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arsenal won eighth place Champions League Wednesday night spin game.
Of course, this is against Kairat Almaty, but that still means they are the only team to remain unbeaten in the league stage.
In addition, this game gave Ricardo Calafiore, Christian Mosquera and others more competitive playing time.
However, while most of Arsenal’s players impressed, it was another middling performance Martin Odegaard and the possibility of losing his place to one of Mikel Arteta star, he has been compared to Dennis Bergkamp.
Odegaard’s worrying form
Just a few years ago, Odegaard was named Arsenal’s Player of the Season for the second consecutive season.
Since then, however, his place in the team has come under increasing scrutiny.
Now it seems that his performance last year was indeed pretty good. He scored 6 goals and 12 assists in 45 games, which is reasonable.
However, a “reasonable” return was not enough for the captain of a championship contending team and he has taken another step back this season.
The Norway international has only scored one goal and provided five assists in 24 appearances and 1,318 minutes, meaning the goal return every four games (or every 219.66 minutes) is quite low.
Unfortunately, his lack of energy and impact was once again on full display when he came on in the second half against Kairat on Wednesday.
Now, he’s not doing anything catastrophically wrong, but he’s not inspiring, and his numbers show it.
In 45 minutes, he had an expected assist rating of just 0.06, missed a great opportunity, missed 100% of his crosses, conceded the ball 15 times, failed 66% of his dribbles, lost four of six duels, and made just one key pass.
|
Odegaard vs Kairat |
|
|---|---|
|
minute |
45′ |
|
expected goals |
0.17 |
|
Target |
0 |
|
expected assists |
0.06 |
|
Assist |
0 |
|
key pass |
1 |
|
Missed a great opportunity |
1 |
|
Cross (accurate) |
3(0) |
|
Dribbling (successful) |
3(1) |
|
lose property |
15 |
|
duel (win) |
6(2) |
Statistics like this are worrying for a top team, let alone one firmly at the bottom of the Champions League standings.
Therefore, it now feels like Odegaard is in real danger of being replaced, and Arsenal may already have a player like that who can be compared to the legendary Bergkamp.
Who can replace Odegaard?
When thinking of potential Odegaard replacements at Arsenal, fans might think of Eberechi Eze, Ethan Nwaneri or even Max Dauman.
Now, it certainly wouldn’t be a surprise if one of them ends up replacing the Norwegian ace.
However, Wednesday’s game showed fans another potential option: Kai Havertz.
The Germany international made his long-awaited return to the starting lineup, but instead of playing up front, he played in midfield and to say he performed well would be an understatement.
He was everywhere and in the first half he completely controlled the game from midfield.
It took him just two minutes to set up Victor Choukres, who looked much better behind the former Chelsea man.
Then, just 13 minutes late, he scored a sensational goal.
This strike requires impressive control and excellent finishing from the edge of the box.
Not surprisingly, his numbers are worth reading.
In just 45 minutes, his expected assists were 0.86, he created 3 great opportunities, completed 4 key passes, had 1 shot on target, had a 100% dribbling completion rate, completed 3 goals, and touched the ball 32 times.
|
Havertz vs Kailat |
|
|---|---|
|
minute |
45′ |
|
expected goals |
0.10 |
|
Target |
1 |
|
expected assists |
0.86 |
|
Assist |
1 |
|
key pass |
4 |
|
created huge opportunities |
3 |
|
hit the target |
1 |
|
Dribbling (successful) |
1(1) |
|
touch |
32 |
|
carry |
8 |
|
progressive carry |
3 |
In short, this performance should at least lead to more midfield time for the 26-year-old and supports Paul Merson’s claim that he is a “Dennis Bergkamp is such a player“He can play as an attacking midfielder or as a goal-scoring forward.
Ultimately, the opposition must be considered. At the same time, though, Havertz looked incredible on Wednesday while Odegaard didn’t, so if the latter doesn’t improve soon, he could see his place taken by the former.
