Thread by @nonewthing

I don't want Martin Odegaard starting again. Not because he plays bad or anything.

It is simply because I believe the team has evolved beyond most of what he offers as a floor-raiser. We need to go to the next level and I don't think he is the one to help us get there.

🧵/

He is basically a Brighton type midfielder. He's incredible at pockets play and letting the game flow through him. Added shots and goals to it to make him very special.

But we have a creative powerhouse like Trent/KDB/Bruno on the bench + an Odegaard-type winger in Saka.

Saka + Odegaard work incredibly well in tight spaces, especially with a overlappping option on the outside in White/Cedric. But it is not necessary superiority when you consider the advantages you can generate with a KDB type there instead. More overlaps with Saka inside more

which leads to Saka getting more goal impact and then you have the range passing to the other side (Martinelli) and the CF.

Fabio Vieira also adds goals as well as a proper shot monster, so you are missing nothing in that department. There may be some concerns about the press.

Odegaard basically operates in Kevin De Bryune zones high up the pitch. In the halfspaces and pockets on the right. Off the ball, he presses in front two with the CF.

In terms of the spaces he's responsible for, Martin Odegaard has some of the least responsibility at Arsenal.

However, he is one of the best in the world in those pockets. Doesn't lose the ball, knits the attack, and progresses it, all in the most heavily defended zone on the pitch.

So, though his zone of responsibility may be small in terms of area, the importance of that zone

to unlocking teams makes him a little giant of a player for Arsenal.

I have highlighted this before in another thread. I don't have anything personal against him. I understand his value/contribution more than anyone. He's a progression/retention machine.

https://twitter.com/nonewthing/status/1562519563295531009?t=TwT1WYcu1RQGFIMp55fllQ&s=19

But the problem with Odegaard comes down to a term first popularly used by my friend Kannan on here: “Zone of Influence.”

To be simple, ZOI talks about how effective/influential you are across the distances on a pitch with your skillset.

https://twitter.com/thewittyjack/status/1600411881532928000?t=TwT1WYcu1RQGFIMp55fllQ&s=19

Think about Toni Kroos or Enzo Fernandez. Both of them can make the ball arrive at vastly different points and situations than where it previously yours.

You could be setting up to screen Kroos in front of his own box, and then suddenly, you are defending Vini near your own box.

That ability to change the picture of the pitch across large distances is extremely important in football. The ball is here and then it is suddenly there. Big yards of spaces that made you feel safe have instantly disappeared.

It is not only passers who can have a large ZOI.

A volume carrier like Vinicius who can carry the ball across distances does the same thing.

Let's see how a large ZOI player can INSTANTLY change the picture of a game.

Luka Modric here killed Chelsea in one second. Ball was here, then BOOM, it is there

Look at where the ball was. Liverpool were safe. Nothing was happening. Then BOOM, Toni Kroos and everything is happening all at once.

This is what a large zone of influence means. Toni Kroos did that magic across how many meters of space?

Nobody talks about it but the best teams always have large ZOI players on the pitch. Think Andres Pirlo and David Beckham and Xavi Hernandez and Trent Alexander-Arnold.

It is how Liverpool and City often unlocked tough nuts and cracked them.

You are defending well, having no problem, then that ginger Kevin De Bryune simply does this. One instant to change the picture and the game.

Of course, this also illustrates Kevin De Bryune's value as one of the best and largest ZOI players in the game with his ball-carrying and passing capacity.

Arsenal do not have a single large ZOI passer in the team apart from maybe Declan Rice with his switches of play.

This capacity across distances is what made Arsenal trigger the Fabio Vieira transfer. Fabio is one of the key components of the next level Mikel Arteta wants to take Arsenal to.

I said as much in an introductory scouting thread on him you can read here

https://twitter.com/nonewthing/status/1538621756126203910?t=TwT1WYcu1RQGFIMp55fllQ&s=19

Fabio Vieira is cut from exactly the same cloth as TAA, KDB and Bruno Fernandes.

A very very special large ZOI passer

Martin Odegaard simply doesn't have this. And a great team always has it.

https://twitter.com/nonewthing/status/1695498282825617428/video/1

So what does that mean for Martin Odegaard's future?

Does that mean I don't rate him? Nope. It just means I don't value what he brings to the team versus what we actually need.

There's a possibility of him converting to a deeper LCM I've discussed before

https://twitter.com/nonewthing/status/1528459537237295104?t=TwT1WYcu1RQGFIMp55fllQ&s=19

Even if not, Odegaard as part of the rotation is extremely quality, so it's not like throw him out of the club.

However, the possibility of getting a huge sum of money on him on the market is also enticing, provided we can get a replacement internally or externally.

I also didn't want Odegaard taking the captaincy precisely because of a situation like this.

Vieira didn't do it in his first season but the more time passes, the more difficult it would be to ignore an obvious and painful reality.

https://twitter.com/nonewthing/status/1549478971401768962?t=TwT1WYcu1RQGFIMp55fllQ&s=19

TL;DR

ZOI exists. The best teams have players with large ZOIs. Arsenal need a large zone-of-influence player to take it to the next level. Martin Odegaard is not it. Fabio Vieira is it. Therefore I want Vieira to simply take Odegaard's spot in the team. Easy peasy.