats who has had a very injury hit last season and the season before you know in that Wolf's game.

7:38It was so tempting fate. Arteta said, oh Kai Havats is really physically durable, next thing we know, we don't have a striker. And then last season came back from the injury and in the first game of the season got a significant injury and was kind of working his way back after that. So you could equally say, I mean, when you look at Arsenal and you look at the kind of improvement they've made without doing much recruitment. There's two major figures staring you in the face and that is Kai Havats and Martin Ode to God. So Sebastian, I think you're exactly right. Devil says, hey, Loll, hey to you too. Barney, Bernardo, hey again, Barney, nice to see you. Did he come back and get in to playing for Norway? Well, I think Barney, you might be talking about a couple of seasons ago, where that was where the initial ankle injury happened with Martin Ode to God. He went on international break with Norway and that is where the initial injury happened.

8:39Barney says, last year he was scared of missing a World Cup. So I mean, this is something that has been circulated about Martin Ode to God. And do we know this is true as this substantiated wisdom is possible? I mean, he was the captain of his country. I think probably also when you've been injured, you're suddenly aware of how painful it is to miss football matches. And I've got to say, a less than fully fit Martin Ode to God is not a Martin Ode to God. Do you really want in your team leading your team? I thought he was really poor in the Champions League final. I was really disappointed with him physically. You know, Martin Ode to God and Kai Havats as well, they are technical leaders in this Arsenal side. They are players who enable Arsenal to control the game with the ball. And we had absolutely no on ball control in that PSG game. And I say that while acknowledging that the entire team worked incredibly hard and did a really good job. To keep PSG out in the way that they did. I don't think PSG in a particularly dangerous.

9:39Because I had to get it was substituted. But I think Arsenal have more to offer than that. And I think that was the root of the criticism from a lot of the outside noise to Arsenal last season. It was, you know, this is supposed to be a team that plays football. Why are you not playing football? And I think the simple answer to that is Arsenal had to play to their strengths last season. And without Martin Ode to God and without Kai Havats, what did they have? They had elite defenders. So I think in that sense, Ode to God returning to this player that we've seen before, that we perhaps thought I'd slipped through our fingers is just really satisfying. Arsenal fans, Barney, Devil, Rob G if you're listening. You know, anybody who is a sociable Arsenal, anybody who's not Alexander James. What do you think about that? What do you think do you think we all underestimated the significance of Kai Havats and Martin Ode to God for this team? Just coming to a few more of your comments guys.

10:40Alexander, Arsenal, Walter Lee is painful for a difficult fan to say, but fair play. You know what, Alexander James? That is more graceful than my sister has managed. She has just been blaming, refereeing decisions for Arsenal success, which I've got to say. I think, and again, the non- Arsenal fans in this chat can talk to me about this. And you can curb me and tell me if you think I'm being overly inflammatory. But I think the Chelsea game on the weekend was quite difficult for a lot of rival fans to watch, because Arsenal were really good. And I think seeing Arsenal be really good, seeing that it's not, you know, you've scaled the mountain and you drop off the next year, which so often happens. And may yet happen to Arsenal. It may yet happen Liverpool won their first five games of last season. I think that's really hard. I think that's really hard to watch, because through all the same reasons why people didn't want Arsenal to win last year. They don't want Arsenal to win this year. And no, I don't think it's the same with Manchester City, because no one cares if they win.

11:43Why? Because no one cares about Manchester City. And I think all of us congregated this evening, kind of agree on that. A couple more comments. But even harder, she sounded very bitter, Scarlett. Yeah, I mean, I think that's the difficulty. Never work with children, twins, Liverpool fans. No, I'm joking. I love talking so much about football, but I do find it difficult, because I think I feel that her personal biases really cloud her judgement when it comes to Arsenal. And I think it's a shame, because I think Arsenal are... I'm going to say Arsenal are forced for good in the world, and anyone who's associated with another club is going to say, you know, shut up Scarlett. And you may well think that, but I just don't think Arsenal are the bad guys in football right now. I think there are much greater evils for football to worry about than Arsenal being masters of the dark arts than Mick and Artetta.

12:43Because the reality is, we still have 115 plus charges looming over our league. We still have teams, you know, setting players to back, setting their club back to themselves, doing dodgy financial dealings. And I know everybody is doing this to an extent. I know that Arsenal aren't a paraben of morality. They've had their own complications. But I think in a world of Manchester cities, in a world of Newcastle and a Gulf investment in sport, to see a genuine football club, and actually you take Newcastle out of that because they are a genuine football club with a huge fan base. But to see a club like Arsenal doing well, in spite of the mismatch and resources, I think it's good for football. So I think it frustrates me when rival fans are very, very negative about Arsenal, because I think we're not the ones you should be gunning for. I'm going to come to some of your comments now.

