Odegaard Bemoans Bournemouth Defeat, Demands Response Against PSG
Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard was disappointed with his team’s performance in the 2-1 defeat to Bournemouth in a 2024-25 Premier League encounter on Saturday.
The Gunners suffered their fourth defeat of the season thanks to goals from Dean Huijsen, and Evanilson after Declan Rice had scored the opening goal.
The Gunners have now won just once out of their last five Premier League matches.
Odegaard admitted that the team failed to find the rhythm to get going against Bournemouth despite starting well.
He said: “I think we started the game pretty well – we got the goal and felt like we controlled pretty much everything, but they scored and we lost control of the game.
“We never find the rhythm after that, it is too chaotic and too sloppy from us. The second half is not acceptable.
“We have to move on as we have a massive game coming up. We have to get ready for that and analyse this game as well.
“This is what we want – we want to compete in every competition. We wanted to come here and do a good game and win, but that wasn’t the case.
“It is a massive game on Wednesday, but we have to use it today to be ready and beat PSG on Wednesday.”
Similarly, Arsenal coach, Mikel Arteta blamed the team’s poor defending for the defeat.
He said: “We started the game and a lot of the things we wanted happened.
“We should have killed the game and we didn’t. On top of that if you defend your box in two set-pieces in the way we have done you’re in big, big, trouble.
“We should have put the game to bed. We defended really poorly, nowhere near the standards that we are used to.
“We wanted to generate the momentum and a really positive vibe today – we haven’t. What we have created is frustration, rage and anger – make sure we use that on Wednesday.
“We had so many big spaces and big opportunities to score but we didn’t. When you concede goals from set pieces it’s very difficult to earn the three points.”
“We lost because we don’t finish the actions and you give so many simple balls away. They (Bournemouth) run and in transition they are really good. When we had them we didn’t kill them. We gave them hope.”
Meanwhile, Bournemouth’s coach, Andoni Iraiola was impressed with his team’s performance as they completed a league double over Arsenal.
He said: : “I like the game overall. I think we had chances. They scored but we played well. The key was the set plays in the second half. In the end in these close games to make the difference with the set plays was the key to take the three points.
“I think we have been at half time talking about a good first half. They (Arsenal) are going to have chances but we were playing well, having a lot of the ball, taking good positions. It was a matter of doing the same thing, pushing a bit more, and I think the subs also helped us. Antoine (Semenyo) coming from the bench was a good spark at that moment when both teams were tired.”
Arsenal have dropped 21 points from winning positions in the Premier League this season, their joint-most ever in a single campaign (also 21 in 2019-20).
Up next for Arsenal is a Champions League clash against PSG in Paris on Wednesday.
The Gunners will be hoping to overturn a first leg 1-0 defeat to seal a place in the final of the competition for the first time since 2006.
Odegaard Bemoans Bournemouth Defeat, Demands Response Against PSG is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
