Arsenal’s star midfielder insisted that they are not at the desired level and hence they simply gave the match away to Everton. The Gunners were ahead going into the break but they conceded twice in the second half to hand all three points to Everton.
Odegaard scored the only goal for Arsenal as he combined with Kieran Tierney on the left and slotted the ball past Jordan Pickford to hand Arsenal the lead. But goals from Richarlison and a 90th-minute strike from Demarai Grey earned Everton their first win since September. This was Arsenal’s third defeat away from home especially after their struggles at Old Trafford against Manchester United.
Odegaard, who had a great game for Arsenal shared his honest thoughts after the game. “It’s a hard one to take. I think in general we were not at the level we needed to be at today,” Odegaard told Sky Sports after the defeat.
“We had some good moments but we have to do much better. We should have been better.
“It’s hard to say. That’s just how it is sometimes. It’s hard to say exactly what happened. We have to do better when we have that lead. We stopped playing and gave them the game they wanted to play, ” the former Real Madrid man added.
The 22-year-old also went on to say that he feels it is a mindset problem. “I think it is”.
Odegaard highlights how the team becomes afraid after taking a lead and that’s according to him was a wrong attitude from the Gunners and they paid the price.
“When you’re leading 1-0 you get afraid to lose the win and in my opinion, that’s what we did wrong today,” he said.
“You go for the second goal and that was the intention but we didn’t manage to do that on the pitch.”
This was the second straight defeat for Arsenal where they took the lead and gave it all away. Mikel Arteta’s men have played really well but only in patches. The Spaniard will be looking to induce that winning mentality among his players. The players have also been largely inconsistent.
Arsenal had the against Manchester United aswell, courtesy of an early strike from Emile Smith Rowe. Martin Odegaard scored in that game aswell as he restored parity for the Gunners until Cristiano Ronaldo scored the winner for the Red Devils.
