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[Arsenal FC] Introducing our new captain... Martin Odegaard!

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Please for the love of God don't end up like our last couple of captains ...

u/TechnoBeats99 avatar

Who was captain of Arsenal before Xhaka?

Koscielny

u/thefogdog avatar

Xhaka, Aubameyang, Koscielny, Gallas, been a pretty shitty selection since Cesc.

u/J4ckrh avatar

Arteta and Mertesacker were great captains but they only got the armband when they were winding down their careers and/or being injured

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u/bathtubsplashes avatar

Van Persie

u/KsychoPiller avatar

Missimg van Persie, Vermaelen, Arteta and Mertesacker

Koscielny was good

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u/ThereIsBearCum avatar

Cesc was a shit selection too tbh.

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u/Johnny_bubblegum avatar

Cesc wasn't much of a captain.

Really good at football but not a leader when he was at Arsenal.

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Koscielny was a a good captain. His departure was unsavory.

u/ro-row avatar

Koscielny was great. Board fucked him over at the end so it’s on us that it ended on a slightly sour note

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u/DatGuyGandhi avatar

I think they mean Auba and Xhaka

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u/ThereIsBearCum avatar

Mate, every captain since Vieira. They all fucked off within a season or two of being made captain, or hung around like a cancer after being stripped of the role.

u/Aritisto avatar

And tbf, I remember Vieira wanting to leave in 03 and 05 and there being drama around that as well. But as long as he was here, he gave it his all and remained one of our best players.

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u/_deep_blue_ avatar

Arteta and Mertesacker were both good club captains.

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u/johnknockout avatar

Xhaka might have broken the curse. He rebuilt his relationship with the fans and is still a key player in the club.

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You mean they left after one season?

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u/reginaldglory avatar

Somebody in r/gunners said being the Arsenal captain is like being a Defence against the dark arts teacher at Hogwarts which is very fitting

Arsenal captain, Chelsea #9, Man Utd #7, Watford manager, TSM jungler

tsm mid after bjerg

u/ButcherBob avatar

I havent watched League in like 8 years, good to know TSM is still shitting the bed

Oh, they are not just shitting the bed, they are like one of the 2 worst teams and have no perspective into being a contender anytime soon.

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When TSM finally found a good Jungler, DoubleLift retired, Bjeg retired then left, and they became a bottom feeder lol

I guess they messed with the balance of the world.

didn’t know i would find r/leagueoflegends here

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Care to elaborate? i don't get it.

u/TIGOOH_NTA2OT avatar

They change every year after something ill-fated befalls the previous teacher/captain, considered to be a cursed position

Can also call it a Chelsea number 9 position

Man United manager

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There’s a curse on the Hogwarts Defence position, so professors only last one year on the job

u/BrodaReloaded avatar

Voldemort/Tom Riddle the villain in Harry Potter wanted to become the teacher for defence against the dark arts but of course Dumbledore the headmaster of Hogwarts didn't want him anywhere near the school. From that moment onwards no teacher held that position for more than a year with it being said to be cursed.

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Captain of club and country at 23 years of age, LFG

Louis Fan Gaal

u/yeontura avatar

Liverpool Football Glub

u/B_e_l_l_ avatar

What actually does LFG mean?

u/Famped avatar

Looking for group

u/Y0RKC1TY avatar

UBRS must have key

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Leesus Fucking Ghrist

u/Bolieve_That avatar

Lord's fucking gay

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Lets fucking go

u/B_e_l_l_ avatar

Go where?

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u/OptimusPrim3r avatar

Litt for gammel

Life's Fucking Good

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Lerik Fen Gag

u/DarrenBridgescunt avatar

Ahhh I'm halfway thru a spliff and this cracked me up, so basic

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u/Gabi_Social avatar

Yeah but he's been a professional footballer for 20 years.

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Should really start lining up a replacement. The nursery is looking good this year. Several players said their first words recently

u/KamartyMcFlyweight avatar

shit shit shit the gunners are about to hit puberty what are we gonna do

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u/Nitsju avatar

The nursery is looking good this year.

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

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Adams-esque. Let's hope he retires at Arsenal.

So was Xhaka tbf

He’s still only 23?! Known of the guy since like 2015-16 so he must’ve been young af back then

Yep. joined Real at age 15 and received a lot of hype before even playing a game for them. Went out on loan to Real Sociedad when he was a couple years older, had the Arsenal loan given Madrid’s midfield was stacked, made the Arsenal move permanent and here we are.

Weirdly enough this Arsenal success is almost his resurgence to those who doubted, even though he’s still young af and always had ability.