13:43Devils has never doubted a little about it, but I never thought I would be back to this level, which you think, that's really interesting. Because I don't know that I think Kai Havards really, really dropped off. I think whenever he was around the team for a sustained period last season, I felt he contributed, you know, scoring against Chelsea in that league cup. So he was a remarkable memory, and he was only on the pitch for about 10 minutes in that game. And I also think Kai Havards, and actually at the eti had, I thought Kai Havards was brilliant at the eti, and I know he missed a chance at the end. But I thought he was really significant in the way Arsenal were able to play football. And he's a big game player, guys. He's called in the Champions League final, despite not being, you know, perhaps fully, fully up to speed. I think the biggest thing you can say about Kai Havards and Martin Ode to God is the fact that when they are not there, Arsenal is so much worse at football. You almost feel them in their absence, and they are definitely to varying degrees to players who I think the fan base don't appreciate very much.

14:44Dev, I'm going to come to another comment, Zubimendi dipped a lot since the start of last season. He was so good at the start. You know what? I think Zubim is OK. I actually, I think Loda and I discussed this on one of our goal differences. I had the pleasure of going on holiday to the bass country into Santa Bastion, and we went to a Real Sociadad game. And I'll tell you what, guys, it was nice. It was fine. The stadium wasn't full. Mick Haltoy and I'll say about absolutely ran the game. He ran the show for Real Sociadad, strutted around, defended when he felt like it, attacked when he felt like it. He just did whatever he wanted, basically. And I think what dawned on me as I watched that game that Real Sociadad 1-2-1 without really busting a gut was that it's just nice. It's a nice place to play football. Santa Bastion is a beautiful city. It's a big club, but it's not too big.

15:45And I think the kind of pressure that's on you as Captain of Real Sociadad, it's just night and day to Arsenal. And you could make that point about, you know, a variety of players, about Eze, about anybody who comes from a club really that isn't Arsenal. But I think it just made me pause and realise, wow, the adjustment for him to the Premier League is huge. And I think we had to allow for that drop off a little bit. I do think he's looked good in his cameos this season. I think he's looked, I think we misunderstand him. I think we all thought Supermendi was going to be another Roderie. And actually what I think Supermendi is, he's a really good Lucas Terrera. He's a Lucas Terrera who can pass and play. He's somebody who snaps into tackles, who gets busy, he gets around the ball. Supermendi was the one who created that sitter from Ado A.K. yesterday because he bit into a tackle. I can't remember who it was on on an Apple E midfielder. So I think Supermendi has a part to play. I'm very happy with San Bruno. I think the thing is, if you have a player like Marina goes down, you have a player like Norgard who you are simply not playing in the midfield.

16:54Then the amount of games Supermendi has to play is just, it's just untenable. So I think we have to remember that the signing of Bruno while he probably is going to start ahead of Supermendi next the deck and rising the biggest games is a function of the fact that we are just adding another competent figure to that midfield. Coming to more of your comments now, hi, WLA1. Nice to see you. Evening may all the best for the stream and this weekend, all the best to you WLA1. I hope you have a lovely weekend. I've got a big work there head tomorrow. So I'm a little bit, I've got to produce a radio show guys which I don't know if any of you are in the business, but it's not easy to making live content. It's much more fun to chat to all of you lot. Niazzi as high scarlet, hi, nice to see you. Thank you everybody for joining. Thank you everybody for commenting and watching. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. You guys make these streams without you. There is no fun to be had. It's just me screaming into the void. So I can't tell you how much I appreciate you coming, coming to chat.

18:04We've got, we've got, we've got a non-Ask the Vand in the chat guys and that's fine. He says Arsenal boring. I think it's boring when a team wins all the time. I think City boring under P Guardiola because you just knew what was going to happen. I accept that sometimes last year, Arsenal didn't play the football that we all wanted, but actually maybe now is a good time to look at these stats from the Napoli game. I'm going to pull up the XG race chart again with the caveat that XG doesn't necessarily tell you absolutely everything about the game, but that it's a good starting point for a discussion. So looking at this here guys, I mean, there's a moment there's 20 minutes where they're level and then Arsenal just build and build and build and guys for XG. So don't care who the opposition is. Away from home in the Champions League. I think that's pretty impressive. And Arsenal should have won my lot more. I'm going to pull up the XG race chart for some of their other games because I think it's telling.

19:16So here is the XG race chart for the Chelsea game, which again, like, I mean, don't just take my word for it and don't just look at what the XG Arsenal created. Look at the XG Napoli created. I mean, under one again and again and again and again and Arsenal, you know, I think the model that they operated on, you know, last season was very much like will create one and you'll get nothing. But this isn't that. And this is my point. I think this is the whole point of what I'm trying to say to you tonight guys. I think this is Martin Oda Gards doing. I'm going to switch now to showing you. I'm going to just take this off, stop sharing that. And I'm going to show you the XG race chart for the Chelsea game. I think one of my greatest fears about this Arsenal side guys is Liverpool winning their first five matches of last season. And Liverpool looked ropey.

20:20So I think what makes me feel much better about how Liverpool went about their title defense is these stats because Arsenal aren't just winning games, they're dominating. And this is not an Arsenal that we saw a lot last season. So to come back to your comment, I think you're right, you know, at times Arsenal really were boring last season. But I think that's why I'm so impressed is maybe not he doesn't doesn't give you the extent of how I feel is why I'm moved by Arsenal this season because I think we have more to offer than that.