Here’s a tactical insight from Adrian Clarke (why did he stop making videos for Arsenal.com?) into why Ode is frequently asked to drop deeper:
https://www.premierleague.com/en/news/3906566
Here’s another article from Sky on the same subject:
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11670/13075688/martin-odegaard-arsenal-captain-has-dropped-deeper-to-help-get-mikel-artetas-side-firing
This criticism of Ode for dropping “too deep” is one I have always found quite bizzare. A player playing as per the manager’s tactical plan is criticised for doing so, surely we expect our players to follow whatever tactical plan the manager and his staff come up with it? I remember a Henry interview from his time at Barca, it was a match against Celtic I think, he scored a brilliant goal in the 1st half and thought he was playing well but Pep took him off at half time simply because he wasn’t following tactical instructions.
Arteta and the people around him see these players every day, they know them far better than we do, they know their strengths and weaknesses, and they have a better idea how they are trying to fit in the little pieces together to create a cohesive unit. Therefore, any criticisms on how we build up or attack should be directed at the manager and not the players who are merely executing the manager’s plan in my humble opinion.
The thing that I also don’t get is, there is no consistency in the player criticism. Ode is criticised for dropping from 8 to 6 but nothing is said about Zubi dropping from 6 to the CB position. Rice is even worse, he starts at 8 but sometime drops between the CBs (skipping the 6 position). Timber starts at RB, but we see him pop up between the opposition RB and CB during build up. We see this throughout the team but only Odegaard is weirdly criticised for it. Just to be clear, I don’t want to see any player criticised for following the manager’s tactical plan.
To me, I view Ode as Arteta’s Bernando Silva, he’s one of our most tactically astute players both with and without the ball. Silva is one of Guardiola’s most trusted players tactically, he even used him as LB against us at the Emirates. I see Ode as another Silva, I don’t see him as the final 3rd player which a lot of people on here seem to regard him as. He can be very good in the final 3rd but that’s not where his strengths lie IMO.
With regards to Zubi’s form, we have had a similar player in Jorginho before. They are not good at defending when the spaces are too big and we have been quite open recently (I’m still shocked at how open we were against Villa for example). Their strengths at defending comes from anticipating danger and neutralising it before it materialises. They are not great man markers/recovery defenders IMO.