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Can’t believe he’s actually fulfilling the potential

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Edited

I was abit confused when Ståle made him the captain of our national team, as I always thought he came across as very shy and not very expressive on the pitch, and also being very young. But hes shown hes really good captain material. Think this just shows how wrong i was. Good choice by Legohair

u/TheFrenchPasta avatar

Man at first I thought Legohair was a Norwegian name and thought to myself “how whimsical!”

Its an old viking name

u/Hungry_Biscotti avatar

At first I thought I quickly read "Legolas", and was struggling to find the connection between him and Ståle Solbakken 😂

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u/Gerf93 avatar

Considering the alternatives, Ødegaard being made captain of Norway wasn't any surprise. Only alternative at the time (and probably someone who was actually ahead in the pecking order) was Jarstein, but he was out long-term with covid, old and uncertain to ever return to international play.

u/Hungry_Biscotti avatar

Some Norwegian pundits were talking about Berge or Ajer as captain, which I don't understand considering that neither of them are guaranteed to be in the first XI, and Ødegaard has way more experience. However I think if the choice was made today Ståle could very well have chosen Strandberg.

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I think Sander Berge is a pretty certain starter as long as he is fit.

Berge - Thorsby - Ødegaard is a nice midfield trio.

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I think most people just go on his looks and style of play... At arsenal he is like one of the hardest worker in the game and vocal one as well

u/Hansemannn avatar

Even hes fellow fotballers say hes not the loudest one. He doesnt have to be though.

u/TZMouk avatar

Yeah the average fan is obsessed with the loudest player being the captain. I've never understood it personally, there's more to being a captain, in the professional game, than just being vocal on the pitch.

u/HaroldSaxon avatar

Then again, its a massive thing being vocal on the pitch. Watching Henderson during the lockdown games with no fans really highlighted that for me.

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u/Diagonalizer avatar

yer da type approach where many years ago this was the only form of leadership. the game has changed and players respond differently to different types of leadership.

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u/SundayLeagueStocko avatar

He's been a leader on the pitch for Arsenal since he joined - this is him on loan and he's only got better since. really growing into the leadership role IMO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pq5MlFC42dw

Exactly. He's one of those "speak softly and carry a big stick" captains. Like Thierry Henry in that sense. He's not a yeller like Tony Adams or Roy Keane. But he's effective in his own way.

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u/Qiluk avatar

as I always thought he came across as very shy and not very expressive on the pitch

Probably similar to Lindelöf then. Not the most expressive lad but still leads in the quiet and is very liked and diplomatic.

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u/sanyu- avatar

I hope he breaks the Arsenal captains curse, seems like a good choice.

u/jonwinslol avatar

Will be the perfect Arsenal captain when he leaves for a team like Bayern Munchen in two years time

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Omagaard don't say that!

u/reddevlon avatar

Odeargaard!!

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Edited

This one deserves all the praise and I'm ashamed I didn't think of it instead of Omagaard.

Great job, you deserve the award!

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u/WengersJacketZip avatar

DELET PLS

oh god, the headlines "Odegone"

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u/LeoTheSquid avatar

Why would you hope that if you're a liverpool fan?

u/bradbobley avatar

all liverpool fans are from norway

u/Otarun avatar

I know this was meant as a joke, but 80% of the football shirts I see out in the wild here in Norway (at festivals and such) are Liverpool shirts.

u/chabaccaa avatar

Yes and the rest are man utd fans

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u/thefogdog avatar

TIL I'm the ancestor of Odin.

u/bradbobley avatar

i'm much cheaper than those dna tests

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u/KindlySwordfish avatar

Sorry, but you're not, Odin never resided in Midgard

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u/VilTheVillain avatar

Out of the other "big six" clubs they're probably the one we dislike the least.

u/faithplusone01 avatar

Yeah I second this personally. Arsenal is a proper club. I think we Liverpool fans have a healthy respect for them as an institution.

Fans are insufferable at times but who isn't nowadays?

Is there some historic rivalry with spurs I'm not aware of?

u/drybadonkers avatar

nobody really likes spurs

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u/h_abr avatar

No reason to dislike them more than arsenal necessarily but personally as a Liverpool fan I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for Arsenal. We’ve rarely directly competed for anything in my lifetime, they’ve always played good football, normally have a few likeable players and it was always impossible to not respect Wenger.

There’s no reason to dislike spurs in particular but there’s not really any reason to like them either.

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I just like Arsenal because I love Wenger. Most likeable personality in football. Plus peak Wengerball is the best football I’ve ever seen. Even Guardiola’s Barca wasn’t as entertaining to watch.

