Martin Ødegaard | Arsenal player

I was watching some Alexander Hleb and Arshavin videos on YouTube and got a question.

Between Hleb, Arshavin, Ozil and Odegaard who was the better player at their absolute peak ?

Such four magicians, Arsenal fans are really lucky to have had them. (Obviously Odegaard will be there for many years to come and his peak is right now but you get the point)
 
Luke1995 said:
I was watching some Alexander Hleb and Arshavin videos on YouTube and got a question.

Between Hleb, Arshavin, Ozil and Odegaard who was the better player at their absolute peak ?

Such four magicians, Arsenal fans are really lucky to have had them. (Obviously Odegaard will be there for many years to come and his peak is right now but you get the point)
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Özil (in my opinion) was by far the best of the mentioned. Odegaard might get there, Arshavin had that Liverpool game and Hleb was also magic, but Özil at his pomp was unplayable
 
If you watch a highlight reel of Ozil’s assists, he was absolute magic. Genuinely did things that no other player could do in the league at that time.

It’s a pity there we so many questions about his effort, he was a genius with the ball at his feet.
 
hellhunter said:
Özil (in my opinion) was by far the best of the mentioned. Odegaard might get there, Arshavin had that Liverpool game and Hleb was also magic, but Özil at his pomp was unplayable
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You're probably right, perhaps comparing Ozil with Odegaard and Hleb with Arshavin would be more accurate.

Hleb was probably more consistent over the course of his Arsenal career than Arshavin but the Russian was so mesmerizing!
 
Maluco said:
If you watch a highlight reel of Ozil’s assists, he was absolute magic. Genuinely did things that no other player could do in the league at that time.

It’s a pity there we so many questions about his effort, he was a genius with the ball at his feet.
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I recall seeing the same questions over Paulo Henrique Ganso and to a lesser extent Alex de Souza. Ozil was a bit like them.

These type of players basically conserve their energy to be able to run faster in the offensive moments.

Odegaard is perhaps the type of midfielder who will track back more.
 
Luke1995 said:
You're probably right, perhaps comparing Ozil with Odegaard and Hleb with Arshavin would be more accurate.

Hleb was probably more consistent over the course of his Arsenal career than Arshavin but the Russian was so mesmerizing!
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Hleb was terrific on the ball but a terrible finisher/didn't want to finish. Also too short a peak to really prove himself.

Arshavin flattered to deceive, too inconsistent to qualify for this conversation.

Ozil was incredible, but a soft touch at times, which didn't help in this league.

Odegaard is starting to look like he could be head and shoulders above them all, possibly only paralleled by Cesc at his peak (Cesc is far ahead in terms of creative output right now).
 
Luke1995 said:
I was watching some Alexander Hleb and Arshavin videos on YouTube and got a question.

Between Hleb, Arshavin, Ozil and Odegaard who was the better player at their absolute peak ?

Such four magicians, Arsenal fans are really lucky to have had them. (Obviously Odegaard will be there for many years to come and his peak is right now but you get the point)
Click to expand...

1. Ozil - almost a generational creative player.
2. Odegaard - excellent player, probably the most consistent of this bunch, from week to week, had time on his hands to be the #1
3. Arshavin - nice complimentary player, showed up in big games, I actually think he somewhat failed to live up to the hype he generated after Euro'08
4. Hleb - good squad player, technically superb.
 
Luke1995 said:
I was watching some Alexander Hleb and Arshavin videos on YouTube and got a question.

Between Hleb, Arshavin, Ozil and Odegaard who was the better player at their absolute peak ?

Such four magicians, Arsenal fans are really lucky to have had them. (Obviously Odegaard will be there for many years to come and his peak is right now but you get the point)
Click to expand...
Özil
Arshavin ~ Ødegaard (at their absolute peak; overall I rate the Norwegian higher already and he'll surpass the former comfortably as the years go by without any doubt. Not being a lazy feck helps)
Hleb
 
Luke1995 said:
I was watching some Alexander Hleb and Arshavin videos on YouTube and got a question.

Between Hleb, Arshavin, Ozil and Odegaard who was the better player at their absolute peak ?

Such four magicians, Arsenal fans are really lucky to have had them. (Obviously Odegaard will be there for many years to come and his peak is right now but you get the point)
Click to expand...
I think the difference in them all is that Odegaard seems to have the best mentality, inflicts himself on games and drags his team along. Ozil was sensational at times but bit of a luxury player, makes you even better when you're going well, does very little to change the outcome of the game when you're struggling. Although, Ozil could have done with Saliba-Gabriel guarded by Rice when he was at his Arsenal peak, the rest of the Arsenal team was weaker than it is today.
 
Donaldo said:
Hleb was terrific on the ball but a terrible finisher/didn't want to finish. Also too short a peak to really prove himself.

