Probably posted before but interesting (and long) article that looks at the risks and benefits of moving Odegaard to a deeper role on the left, and why that represents the best path for both the player and the club in the long term. Some snippets below.

The issue:

His zone of influence on a game needs to be larger in order to deserve the sizeable contract he’s been handed, Ødegaard at LCM (especially with that LCM being a deeper role) does just that. The forced directness that is a by-product of his angles being cut off (left footer on the left side) as well as the increase in areas of reception that would occur with him consistently operating deeper would increase both the volume of actions that would occur as well as increasing the quality of those actions. Too often Ødegaard lets games slip away from him, too little responsibility in tandem with too much influence- if Arsenal’s ability to play well is going to be influenced by Ødegaard’s ability to influence the game then he needs to have more responsibilities to match that influence and given what he can do, that responsibilities has to come in the form of an increased role in deeper phases.

Concerns about moving him:

Martin Ødegaard has a heavy angle bias, he’s one footed and this clearly affects how he receives the ball as well as the passes that are available to him once he has it. While when he’s on the right hand side of the pivot with his back facing a presser he has a large portion of the pitch available to him on his left boot, when on the left hand side he’s far more limited. He’ll also likely be less secure when on the left, when turning to his left (which is likely to happen as that’s where most of the space is when receiving on the left hand side), he’s more likely to show the ball to the defender as his body isn’t between it (has to use the outside of the boot to push the ball left). When turning right using his left foot his body is between man and ball which is a safer turn. Ødegaard knows this and it’ll likely just lead to missed opportunities to progress rather than turnovers but it does bring forth inefficiency in deep build up. The limits that his angle bias puts upon him would likely lead to somebody who’s inefficient in build up on the left hand side, reliant on risky outside of the boot passes and bounce passes into deeper players (therefore shirking progressive responsibility). Therefore resulting in enforced safety when being progressed to by a centre half.

Potential benefits:

There’s also simple positives with moving him to the left that require no level of work or adaptation. Firstly, as previously mentioned the balance between him and Martinelli is great, his creative numbers would spike as he’s afforded a runner and with his angles being cut off he’d become more of a threat transitionally due to forced directness. This directness would also translate to his half space crossing, less time to think and less touches in the final third would force him to produce that action more often (which is especially beneficial considering Kai Havertz’s likely CF conversion and his preference to drift to the right hand side). His temperament already presents him as a better option in the role than anyone in the squad aside from Declan Rice and if he can iron out his in possession deficiencies (build up) there is simply no reason why he can’t start the biggest of games in the role. There’s also the matter of his exceptional finishing ability when shooting across his body, a large issue with his shooting comes from his struggles when opening up, this wouldn’t be an issue on the left as the angles for his favoured drilled shot to the bottom left hand corner of the goal are more favourable. His offensive movement will not be affected either, he will still be one of the best box crashing midfielders in world football- just with better angles to get his shot off. He’ll also be a far more effective runner, while not a dynamic over lapper, he’d certainly be a threat on the underlap (something Arsenal have sorely missed since Granit Xhaka’s departure), further increasing his creative output.

https://medium.com/@HBM_afc/martin-ødegaard-problem-or-solution-3eac18c4d0b8