Ødegaard’s performance against West Ham showed a star still ascending. How exactly is he doing it?

I've got to admit, it's getting better

Martin Ødegaard had a seemingly tough assignment on Monday. Not only was he going to face a crowded box in a particularly congested area of the pitch, he was essentially going to be man-marked by the opposition’s best player, Declan Rice.

What transpired next was clear for anyone to see — even myself, who was traveling for the holidays and initially caught the game in various interrupted stretches on my phone. What was obvious through the pixelation and buffering was that Man of the Match Martin Ødegaard (colloquially known as “MoTMMØ” by his closest friends) had a blinder.

After settling down and rewatching the game in a more controlled environment, my appraisal only heightened. Last we saw MoTMMØ in a competitive fixture—I don’t think the name is going to catch on, Billy—he was netting two goals against Wolves, and adding new dimensions to his game seemingly every week. But while the Premier League season was put on pause, his form was not.

Thus brings us to this warm take: this wasn’t just a great game, but one of the best games by anyone in an Arsenal shirt this year, if not much longer.

So I thought I’d watch the full 90’ and only concentrate on Captain Ø to better understand the ways—big and small, on ball and off—that he is still raising his levels and the levels of those around him.

Now, I’ll share them with you.

The updates to the system have suited him well

Within three minutes of this one, we could again see how this year’s tweaks to the system have benefited both Ødegaard and the team writ large.

Depending on the pressing matchup, the team often builds in a 3-2-5 that morphs into a 2-3-5, with Ben White joining the midfield as an inverted full-back in more advanced areas. Because of White’s ability to do both, there are increasing avenues for rotations for those on that side.

If White is holding width like a typical full-back, the others play in familiar patterns.

But here, White is building up as a typical three-back CB. That means the touchline is open for Saka to drop deep. As soon as White gets the ball from Saliba, Ødegaard motions at Saka to drop and hold width. I’m sure Saka didn’t need help to identify this, but communication never hurts:

This triggers two corresponding actions. The first is that Ødegaard immediately vacates his spot and sprints to hold height near Saka’s RW spot. (Side note: this game helped me appreciate how much Ødegaard rotating up there helps pin CB’s and give Saka room to operate and cut in.) See:

Now, the two West Ham players are put in tough spots: Benrahma has to shade his shape to block a ball to Saka, leaving the middle open. And Rice has to decide whether to run with Ødegaard or cut passing lanes in the middle.

And here begins the second trigger. Eddie drops into the vacated space, Rice arrives late, and fouls him:

Here’s how that can play in more advanced areas.

In a more freewheeling opportunity, Saka is again dropping while Ødegaard holds height up top. Then White did something he did against both Chelsea and Wolves, but his teammates didn’t readily identify back then: the same dude who was just playing CB opportunistically snuck up to the high-wing.

Ødegaard first points White out to his teammates, and then does something really smart: he loops next to Cresswell to get his attention, picks him up like a bus driver, then drags him into the middle…

…he’s now marked by two guys, and White has a free run behind. Xhaka hits him with a good opportunity:

This is something that has always been special about Ødegaard, but has been better supported by the system this year.

Oftentimes, players show a different level of engagement whether they have the ball or not. Ødegaard, on the other hand, is exactly as focused, alert, paranoid, and communicative when the ball is 50 yards away from him as when he’s dribbling. I’d encourage you to keep an eye on him and count the number of owl-scans he makes in an average minute, but it might give you vertigo.

With more positional fluidity and talent around him, this skill is paying more dividends.

His passing body-shape keeps everybody guessing

You probably remember the ridiculous Messi assist against Netherlands:

The entire inertia of the play was headed one way and yet the famous Messi Spidey Sense caught Nahuel Molina in stride for the assist.

It was nice to see, and it’s even nicer to say the following with a straight face: Ødegaard is one of the few players in the world who I could see making that pass. The West Ham game showed why.

Of note:

• He was 90% passing overall, including 24-of-25 medium-length passes (96%), 5 key passes, and 8 into the penalty box

• He had his second-most touches in a game this year (77), second-most passes (64), and most progressive passes (15)

• He had 9 shot-creating actions and 3 goal-creating actions

But more than any stat, it’s about how he uses the momentum of the play and his own body against his opponent to open up lanes.

