{"id":193103,"date":"2025-10-06T12:53:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T12:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/193103\/"},"modified":"2025-10-06T12:53:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T12:53:13","slug":"dangerous-odegaard-has-freedom-to-shine-for-arsenal-arteta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/193103\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Dangerous’ Odegaard has freedom to shine for Arsenal – Arteta"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mikel Arteta \u00a9 Getty Images<\/p>\n

Mikel Arteta said his decision to give Martin Odegaard “total freedom” has helped the Arsenal captain after he starred in Wednesday’s 2-0 win over Olympiacos.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Back in the starting line-up after a spell on the sidelines with a shoulder injury, Odegaard made up for lost time with an influential display against Olympiacos as Arsenal extended their perfect start to the Champions League.<\/p>\n

The Norway midfielder was the catalyst for Gabriel Martinelli’s 12th-minute opener before his deft ball into Bukayo Saka produced the Gunners’ second goal in stoppage time.<\/p>\n

“Martin has all the license in the world to go forward. To play with that freedom and that level of threat,” Arteta said.<\/p>\n

“Not only with the passes but the way he was taking the ball, carrying the ball, making runs, he was really dangerous.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

“He should have scored a goal today. Great to have him back. He played some good minutes to help us win at Newcastle on Sunday as well.”<\/p>\n

Arsenal are at their best when Odegaard leads their pressing game high up the pitch, while sparking their attacks with his intelligent passing and movement.<\/p>\n

Arteta believes Odegaard’s qualities are perfectly matched with the high octane pace provided on the flanks by Martinelli, Saka, Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke.<\/p>\n

‘NOT A LOT OF PLAYERS CAN DO IT’<\/p>\n

“We have to play with our qualities and when we have a front three with that pace we have to do that 100 per cent,” Arteta said.<\/p>\n

“That creativity part is his nature. It doesn’t bring any extra pressure to him. It is his best ability. Not a lot of players can do it. It is his nature.<\/p>\n

“He has total freedom from me to explore and feel the movement in the spaces. He has certainly done that in the last few games.”<\/p>\n

With Madueke currently injured and Saka working his way back to full fitness after a hamstring problem, Arteta was able to turn to Martinelli and Leandro Trossard as his wingers.<\/p>\n

That strength in depth \u2013 bolstered by a summer spending spree on new signings \u2013 was a far cry from the problems Arteta faced during the latter stages of last season, when injuries dented Arsenal’s bids to win the Premier League and Champions League.<\/p>\n

“With all respect last season I was looking and we had five academy players that had never played professional football in the Champions League last season. So yeah it makes a difference,” Arteta said.<\/p>\n

“Today I changed six players because I want everyone to feel involved and feel part of it. It was great.<\/p>\n

“Physically we were dropping because we played a really intense match at Newcastle. The ones who came in lifted the level and helped us win today.”<\/p>\n

Arteta said the ability to keep key players like Saka fresh will be especially vital as his side chase their first English title since 2004 and a maiden Champions League crown.<\/p>\n

“Especially with Bukayo, he came from a long-term injury, he played 46, 60 and 70 minutes in a short space of time, so it was more risky,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We decided to play Gabby instead. It is great to have someone like him coming in with a different profile. He performed really well.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mikel Arteta \u00a9 Getty Images Mikel Arteta said his decision to give Martin Odegaard “total freedom” has helped…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":193104,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-193103","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-soccer","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193103\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}