Could Arsenal really be better off without Ozil and Alexis?

Martin Keown would be pleased to see the back of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez from Arsenal, but would that really help Arsenal Football Club?

The Gunners have been overshadowed with doubt with the duo both holding the club to ransom over their contractual situations, and both players are now permitted to talk to foreign clubs about potential free transfers this summer.

Alexis is believed to be set on teaming up with former boss Pep Guardiola at Man City, while Mesut Ozil’s future remains less clear.

Keown has now claimed that the situation has created a ‘bad smell’ at the club, and put boss Arsene Wenger in one of the worst situations of his managerial career, and he would now happily see the pair depart.

Keown said: “The other night [against Chelsea], [Mesut] Ozil – it was the first time I realised how good a player he was.

“He committed everything, he was quick, he was incisive in his play, and he was a different Ozil.

“He’s been holding back. I don’t want him at Arsenal if he is not going to commit to every match.

“Sanchez now looks like he’s trying to force that move out of the club. I just don’t like the feeling.

“There is a bad smell at the club and Arsene Wenger can never have been in a more difficult situation at the club.

“It must test him every day having to work in this situation.

“He’s been trying to get these players to sign for two and a half years.

“It’s a conversation which has never gone away and, really, what are you going to get for them now?

“Are they going to secure Champions League football?

“We‘re five points behind Liverpool who look like they are improving all the time.

“I don’t see Arsenal making it into the Champions League and Tottenham might struggle to make it into those four spaces.

“Winning the Europa League might be the only way of getting in there and that might only come at the 11th hour.”

Are Ozil and Alexis causing more damage than good this season? Could the team actually improve in their absence?

Pat J

Tags alexis sanchez Arsenal Keown Ozil

37 Comments

  1. Who cares about Sanchez and Ozil , we have much more serious problems , massive changes are needed , starting with sacking Wenger.

  2. I Think OZiL andWilshere are going to stay .Good luckto Alexis.ANYWAY no one is bigger than he club.We survived the departures of HENRY BERGKAMP….. why not these.

    1. Hang on, we didn’t survive the departure of Henry and Bergkamp?

      We’ve been painfully inconsistent across all competitions since 2008 and haven’t won the league since 2004 (and arguably only close to competing for the title once in fourteen years).

    1. If they are not immediately replaced … I have to agree. And with Wenger in charge we will be struggling.

  3. Yes! we well be better without both of them the only biggest mistakes wenger made during summer was not to sell both and recruit replacements we had the entire 3 months to do something about transfer activities wenger blow up 100mln to 120mln and thats the price you pay if you dont have oversite too much power on single’s person hands – from kitchen to training on pitch and i hate to say in my opinion Wenger is trying to be like a CEO/Coach at the same time.

    1. Have you not seen how little attacking threat and predictable movement we have without Ozil or Sanchez?

      The games without Ozil or Sanchez have been the equivalent of watching a dentist pulling teeth from a patient.

      Admittedly, Sanchez’s ball retention has been poor and passing has been sloppy this season, but his work rate, hustle, movement and attacking threat has got us through games. If we lose one or either we will become too reliant on Wilshere and Ramsey and Wenger will overplay them meaning they’ll become injured.

      1. Sanchez has kept trying but his head has been elsewhere. He hates playing for Wenger and with certain of Wenger’s players who are not up to it.

        1. I agree.

          But, unfortunately, a ‘half head elsewhere’ Sanchez is still better than 10 Iwobi’s.

  4. No but we will be better off without Wenger, innit? Well in the long term anyway. Not if we sign someone like Moyes.

    Over the years We could have gone for managers like Klopp, Conte, Pep, etc. But now there are still good managers we could approach ie Alegri, Simeone, Enrique, Benitez, Jardim, Tuchel, etc. We pay Wenger £9 million per year so we can easily pay over £10 million. That will at least get their attention.

    But then we have another problem KROENKE. Will Kroenke want to sign a manager who spends more and would a top manager want Kroenke as a boss?

