Gallant gunner Odegaard: Encountering World Class with an ‘easy to hate’ move
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The Gunners are being led by a sophisticated and effective «gunner». A flamboyant captain they have long sought and will love very much — since the days of Cesc Fabregas.
In their first return to the Champions League after more than half a decade, Arsenal faced PSV Eindhoven. One of the highlights was when the ball rolled to captain Martin Odegaard at the edge of the penalty area in the 70th minute. Panicked and using all his strength, young midfielder Joey Veerman rushed in to close. He had a perfectly good reason to be in such a hurry.
The Norwegian star, famous for his technique and in particular his skillful touches, has secretly built a reputation for his rocket launches from the edge of the penalty area. Yes, “stealth” and “missile launch”, we did not use the wrong words.
Long-range shooting is a skill that Odegaard has honed and improved over the past year. This midfielder scored 15 goals in the Premier League last season. The number of shots has also increased year by year, since he joined in January 2021.
To have such frequent scoring opportunities is obviously thanks to the former Real Madrid player’s ability to choose good positions. As for the secret behind that ability, it may be that Odegaard favors the following two decisive «tricks».
When the ball comes from the right, he usually lets it roll past his dominant (left) foot and often takes a step before shooting — aiming for one of the bottom two corners of the goal. Last season’s goal against Newcastle is a typical example of this «trick». At that time, Odegaard was not near the penalty area; He shoots fluently and is not too strong, but he can send the ball across the ground, through a forest of feet and into the net, looking very «easy to hate».
Odegaard’s remaining «trick» is of course to shoot with one touch when the ball comes from the left, usually from a cross. However, the 1998 midfielder’s shooting technique is only half the puzzle that brings success. It is the constant adjustment of position that helps give him both space and time to achieve a shot with a high probability of hitting the target — even, humorously compared by Gunners fans to… a tracking missile (type of missile). Missiles almost always fly exactly to their intended target.)
Now let’s return to the situation mentioned at the beginning of the article. Take a close look to understand closely how Odegaard created space to score Arsenal’s fourth goal against PSV. “Rewinding” 10 seconds before he took the shot, we see Odegaard quietly approaching behind Veerman and Sergino Dest.
Clever here: Instead of trying to catch up or overtake them to take up space in front of the penalty area, Odegaard slowed down and turned his head to the left to quickly assess the surrounding context.
At that time, Dest was on the verge of dropping back to support the defense, perhaps instinctively moving to the left-back position; and Veerman is too drawn towards the ball. And very quickly, Odegaard realized the gap they left open. His decision was that instead of moving towards the penalty box door by inertia (where Reiss Nelson could also defend), he took up a receiving corner between (and covering) Veerman and Nelson.
As the ball rolled towards him, Odegaard relaxed his entire body, gently pressing the ball as if preparing to shoot; And Veerman sped up and hurriedly «pounced» over.
…but Odegaard knew the ball was closer than expected, making it a bit disadvantageous for him to shoot from close range. Cleverly, he turned his leg swing into a fake move and completely eliminated Veerman from the game.
At this point, he simply had enough time and space (at a more direct shooting angle), to «hit». Looking closer, Odegaard also adjusted his approach to the ball to maximize the trajectory. The combination of just enough power and accuracy defeated goalkeeper Walter Benitez.
If you follow closely, you can easily realize that before that, Arsenal’s captain had just scored an almost identical goal in the match against Georgia in the FIFA Days series. That was also a situation where the ball was «deposited» from the left wing, and Odegaard quietly «checked» the deadly space at the edge of the penalty area.
Here, we can see Napoli star Khvicha Kvaratskhelia standing quite close, but Odegaard believes that is enough space to exploit.
But here’s the challenge: Just two seconds later, Kvaratskhelia squeezed that space, making it too narrow for a good shot. So before the ball even arrived, Odegaard observed and quickly decided that he needed to proactively «buy more yardage» before shooting. And he also knows that he only has one shot in this phase before a whole series of opponents rush in.
All scripts have been written! Odegaard delivered the finishing blow by shooting through an oncoming defender, then sending the ball into the bottom corner of the goal with enough force and speed to beat the goalkeeper.
That «hateful» sloppy shot is now Odegaard’s trademark. That was the case against Newcastle in May as mentioned. And four months before that, Odegaard also scored a similar goal against Tottenham in the North London derby.
Those are some prime examples of the craft that Martin Odegaard seems to have mastered. That could also be the weapon that will help him advance to world class in the very near future.
Watching Odegaard shoot from long range is now also a pleasure when watching Arsenal play. His performance will also greatly affect this club’s campaign to overthrow the Premier League throne. The Gunners are being led by a sophisticated and effective «gunner». A flamboyant captain they have been longing for and will no doubt love dearly — since the days of Fabregas himself.
