The means by which Arsenal players send coded messages to each other on the pitch may now have been revealed.
It is common for teams to have a secret system of codes and signals that allow them to relay instructions on the pitch covertly, and Arsenal are seemingly no different.
Certainly, from set-piece situations, it is vital that the Arsenal players are able to be informed about what to expect from the delivery in a manner that doesn’t give everything away to the opposition.
Set-piece coach Nicolas Jover, who recently drew praise from Mikel Arteta, is almost certainly the man responsible for coming up with these secret systems and putting them in place.
The Berlin-born coach may well now need to go back to the drawing board, though, as it seems that the Gunners’ code has been cracked and their methods of clandestine communication unmasked.
Club captain Martin Odegaard has been spotted using his socks to send such messages during set-piece situations, it has been speculated.
Former Swansea City defender Ashley Williams posited the theory that Odegaard was sending instructions about how each set-piece should be delivered by the manner in which he adjusted his socks.
The Norwegian’s habit was spotted during the north London club’s recent 5-0 win over Crystal Palace, in which they scored twice from corners.
Is Martin Odegaard sending secret messages to his Arsenal teammates?
Speaking on Match of the Day, Williams said, “there’s always a trigger for what the movement’s going to be. We can see they have worked on whether it’s a front-post corner or a back-post corner.”
“If you keep an eye on Odegaard, we feel – maybe we’ve had too much time on our hands – but we feel that maybe he’s signalling something to the corner taker. He’s in the same place for every corner and he’s playing with his socks.”
“There is synchronicity regarded whether they go to the front or the back. Every clip we see here he is doing the same thing where he’s playing with his socks. It might be coincidence, yes. But it is a big coincidence that he’s always there and always doing something with his sock.”
If Williams is right, and Arsenal’s code has been cracked, then it will be all too easy for opposition team analysts to review footage of the Gunners’ set-pieces and deduce what each of Odegaard’s signals mean. In that case, Jover and Arteta will need to start all over again and concoct another system of communication.
If Williams is wrong, though, then it may throw opponents off the scent and serve Arsenal well if teams are looking to Odegaard’s sock adjustments for evidence of a means of communication that doesn’t exist in the first place.
In any case, whatever means of messaging around set-pieces Arsenal have chosen to employ, it is clearly working. The Gunners have scored 15 goals in the Premier League from set-piece situations this season, which is right up there with the best returns in the division, as per WhoScored statistics. There is plenty of aerial ability in Arteta’s squad and it is encouraging to see that Jover is taking full advantage of that.
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