Jamie Carragher stands by his claim that Martin Odegaard ’s celebrations after Arsenal’s 3-1 win over
Liverpool were ‘over the top’ and resembled those seen after a cup final victory. The outspoken former Liverpool defender drew the ire of
Arsenal fans with his reaction to the side’s triumph over their title rivals in February , as goals from Bukayo Saka , Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard secured the hosts maximum points in north
London. The result saw the Gunners move to within two points of top-of-the-table Liverpool at the time and Mikel Arteta couldn’t hide his emotions at the full-time whistle, with the Spaniard seen sprinting down the touchline and fist-pumping the crowd. Not long after, Arsenal captain Odegaard borrowed a camera off the club’s official photographer, Stuart MacFarlane, and began taking pictures of him in front of the Emirates faithful. Providing co-commentary for Sky Sports, Carragher was less than impressed and demanded the Norwegian simply ‘get down the tunnel’ instead of milking the moment on the pitch. ‘Dear me. Just get down the tunnel. You’ve won a game. It’s three points,’ Carragher said at the time. ‘They’ve been brilliant, they’re back in the title race, get down the tunnel.’ When his Sky Sports colleagues had a laugh about his rant a little later on, Carragher responded: ‘I’m serious, honestly.’ Odegaard and Carragher were reunited a month later after Arsenal put
Premier League strugglers Sheffield United to the sword with a 6-0 victory at Bramall Lane. While interviewing Odegaard on Monday Night Football, Carragher jokingly asked the Norwegian why he wasn’t joined by MacFarlane as Arsenal’s players celebrated the win and the pair were able to put any potential hostility to one side. But Carragher defended his original criticism of Odegaard when the topic was raised again by an Arsenal supporter during a Q&A session on The Overlap
YouTube channel this week. ‘I’ve had a laugh about that and Odegaard was brilliant I think… I don’t know if you saw the interview on Monday Night
Football a few weeks later when we had a joke about it. And I saw the photographer a couple of times as well,’ the ex-Liverpool and
England centre-back said. ‘I think whenever that happens, obviously
Social Media goes mad and everyone gets tribal and I get all that. ‘But I think it’s good that we can have a laugh about it a few weeks later.’ Carragher added: ‘I did think it was a little bit over the top from Odegaard. Not Arteta and the celebrating down the line, that’s in the moment. ‘I just thought that thing of the camera and the photographer… it reminded me of something you do at the end of a cup final where you’ve won the cup, John Bailey’s got a stupid hat on, someone’s got the kitman on their shoulders, I get all that. ‘But I just thought: “It’s a league game, you’ve won, get down the tunnel!”‘ Gary Neville said he did not have a ‘problem’ with Arsenal’s celebrations this term, though felt Arteta’s squad were guilty of ‘lacking emotional control’ towards the end of last season. ‘If Manchester United, going back 20 years, equalised in the last minute of a game, we wouldn’t celebrate. We’d go and get the ball and get back to the halfway line,’ the ex-Manchester United and England right-back said. ‘If we then won a game in the last minute, we would celebrate and go crazy. But then at the end of the game, we would stay controlled because the job’s not done. ‘There’s that element of: are you in control of your emotions? It’s a feeling sometimes in the stadium. ‘To be fair, this season I haven’t had a problem with Arsenal’s celebrations and I didn’t have a problem with that day. I thought it was a big win against Liverpool. ‘I had an issue last year where I thought there was a lack of emotional control before the run-in. ‘Arsenal beat Bournemouth with about 12 games to go and Bournemouth were in the bottom three and it was almost as if Arsenal were lifting the trophy. I felt that feeling, that emotional control was lost a little bit.’ For more stories like this, check our sport page . Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on
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