Fans have called out Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard following their 2-0 loss to Newcastle United in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-finals on Tuesday (January 7). Odegaard was far from his best in the midfield and failed to offer any meaningful contribution in attack.
Alexander Isak opened the scoring for the Magpies in the 38th minute after being set up by Jacob Murphy. In the 51st minute, Anthony Gordon doubled the lead as he reacted to a rebound and placed his left-footed shot into the net.
Despite a total of 23 goal attempts and 70% ball possession, the Gunners could not score. Newcastle, on the other hand, found the back of the net twice from their seven attempts.
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In his stint on the pitch, Odegaard had a passing accuracy of 89% (39/44). He lost possession of the ball 15 times and registered only 65 touches (via Sofascore).
In the game's aftermath, fans took to X to express their disappointment with the Norwegian's performance, with one tweeting:
"BTW Odegaard was absolutely sh*te tonight. I did not expect this type of performance from him. Genuinely disgusting display."
"Odegaard is NOT good enough to be in this team let alone captain the squad," another added.
"Odegaard looks a completely different player without Saka playing too. Need huge investment in the summer (and now ideally obvs) to up our levels.," a fan opined.
"Odegaard needs to be stripped of the captaincy man," another chimed in.
"Captain odegaard with another 1/10 performance. our cb’s were more of a goal threat than that sorry prick," another lamented.
"I've seen non league players more creative than Odegaard," wrote another.
How did Arsenal's midfielder Declan Rice perform against Newcastle United?
Despite the defeat, Declan Rice was one of the Gunners’ stand-out players. The Englishman was exceptional in midfield and was creative in attack.
Rice had a passing accuracy of 89% (48/54). He created three big chances and provided five key passes. The Englishman also won five out of five ground duels contested and registered three successful dribbles in as many attempts (via Sofascore).
The Gunners will look to bounce back from a two-goal deficit in the second leg of the clash on February 5.
Arsenal will take on Manchester United in their next game in the FA Cup on Sunday (January 12).
