Odegarard pulls the strings in the victory of Olympiacos – Suburban!

In the cold light of the next day, the 2-0 victory last night against Olympiacos felt a three -point routine point from the Champions League against an opponent of A – with all the respect that I owe you – the lower league, that should not really justify a reflection. Indeed, Arsenal dominated the first half and would probably have had to put the game in bed in a characteristic controlled performance against a team that won in ours on the last three occasions in the Champions League, I believe.

But there are a little more nuances to the performance of last night because, give the Olympiacos their subscription, they came and I was quite impressed by them when the final whistle had disappeared. Perhaps more in the second half than the first, but they did not come to sit and play low football against us; They pressed, they harassed, they put our back line under a little more pressure on the ball and I thought that in the second half in particular, it was the Olympiacos that made us feel a little more in a hurry than most of us in the ground did not think so.

Arteta had sounded changes to the team and that meant in Entrance White, Lewis-Skelly, Merino, Martinelli and a return for Captain Odegaard and we almost dominated the first half in its entirety. Martinelli should have really put us one in two minutes, but he had a touch of “50p heads” with his finish and luck was begged. It was frustrating, but since we had this chance so early that I was quite confident to the start of the game.

And we almost directed the first half I thought. There was a superb backup that came from David Raya and you should say that with this tip on the bar, he won his white sheet bonus. It was a good movement at the back post, Ben White as on the heels a little, but no harm, no fault.

What was not a fault is Martin Odegaard. He was by far the best player in this field in the first half. He fell deep to recover in Raya, he appeared on the right side in his usual position of “right pod”, but he was everywhere on the pressing, harassing and generally dictating all his rooms. His balloon behind to place Gyoker for Martinelli’s goal was sumptuous. Not too hard, not too weak, it was perfect and Big Vik did his part to fight against control and although he was unlucky to have his shot struck the post, Martinelli’s bet was enough to hit us and put one. It was the kind of positioning and anticipation of Martinelli that you see when it is in good shape and full of confidence. This Arsenal team needs goals around him and Martinelli already has three goals and help his name this season. This is the production we need and if it targets 20 goals and helps this season, it is certainly on the right track to do it already.

I also thought that it was interesting to see how the team had also changed. You can see that the team has received the instruction to go longer and in search of gyker flowing behind because we have entered several times. Raya was happy to go for a long time and to make him fight against his central half and as this Arsenal team begins to learn more about the races he does, he will create more chances. I thought he had a good match; He was strong, he was an outlet, he directed the channels and he is a machine with regard to his sprint both in front and back. Towards the end of the game – I think we could have been two – Olympiacos took us into transition on our left side and Gyokerres sprinted about 40 meters to cover the ground. Arteta will love it and with him, there is a lot of playing time with Havertz, we have the impression that we are starting to see a change in the teams that also understand his shopping. I just hope – and I have the feeling – that he will start to accumulate goals soon if they continue to try this kind of balls behind. We have missed this central race for years for years, but the team is starting to look for it, Odegaard – easily the man of the match – is looking for him. He’s going to have a chance.

There was a stain on the book of copies that Odega had during a night which was definitely his, which was missing towards these last stages of the game. I do not know how he missed it from the interior of the six -meter box, but he did it and the ball believed for a corner. But there was “no harm, no fault” because another sub-marin delivered to Arteta in the last stages of the game. Bukayo Saka, finish Products of Pas forward. I thought it was really interesting that he got his goal of a change of position with Eze. Bez barely kicked the game, but by changing with Saka, it caused a momentary concentration laps for the full back and when the ball floated in Saka on an unusual right hand, he needed no invitation to have a blow. There are probably a few question points that you could label the goalkeeper there, while the ball was crossing its legs, but you buy a ticket… .etc etc….

And so the final stages were relatively comfortable. Arsenal does the work during an evening in which the city moved away from the house and a week of match during which Liverpool lost and the foam was drawn. The name of the game for this format is a bit of a race at 15/16 points in my opinion, so by making two of two arsenal did everything they can do at this stage. The next step is Atletico Madrid at home in a few weeks and if we can overcome the line on this one – which will be by far the most delicate of the opponents so far – then we will be well on the path of this automatic qualification coveted in the top eight.

And on this note, I will offer you Farewell And be back tomorrow as we start watching West Ham at home on Saturday.