Martin Ødegaard (8)

[Salibatelli]

The captaincy with Odegaard makes no sense, neither does Arteta's reluctance to play ESR more, ESR saved his arse in 2 seasons out of 3 so far !!!

I think ESR forced himself into the team the season before last, prior to that Arteta wasn’t interested in playing him, it reminds me a bit of the Saliba situation but perhaps a little less extreme, the point being that Saliba gave Arteta little option but to bring him back with his displays.

Just get the feeling he’s not a big fan of ESR, handing Odegaard the captaincy and thus making it harder for ESR to play a significant role is indicative of this IMO

[TedLasso]

To be fair, ESR has been injured and dealing with long covid

[DiamondGooner]

In the documentary Arteta was making a big deal about ESR being quiet, I mean what does that matter??

Its what you DO on the pitch that counts ffs.

[theHotHead]

To be fair, ESR has been injured and dealing with long covid

According to transfermarkt.co.uk ESR didn't miss any games through injury last season, 3 times not in the squad and twice an unused sub. It shows he started the season before that injured then rescued Arteta's arse when he recovered from injury

Not sure how accurate that info is.

[Est83]

In the documentary Arteta was making a big deal about ESR being quiet, I mean what does that matter??

Its what you DO on the pitch that counts ffs.

Haven't seen the doc. Quiet in what sense? Not calling for a pass? Not instructing? Not galvanising?

[Ach]

Shy off the pitch. Doesn't talk much. Very quiet

[Est83]

No biggie. Something that should be worked around. Not saying they're comparable, but Messi is famously quiet.

Shouldn't impact his starting opportunities at all, unless other players have raised it as an issue.

[Zenith]

In the documentary Arteta was making a big deal about ESR being quiet, I mean what does that matter??

Its what you DO on the pitch that counts ffs.

Haven't seen the doc. Quiet in what sense? Not calling for a pass? Not instructing? Not galvanising?

Arteta praised ESR and said that his loan spell with Huddersfield has helped him become more assertive.

Here's a transcript from the 'documentary' -

Interviewer: "What were your first impressions of Emile?"

Arteta: "Emile? Very shy. He wouldn't make eye contact with you. He felt, I would say a little bit uncomfortable and insecure. But you could see that he has a big heart and everything is there, you know.

"When we sent him on loan, I said I'm only going to ask you… I'm not going to watch your games. I only want to hear what people say, about you when you are there, and how they are going to describe you, not as a player, as a person. Because as a player I don't have any doubts that you can play for us. But can you cope with being in that dressing room? Can you cope with the pressure outside? I don’t know, so you better go there and impose yourself, and he really did."

[UFGN]

Ridiculous comments from Arteta

Way to publicly humiliate the guy simply for having a quiet personality. It's pretty cringe. Does he just want a dressing room full of identical synthetic automatons beating their chests and shouting "raaaaaagh come on!!"

That's not what passion necessarily is. Is he so limited he doesn't understand that?

How would he have coped with David Seaman? Send him out in loan to "toughen up"?

And presumably....."Sorry Dennis, if you're too shy to get on an aircraft you're not what we're after son....off you go"

[#ST]

The captaincy with Odegaard makes no sense, neither does Arteta's reluctance to play ESR more, ESR saved his arse in 2 seasons out of 3 so far !!!

Guy is clueless and he does everything he can to prove it over and over again

In the documentary Arteta was making a big deal about ESR being quiet, I mean what does that matter??

Its what you DO on the pitch that counts ffs.

Arteta is pissing me off. Then again, how can you expect someone as mediocre as Mikel Arteta to understand any of the brilliance of ESR.

Goddamnit I cant wait for this nightmare to be over

[theHotHead]

Ridiculous comments from Arteta

Way to publicly humiliate the guy simply for having a quiet personality. It's pretty cringe. Does he just want a dressing room full of identical synthetic automatons beating their chests and shouting "raaaaaagh come on!!"

That's not what passion necessarily is. Is he so limited he doesn't understand that?

How would he have coped with David Seaman? Send him out in loan to "toughen up"?

And presumably....."Sorry Dennis, if you're too shy to get on an aircraft you're not what we're after son....off you go"

Exactly, I see no issue with him being a quiet personality/character. More micro management from the dictator. Next he'll be telling players how much sex they should have.

[Power n Glory]

We'll see where Vieria plays and if that's another block for ESR in the starting line up.

[Highbury Hillbilly]

Ridiculous comments from Arteta

Way to publicly humiliate the guy simply for having a quiet personality. It's pretty cringe. Does he just want a dressing room full of identical synthetic automatons beating their chests and shouting "raaaaaagh come on!!"

That's not what passion necessarily is. Is he so limited he doesn't understand that?

How would he have coped with David Seaman? Send him out in loan to "toughen up"?

And presumably....."Sorry Dennis, if you're too shy to get on an aircraft you're not what we're after son....off you go"

This team runs on feel-good PR and performative pashun from the players.

What do we need more, ESR's goals or Laca celebrating a last minute point (from an OG) against Palace like he won the CL?

[theHotHead]

If you want goals from midfield ESR scored 10 in a stop start season last season. To me - for me ..... its a no brainer that ESR should be playing, its all well and good creating goals but you still need players that will score the goals.

[thebigbangtheo]

We'll see where Vieria plays and if that's another block for ESR in the starting line up.

The vibe that I'm getting from Arteta is that with Vieira, he's wanting a playmaker type from the left with that Ozil-esque level of pass, vision and instinctive one touch play in and around the penalty area similar to what Odegaard provides from the right.

I don't quite see that as any real block or hindrance to Smith-Rowe, given I'm all but certain the manager can see the running, space appreciation and good movement within his game that can be further developed in releasing its full potential, and his more natural playing style that is not too dissimilar to that of a young Steven Gerrard minus the intensity, and as such him making strong runs through the middle with or without the ball is the direction I believe Arteta is sign posting for him as opposed to permanent residence on the left flank.