Arshavin flattered to deceive, too inconsistent to qualify for this conversation.

Ozil was incredible, but a soft touch at times, which didn't help in this league.

Odegaard is starting to look like he could be head and shoulders above them all, possibly only paralleled by Cesc at his peak (Cesc is far ahead in terms of creative output right now).
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I think the idea was to compare their absolute peak though? So, Madrid for Özil, Zenit + that Euro for Arshavin... because if we only count their performances for Arsenal the order is pretty straightforward.
 
Donaldo said:
Hleb was terrific on the ball but a terrible finisher/didn't want to finish. Also too short a peak to really prove himself.

Arshavin flattered to deceive, too inconsistent to qualify for this conversation.

Ozil was incredible, but a soft touch at times, which didn't help in this league.

Odegaard is starting to look like he could be head and shoulders above them all, possibly only paralleled by Cesc at his peak (Cesc is far ahead in terms of creative output right now).
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Was Arshavin inconsistent at Zenit too ? Not much footage available to watch but the last season before moving to Arsenal he was definitely very good.

At Arsenal you have to look more at his Winter 2009 half season or the 09/10 one. After 2010 he was not the same player.
 
KeanoMagicHat said:
I think the difference in them all is that Odegaard seems to have the best mentality, inflicts himself on games and drags his team along. Ozil was sensational at times but bit of a luxury player, makes you even better when you're going well, does very little to change the outcome of the game when you're struggling. Although, Ozil could have done with Saliba-Gabriel guarded by Rice when he was at his Arsenal peak, the rest of the Arsenal team was weaker than it is today.
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Sure. Ozil probably the better player in terms of skills and number of assists but you always get the feeling that Odegaard can make something happen at any point in the game.

Mesut would just have really busy moments in some minutes and completely disappear for a while.
 
Luke1995 said:
Was Arshavin inconsistent at Zenit too ? Not much footage available to watch but the last season before moving to Arsenal he was definitely very good.

At Arsenal you have to look more at his Winter 2009 half season or the 09/10 one. After 2010 he was not the same player.
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No, he was pretty consistent at Zenit. He sulked for a while after not getting his dream transfer (Barcelona) and "settling" for Arsenal, didn't bother to learn the language or even to train hard enough, so you've only got to witness the sporadic pieces of his undeniable genius here (like the Anfield game) — more so in the earlier stage of his English career. So frustrating.
 
Luke1995 said:
Sure. Ozil probably the better player in terms of skills and number of assists but you always get the feeling that Odegaard can make something happen at any point in the game.

Mesut would just have really busy moments in some minutes and completely disappear for a while.
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I have the exact opposite feelings. Odegaard is just doing the pre-planned pattern moves, shots and passes that's created by the system together. He has nothing spontaneous in his "creativity". He's not really creative IMO.

Whereas the likes of Özil, Bruno and KDB are actually the type of creative passers that can surprise everyone and create something out of nothing at any point in a game. Those three could also carry the ball way better than Odegaard, especially Özil and De Bruyne. Odegaard is a subpar ball carrier and it hurts Arsenal regularly.

He has become incredibly overrated at this point, because his movements and body feints are aesthetic...but he's not in the elite tier of #10s in the world. Will get moved back to #8 or the bench as soon as Arteta finds that #10 for Arsenal, you will see. And their creativity and spontaneity in the final third will massively improve too.
 
Rojofiam said:
I have the exact opposite feelings. Odegaard is just doing the pre-planned pattern moves, shots and passes that's created by the system together. He has nothing spontaneous in his "creativity". He's not really creative IMO.

Whereas the likes of Özil, Bruno and KDB are actually the type of creative passers that can surprise everyone and create something out of nothing at any point in a game. Those three could also carry the ball way better than Odegaard, especially Özil and De Bruyne. Odegaard is a subpar ball carrier and it hurts Arsenal regularly.

He has become incredibly overrated at this point, because his movements and body feints are aesthetic...but he's not in the elite tier of #10s in the world. Will get moved back to #8 or the bench as soon as Arteta finds that #10 for Arsenal, you will see. And their creativity and spontaneity in the final third will massively improve too.
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You did it ! Only a few days before 2025 but you managed to insert one more gem into this year. After Rashford is England's Mbappé and Holjund will be a great striker, we now have Odegaard is not creative and will be benched soon.
Bravo !
 
awop said:
You did it ! Only a few days before 2025 but you managed to insert one more gem into this year. After Rashford is England's Mbappé and Holjund will be a great striker, we now have Odegaard is not creative and will be benched soon.
Bravo !
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Exactly.
 
harms said:
No, he was pretty consistent at Zenit. He sulked for a while after not getting his dream transfer (Barcelona) and "settling" for Arsenal, didn't bother to learn the language or even to train hard enough, so you've only got to witness the sporadic pieces of his undeniable genius here (like the Anfield game) — more so in the earlier stage of his English career. So frustrating.
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Imagine if that summer 2008 transfer window Barcelona had signed him and Hleb stayed at Arsenal.

