Happy hump day people. The only down side to this particular one, is there is an intolerable international break that is getting in the way, with Arsenal not due again out on the green stuff until the Saturday after this one against Forest.

I’m still trying to process the summer transfer window though. I’m focusing on that because I don’t really want to dwell too much about the Liverpool result. I’ve watched a couple of good tactical analysis videos on YouTube which talk about how Arsenal were a little passive, but also that talked about they didn’t make the most of that zone on the pitch where the D is in Liverpool’s defensive territory, the one in which many would call that ‘between the lines’ space. It is something that I think we do need to consider and I do think it does show the importance of Martin Odegaard to us this season. And when I say ‘the importance’ I don’t just mean he has to stay fit and play, but also that we need him to recapture his form from two season’s ago, because he might just be a key component part to how we tick.

I think there are plenty of us who feel that last season was not a good one for the Norwegian. He has said as much himself, but I think there has been mitigating factors that have played an impact, that we can all just say “fair enough, let’s move on” from. Firstly there was the injury that kept him out for a couple of months. I’m always of the opinion that any injury that ticks you around, or just over, the two month mark, usually comes with a rehab period whilst you’re actually playing. We used to say that about Aaron Ramsey; he’d pick up an injury, but the only time we saw the best version of Ramsey was after another month after he’d returned. Odegaard was out from 9th September until 4th November last season and he was thrust straight back in to that game against Chelsea in which he did well, but that might have been one played on adrenaline, because I don’t really think he recaptured any kind of form for the rest of the calendar year. Then, at the end of January, he had that illness that might have only kept him out of one game, but nearly every Arsenal obsessive like me knows, he didn’t look well after that. He was thinner, more gaunt, not what we’d expect and I have a mate I sit near in Block Five who said his mate is a gardener (bear with me on this one). He apparently does some gardening for Odegaard and last season, for most of it, when he was at home he was permanently either strapped up or not feeling very well.

My hope for this season is that those injuries and illnesses can be put behind him. I think he already looks a little more beefed up and having had a better pre season there is hopefully room for him to have a better one, despite taking a whack to his shoulder that kept him out of the Liverpool game from the start. That is clearly just a minor one and I suspect he’ll play for Norway this week, which will mean he’s good to go – providing he doesn’t pick up a knock – against Forest when the proper football returns.

But we do also need to see Odegaard better connecting with his teammates. When I think about the best version of Odegaard, it is a guy who is interchanging those quick passes in close-confined quarters with Saka. It is the guy who is slipping balls in behind defences like the one he did for Rice when we lost to Bournemouth at home. It is the man picking the ball up slightly deeper and playing those inch-perfect balls in behind to Martinelli. That’s what we need to see and when I think about those ‘in-between-the-lines’ positions, we need to see Odegaard finding that space and quickly releasing the ball forward. No safe sideways or backwards passes, we need you to be trying more risky stuff, Martin.

He’s also going to have to do it with new personnel, both in the short and long term, too. On the right in the short term it’ll be Saka and I suspect we won’t see Bukayo until after the City game (is it me, or does it feel like we always seem to be missing Saka when we play City?), so Odegaard is going to have to recognise the different type of player Madueke is and act accordingly if he is going to naturally drift over to that right hand pocket in between opposition defence and midfield. Madueke wants the ball in behind so he can run his man; he is not going to do the right wing position the same as Saka and so Odegaard needs to be cognisant of that and adjust accordingly.

It’s the same with Gyokeres. The Swede is not Kai Havertz. He won’t get as many touches, he won’t be more of a link player exchanging passes and our captain needs to be able to respond to that. That means he is going to need to be happier to look for Big Vik’s runs and he’s going to have to release the ball quicker and into space, rather than what he might do with Kai, which is in to feet. That might be even tougher when you are facing low blocks, but it is something he is going to have to try.

Then on that left hand side, given the poor form of Martinelli, we are most likely to see one of Madueke (when Saka returns), Eze or event Trossard. With Trossard you’d have to think that Odegaard knows him a lot better and so can adapt, but Eze will drift in field more. He ain’t hugging no touchline, so Odegaard needs to be ready to be interchanging the ball more with him, to be looking at the runs and movements of the former Palace man, then adjusting his game accordingly.

Martin is our captain, there’s no doubt Arteta loves him, but he’s also a ruthless man. He loved KT. He loved Ramsdale. He admitted that Gabriel Jesus and Olekzandr Zinchenko changed our world. But none of that stopped him from upgrading to improve his team. Now, I think that Odegaard is certainly talented enough to do that and today’s thoughts are in no way designed to illicit any panic in me that he could be soon for the chop from the team. But if Martin isn’t able to adapt to the styles and approaches to the players around him, I suspect it won’t be long before Arteta starts to look at other playing options.

Catch you all tomorrow.