    We need to get rid of both Wenger AND Kroenke………..innit?

    1. Yes but Kroenke is here and cannot be got rid of. Wenger is supported by Kroenke who know nothing about football … only about exploiting the fan base.

  5. Bit hard replacing ozil. He’s become the key player and the team is already building around him. Attacking players like alexis are easily replaced.

    1. Really.
      Tell me John rambo.
      Where do we find 30 goals 16 assists a season player for less than a 100 million?

      People have short memory’s. Sanchez carried us so.many times.

      1. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang can play AM, he is a good runner with the ball and knows where the back of the net is, scored 40 goals last season.

        Rumors are BVB might be accepting a £63.5 million bid from China, Wenger ruled him out…

        Highly unlikely but to answer you, we find that player at BVB 😛

        I’m going to be delusional and think Wenger said no so strongly to try and put the media off the truth, which is, Sven is making the transfer and he is getting Auba for us XD

      2. I just don’t know what to suggest anymore. I’ve honestly run out of ideas. I’m just so weary of Arsene and his teams. The who thing seems rotten to the core. It’s not about shipping out one or two players anymore, it’s gone way past that I’m afraid. The whole defence is shaky, we try to walk it into the net, no one wants to come here these days. It’s a right old mess.

  6. Best player we have had since Henry is about to leave for half the price he would of 4 months back.
    Someone should be getting sacked for such stupidity
    Imagine coutinho going for 145
    Sanchez for 30
    We always get robbed
    I was at Emirates for his debut in the pre season friendly So much optimism going around we were gonna build team like promised to compete with the best

    I will never forgive wenger an the board for wasting world class footballers like alexis sanchez

    Disgusting to put him with such average players. An try an justify it. Joke club
    Our fans will say we dont need bad attitudes at this club… What u mean is we don’t someone who has realised were going downhill…

    He wasted years here

  7. There are good players who can replace both Malcom of Bodeaux, Fekir Lyon and Leon Bailey and Mahrez forgot about Thomas Lemar is out of our range. And all these problems were created with our own setup/infrastructure where a Manager is Coach,Transfer negotiator behind the scene, Head Chef he had almost everything on his belt

  8. Alexis left the club last season. Fans wanted him to stay, what has he done this season apart from play with the hand break on? If both players played to their best ability then they would be a massive lose but neither are. Ozil could still make a difference to the club if he feels valued and committed. Sanchez is done and has been since he didn’t get his way in the summer. Wenger was dammed if he sold them in the summer and now dammed because he didn,t sell. He couldn’t win. This weekends team should have had far to much for Notting forest but failed to step up to the mark, now you can understand why they are fringe player who can step up to a starting 11 and young lads who are learning their trade and have a lot to learn.

  9. There’s me thinking go get mahrez not to replace Sanchez or ozil but strengthen that’s difference we’re weak team but have say been unlucky last few games bar forest we need strip from top to end wenger is on borrowed time we arsenal fans are in hell rite now heaven is coming but only when wenger decides sad but true

  10. Of course, the first time we have missed out on UCL is when we had both of them. We can still play and qualify without big names. Do you want to tell me that Leicester had world class players to win the premier league? Let them go, Can perse left but the club remained, after all they were panic buys.

  11. I being saying for 4 years now that ozil doesn’t show up in big away games. For such a good footballer. Its not good enough to play well against the weak teams the deadwood could do that. And in my opinion when Sanchez last year started throwing his toys out of the pram he should have being sold last summer and replaced with Lamar

  12. It’s lunch time at the Emirates:

    Wenger: Bruv, I fancy a kebab. Manz starving

    Bould: Fam, I’m putting on weight like a mother******

    Wenger: Cuz, don’t be like that…….

    Bould: fine!!!!!!

    Arsene and Bould arrive at Arsene’s favourite lunch joint

    Arsene: you bruddah chuck me in some hot sauce

    Waiter: *chuckles* Arsene you’ve been coming here for 21 years. We all know you can’t handle the hot sauce

    Bould: *chuckles*

    Arsene: How bloody well dare you!?!??!

