What’s wrong with Martin Odegaard? Why Arsenal captain has suffered his alarming dip

When Arsenal perhaps needed Martin Odegaard most last week, their captain went missing.

It wasn’t just him. Arsenal as a unit floundered in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain and face the huge task of setting that right in the French capital tonight.

But the Norwegian’s passive display was the latest in a worrying pattern that can be traced back to the significant ankle injury he suffered on international duty in September.

Odegaard missed three months of the season as a result with what Mikel Arteta described as a ‘significant’ injury. During that time, Arsenal’s title challenge showed its first signs of faltering, registering just 11 points from the seven games in his absence.

He surprised many by returning to the team ahead of schedule in November and was arguably his side’s man of the match in the 1-1 draw with Chelsea that day, cutting through the chaos at Stamford Bridge. During December and over the festive period, Arsenal won four from six and sat just three points behind Liverpool on Christmas Day.

Since the turn of the year, his performances have lacked their usual sparkle. His touch and crisp passing has been off and there have been concerns that he has lacked the durability that represented a cornerstone of his game.

Since arriving in north London, Odegaard has quietly been one of the most-hardworking players in the league alongside the invention he provides in midfield. But his anonymous performance against Paris Saint-Germain underlined some of those worries.

Odegaard did not register a shot on goal at the Emirates last week, created just one chance and completed just four forward passes. While there was more signs of life against Bournemouth at the weekend, providing the assist for Declan Rice’s opener, his reluctance to shoot and tepid touches were present again.

His alarming dip in creativity has sparked suggestions Arsenal may need to add to their squad in that department this summer – with Jamie Carragher suggesting it is an even bigger issue than their long-standing need for a free-scoring centre forward up top.

There are mitigating factors. That lack of a natural striker to feed is an issue while there has been instability around him with Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka sidelined for extended periods.

But the biggest factor at play can be traced back to the injury that halted his – and his side’s – season.

Odegaard’s ‘range of motion impeded’

Stephen Smith, CEO and founder of Kitman Labs which specialises in injury welfare and performance analytics working with the Premier League, believes it is simply the case of Odegaard needing more time. The nature of the injury means the midfielder’s ‘range of motion can be impeded for some time’.

But more tellingly, the impact of a three-month lay-off – returning mid-season where there is very little time to do anything other than get through games – has almost been forgotten with the demands for Odegaard to do things his body is still working towards piling pressure on the Gunners captain.

‘Three months is a long period of time when you are playing at that level,’ Smith told Metro. ‘You are suddenly no longer doing  all that tactical work, all that technical work. It is not like coming back into preseason where you have time to fine tune those skills. 

‘You are coming in and your team is trying to win the league and you’re expected to jump straight back in. My instinct is he just needs more time, time where he is not just going from game to game but time to go away and work on some of those technical and tactical aspects and fine tune his skillset.

‘Odegaard right now will probably be able to rack up 10 to 13 km a game still. But there is a difference in being able to do that and to be able to do that while twisting and turning, spotting things out of the corner of your eye, playing on the half turn and then execute the pass. Being able to coordinate all those pieces at the same time, that takes a while. Match fitness isn’t just about having the physicality, it is about bringing all those technical aspects together. To develop that sharpness that we usually see takes a while.’

Will Odegaard need surgery this summer?

The prospect of surgery this summer has been discussed by some worried Arsenal supporters online, a situation that could see the midfielder miss a chunk of pre-season going before going again.

‘Those ankle injuries are difficult injuries to rehabilitate, if you put too much pressure on it at any given time, it flares up,’ Smith said. ‘Even after once you are back, you have to be managed and it can still take a while to be able to do all the things you usually do. Your range of motion can be impeded for quite some time.

‘There are some cases where if you don’t get that full range of motion back you have to go in and get it operated on to give them that range. But he has had a lot of game time, he certainly has the capacity to withstand the load. Odegaard has come back and played so regularly I don’t think it would be likely, it doesn’t look like he has any physical impediments tight now.’

Patience needed with long-term prospects looking bright

Odegaard’s season is not over. The hard work and rehabilitation in getting back to fitness and the testing months back on the pitch could still have the ultimate payoff should Arsenal claw their way into the Champions League final. The Gunners do need him back to his usual reliable self as soon as possible but as far as his long-term prospects are concerned, there is no reason to panic.

‘People need to be patient with him,’ Smith said. ‘The standards and expectations people have for him are exceptionally high. So to ask someone to come back from three months out where he has focused on healing and rehabilitation and getting all that right just to ensure they are capable of running again, the bar for that itself high. And the bar to getting back to being one of the best midfielders in the league is even higher. so of course that takes time.

‘I don’t think Arsenal fans have much to worry about. This is an uncomfortable experience right now. But there is not much precedence for players having ankle sprains like that and not being able to recover and return to the same level of the game they were at previously. I think there is very little for them to worry.’