PUT aside a slightly flawed defensive showing, Sunday’s 3-2 Premier League win at Watford was at times as fluid and exciting an attacking display as Arsenal have produced under Mikel Arteta.
There was so much to be happy about, not least that it lifted the Gunners to fourth – with three, yes, THREE games, in hand on West Ham and Manchester United just below them.
However, even with Alexandre Lacazette’s link play at its very best, Martinelli back in the goals, and the very nature of all three goals, it was the sensational quality of the developing partnership between Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard that left the deepest impression.
Watford are not the best defensive unit, far from it.
But I am not sure the best could have lived with the on-field chemistry, imagination and rilliance of the interplay between the best right-sided attacking English player, (there, I have said it) and our Norwegian playmaker, whose displays must be causing many a scratched head in Madrid.
I am not the sort of fan or writer to get carried away easily but the word that kept coming to the fore of my mind on Sunday, watching the two artists combine, was ‘telepathic’.
I am sure we all appreciate that the difference between the good player and the great player is that the latter knows what they wish to do with the ball before they receive it.
Most Arsenal supporters will have read Dennis Bergkamp’s autobiography, Stillness and Speed, and the great man speaks about this very thing so eloquently.
Hardly a surprise when the incredible Dutchman, always had the ability to see the bigger picture on the pitch.
Of course, this is why the other adage of playing with better players will improve you as an individual is also true.
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I recall Ray Parlour once saying that even surrounded by opposition players, he knew that Bergkamp would have positioned himself in the one place where it was possible for him to make a pass, and hence retain possession.
I believe that Odegaard and Saka are influencing and improving each other and the more they play together they better it will be.
It was so obvious on Sunday at Vicarage Road that both instinctively knew where the other would be and anticipated the off the ball movement the other would make.
This makes for exhilarating football for us supporters to enjoy and gives the opposition defenders, at times, and impossible task.
The interchange of passes, often disguised, reversed or backheeled were simply a thing of beauty and we have to pinch ourselves to think how young both players are and how long we might just have to drink in this blossoming relationship.
In anticipation of writing this article I took to social media to ask fellow fans for other examples of such chemistry between attacking players, with the Pires and Henry French Connection being the first that came to me.
There were may superb responses that made for a wonderful trip down memory lane on a Monday morning.
The excitement of fans and the obvious fact both are happy in North London must be matched by club ambition.
The many that struck a chord included Radford and Kennedy, Walcott and Van Persie, Nasri and Fabregas, and Giroud with almost anyone.
However, the example that best compared directly to the implicit understanding in Saka’s link-up with Odegaard was also the one mentioned most often – the special bond between Bergkamp and Freddie Ljungberg.
This is a lovely parallel to draw, not only positionally, but also because it was after the injury to Robert Pires in 2002 that this Dutch/Swedish combo carried Arsenal to a glorious League and Cup double.
Twenty years on, admittedly with lesser targets in Arsenal’s sights, will it be an English/Norwegian combo that carries the Gunners, 20 years later, back to European football’s top table?
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The excitement of fans and the obvious fact both players are happy in North London, however, must be seen to be matched by club ambition.
This will, I feel sure, be demonstrated further if Arsenal qualify for the Champions League by flexing their muscles in the transfer market.
The Gunners, though, must also look at both players’ contracts.
Odegaard I am relaxed about as he is on a good salary and has a further three years beyond this summer.
But Saka, with two years remaining and a wage set at a level that reflected his progress in 2020, needs his deal addressed urgently in June.
Follow David Seager’s Twitter for more views on Arsenal.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