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Right back at you. Liverpool are okay. 🤝

(Except when we play each other.)

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Comment deleted by user

Arsenal and Liverpool are 100000% historical rivals.

Arsenal literally won the league at Anfield in one of the most famous finishes to a league of all time?

u/Ass_Eater_ avatar

Man doesn't know ball History

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I am so proud of this man, just so happy for him and he’s gonna be a great captain and servant of Arsenal for years to come

He is the only obvious choice after Tierney. Captains his country and he is the eyes and ears of Arteta on the potch.

If Tierney is not injury prone , he would.be first and followed by Øde.

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Expecting surprise from a lot of non Arsenal fans, but I don't think there's any Arsenal fan who disagrees with this.

Nah there is a small section of Arsenal fans who hate odegaard becoz he doesn't get 20+ goals and assist

Really? I'm yet to see/hear that. The most I see is that he's a bit one footed.

I assume it's about fans of certain other MOe no 10?

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u/platdupiedsecurite avatar

Small as in 4 kids who don't watch the games ? I have never seen an Arsenal fan who isn't in love with Odegaard

u/VanillaxChroniko avatar

I'm a Real Madrid fan and i'm still in love with Odegaard... cries in a corner...

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This is so cool

u/ihaveoliveskin avatar

Perfect choice. He has all the right attributes. Quite excited to have a proper Captain both on the pitch and off the pitch.

A question. Does Arsenal not choose captains on basis of seniority in club?

I don't think anyone does that except Madrid (tenure) and Spain (caps)

u/gh0stface90 avatar

We (AC Milan) have done it as well, Calabria was/is the vice-captain before Romagnoli left due to caps played.

Barca chooses captaincy via a player vote. Although it's mostly the senior players who win the vote

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Juve does as well. That’s why Cuadrado or Sandro got the armband when Chiellini or Bonucci didn’t play.

But to be fair the longest tenured have all been very fitting captains since we went from Conte to ADP to Buffon to Chiellini

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u/heyheyitsandre avatar

We’re like the only club that does that. Usually the captain happens to be a very senior player but not always because of their seniority, that just usually goes in hand with a mature, talented player. I don’t know any other club that’s just pure objective, “the player on the pitch who’s been at the club the longest is the captain” besides us

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u/MrVegosh avatar

That’s not common at all. You’re the exception not the rule

u/kamacho2000 avatar

Bayern doesn't do it, when Lahm retired Neuer was given Captainaincy over Muller who had been at the club for longer

Edited

No, I know Madrid does it but it's not set in stone for all clubs. I think Chelsea does that as well, though

We don’t…otherwise players like Alonso would be far higher up the captain ranks

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I knew he'd be captain but still it's crazy.

u/Papayalo avatar

Going from being a hyped Youtube player to becoming the captain of Arsenal and his country with all the pressure he’s faced from age 13 is impressive. And Madrid fans were telling themselves that his mentality is shit.

The fact that he didn’t turn into another Halilovic or Mastour is incredible.

u/LiamAddison avatar

Could have been another Freddy Adu but he’s knuckled down and is proving he’s more than just hype.

His mentality isn't shit, it was an overreaction from fanbase because we have been waiting for like 6-7 years for him to shine for us. He wanted stability and here he was 5th choice so he left which is totally fair. It's just that we all were disappointed that after soo many years of investment he wouldn't even play for us.

No non-idiot Real fan said that.

Ancelotti didn't like him and we don't play his role, so it's normal that he left.

Vast majority of sports fans are idiots. Even smart ones in normal life turn into idiots while discussing sports.

This has been made very clear with some events this week.

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No non-idiot Real fan said that.

While that might be the case. I would still put the majority of your fans in the idiot category.

It just comes with the stature of being the biggest club in the world, there's obviously a vocal amount of idiots.

This is such a platitude lol; is there a club whose fans you'd predominantly put in the intellectual category?

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Oxford University AFC

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u/kanavi36 avatar

Is this thread from when we signed him? Lmao

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Looks to be 2 games into the season, when we hardly had a first 11 to put together. Makes sense to judge his entire transfer off those games does it not?

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r/FootballManager has entered the chat.

u/Shapacap avatar

r/footballmanagergames is the much bigger, and quite funny sub

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You could see lots of madrid fans said that but also many said that its fair for him to leave because modric still bossing the midfield at that time

KSI in shambles

Edited

Madrid signing him at 15 was insane tbh. I’m not sure what the club expected from him. But taking Ronaldo off in the final league game for him was a nice gesture. He wasn’t going to get better sitting on the bench, especially at 23 when 19 year old Camavinga and Valverde were above him on the pecking order.

