Arsenal star Martin Ødegaard has shared his disappointment at Norway’s performances during the international break, with his own display questioned last night.
The midfielder has been speaking to TV station TV2 after their draw with Georgia, which capped off a disappointing international break for the nation.
He was a part of Norway’s squad for this international set of fixtures, in which they took on Spain and Georgia in UEFA Euro qualifying.
It proved to be a tough week for them, though, as they suffered a heavy 3-0 defeat to Spain in their first game before only managing a 1-1 draw against Georgia in their second game.
The latter result in particular is one that he and his nation were left unimpressed by, with the Arsenal captain making his feelings clear.
“It is sad. I am disappointed,” he said.
“It’s a game we should have won, so it’s a shame. It’s not much reward. I feel we have done a lot of good things.
“Against Spain we had a long and very good period, but fell apart at the end and lost 0-3. Today we totally overpowered them in the first half and should have led by many goals.
“I don’t know if they have that many chances outside the box, maybe one or two more, but we have a lot of chances the other way. We did a lot of good things and we have to take it with us, but now it’s just frustrating.”
Ødegaard has been in great form for Arsenal this season, playing a key role in their surge towards the Premier League title.
One particular area of his game he has improved is his goalscoring, with this season seeing him bagging seven assists and scoring ten goals in 35 games so far.
He’s been unable to replicate his goalscoring form on the international stage though, with his last strike for his country coming all the way back in March last year against Slovakia.
He missed a glorious chance to end that drought against Georgia, something which saw him criticised personally after the game.
“Even a class player like Ødegaard made more mistakes than in a very long time. It was one of his worst matches in a long time,” said former Norway coach Egil Olsen.
“This (the goalscoring) bothers Ødegaard a little. He has ten goals in the Premier League this season, but he is unable to bring the goal production into the national team. There are two goals in 49 games,” added expert Morten Langli.
