‘Stay humble’… Arsenal fans take aim at Erling Haaland who can’t match Martin Odegaard for Norway

Erling Haaland has certainly become the villain of Arsenal’s attempts to win the Premier League over the past few seasons.

Haaland has scored an unruly amount of goals as part of Manchester City’s relentless winning machine, one that Arsenal are yet to better over a full season.

Of course, it’s ironic that the Premier League title-race pitches two of Norway’s biggest ever footballing talents against each other – Haaland and Martin Odegaard.

The duo play together during each international break and then resume their fierce rivalry back in England.

That being said, given Odegaard is injured at Arsenal, Haaland has been stepping in as Norway’s captain, and fans in N5 weren’t impressed by his conduct on Sunday evening.

Martin Odegaard is a much better leader than Erling Haaland

After an impressive 3-0 win against Slovenia last Thursday, Norway lost 5-1 against Austria in their second fixture of the break, a result that was poorly received back home.

And after the game, despite being captain, Haaland refused to speak to the media, something he later apologised for on social media.

That being said, Arsenal fans weren’t impressed, and one reminded the City striker to ‘stay humble’ after Haaland’s recent spat with Mikel Arteta.

Also sharing their thoughts on X, another fan wrote: “In the absence of Odegaard, makeshift captain Erling Haaland refused to meet the press after his country lost 5-1 to Austria.

“Being a leader and being a good goal scorer are two different things. Real leaders never hide.”

One fan declared that Odegaard would never shy away from his responsibilities, once again highlighting why Haaland was a ‘weak’ leader.

They wrote: “He was also captain in Odegaard’s absence and refused to meet the press after the game.

“That’s weak leadership. Other players had to do it. That would never happen with Odegaard as captain.”

And then there were those who simply chose to take aim at Haaland altogether, who endured a rare night when he didn’t score for his country.

Mikel Merino ready to replace Martin Odegaard at Arsenal

There’s currently a bit of discrepancy on when Odegaard will be fit to return at Arsenal in the coming weeks.

But whether it’s November or December, Arsenal do have better ready-made replacements than Norway right now.

And although many fans in north London will still be hoping that Ethan Nwaneri gets more minutes in Odegaard’s absence, Mikel Merino now seems primed to kickstart his Arsenal career.

Merino recently explained his decision to join Arsenal, one that was made a lot easier owing to his confidence in Arteta.

And it now seems as if the Spaniard will start regularly for the club in Arsenal’s upcoming fixtures once club football returns.