    Waiter: Fine – you can have hot sauce

    Wenger and Bould are waiting for their meals to be served

    Bould: You fam this **** be crazy yo

    Arsene: yes I get you. How the **** Dave pull up in a S Class. Dudes been hustling for like 2 minutes yo

    Bould: *looks over to the window* word!!! Yo I didn’t even catch that ****. But for real though we needz to talk fam.

    Wenger: Yo this street talk?

    Bould: Fam, **** is hard out here right now

    Wenger: Word!

    Bould: All that **** is forgiven but how could you let us crash out of the FA Cup like that?

    Waiter brings over their lunches

    Wenger: wachu mean yo! That was a mistake!

    Bould: Bah fam. That **** was liked played out yo. If you know you ain’t gonna win the league then how you gonna play us out like that in the cup?

    Wenger: *takes a bite out of his plate* dude you make it sound intentional!

    Bould: fam, that **** is weak

    Feeling the after affects of ordering chilli sauce…..

    Arsene: *wipes his forehead with the napkin* you can’t just question me like that!!!!!

    Bould: I’m just saying – no fourth place, no league, no champions league and then the best thing left is the FA Cup. How you gonna play a brudda like that playing that wackass team yesterday

    By this point the after affects of the chilli sauce are kicking in

    Wenger: *signals the waiter* Bruce can j get a Pepsi?

    Waiter: sure

    Wenger: briber get me 4 actually

    Waiter: erm……..

    Owner: just do it!!!! He’s been doing this for 21 years!!!!!! Next minute he’s going to say there is a fly in his lunch and walk out of here with paying!!!!!

    Waiter: *comes back with drinks* here sir

    Arsene: thank you kind sir

    Bould: anyway fam, how you gonna screw us over like that

    Arsene: *takes another bite* WTF!!!! Why are my ears bleeding *drinks all pepsi’s one after the other’

    Bould: yo, we need answers!!!!!!!

    Arsene: this **** is too hot!!!! *gets a plastic container with a fly in it out and from his other suit pocket gets out a tong’ bruv I’m due a refund!!!!

    Bould: every ****ing time

    Owner: every ****ing time

  13. The Sanchez and Ozil transfer saga is all down to Poor Management from the Board not being able to Manage Mr Wenger and Bad Management from Wenger himself. In any other Business the lot of them would be sacked.

  14. If Wenger really loved this club he would have quit a long time ago as he is not good enough to take us forward. If you do think that he is good enough to take us forward, and the fault is at the Board level, then he should have threatened to quit long time ago and made his situation public to get the support of the media and the fans.
    Since he did neither, in my book, he is a has been who has played the game to keep his cushy job of 8M a year with 0 consequences for failure.
    To be honest I dont blame him, who amongst you would say no to a job like that?
    What i do blame is the stupidity of the fans who think he is more than he is.
    An old man hanging on to an exceptional job in his twilight years.

  15. With all respect to you Martin but….either you are paid to say something like this on tv or you are just deluded.
    Yes, something is rotten at afc and we all know that its afc structure starting with the old fo*l !!
    So with all of your experience and knowledge in football I would say youre getting some extra cash cash..

  16. Arsenal are poor with them. Without them the would be only fit for the championship. Wenger is destroying Arsenal. Love? It is hate. He hates Arsenal.

  17. I wish more than anything the fan will ask the board out the way they ask wenger out so they will know that they are the real problem. In all fairness, its not Wenger’s job to extend the contract of these lads, all Wenger needs to to do is tell the board he wants to keep the players and its the duty of the board to get them signed on.

  18. I would say that the Nottingham forest match gave us a glimpse of how shit we are/would be without Sanchez & Ozil. However, we need a new board, a new owner & a new manager. But I believe that we would perform better with a better manager, some of the performances we have witnessed are simply due to poor management & incompetence.

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