As a pure #10 in 4-2-3-1
In my opinion, this formation is best suited to the qualities of Martin Ødegaard. He can have a free role at the centre of the park, where he can float freely and roam according to his will. He can make the opposition his puppet if I had to explain it in the simplest of terms.
Martin Ødegaard as a pure #10 in a 4-2-3-1
— Parshva Shah (@_ParshvaShah_) September 4, 2020
- Ødegaard's most natural position on the pitch
- can play off the striker and feed balls to wide midfielders/full-backs to create overlaps/underlaps
- will have a free role, making the opposition dance to his tunes pic.twitter.com/AuaXEARGx4
This is how Real Madrid would line up if Zidane were to play Ødegaard as a #10 in the 4-2-3-1 formation. The presence of Casemiro and Fede Valverde gives Martin Ødegaard the license to go full throttle and control the tempo of the game according to his will. He can literally warp the rhythm of the game in an advanced position on the pitch. That is exactly what he is made for.
Ødegaard will be afforded the positional flexibility to play on both sides of the pitch, while also operating centrally and linking up with the centre-forward (Karim Benzema in this case). His presence in between the lines of the opposition can be a menacing prospect for the opposition.
In such a scheme, marking Ødegaard will be an extremely tough task for defenders because he can operate literally anywhere on the pitch. His positional flexibility will once again allow him to create overloads on both wings (with Eden Hazard/Karim Benzema/Marcelo on the left and Marco Asensio/Fede Valverde/Dani Carvajal on the right).
Playing off the centre-forward may help the wide players to penetrate the half-space, pulling the opposition full-backs out of the equation and creating a major goalscoring chance. Simply put, Martin Ødegaard as a pure #10 in the 4-2-3-1 formation is letting Hulk enter Smash Mode! The damage inflicted is equivalent.
There’s an air of excitement surrounding the return of Martin Ødegaard. He can be impactful from the word go. It’ll be interesting to see how Zidane uses Ødegaard and how his minutes will be managed because one of the things that Zidane ensured Ødegaard was that he would be guaranteed a lot of minutes.
No matter where Zidane plays Ødegaard, the Norwegian’s ingenuity will help him stake a claim in the XI and become an indispensable member of the starting XI, sooner or later.