Emile Smith Rowe: The Croy-10 Cruyff

[Moah]

Should have had the rest he very much needed to avoid this, but can only hope he recovers quick.

 

[OSBK]

Gutted, hope he takes his time and comes back 100%. He was having a great game.

 

[Legend14]

And people were just complaining in the previous page of this thread about Ødegaard ruining ESR’s minutes some forgot his injury history clearly.

If we didn’t sign Ødegaard and this happened the same people would be calling us dumb for not signing anyone on loan. AM strikes again.

Wasn’t a signing issue, it was a who should start at 10 issue. Ødegaard was brought in as insurance, not to replace ESR.

 

[Mrs Bergkamp]

Hope his injuries minor abd he recovers soon. Arteta said he felt muscular discomfort so hopefully ESR sat down early doors to avoid aggravating it.

 

[Jury]

Hope his injuries minor abd he recovers soon. Arteta said he felt muscular discomfort so hopefully ESR sat down early doors to avoid aggravating it.

It sounds like it’s just that. We actually have some very able cover options at the moment though! I’d give him a few weeks off anyway. He’s earned it and he should know his future here is in his hands.

 

[AbouCuéllar]

Im bit lost with this, he was brilliant before he went off, constant one touch passing and making some amazing runs, constantly moving the ball forward and a passing option.

Absolutely not. You missed his impact the first half of today. Run it back. There is a reason the team was so fluid.

He had 20 touches in 40 minutes...Ødegaard had 31 in 50, Willian and Pepe 60 and 72 respectively. He had 1.8% of our possession, to wingers Willian and Pepe's 4.7 and 4.8. He made 17 passes in a team that had 70%+ of the possession in the first half that he played in.

Those are statistics that are strongly coinciding with my observation that he was quite anonymous. (whoscored put his rating at 6.0)

Anyways, I don't want to rail too hard on him because I rate him, and I really hope he's back soon and showing a bit more personality to the left of Ødegaard in that left interior position, because I still think, despite Pepe's great form, if ESR shows a bit more personality that is our most complete and talented lineup.

But it does feel like there's a strong pro-ESR bias on this forum and a bit of a bias the other way with Ødegaard, that's blinding a bit people's reactions to the both.

ESR was consistently getting behind their lines with his runs. Not to **** on Ødegaard who was also good, but there isn't too much between the pair of them atm.

I don't really agree, I don't think it's particularly close in terms of who's the better 10, but again, hopefully ESR continues to grow because there is so much potential in a ESR-Ødegaard-Saka forward line behind the striker.

 

[avenellroad]

He had 20 touches in 40 minutes...Ødegaard had 31 in 50, Willian and Pepe 60 and 72 respectively. He had 1.8% of our possession, to wingers Willian and Pepe's 4.7 and 4.8. He made 17 passes in a team that had 70%+ of the possession in the first half that he played in.

Those are statistics that are strongly coinciding with my observation that he was quite anonymous. (whoscored put his rating at 6.0)

Anyways, I don't want to rail too hard on him because I rate him, and I really hope he's back soon and showing a bit more personality to the left of Ødegaard in that left interior position, because I still think, despite Pepe's great form, if ESR shows a bit more personality that is our most complete and talented lineup.

But it does feel like there's a strong pro-ESR bias on this forum and a bit of a bias the other way with Ødegaard, that's blinding a bit people's reactions to the both.



I don't really agree, I don't think it's particularly close in terms of who's the better 10, but again, hopefully ESR continues to grow because there is so much potential in a ESR-Ødegaard-Saka forward line behind the striker.

Think with Ode, there will always be some bias against him as he is not our player. Which is understandable. He looks really happy here though and fully invested in this club, hopefully that counts for something come the summer..

EsR can do with a bit of a breather. The intensity seems to have caught up with him. Around December/January time he had a real turn of pace when he beat his man, which he seems to have lost. Probably the right time now to rest and recuperate. Needs to be protected properly at this age, if we want a player who will hopefully have a 10+ year career with us.

 

[Macho]

Yeah a lot of pundits know or have met the youth players, so there will always be static from them when an outsider threatens their place.

