Great summary Scott, supported by the data. Ødegaard really frustrated me today and the heat map shows why.....
It was obvious we were struggling to move the ball from defence into midfield J20 did his best, but the frustrating thing was watching Ødegaard hide, at least that is what it looked like.
What is the point of pressing high and remaining high if we cannot move the ball through 3rds. The amount of times J20, Will and Gabi had ball at feet and looked up and neither Rice and particularly Ødegaard were nowhere to be seen.
The midfield didn’t operate like a unit, Declan wasn’t alongside J20 enough and Martin was just hiding behind Enzo most of the time. Top players like Foden, Gundogan, KDB, Rodri go looking for the that ball and are prepared to take it in tight spaces, Martin keeps going missing in big games
It may be he is being told to stay high, but you have to surely do what the games is asking you to do not only what you have been told to do on a tactics board. I hope Mikel sorts this, Kai was way better than him when he came on.
If we had an option I’d bench Ødegaard. He isn’t play making at the moment. The linkage isn’t there. Very frustrated with his performances in general this season.
Great summary Scott, supported by the data. Ødegaard really frustrated me today and the heat map shows why.....
It was obvious we were struggling to move the ball from defence into midfield J20 did his best, but the frustrating thing was watching Ødegaard hide, at least that is what it looked like.
What is the point of pressing high and remaining high if we cannot move the ball through 3rds. The amount of times J20, Will and Gabi had ball at feet and looked up and neither Rice and particularly Ødegaard were nowhere to be seen.
The midfield didn’t operate like a unit, Declan wasn’t alongside J20 enough and Martin was just hiding behind Enzo most of the time. Top players like Foden, Gundogan, KDB, Rodri go looking for the that ball and are prepared to take it in tight spaces, Martin keeps going missing in big games
It may be he is being told to stay high, but you have to surely do what the games is asking you to do not only what you have been told to do on a tactics board. I hope Mikel sorts this, Kai was way better than him when he came on.
If we had an option I’d bench Ødegaard. He isn’t play making at the moment. The linkage isn’t there. Very frustrated with his performances in general this season.