Arsenal’s missed chances against Paris Saint-Germain will be playing on Mikel Arteta’s mind after the hosts lost 1-0 at the Emirates Stadium in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final.
While Gianluigi Donnarumma deserves all the credit in the world for making two incredible saves, Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard had the opportunities to fire Arsenal into a lead after the first leg.
Mikel Arteta will also be wondering why the Gunners could not capitalise and at least get a result after they took a foothold of the game.
The Spaniard has plenty of food for thought after what was a fascinating game of football between two sides who can claim to be the best in Europe.
But one of the biggest questions surrounding Arsenal and their narrow defeat against PSG is why Martin Odegaard had such a quiet outing.
Martin Odegaard isn’t the match-winner Arsenal need as PSG display showed
Odegaard is a magnificent player but against PSG, it’s safe to say that the Arsenal captain went missing.
In what has been a disappointing season as a whole for Martin Odegaard, perhaps it is time for Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta to realise that the Norwegian is not the match-winner they needed against PSG or in general.
The expectation on the £30 million (Sky Sports) man is to grab games by the scruff of the neck and produce moments of magic, akin to his contemporaries such as Jamal Musiala and Bruno Fernandes.
However, while Odegaard looks up to Steven Gerrard, he could not be more different of a player to the Liverpool legend as he thrives when controlling the tempo of games and stitching attacks together rather than coming up clutch with habitual match-winning moments.
| ARTIN ODEGAARD STATS VS PSG | |
| KEY PASSES | 1 |
| SUCCESSFUL DRIBBLES | 1/5 |
| DUELS WON | 3/8 |
| PASSES INTO THE FINAL THIRD | 1 |
| TOUCHES IN OPPOSITION BOX | 1 |
| POSSESSION LOST | 13 |
While the North Londoners have persisted with the 26-year-old as their central attacking midfielder, Mikel Arteta’s tactical experiment of playing him deeper last season is where he played his best football.
However, Odegaard is upgradable as the difference between a player like him and former Arsenal maverick Mesut Ozil is that the World Cup winner’s final ball is repeatable; while the Drammen-born attacker can only be relied upon to carve out chances from time to time.
The same goes for Odegaard as a goalscorer, as he has yet to hit the heights he did in the 2022/2023 season where he bagged 15 goals in the Premier League; which is why it was no surprise to see him fail to turn the game on its head for Arsenal against PSG.
While the silky technician’s poor campaign as well as his latest performance cannot be excused, a special player like Ethan Nwaneri profiles much more as a classic number 10 as creating and scoring goals comes naturally to him.
Martin Odegaard upgrades Andrea Berta could sign
While Odegaard has been likened to Dennis Bergkamp, the only way in which they could be deemed similar is being technically excellent but the former lacks the Dutchman’s knack of producing moments of magic like he famously did against Newcastle United in 2002.
If Arsenal aim to beat elite sides like PSG in the Champions League, it might be high-time for them to sign an alternative to Odegaard.
Luckily for Andrea Berta, Arsenal admire Florian Wirtz and he could be the world-class attacking midfielder who could take Mikel Arteta’s side to the next level.
Arsenal target Xavi Simons could leave RB Leipzig in the summer and the same applies to him.
In the summer, unless the Gunners are ruthless and do what it takes to win get their hands on major silverware, they will remain the nearly-men of English and European football.
