Martin Ødegaard: El Capitanø Campeone

[BigPoppaPump]

If we end up keeping him, fair enough. I won't argue it.

But the captaincy is a hard no from me. It would almost be a pity thing if he kept it. No-one looks to Ødegaard for leadership on the pitch. It's Rice and Gabriel.

He'd stay part of the leadership group anyway.

The players voted for Ødegaard to be captain though. I don't think anyone looks to Rice, if anything they want him to be quiet.

 

[UpTheChampionz]

The players voted for Ødegaard to be captain though. I don't think anyone looks to Rice, if anything they want him to be quiet.

Disagree here, it looks pretty obvious rice is a natural leader

Not saying Ødegaard isn’t though

 

[GDeep™]

Will be surprised if Rice isn’t main captain by the start of next season.

This guy is clearly an absolute shambolic mess.

Think Micky gives him 1 more season to sort it out.

 

[BigPoppaPump]

Disagree here, it looks pretty obvious rice is a natural leader

Not saying Ødegaard isn’t though

How is it obvious? Gabby Jesus said the teammates wanted him to shut up lol.

 

[Mrs Bergkamp]

I don’t see us selling him due to his injury issues and decline. He’s a great player on his day, so I do see a squad role for him, but not as Captain. A Captain has to play regularly, I know Wenger may disagree with that we had a spell when Captains were always out. Arsenal were even fined on one occasion when Wenger played the 2nd half without a Captain A bonus pt for who can tell me who we were playing?

115 iirc. I'm not sure we had anyone who actually wanted the armband tbh.

 

[Mrs Bergkamp]

How is it obvious? Gabby Jesus said the teammates wanted him to shut up lol.

When was this? I only recall Jesus talking about God.

 

[GDeep™]

When was this? I only recall Jesus talking about God.

Another @BigPoppaPump lie. I’ll apologise if he backs it up with quotes but we know he won’t.

 

[Batman]

A person would have to be truly deluded to believe that Rice isn't the actual leader of the team. There's also a precedent for this because Xhaka was also the actual leader of the team in his last season here. The players may like and respect Ødegaard and they may listen to him but Rice very clearly is the guy they look to and he's the one that takes games by the scruff of the neck and galvanizes them. To pretend otherwise is silly when the whole world can see it. Even a melt like Fabrizio has clocked it.

 

[BigPoppaPump]

Another @BigPoppaPump lie. I’ll apologise if he backs it up with quotes but we know he won’t.

Wonder when you became so obsessed with me.

 

[GDeep™]

Wonder when you became so obsessed with me.

You got quotes for what you claimed Pumpy?

 

[outlawz]

I'm open to moving him on in the summer if a decent bid comes in.

I've always liked Ødegaard but the past couple of seasons just haven't been up to standard and if he picks up another fairly serious injury you run the risk of him being labelled injury prone.

Captain should be Gabriel or Rice next season. Ødegaard just isn't that sort of leader unfortunately and the captain should be one of the first names on the team sheet, you can't say that for Ødegaard anymore.

Ødegaard is the clearest leader of the group. It’s shocking that people don’t see it and the players vote him as the captain every pre-season.

There’s fair question marks around his form but not his leadership.

 

[tap-in]

115 iirc. I'm not sure we had anyone who actually wanted the armband tbh.

115?

It was vs City 2017

 

[Legend14]

Ødegaard is the clearest leader of the group. It’s shocking that people don’t see it and the players vote him as the captain every pre-season.

There’s fair question marks around his form but not his leadership.

Not sure if he is the clearest leader, but he captains his country as well. No one here can really judge his leadership ability. Need to ask the players.

The expectation from fans is that he lead by example when on the pitch and I think this is where the concern is. This is usually the first expectation of a captain and he has struggled the past two seasons. Its not a poor measure TBF.

I am more concerned about his performances and if he will get back to form.

 

[Uncle Macho]

They had player vote last summer and he was the preferred choice within the group by a landslide. Unless Arteta just came out with that as a lie for no reason, the players see him as the leader. Saying they don't look for him for leadership on the pitch... we aren't on the pitch so we have no idea.

