Odegaard – ‘It was a brilliant performance’

Martin Odegaard turned in a player-of-the-match performance in our win over West Ham on Boxing Day, contributing two assists in a superb attacking display.

The captain was one of the few players in our starting XI who wasn’t involved at the World Cup, and he said he used the break ‘in a good way’.

Here’s a full transcript of his post-match interview…

On what was said at half-time…

I think we just said, 'keep on playing, keep on believing, keep doing the same things.' A few adjustments, but I think we played pretty good in the first half as well. Just lacked the goal and they scored out of nothing. But I think we played well, and we kept on doing a lot of the same things. And then we got more space in the second half. I think they were tired in the end, so brilliant, brilliant performance.

On keeping the momentum from November…

I think the work we've done. We've had a few players in the World Cup, but the ones who have been here have been working so hard. We had a really great camp in Dubai, some good games there and hard work really. I think everyone is hungry to come back and prove that we're good enough to be where we are. So hard work and a lot of commitment to the club.

On his own performance…

I felt good today. I think the whole team was good. I had some more rest than other players, not being in the World Cup. So I think I've used that in a good way and I felt good.

On Eddie’s goal…

It was a great goal. I think the whole build up was good and the way he turns in the box and the finish. I’m really, really happy for him to come in and do a performance like this. So, so happy for him.

On putting the pressure on Manchester City…

Yeah, but as we've said many times, we focus on ourselves. We don't care too much about the other teams. We're just focused on ourselves. Keep working hard, stay humble. We look for the next game and win that one. That's all that matters.