'Does more talking than playing football!' - 'Weak' Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard targeted by fans after 'categorically unacceptable season'

Arsenal dropped points again on Saturday as Mikel Arteta's side were beaten 2-1 by Bournemouth. Odegaard was at fault for Bournemouth's winner, after allowing Evanilson to get the wrong side of him, and came in for criticism from supporters afterwards.

Supporter @joojobryte posted on X: "Arteta needs to start benching this dude, he does more talking off the pitch than playing football."

And @LFCRayy added: "The most washed arsenal player playing the strong mentality card is insane to me."

Elsewhere, Arsenal fan @aliladiere was not happy at all, posting: "I just don’t get how you can go the whole season of Arsenal Football Club and be as poor as Odegaard has been. They need to tell us if something is going on cos this is categorically unacceptable."

Another Gooner, D@EideballHater99, said: "Odegaard is either giving the ball away or making a 5 yard sideways pass to Saka, this guy provides absolutely no value to this team on the pitch."

And @Bxshhyy posted: "Odegaard why are you scared to shoot the ball bro I promise it won’t blow up."

Odegaard spoke of his disappointment after the final whistle. He told Sky Sports: "Massive disappointment. I think we started the game pretty well. We got the goal and felt like we controlled pretty much everything, but they score and we lose 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."

Odegaard's form has been in the spotlight throughout the campaign. The captain has just two goals and seven assists this season in the Premier League, a big difference from the 15 goals he managed in 2022-23 and the 10 assists he conjured up last term. The Norwegian also struggled in the Champions League semi-final first leg against PSG and his form will be a major concern for Mikel Arteta going into the return. The Arsenal boss has called up his team to use the "anger, frustration and rage" from the Bournemouth loss as motivation against PSG and will hope Odegaard can step up.

Odegaard and Arsenal now head to PSG for the second leg of their Champions League semi-final. The Gunners trail 1-0 from the first leg and therefore need to pull off an impressive comeback in Paris if they are to progress to a final against either Barcelona or Inter.