More likely he leaves than stays and is stripped of captaincy imo. He'll be captain as long as he's here. Taking that away is a great way to cause unnecessary drama within the squad at a time when they are completely united.

I also think he likely leaves if he's not going to be a starter. The guy is 27 and captain of his national team as well. He's going to want to be playing all the time.

Agreed with all of this, I think critique of his performances and his leadership style are being conflated unfairly.

Rice does seem the more natural visible leader to us, but there’s nothing wrong with Ødegaard’s leadership style at all and yeah we have no clue about the dynamics.

A bit unfair to project what type of leader we’d like to see and assume the club feel the same (im also guilty of this)

 

[Bogart]

Agreed with all of this, I think critique of his performances and his leadership style are being conflated unfairly.

There’s nothing wrong with his leadership style at all and yeah we have no clue about the dynamics. A bit unfair to project what type of leader we’d like to see and assume the club feel the same.

You could argue Rice having the armband is just a formality, but there’s no point rocking the boat and Ødegaard is a step up on the last few captains we’ve had.

I prefer Martin style leaders with big personality deputies around them, personally. People like rice and big gabi are great but if you make them captain it can become a bit of a cult of personality. Their egos can get out of control and it can be a case where the team’s built around this totemic person and everyone’s asking what to do when they’re injured and stuff.

With someone like Martin there, he can be a calm mediator who keeps those things in check but you can still get all the benefits of the big personalities in the group.

We do really need it to be someone who’s performance and fitness we can rely on tho.

 

[Uncle Macho]

I prefer Martin style leaders with big personality deputies around them, personally. People like rice and big gabi are great but if you make them captain it can become a bit of a cult of personality. Their egos can get out of control and it can be a case where the team’s built around this totemic person and everyone’s asking what to do when they’re injured and stuff.

With someone like Martin there, he can be a calm mediator who keeps those things in check but you can still get all the benefits of the big personalities in the group.

We do really need it to be someone who’s performance and fitness we can rely on tho.

The last bit is more my issue with Ødegaard, we’ve seen the lead by example types before.

I don’t think someone with his performances can realistically be captain long term, but yeah he would leave in that scenario id imagine.

Ødegaard is a step up in captaincy anyways if we go back as far as Gallas.

 

[Blood on the Tracks]

For me it's simple, the on field captain needs to be one of, if not the first name on the pitch. You can't say that of Ødegaard currently. It's debatable if he's even in our best starting 11 tbh.

Club captain and behind the scenes stuff is fine but not that important to me. We all know Ødegaard Is a good character and one of Arteta's lieutenants.

 

[BigPoppaPump]

Ødegaard is the clearest leader of the group. It’s shocking that people don’t see it and the players vote him as the captain every pre-season.

There’s fair question marks around his form but not his leadership.

These are the same people who wanted Tierney as captain lmao they have no clue they just want British players as captain (as long as it’s not Saka if you what I mean).

 

[Bloodbather]

A huge mistake so many people still continue to make is the assumption that leaders have to be very expressive and loud.

Sometimes, it's the calm and composed one that does the best job leading. It's about inspiring people and putting the right people in the right places, there isn't one way of doing it.

Rice stands out because he's an outgoing, vocal fella. We don't see what Ode brings to the table as clearly observing from where we are.

He's also the captain of his national team. There's got to be a reason.

 

[lomekian]

I don’t know, Arteta has big decisions to make and this is one of them. If Arteta sees him as a starter next season then yes, he’ll be Captain.

tbf Arteta remained captain when he was too injured to play for most of his last 2 years, so I'm not sure he sees it as just an on pitch role.

Also, surely Ødegaard has earned the chance to have one more year to see if he can get back to his previous form. He was talking recently about feeling properly fit for the first time in 2 years. If he can re-find his form he remains a huge asset.

This season is all the more impressive, given that we were without a fully fit Havertz, Ødegaard and Saka for most of the season, given how totally reliant on them we were previously.