I was wrong. He’s no Cesc not Santi not Ozil. Poor this season. I am amazed he has been that bad.
He’s not even Ramsey. Couldn’t lick the boots of Santi, Ozil or Cesc. Such a low impact player.
I have came full circle with him @JakeyBoy 
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Was just going through all my posts to try and find something I wanted to quote myself saying, and that took me back to the start of the thread, so had to give your first post a like when I saw it lol
Turns out the thing I said about him at the end of last season must be buried somewhere else annoyingly.
I remember saying at the end of last season that he needs to have a much better season time round or I’ll think he needs upgrading. And here we are…
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Haven’t watched the game, but I can only say it’s absurd he’s facing such criticism after beeing out for a while… If he doesn’t perform after a run of games, ok… But here…
Have you been watching football for 2 days or what?
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It’s a pattern emerging, that’s the problem
Absolutely.
I posted on here recently that expectations that any players who’ve been out for much of the season can just come back and immediately lift our flagging performances.
He wasn’t great nor has he been great at any point this season but there’s context to it. I feel Arteta didn’t rotate enough earlier in the season. At times we played like an international team that’s had 2 days to train together; talented but unfamiliar team-mates.
The pattern emerging points towards a mentality issue. And as I said yesterday, that mentality issue could be complacency, mental fatigue, mental sharpness (for those who’ve not played much) and/or nerves getting to them leading to mistakes. I was worried before the match and after the first 5 minutes I could see us losing. Whatever is behind this drop in form is Arteta’s problem to solve and he needs to prove he can solve it.
I’ve been criticising him heavily this season, but you can never take the first game after some injury break too seriously.
Yeah, his form in the last 2 season has been more than concerning, considering he should have been one of our key players long term. He’s probably our most inconsistent player in the recent era.
Critcism based solely on yesterday is harsh, but the point is that we have not been watching football for two days, we’ve been watching it for long enough to know that he was well under par last season and hasn’t been better this season either.
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The problem isn’t a lack of sharpness - that’s to be expected after a lay off. His Defence League are becoming embarrassing. Why is this cunt dropping into the centre half space to pick up the ball? Why is he not hitting the target from ten yards out. He’s the fucking captain, it’s not asking to much for him to lead against a Championship team.
As always, he worked hard and pressed. Might as well sign Jonjo Shelvey if this is where our standards are. Looks every bit the 35m player we bought.
Dowman looked loads better.
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I know I’m nitpicking here, but moments like the below don’t quite add up for me. Why does he play it to Ben White when Southampton look so open on the far side? Is it a lack of awareness?
Why not open your body and find Kai Havertz? If you do, maybe Gabriel Martinelli makes that run into the space behind. Or even play the return pass into Dowman, who then has an early chance to drive at the Southampton backline centrally.
I don’t think he had a bad game overall, but it feels like there’s more there. At times, his lack of assertiveness on the ball impacts the rest of the team.
Grids are back 
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The fact that a small number of people suggested Odegaard was comparable to Ozil still sickens me.
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Continued…
Arsenal work this fairly well. Odegaard receives inside the block, but he always seems to turn out of it. Quarterbacks need to be comfortable in the pocket, no? The pass is there, but I get that every hole is not a goal. But even Jesus throws his arms up like, “where are you going pal?”
It happens. No harm, no foul. The ball ends up getting switched to the right and, to be fair, it seems to work out. Dowman plays a nice pass into Odegaard, who’s drifted over to the right side.
But the killer pass is right there. I know he sees White on the last line. Is it too risky? Odegaard turns it down and the ball ends up on the wing. Arsenal do fashion a chance, but it’s not a good one.
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All foreplay and no penetration
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not good at the foreplay either
what is this soccery?
how did you do the image carousel?
Automatic new feature I think.
Looks neat 
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I felt that Odegaard was better at his best than Ozil. But our captain’s loss of form over the last 2 seasons is making my opinion look like utter cobblers now.
Maybe Ozil played his best when I took a break from watching during the early stages of my illness (2015-2020) but I never warmed to the guy and his lethargic, relaxed gait on the pitch wound me up as we slumped as a team.
Possibly because I preferred the busier, heart-on-sleeve approach of Cazorla and Wilshere in the no.10 spot.
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Ozil was magic for his first season here and his third. Bar Bergkamp, he’s the most technically gifted player I’ve seen at the club. Odegaard wouldn’t be top 30. At Odegaard’s best he was enjoyable to watch, players like Mesut, Santi, Cesc, Dennis and Thierry were a privilege.
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I’m currently watching end of season highlights videos. I started at 1986 and I’m now up to the Emirates era. I may have a better opinion of him once I’ve made it through the collection.
There’s a world class player somewhere in there with Odegaard, we struggled without him before Rice joined. But he hasn’t pushed on and reached anywhere near his potential. The only hope is that he’s still fairly young and may yet prove his many detractors (including me of late) wrong.
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