I noticed even Alex Scott had bemoaned ESR being moved out wide for Ødegaard and being a bit critical after this City match.

 

[bergholt]

Think with Ode, there will always be some bias against him as he is not our player. Which is understandable.

Yeah, he isn't our player and is unlikely ever to be - also hasn't shown anything outstanding at all so far. If he was ours I'd love him but at the moment he's just a passing fancy.

 

[Legend14]

When comparing the two players, regardless of where they originated, I rate ESR much higher. He simply offers more value because he is a much more complete player. He will have a bigger impact on the pitch in the PL if he stays healthy.

I like Ødegaard as well. I just don’t think he offers as much, but he’s fine to give ESR a rest and he’ll do ok offensively while ESR is out.

 

[Legend14]

He had 20 touches in 40 minutes...Ødegaard had 31 in 50, Willian and Pepe 60 and 72 respectively. He had 1.8% of our possession, to wingers Willian and Pepe's 4.7 and 4.8. He made 17 passes in a team that had 70%+ of the possession in the first half that he played in.

Those are statistics that are strongly coinciding with my observation that he was quite anonymous. (whoscored put his rating at 6.0)

Anyways, I don't want to rail too hard on him because I rate him, and I really hope he's back soon and showing a bit more personality to the left of Ødegaard in that left interior position, because I still think, despite Pepe's great form, if ESR shows a bit more personality that is our most complete and talented lineup.

But it does feel like there's a strong pro-ESR bias on this forum and a bit of a bias the other way with Ødegaard, that's blinding a bit people's reactions to the both.



I don't really agree, I don't think it's particularly close in terms of who's the better 10, but again, hopefully ESR continues to grow because there is so much potential in a ESR-Ødegaard-Saka forward line behind the striker.

Usually, I’d question raw statistics out of context. For example, Elneny could have had more touches but less impact. Or the opposition opens up defensively because they are behind, which explained some of Ødegaard’s wide open touches. But I ran it back to make sure, I’ll agree that ESR had less of an impact in the match then he usually does. Maybe due to injury he stumbled off with.

 

[GoonerJeeves]

Considering his injury history, and the amounts of minutes he has been playing, an injury was always likely.

Hopefully it is just a niggle, but the signs of fatigue has been there for some time now. It just goes to show how important he has become for us. That is a good thing.

 

[Dutch D]

Thought he looked a little fatigued recently, so not too surprised this happened. Hope it's a small injury because he's very important for us.

Glad we have some back-up in Ødegaard.

 

[Multipass]

Goes to show how important the Ødegaard loan was

 

[Gooner416]

Goes to show how important the Ødegaard loan was

Not necessarily, had Willianessi on the bench when he could've rotated and rested ESR.

 

[Anders Harbo]

Need to be a little more selfish. The way he squandered the chance just after the Leicester goal was really poor. Shoot, young man!

 

[TakeChillPill]

Can't believe we're comparing Esr and Ødegaard, they're different players.

Esr excels in combination play, also has that power in his game in transitions.

Ødegaard, reminds me more of a traditional play maker, if anything he reminds me a lot of cesc. That acute pass for the Pepe goal could be something cesc would do.

I would like to see him and Esr him and Saka to play closer together, I think the technical level of all three will give us some wengereqse football.

 

[Red London]

Not necessarily, had Willianessi on the bench when he could've rotated and rested ESR.

Willian was horrendous until this week though, he would have cost us games/points. Signing Ødegaard was the right decision imo.

 

[Gooner416]

Willian was horrendous until this week though, he would have cost us games/points. Signing Ødegaard was the right decision imo.

We're ****ing tenth though mate, it's not like we're challenging for top four/six.

 

[Red London]

We're ****ing tenth though mate, it's not like we're challenging for top four/six.

Top 6 is possible, and the hope is there with the Europa League. Players like Ødegaard can be the difference between those things, especially if your other attacking mid has a history of injury problems.

We ask the club for some ambition and fight and this is an example of that. It would be so depressing on here if we didnt sign Ødegaard on loan and ESR got this injury. I personally would have been angry if we passed up the opportunity then went into a key EL tie later on in the season without a creator.

But yeah, if we sign the players we need this summer, we shouldn't be loaning any other players any time soon.