Why Real Madrid needs : MARTIN ØDEGAARD?

Martin Ødegaard, 21-year-old, Norwegian Superstar has seen lots of ups and downs in his short Footballing Career. Real Madrid paid Stromsgodset, a reported 3 million Euros for Martin Ødegaard in 2015. Playing under Manager Zinedine Zidane at Castilla , 15 year old Martin Ødegaard couldn't rack up impressive stats and thus was overlooked. Real Madrid fans and media started ridiculing him for his failure to live upto their expectations. His Career though changed on loan at Vitesse. And now in his 1st senior season at La Liga for Real Sociedad, Martin Ødegaard has caught everyone's eye.

Martin Ødegaard has played 28 matches (including cup games) in 2019/20 scoring 7 and assisting 8 times with 

— 2.5 key passes per game (1st in Laliga).

— 2.4 Successful Dribbles per game (4th in Laliga).

— 9 Big chances created (4th in Laliga).

— 0.2 Through balls per game ( 4th in Laliga).

— 7.29 Whoscored.com rating (8th in Laliga).

His number speaks a lot, first we will find out what makes him so effective then we will compare his stats with Real Madrid Midfielders to find out if he is ready or not.

1. Position

Real Sociedad's Manager Imanol Alguacil mostly plays Martin Ødegaard as a CAM, but has also used him in various other Positions like in CM, RW or even as a CF. His brilliant technical ability and his reading of the game allows him to play in number of different positions.

At Vitesse, Ødegaard was most often used as a RW, from where he could drift into midfield to open up wider passing angles. He often stayed quite high up the pitch as an attacking outlet for his team for Counter attacks. Real Sociedad though, plays a more possession based Football, thus Ødegaard isn't used as an outlet whereas he is the orchestrator of the team. He controls the game from the midfield, spraying passes all across the pitch whether it be a lofted pass, line breaking pass, cross, through pass or a cross field ball.

2. First Touch

Most important attribute for any Football is first touch. How you receive the ball, will then decide how you progress. Martin Ødegaard has mastered his first touch. He doesn't do anything fancy, he stays aware of his surrounding and then decide how he will receive the ball. For example

Sergio Ramos comes up to Martin Ødegaard to put pressure before he received the pass, Ødegaard cleverly takes a delicate first touch to nutmeg Ramos. Ramos is beaten thus he takes out Ødegaard and receives a yellow.

Before receiving the pass Ødegaard analyses the pitch, then playes a one touch pass to teammate in space, speeding up the build up play.

3. Technical Ability.

Technically Martin Ødegaard is brilliant, he has all the abilities of an elite forward. He is technically potent to execute his vision of passing, shooting, dribbling and a lot more. He can pass along the ground, over the top, play a cross-field ball or even play a well timed curved pass. His technical ability enables him to shoot and score from distance.

4. Dribbling.

On lone at Vitesse, Ødegaard dribbled less than 3.5 times per 90, much less than the likes of Steven Bergwijn and Brandley Kuwas. However, Ødegaard had one of the most elite success percentages in dribbling at 74%. This shows how he kept possession, he wasn't wasteful, he knew he was good at dribbling but he used it as a weapon in times of need with greater precision. 

This season at Real Sociedad his numbers are equally terrifying, with 2.4 successful dribbles per 90, 4th best in the league. Yes his dribbling isn't at the level of Lionel Messi but is greatly effective.

Martin Ødegaard doesn't use his dribbling ability just to get out of tight spaces, he uses it to lure defenders towards him freeing up spaces for his teammates and then finding them with incisive through passes.

5. Line Breaking Passes.

Last Summer FC Barcelona paid an initial fee of 75 million for Frenkie de jong to Ajax. One of the main reason for paying that kind of fee was De Jong's ability to play brilliant line breaking pass which took out 5 to 6 defensive players. Martin Ødegaard possess similar abilities. He has a wide range of vision which he uses to find gaps in defence and then play brilliant line breaking passes.

Against Deportivo Alaves, Ødegaard produced one of the most brilliant passes of 2019/20 season in Laliga. He took out the opposition's entire midfield and defence with a single line breaking pass to setup a goal for Mikel Oyarzabal.

Another instance where Ødegaard plays a line breaking pass splitting the opposition's defence.

6. Key Passes & Through balls

After 23 league appearances in Laliga, Martin Ødegaard has provided a total of 54 key passes (excluding Cup games) this season, 3rd only behind José Campaña and Lionel Messi. But when you look at it, per game basis he provides 2.3 key passes per game 2nd to only Lionel Messi (2.5 Kp per game). 

At just 21, and in his 1st laliga season, his key pass numbers are staggering, Furthermore he plays 0.2 through balls per game(4th best in Laliga). Playing in a much deeper role compared to his counterparts, this kinds of numbers are dazzling. If Martin Ødegaard is given a chance to play alongside a clinical finisher at Real Madrid, let's say someone like Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe or Lautaro Martinez or even a fully fit Eden Hazard, he will rack up large number of assists.

