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  • Kensei400@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    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.

    • okcomput3r@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      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.

    • KSBrian007@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      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.