On the early offside goal, his eyes and body-shape led Rice to cheating inside a step:

Look at his angle and his face when he delivered the pass, which has meme potential:

At 9’, here’s another one where he ripped a near-perfect ball through to Xhaka:

At 11’, he did it again, with Xhaka getting a shot off here. If you were to guess from his body’s position in the below screenshot, where do you think he’d be passing? Probably not up the middle. See which way Paquetá is lunging:

These were all in the first 12 minutes, and kept happening throughout the game. It’s telling that these passes are often to the always-aware Xhaka. It takes two to tango, and over the course of his Arsenal career, Ødegaard’s brilliant vision can often surprise opponents and colleagues alike. As his teammates continue to improve their ability to smell what he’s cooking, there are more dangerous receptions in the offing.

In all, his passmap showed a diverse array of lateral, progressive, and decisive — with the partnership with Thomas Partey once again paying dividends, the two trading 35 passes in all:

High recoveries, low losses

Ball losses, an often-misunderstood stat, can help us dive into this aspect of his game.

The best players often dominate the list of league leaders of losses, because the best players usually play a lot, and get the ball a lot—and when they do, they try to make things happen in the attacking side. Ball losses are a natural byproduct of doing so. That’s fine: Martinelli lost the ball 20 times on Monday, and some of Jesus’ best performances include 20+ losses. The important parts are the where, when, and whys of the losses—and whether the risk accrued is a net positive transaction, resulting in opportunities.

With Ødegaard, the math was simpler on Monday. Against West Ham, he played in a congested area of the pitch, and could be forgiven for losing the ball. Instead, despite 77 touches and ambitious passes throughout—not to mention an opponent rarely in possession—he recovered the ball more in the West Ham half than he lost it:

Of the five times he lost it on West Ham’s side, three were on delicious passes, and one was on a good cross.

Further back, his work-rate showed late. That’s him in the center circle: he eventually tracked all the way back to Benrahma on the left-wing and helped cut off his angles of attack:

A little later, Benrahma recovered the ball deep and had space to dribble forward. Ødegaard gives him a sense of security, running with Rice down the line:

…and at the last moment, he switches back to to an unsuspecting Benrahma, winning the ball and firing off a shot:

He’s currently among the league leaders in possession won in the final third, one of the sneaky ways KDB has generated opportunities over the years. May the comparisons continue.

He’s actually shooting

Speaking of shooting: to give you a sense of how far he’s come, here’s an opportunity he had in the first match of the season against Palace where he didn’t shoot:

On Monday, his six shots were his most as an Arsenal player. Many of them were curling deep rips that felt brand new:

This is still an area of improvement, of course, but his lack of assertiveness around net has always felt like a bit of an oddity: he’s got plenty of ball-striking ability. The first step is actually shooting. Like an NBA player who adds three-pointers to his game, the defenders will see this on tape, and be forced to play him a little tighter. This will unlock more space for players to get in behind.

Off-ball movement to get himself open

These next two plays provide a sense of the subtle mind-games he can play. At 76’, he played at the corner of the box with Saka. He accepted it, dribbled toward the middle, and let a long shot sail wide:

Now, eight minutes later, he’s in a similar situation: with Saka out wide, him standing at the corner of the box, and Rice in-between. But this time, he waits for Rice to commit to cutting off a similar pass, then darts behind him. Saka finds him in the box, and Ødegaard gets a closer shot off:

The shifty energy works throughout the pitch.

But wait, there’s more

To complete his all-around game, he lifts legs:

…and does Cruyff nutmegs that make fans ascend to a higher plane:

🔥 Final thoughts 🔥

As I watched the game back and took notes as I usually do, pasting screenshots of great plays in an Evernote document, I eventually got a warning I’ve never seen before: the file had exceeded its size limit, and I’d have to pay if I wanted to paste in any more plays. That’s probably a good sign.

Here’s a funny part of this article, despite its length: it didn’t even include his two assists, or the hockey assist that set up the third goal. We didn’t talk about his close dribbling. With 100+ total “actions,” there are countless other little moments I didn’t include: his shot getting blocked by the weird near-handball, his near-post cut and shot on goal, interceptions in the defensive third, and a bunch of examples of him rotating and dragging defenders away from his teammates.

In all, it shows a player unsatisfied with his star-turn, and anxious to keep up a trajectory that has already gotten him so far.

Or, in the words of a meme:

Thanks for reading, everybody.

And happy grilling.

🔥