🚨 Every time I watch Arsenal I can't help but think about how perfect Morgan Rogers would be in the #10. For example, below, Raya catches it, he rolls quickly to Rice so Arsenal can hurt Forest in transition, Rice looks up but Ødegaard is in front of the opposition's midfield line as opposed to behind it, Arsenal are forced to play slowly, and Forest recover into their defensive block with 11 men behind the ball. Arsenal do get into their desired 3-1-3-3 / 3-1-6 eventually, but they lack transitional qualities to play through the pitch quickly. Partly because none of the front 3 are especially devastating in transition (although Madueke on the left might have something to say about that), but also because they lack support from the #10 who is an #8 in reality. If Arsenal had Rogers in the #10, he would be high and between the lines, receive on the back foot, turn and drive into space, and use his power (whether that be through carrying or passing + off-ball running) to make the team a MUCH bigger threat in these types of moments. It's hard to break down a low block, and sometimes the best way to do it is not through directly breaking it down, but through exploiting them in the natural transitional moments that occur in games irrespective of the opposition's intentions to defend low. Even when you play a low block there are countless opportunities to exploit the opponent in transition: - when they lose possession, - when you lose possession and counter-press, - when they build and you press, - when they go direct and you win 2nd balls, - counter-attacking from their set-pieces, - etc. Jürgen Klopp's Liverpool were the masters at this because they could kill you in any moment, even if you didn't let them press reliably and killed their space by defending low. Football is a transitional game, and you cannot escape that no matter how you decide to play. Besides, even though Ødegaard is a player who offers Arsenal incredible control and is an elite #8, games against teams like Forest don't suit him because the opposition don't build and they don't press. Ødegaard's primary use at Arsenal is to give the team control - when the opponent effectively gives it to you, his use evaporates because Arsenal no longer need him to drop deep to provide control with the ball or to lead the press. Plus, when Arsenal are trying to break these teams down with close to 100 attacks per game, of course there will be moments when such a talented player influences the game positively with a delicate combination or a strong shot, for example, but the return for the volume of attacks is beyond average. Arsenal would be far better off with Eze, Saka, Havertz, Merino, Dowman, or Guimarães in the #10 rather than Ødegaard in games like this, otherwise they lack a true #10 type profile in the midfield. The Rice-Bruno Guimarães-Ødegaard midfield 3 also suffers because, on paper, the balance is Rice #6, Bruno G #8, Ødegaard #10, but they are not collectively reliably occupying spaces high. With how Arsenal play both of their fullbacks consistently on the top line, it's not the job of the #6 or the #8 to reliably join the attack, so the onus is MASSIVELY on the #10 to stay away positionally and to be the driving creative force from midfield, but Ødegaard is not the right profile for this in every regard - positionally, athletically to carry or run beyond + overlap/underlap, and even technically because he is one-footed and lacks power to play transitional passes or to whip unstoppable crosses into the box. Ødegaard would be better in a David Silva-esque role as the left #10 because that would force him to be more direct with less favourable angles to cut inside, but Arsenal's dynamics aren't set up that way. The #10 is either right-sided or central. Not on the left. People waxed lyrical about his performance against Napoli but it took Arsenal about 100 attacks for him to do anything. Is that return good enough? No. It’s not. You need to have a much better return than that, whether that be goal threat or assist threat. At least 10 PL #10’s have a bigger threat than him here. As do 6 Arsenal players, most of which are not even #10’s. People talk about the attack, but Ødegaard is part of it, and he is not good enough in the #10 for Arsenal. It is obvious in games against Forest when Arsenal have 100 attacks vs a low block or in games when Arsenal have much less of the ball and need a proper #10 to get them up the pitch (see PSG in the Champions League final).