Arsenal star Martin Odegaard has been criticised for his most recent international performance.
Gunners club captain Martin Odegaard has been slammed by the media for his poor display for Norway against Spain.
Norway lost any hope of qualifying for EURO 2024 via their qualification group when they fell to a 1-0 defeat against Spain on Sunday.
Whilst Norway were underdogs going into this match, fans will have been hoping for their two star men, Odegaard and Manchester City striker Erling Haaland, to step up and produce something special.
However, Odegaard struggled to get into the game. The 24-year-old midfielder, who has been in such fine form for Arsenal so far this season, looked to be a long way from his best.
Whilst the £240,000-a-week man worked hard as ever, consistently pressing his opponents, he was not able to exert much positive influence when on the ball.
Odegaard given poor grade
The Norwegian publication Nettavisen was especially disappointed with the Arsenal man’s efforts.
They said of his display, “clearly Norway’s best player in the first few minutes when Spain took control from the start. Very good in the pressing game, and also managed to keep the ball a bit when Norway got very few breaks with the ball in the team.”
“Seemed violently pumped up from the start, but disappeared completely out of the match later in the match. Never managed to get hold of the ball against a Spanish midfield that occasionally did what they wanted with the ball.”
They gave Odegaard a 4/10 rating for his performance.
One of the things that helps Odegaard to shine at the Emirates Stadium is the quality of the players around him. Mikel Arteta has built a team that surrounds his captain with the likes of Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus, and Thomas Partey, amongst others.
These players are of a similar technical level to Odegaard, who cost the Gunners around £35m in 2021, and as such he is able to link up with them brilliantly. With all due respect, the rest of the Norway players aren’t able to offer Odegaard the same kind of support.
That being said, the 53-cap international will still be bitterly disappointed with his performance and the result of this clash with Spain. Prior to the match, Odeggard noted what a “special” fixture this was for him. However, he wasn’t able to grace the occasion with anything special of his own.
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