I hope he has a great and long career and leads Arsenal to some titles.

Don't think Madrid fans were saying his mentality was shit, more that because he's happy to leave Madrid it showed he didn't want to fight for his position.

He was never getting in over Modric for a while, let's be real so he knew it made sense to leave instead of be a bench warmer.

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Makes sense, seems like a good professional and by all accounts loved by the fans. Not sure if there were better candidates in the more senior players at Arsenal, maybe Gooners will mention them but this seems like a sensible move.

u/ShouldIBeClever avatar

Arsenal doesn't really have many senior players. Almost all of our first team squad is 25 or younger. Only Partey and Xhaka are over 25, and neither would be made captain for obvious reasons.

Our other "senior" players include Bellerin, Pepe, Cedric, Torreira, Pablo Mari, Leno, and Holding. They are all either potential outgoing transfers or backups.

ther "senior" players include Bellerin, Pepe, Cedric, Torreira, Pablo Mari, Leno, and Hold

Missing Elneny but he's a backup as well

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u/stitches_dc avatar

The main other candidate was Tierney and I think people expected him to be a captain at some point, but his injury struggles and inability to be consistently available has seen his captaincy consideration recede. I'd imagine that he'd likely be vice captain, but he's potentially lost his starting place to Zinchenko

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u/TheDepartment115 avatar
Edited

The perfect choice. Has everything you want from a captain and is pretty much the best and most nailed offensive player.

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u/AxeC avatar

It's not a reasonable expectation to think that non-Arsenal fans would have watched anything other than highlights of Arsenal games, but from an Arsenal perspective when you watch the full games you'd understand that he was always the clear choice, and not out of desperation.

Sure, he's one of our best players, but that's not the reason. On the pitch he's the one constantly organising, always vocal, who Arteta trusts to take on the field instructions and make it happen in the team. He's always consistently one of our hardest working players, and a really professional attitude. He leads by both example and instruction.

People talk about Arsenal changing captains all the time - whilst of course none of us can say things will pan out well, but surely our best chance at having a long term captain is one who is young yet lots of experience, has all the qualities you want, and is the core of a vibrant team with a seemingly bright future.

As for the Madrid fans....you guys really fucked up, and you have no idea what you're missing, but I'm thankful for it!

I think for Madrid, Modric refusing to decline sealed his fate, similar to Kovacic some 5 years prior.

I imagine Madrid thought they’d need to replace our midfield sooner but can’t say our results haven’t been bad so we’ll take it.

Wish Martin well.

u/Gold_Association_208 avatar

I think all parties benefitted from the transfer to Arsenal.

Wish Martin well, but I’d also take another season of prime modric over 5 seasons of ode .

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u/ArtOfFailure avatar

This is it. He might be relatively young to be a Premier League captain, but he's been Norway captain for over a year already and he's a proper on-field leader when it comes to instructing play around and behind him. Arsenal could really do with someone in the role for the long term, he could be ideal.

u/txobi avatar

I don't think is an age thing, Oyarzabal is just a couple years older and has been captain for us for a while, but he has been playing for us for a long time and it feels right

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Imagine telling Madrid fans they fucked up and they dont know what they are missing when they just won their 14th UCL lol

u/BCastle18 avatar

Not just the 14th UCL we also won La Liga lol and still have a pretty good midfield for the future.

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How did we fuck up? He wanted to leave and we don’t hold players back. Wasn’t going to play ahead of Modric or Kroos.

Yeah I like Odegaard but he made the right decision for himself and that's that

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As an Everton fan I really like the guy. Clearly over his head transferring at such a young age and he has really come into his own at Arsenal.

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Absolutely perfect choice.

Great mentality and attitude, everything you'd want in a captain. Just praying that the seeming curse of the appointment doesn't continue here.

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After 1 season captaincy? Don't Arsenal have older and more established players?

Leno is gone, Bellerin we're trying to sell, Tierney is injured too often, Xhaka is captain in all but name, Elneny is purely a backup player, Partey ....

Regardless of anything else, Partey isn’t really captain material anyway

I like how you just refused to elaborate further when you got to Partey lol

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Gabriel was the only other choice who gets guaranteed playtime. Tierney is injured more often than not, some are still mad at Xhaka after what happened 3 seasons ago and Elneny is just a rotational player.

Who the fuck is still mad at xhaka?

Unreasonable people who love holding a grudge.

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u/KindlySwordfish avatar

What happened 3 seasons ago?

