“Not good enough”: Arsenal star takes responsibility for United defeat | OneFootball

Martin Odegaard has admitted his penalty attempt against Manchester United was “not good enough”, but Mikel Arteta has praised the midfielder for stepping up again in the shootout.

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Across 120 minutes of football against Manchester United on Sunday, Martin Odegaard was arguably one of Arsenal’s best performers.

The midfielder made 10 chances, including two “big chances”, he completed 85% of his passes and five of six long balls, yet he was unfortunately a pivotal part of the Gunners’ eventual defeat.

With United down to 10 men and Arsenal levelling the scores, Odegaard had the chance to give his team the lead from the penalty spot. Given how United had played since going down a man, that may have been enough to win the game.

But Odegaard saw his effort saved, and he admitted afterwards that he should have done better.

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“I think we did more than enough to win this game – I don’t know if they had a better chance than the goal and we created enough to score,” Odegaard began. “Me with the penalty as well, that should have been a goal.

“It’s not good enough from me, I have to score that one. I think it was a crucial moment as well, so it was a tough one to take. That’s it.”

In Odegaard’s defence, he did then step up first in the penalty shootout, sending the goalkeeper the wrong way. Mikel Arteta praised his captain for that decision in the circumstances.

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“The first one that happens, when you want to take responsibility and leadership in a team, it can happen,” Arteta began. “He missed it. What I loved is that when I asked them, OK, who wants to take it? He was the first one in the sheet because I want to take it.

“And that’s the players that we want. You’re going to have difficult moments. It’s how you respond to them. He’s the captain and he’s the leader. And I love that he’s done that today again.”