Odegaard frustrated by defeat, praises Arsenal’s hunger to bounce back

After Arsenal's defeat to Manchester United , midfielder Martin Ødegaard commented on the team's focus in their quest to win the English Championship. Despite the current good season, the slip-ups of recent years still haunt the fans.

Arsenal has come off three consecutive runner-up finishes in the English league, including a historic campaign in the 2022/23 season. On that occasion, the team led by Mikel Arteta managed to open an eight-point lead over the second place. However, the difference was not enough, and Manchester City ended up winning the title, surpassing the London club in the 33rd round.

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Ødegaard reinforced the coach's initial idea of avoiding external distractions, especially due to the emotional factor that can affect the team on the field. The Norwegian, however, acknowledged that the frustrating sequence of recent seasons might end up influencing the team's performance.

“Obviously, it's a factor. But it can also be a positive factor. It gives more motivation, more grit, and more determination to achieve the goal. I think we've learned over these seasons that it's a long journey and many things happen. Now, we need to stick together. Let's think about the next game and recover,” he said.

In the Champions League, Arsenal continues with the best campaign and is the only club with a 100% success rate. The fans' concern has been in the English Championship. The club has only made two points in the last three games and saw the gap to Manchester City and Aston Villa shrink to four points.

“To be honest, I didn't feel that. I was very focused on the game. The important thing is to live in the present moment. We can't give too much importance to expectations and everything surrounding them. We weren't good enough (against United) and we have to learn from that,” Ødegaard emphasized about the anxiety of the upcoming matches.

Arsenal had not yet lost at home in the English Championship. Despite opening the scoring, the team had a drop in performance after the goal, allowing Manchester United to turn the game around.

“It was frustrating. We started the match well, scored a goal, and had other good moments in and around the area. But, at times, we let the opponent run too easily and probably exploited their strengths too much. We know they are good on the counter-attack and, at times, we allowed them to do that too easily,” said the midfielder.

“In the second half, the momentum shifted a bit. They won many duels, many contested balls, and managed to create the moment from there. That is definitely something we can improve,” he concluded.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.