Can someone tell me why we are pursuing Odegaard to rejoin us for about 35-40 Mln EUR and we let Willock go for 25 Mln Pounds please? I am failing to understand…Thank you
Why Odegaard over Willock?
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Perhaps, Odegaard, having been rejected by Real, and no one else is interested, is so desperate to go anywhere, he will be prepared to do exactly what he is told, whereas, Willock, clearly has an independent spirit, which is likely to be why Arteta does not want him.
Whether Odegaard can keep it up, remains to be seen.
It also remains to be seen whether the powers that be are prepared to stump up the money for a player who is not good enough for Real and seem to interest no one else.
I dare say we may be able to add his name to the list of Arteta stooges, but also to the list of his flops as well, as, to quote someone yesterday one blog to another, he hardly set the world alight last season.
Hi RC,
Unfortunately, I could not possibly tell you — it’s a secret.
@RA – please do share, I won’t repeat it 😛
Because dey don’t know what day are doing
There has been a saying if u don’t know what to do best you do nothing clearly the hierarchy at arsenal never heard that
IN other words “when in doubt, leave it out”.
Look what happened when we went behind on Friday? We were camped out just behind their 18 yard box. We need players who can break that kind of defense down, someone with exceptional close control.
On the other hand someone capable of breaking into the box is less useful.
LB that has been a problem for a long while and we have never address it, not sure if anyone saw me mentioned why we have to make 2 3 passes between the CB and GK to me that kills or offense allowing the the opponent defense to setup properly
That another reason I liked willock he makes those run into the box for Newcastle last season making it so hard
I think once you play now me play we should have a player like KDB who could pick out an accurate pass
Watch Arsenal U23 same mistake at the back like the senior team
Fred
I share your frustration as how slow we are on the break.
Back to Willock, don’t get me wrong I understand why many would want him to stay. I just tried to answer the headline question, although I would add that Newcastle rarely play against a teams who park the bus and as such Willock is so much more effective; we on the other hand face parked busses on a regular basis.
Disagree, if my memory serves me well dey play against some of the team’s dey were fighting relegation with, that why I mentioned the runs he made were great with sides sitting deep
Also unlike arsenal who seems to be one dimensional Newcastle did everything to try and score which includes crosses into the box, through ball etc
Which willock was at the end of most
My main point is if Steve Bruce can get the best out of willock shouldn’t arteta do the same even if that means changing formation
The thing is not like odegard set the prem a fire when he came , if you go back to a comment about him I said he isn’t worth the hassle and I still agree 2 g 2 a in 20 games ,yes I know he needs a bedding in period but still from my recollection I could only remember one game were I think he good
Personal I was always of the opinion this is our rebuilding season no one we purchased will help us get into CL cause the top 4 are so strong ,imagine we have player like Nelson who aren’t being lone out and not featuring in first team
We clearly need a player who can open defences, who can see a pass well before it is needed, who has close control and who can drift into the box, a player who can pass the ball onto a sixpence (shows my age) a player who does the unexpected and has the ability to confound the opposition with his ingenuity, a player like…………Ozil.
Oh silly me, we had one but Arteta didn’t want him.
He does not want anyone like him, hence Willock goes to Newcastle.
Lucky them and woe to us.
Let us watch the goals come in.
How many of those goals resulted from suicidal playing out from the back, 4 or was it 5?
Sad to see that Arteta’s great tactics are now in use throughout the club.
Jj
Surely Odegaard is more like Ozil than Willock or have I misunderstood?
Can Odegaard do any of the things that I suggested we need?
I think not.
Do you think that Odegaard will make any difference?
Did I not read that he is not even good enough to get into the Real squad?
Would you pay £40m for him?
Wouldn’t even compare odegard to no one his whole real career he has gone on loan to a million clubs
Just like ceballos, that the players Arsenal running down
Jig I think we need to change our style own the whole, personally the days for tiki taka has gone barca struggling with it, without KDB city struggle with it
Even with mesut we struggle
Don’t mind the tiki take but whole game seems to ne a downfall right now
Is it mikel or this started under emery
Yes from me on Odegaard over Willock.
Thanks RC for this poser. I think LB has it right in his analysis of Odegaard compared with Willock.
Odegaard has massive potential and showed on a couple of occasions how good he can be. He didn’t do it consistently but we must surely allow some adaptation when he only arrived half way through a season to a league he hasn’t played in before.
He also showed in another loan spell, was it at Espanyol, that he can score goals as well. Arteta must feel he can get more of this out of him and added to his dribbling skills and eye for a pass he must feel he can get the performances more consistently.