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u/basedsims avatar

Xhaka by all accounts would be captain if he hadn’t had it before & told us to fuck off whilst trudging away being substituted

u/jr2106 avatar

I mean thats probably just the albanian blood in him lol

u/DrAuer avatar

Arsenal fans absolutely deserved it at the time. We were being cunts to him. It’s just bad optics now and he’s only going to be here for a year or two longer at most

u/CatfishLumi avatar
Edited

Can confirm, would need to read his lips when he did that but I wouldn't be surprised if he was swearing in Albanian in that moment haha

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And the fact that some fans were swearing cancer upon his son. That pisses someone off pretty badly.

u/jr2106 avatar

Ive known arsenal fans werent normal since the wenger out days

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u/atease avatar

Tbf if people were telling me to break my legs and wishing cancer on my daughter, I'd probably tell them to fuck off too.

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Not really.

If we made Xhaka captain again then, despite his improvements, we'd be roundly, rightfully mocked.

Our project is based on youth and we've had a huge overhaul to reflect that, so I think it's only right that a young player should be given it, and personally I don't think any player is more the right mix of youth and maturity than Martin, he's clearly popular and someone the players listen to a lot.

u/TheDepartment115 avatar

He'll be 24 this year, has 43 caps for Norway which he also captains, been at Arsenal for 1.5 years. Pretty much Arsenal's best player as well. He's fairly established by now.

u/OstapBenderBey avatar

I dont think hes our best player. He runs hot and cold. When hes hot (like last match v chelsea) hes up there but he still goes missing too often.

Still he has a psychic connection to Arteta, is smart, has a tactical mind and plays in a role where he can talk to other players. That makes it a very easy choice imo

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psychic connection to Arteta...talk to other players

i would watch this anime

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second or third best behind TP and Saka, depending on form

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He appears to have the mildest personality of all players 21 and above

Well we have Leno whos leaving, Xhaka who we have already tried, Partey is in a bit of shit atm, Tierney is too injured, other than that there's no one massively older than he.

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u/DingLiren avatar

With the loan it's one and a half year as an Arsenal player

u/samrus avatar

1.5 seasons. he was here on loan as well

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Finally a captain that has not been looking to leave or was given the captain's armband for a season to keep them happy.

u/InPatRileyWeTrust avatar

Big fan of this selection and Odegaard in general.

u/Drunk_Cat_Phil avatar

Very vocal on the pitch, leads the press, organizes the defence, never switches off, easily one of the best players in the team, people describe him as being mentally a 30 year old already, very close with Arteta and is constantly receiving messages from the sideline during games (is very 'parched' according to Ramsdale), not injury prone, very professional, hard working and speaks multiple languages... what more could you want in a player? He's no Roy Keane but he isn't a shrinking violet either.

The guy feels like he was made to play for Arsenal and is everything young players should strive to be.

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I feel like so many people don't realize how young all of our main contributors are.

Odegaard was the easy choice.

So happy for him! Rooting for Arsenal this season

u/reginaldglory avatar

I'm not too worried about the age thing Tony Adam's became captain at 21/22 I think. Sometimes they just have the intangibles.

u/RauloGonzalez avatar

Wait what

Laca was our captain last season after auba left. Ødegaard is our captain now. We have a pool of players who act as a leadership group similar to Man city.

The culture at ManCity & Arsenal seems so similar now! Do the players and staff vote on who gets in the leadership group?

Edited

observation tease cheerful books growth saw theory plucky rustic caption

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

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u/vastico avatar

Yes

u/thefogdog avatar

Same at Liverpool.

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u/LiamAddison avatar

Arteta did work with Pep, he’s probably adopted a lot of the same things.

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Wonder who the VC will be.

I'd assume Tierney, but wouldn't be surprised if it's Xhaka.

It honestly should be Xhaka. Probably would've been captain if that idea didn't already fail, although mostly due to other circumstances. Xhaka is vocal, ever present and charismatic, a born leader basically. He's just a little hot tempered/somewhat of a bully.

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u/boldstrategy avatar

Man is living real life on FIFA Careers Mode

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Orchestrator... Well deserved

u/basedsims avatar

The perfect choice

I’m just glad the leadership group is done.

u/Ok_Hat_5484 avatar

Did not expect odegaard to become captain

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That's a great achievement for him. Had such a progress since leaving Real Madrid

I remember when he was a hyped up prospect with Madrid. Good to see him capitalising on his potential.

u/RioBeckenbauer avatar

It's a good choice and clear testament to the player that he is named captain after 6 month loan spell and 1 full season.

Was laughable how his mentality was questioned because of the transfer to Arsenal.

Deserved