Perhaps they would've had better careers. Peak Arshavin would probably have fitted better at Real Madrid (Robben/Robinho style of winger) than Pep's Barça though.

We'll never know, but I wish Arshavin had played in Spain.
 
Rojofiam said:
I have the exact opposite feelings. Odegaard is just doing the pre-planned pattern moves, shots and passes that's created by the system together. He has nothing spontaneous in his "creativity". He's not really creative IMO.

Whereas the likes of Özil, Bruno and KDB are actually the type of creative passers that can surprise everyone and create something out of nothing at any point in a game. Those three could also carry the ball way better than Odegaard, especially Özil and De Bruyne. Odegaard is a subpar ball carrier and it hurts Arsenal regularly.

He has become incredibly overrated at this point, because his movements and body feints are aesthetic...but he's not in the elite tier of #10s in the world. Will get moved back to #8 or the bench as soon as Arteta finds that #10 for Arsenal, you will see. And their creativity and spontaneity in the final third will massively improve too.
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I don't fully agree on this one but of course, sometimes a well built playing system can make a player look better than he would with different tactics.

IMO Odegaard is a better player than Bruno, but Ozil and KDB are maybe a tier above Odegaard.
 
Rojofiam said:
I have the exact opposite feelings. Odegaard is just doing the pre-planned pattern moves, shots and passes that's created by the system together. He has nothing spontaneous in his "creativity". He's not really creative IMO.

Whereas the likes of Özil, Bruno and KDB are actually the type of creative passers that can surprise everyone and create something out of nothing at any point in a game. Those three could also carry the ball way better than Odegaard, especially Özil and De Bruyne. Odegaard is a subpar ball carrier and it hurts Arsenal regularly.

He has become incredibly overrated at this point, because his movements and body feints are aesthetic...but he's not in the elite tier of #10s in the world. Will get moved back to #8 or the bench as soon as Arteta finds that #10 for Arsenal, you will see. And their creativity and spontaneity in the final third will massively improve too.
Click to expand...

He isn't a creator on the level of KDB, Bruno, or Ozil. That's just not his game.

Odegaard is really an all around midfielder, not a straight 10. He does a lot of damage in the final third for an 8 but he's really our key technical player in midfield, often dropping deep to help progress the ball or getting the team out of sticky situations, and he is also a tireless runner without the ball while also regularly making decisions about how and when the team will press.

He's definitely not overrated, he just brings different things to the side than a traditional 10.
 
harms said:
I think the idea was to compare their absolute peak though? So, Madrid for Özil, Zenit + that Euro for Arshavin... because if we only count their performances for Arsenal the order is pretty straightforward.
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Absolute peak, yes Ozil is far ahead of the rest but definitely a different kind of player.
 
Powderfinger said:
He isn't a creator on the level of KDB, Bruno, or Ozil. That's just not his game.

Odegaard is really an all around midfielder, not a straight 10. He does a lot of damage in the final third for an 8 but he's really our key technical player in midfield, often dropping deep to help progress the ball or getting the team out of sticky situations, and he is also a tireless runner without the ball while also regularly making decisions about how and when the team will press.

He's definitely not overrated, he just brings different things to the side than a traditional 10.
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I think he's a very good 8, but as you said, not a creator like those 3 players that have been mentioned in comparison. That's completely fine IMO, because he's still a valuable player, but I wouldn't want my starting #10 to be Odegaard's profile, if I was building a squad. I'd be reluctant to "hand him the keys" to my team's attack.

It's also not just the creativity part I'd have a gripe with. He's just not someone who can carry the ball well enough for me. If he was an elite level carrier, I think it would be a different story, but it handicaps him.
 
Rojofiam said:
I think he's a very good 8, but as you said, not a creator like those 3 players that have been mentioned in comparison. That's completely fine IMO, because he's still a valuable player, but I wouldn't want my starting #10 to be Odegaard's profile, if I was building a squad. I'd be reluctant to "hand him the keys" to my team's attack.

It's also not just the creativity part I'd have a gripe with. He's just not someone who can carry the ball well enough for me. If he was an elite level carrier, I think it would be a different story, but it handicaps him.
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I have the opposite view. More and more in this day and age, teams don't play with pure number 10's, they are almost seen as luxury players. What makes Odegaard so valuable is he is much more balanced. He offers the creativity as his numbers show, while also being able to being a 'system' player and doing the off the ball work.

 
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