That would mean we have a player and Odegaard should have been one of 3 or 4 on our short list in our search for a creative midfielder. I am not too concerned as to why he didn’t fit at Madrid. This can happen at times and doesn’t always reflect what a player can eventually become.
Why did we sell Willock though? That I am struggling to answer. Despite his eye for goal there are some aspects missing from his game.
There are historically players that score well from midfield but never quite feel like they should grace the very top teams. I could mention maybe Kevin Nolan and Gylfi Siguurdson.
However, I do feel Willock had shown enough potential to have either been kept and loaned or at least sold with a firat option buy back clause. If he really kicks on and it becomes obvious we made an error then the main mistake will be having done a direct sale with no returning first option.
just find this so hilarious
I thought Odegaard was good when he played last season and I think people are hyping up Willock a bit too much because he scored a few at the end of last season. He hasn’t done it for Arsenal. Also, some players just find a home at certain clubs and maybe that’s going to be the case for these 2 players. Lingard and West Ham is a prime example of a player fitting a system. Can’t get a game at United. Willock I feel was in a similar situation at Arsenal and has moved on.
On a side not, everyone wants to view everything so negatively at the club these days. People need to take a step back I think. Wether it’s the media or the fans, the rhetoric around the club is just so toxic. We could be signing a good player in Odegaard but he arrives on a negative note as people would rather talk about how well Willock could do elsewhere. This site used to have some positivity about it but now it’s mainly doom and gloom. We’ve played 1 game this season and it’s crisis time! Can’t help but laugh at how ridiculous that is.
If there is any truth in these Auba swap rumours with Barca then I’d bite their hand off. He’s 32 now, on huge wages, and seems to be in decline. I’d be taking Neto as competition for Leno, and maybe Coutinho or someone else aswell. That would potentially mean we don’t need Odegaard or a GK and can use the money elsewhere.
I agree Fgg. In my usual round about way that was what I was aiming at with Willock, that he suited the Newcastle system but is maybe not as suitable to ours as say a Odegaard, Coutinho, Ramsey type. I do think we should have inserted a buy back clause just in case.
If we lose Lacazette and Aubamayeng we will be woefully rookyish up top. What should we do in that situation and who should we go for? I can’t see that Martinez deal happening personally and I’m not sure who else is out there that is realistic but had the right quality and experience as well.
Well said, FGG,
I have felt like a D&G myself more and more frequently over the last few years (and perhaps more than a few).
However, that is because I want Arsenal to be restored to being one of the best and most entertaining football teams capable of winning trophies again.
I mention that to signify the difference between fans, like myself, who have slipped into being ‘doom and gloomers’ (hopefully temporarily) who are responding with genuine sadness to the mismanagement of a great club.
That is in direct contrast to the perpetual pessimist(s) who delights in finding spiteful fault in everything Arsenal, despite admitting not watching games, but still criticising the manager for his tactics, and the players for their poor performances in those games.
I do think there is another factor that is hugely overlooked when it comes to buying players, and that is the ability to sell players. We currently have 3 right backs and 3 left backs at the club, a sub GK that isn’t up to scratch, numerous midfielders who can’t get in the side, and too many CF’s. In an ideal world we would be selling Kolasinac, Bellerin, Torreira, Geundouzi, Elneny, Runarsson, Willian, Nketiah etc to make space for incoming players, but it makes it very difficult to go out and buy when you can’t shift players. Look how many we’ve had to take losses on recently because we couldn’t find buyers (Sokratis, Mustafi, Özil).
If it was an ideal world, I think we would’ve signed Abraham and got rid of Neketiah and maybe even one of Laca/Auba. I can’t imagine Arteta wants to block Balogun’s progress so having all 3 of those in front of him may have been too much.
I think this also leads into the Willock deal because it must become very appealing when someone does finally offer good money for someone who the manager and club aren’t 100% convinced by. I guess that would’ve been the same with Martinez last season. £45m for what we’re/are fringe players is difficult to turn down when you are struggling to raise the funds from the players you’d prefer to get rid of.
It’s just not as simple as we all would like it to be, and changing manager every few seasons just compounds the problem as the turnover of players increases and past mistakes are proving very difficult to shift.
Good luck to Joe, I hope that he has a very successful career, but Odegaard is a better technician and will add quality to our team both in terms of his play and his character.
For me Willock is just like Jese for Man U,he is not a big team player, he can perform well in a smaller team than he does in a big team,yes he has potential but I think he will fit well in a smaller team like Newcastle than in Arsenal just like how Jesse does well for West Ham