“Odegaard has been dropped” was what one of my pals said when the team news came out.
I then proceeded to make it very clear that the Arsenal captain had not been dropped, he had been rested, and Mikel Arteta had rotated his team.
Last season we suffered a little due to fatigue in the run-in. Arteta had played the same small group of players in every possibile game. He rarely rested or rotated his stars.
With the acquisition of Kai Havertz and Declan Rice this summer, and Jorginho and Leandro Trossard last January, the manager has options to rest players.
Sheffield United at home is a game you have pencilled in for resting a couple of key players. Back in the 90s, Fergie would have made 7 or 8 changes and his side would have come away with a win. Pep Guardiola also would have used an easy home game to give Erling Haaland or Kevin de Bruyne (if fit) a break.
So why then was the narrative that Arteta had dropped Martin Odegaard, rather than given him a rest?
Against Chelsea and Sevilla, Odegaard was poor. He looked tired.
Only Ben White and William Saliba had played more minutes this season for us, and neither get through the workload Odegaard does.
He is not only our creative outlet, but also the man that triggers our high press. It should not be a surprise that at some stages during the season he looks both physically and mentally fatigued.
Gabriel Magalhaes was also given a weekend off, with Jakub Kiwior coming in for the Brazilian. Interesting that the same pal who said “Odegaard dropped” later said “Gabriel has been rested”.
The hope would have been that we destroy Sheffield United, and do not have to bring on either Odegaard to try and win the game, or Gabriel to try and hold on. At 5-0 I would say the rest and rotation tactic worked.
The comfortable win also saw Ben White get a little break, taken off with half an hour left to play. Gabriel Martinelli was also taken off at the same time.
10-minutes after those two subs, Bukayo Saka was taken off. He was followed by Emile Smith Rowe and then Declan Rice.
We finished the game with Raya, Tomiyasu, Saliba, Kiwior, Zinchenko, Elneny, Nelson Havertz, Vieira, Trossard, Nketiah. You could easily argue that just 3 (Raya, Saliba, Zinchenko), were part of our strongest XI. Maybe 4 if you include Kai Havertz.
That is how you want to finish a game after a European away. A nice easy win and hardly any of your first XI on the pitch at the final whistle.
When we signed Kai Havertz, I blogged that he provided Arteta with 6 tactical options. One of those was that it would enable the manager to rest Odegaard, with Havertz playing on the right of the two-8s. That is exactly what happened Saturday.
With West Ham mid-week in the cup, I expect Arteta to play a bit of a 50/50 team and have an eye on Newcastle.
I expect Odegaard’s rest to continue and we will likely see both Saka and Martinelli on the bench. That will mean starts for Havertz, Trossard and Nelson. We will probably also see Emile Smith Rowe and Eddie Nketiah start.
In defence, it will be White and Takehiro Tomiyasu on the flanks and Kiwior at centre back. He will be joined by either William Saliba or Gabriel. Expect either Mohamed Elneny or Jorginho to come in for Declan Rice, with Aaron Ramsdale in goal.
Newcastle and Sevilla will see Arteta returning to the “strongest possible XI”, before he rests a couple at home to Burnley in the league.
Last year we would not have suffered the burn-out had Arteta had the players available to him to rest and rotate during the early season games. Rice, Havertz, Trossard and Jorginho are 4 players we did not have 12 months ago. All 4 give Arteta those options to give players a rest without seeing a huge drop off in quality.
Get used to players being rested, as I expect to see Arteta continue to shuffle the pack. And a player being rested does not mean they are dropped – if we were playing Man City at home on Saturday, Odegaard would have started.
PS: What a hat trick for Eddie.
UTA.
Keenos
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 