Example (For Vitesse) : Spots his teammate is ready to make a run, thus plays a well timed through ball. The ball was so precisely played that the attackers faint touch rolled it past the goalkeeper into the net.

Example (For Real Sociedad) : Similar to the previous instance.

7. Lofted Pass

Nowadays teams tend to have a very compact organisation while defending, in a manner that there is a very little space between the lines which makes it more difficult to play through balls or line breaking passes. But there is also a down side of such an organisation, defending team tends to leave a lot of space behind the defence. This space can be exploited by playing a well timed lofted pass over the defence.

Here Ødegaard is pressed towards the by-line and has no pass options, but his teammate decides to make a run into the space he spots that and plays a brilliant lofted pass which takes out the LB and midfielder and the winger has all the space in the world to play a good cross.

In this instance, Ødegaard plays a lofted pass to create a direct goal-scoring chance. There was no space between the lines to play a through ball thus he plays a lofted through ball.

8. Cross- field Passes and Crosses.

As described above, teams tend to defend pretty narrow, crowding one side of the pitch making it as hard as possible to pass through. Thus you need to switch the play, which would then force the defending team to spread out leaving spaces open to pass through. Martin Ødegaard always keeps an eye on wider players who are in space and then switch the play with cross field balls.

Opposition is defending in a narrow formation, crowding one side of the pitch. Ødegaard spots the run of LB and the space in the wider areas, then switches the play.

Real Sociedad don't predominantly rely on crosses to create scoring opportunity. But when they do it mostly comes from Martin Ødegaard. He puts in 1.2 accurate crosses per game(most for Real Sociedad). His crosses though are mostly played when he is in the wing space, among those large number of which are played towards the far post in hopes for any kind of deflection. 

9. Combination with Forwards.

Martin Ødegaard develops great understanding with the forwards wherever he plays. Its important, because the forwards should understand when they should make the run and what kind of ball Ødegaard is gonna play, similarly Ødegaard must understand when his fellow teammates as looking for a ball behind the defence and when they want it at their feet. Thus must acquire knowledge of thier teammates game.

At Real Sociedad, Ødegaard has developed remarkable understanding with the forwards like Mikel Oyarzabal, Alexander Isak, Adnan Januzaj etc.

10. Dead-Ball Situations.

Martin Ødegaard is a dead ball specialist, he can either score from short Free-kicks or play a deadly cross into the six yard box from long free-kicks. His corners are equally dangerous.He puts in 1.5 accurate corners per game(8th best in Laliga) but he is no Toni Kroos(2.3 accurate corners best in Laliga) yet.

11. Shooting.

Ødegaard is an active shooter, he takes 1.8 shots per game. But interestingly 1.1 of those are taken from outside of the box and none from inside the six yard box. This stats proves that he doesn't like to make advance runs beyond the penalty box, he does all his shooting from outside the box. He has scored 4 times this season twice from outside and twice from the penalty box but none from the six yard box.

10. Pressing and Defending.

Martin Ødegaard has won 21 tackles this season in Laliga, 4th best when compared with other midfielders and fellow forward playing for Real Sociedad. His numbers are behind those of Mikel Merino, Mikel Oyarzabal and Portu. This shows us the weakness of Martin Ødegaard, he isn't effective defensively. He has been dribbled past 25 times this season, most amongs those group of players mentioned above. But when you consider he is just 21 and is adapting to the deeper positions, you can understand he might improve his positioning and defensive output in the future.

But it's not all muddy though, when its comes to pressing and winning the ball back, his numbers belong to the good book. He has made 199 recoveries this season, only behind Mikel Merino when compared with midfielders and forwards playing for Real Sociedad. His 199 recoveries are more than any Real Madrid Midfielders or forwards only Toni Kroos with 194 and Federico Valverde with 148 (1220 minutes) come close to him.

Ready for Real Madrid?

Just like we discussed, Martin Ødegaard's attacking numbers are at an elite level and considering that this is just his 1st season in Laliga, it's bound to get better. Let us now directly compare his numbers against Real Madrid players.

Direct Comparison shows us that no one at Real Madrid has put up better attacking numbers from the midfield than Martin Ødegaard.

Curiously, only Eden Hazard with 50 succesful dribbles comes close to Ødegaard's 56, though Hazard has played a lot fewer games still his numbers are high as he is an elite dribbler.Further Ødegaard has provided 54 key passes from 23 appearance, only Toni Kroos with 50 (24 apps) and Karim Benzema with 44 (26 apps) come close to him.

It is clearly evident that Ødegaard is a certain improvement in the attacking department for Real Madrid. But Ødegaard still has 1year left on his loan spell at Real Sociedad. Real Madrid this season has only scored 49 goals much lesser than Barcelona's 63, which they have compensated with defence. But if Real Madrid decides to bring him back this summer, they will have one of the best attacking talents at their hands who will surely give them the much needed attacking boost.