Does Chelsea draw prove that Arsenal should have sold Ozil and Alexis?

Arsenal lost out on a potential 100m GBP by refusing to sell Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez despite the very real threat of them walking away from the club for nothing next summer, not to mention the potential disruption from the inevitable transfer rumours as they near the end of those contracts.

But yesterday, Arsenal put in probably their best performance of the season so far without these so-called superstars in the starting XI, and when Sanchez did come on for the last 25 minutes he hardly looked inspirational. Martin Keown thinks that this is very significant. “There has been so much fear at Arsenal of losing Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil,” the ex-gunner said. “This excellent performance at Chelsea without them made you wonder what all the fuss was about.

“Without these two, Arsenal were much better defensively. They were disciplined, worked together and pressed as a unit to close down Chelsea.”

“With midfielders working around him, Aaron Ramsey was able to get on the ball more. He ran the show in midfield and it was his best display for years.

“For this Arsenal team, it was a chance to step up and prove that they did not need Sanchez and Ozil to perform.

“This showed the strength of their XI is better than any individual.”

Although Arsenal fans were up in arms at the end of last season at the prospect of losing our (then) most expensive stars, but who now believes that we should have cashed in both of them, like we did with Oxlade-Chamberlain?

Darren N

16 Comments

  1. No. Not st all. In fact, the absence of Ozil playing as a #10 limited chances for Lacazette and attacking options (including Welbeck). There was a disconnect between the midfield and front men because they weren’t getting good delivery and link up play. Xhaka is ok with this and Iwobi too. But despite what many fans may think (uninformed or unsophisticated ones) Ozil is key in this department. The stars back me up on this too. There isn’t anyone in the PL that has more “key” passes than Ozil.

    Ozil gets too harshly criticized for the perceived lack of hustle or play. However, that is simply untrue. The statistics plainly show that he routinely completes more passes and covers more ground than almost any other Arsenal player.

    I think he gets this perception from the fact that 1) fans and observers think that he is the type of player that will score lots of goals or be flashy in his creation. HE is not that type of player. He is more of a reader of a game that creates chances by his impeccable passing and reading of the game. 2) many people see he movements as slow or lazy. He is not. He had long legs and the way he runs makes it look like he is dilly dallying on the field. But, that is just his normal body language.

    Arsenal would have won the game had he played in my opinion.

    That said; he does have bad games from time to time like all footballers do. But he is unjustly scapegoated many times. Ozil’s best games are when the attackers are having quality games. If his teammates don’t make good runs or position themselves in good areas it comes across as bad. But make no mistake Ozil is a fantastic player.

    Note: I’ve been watching Ozil since he first came onto the world scene. There are few who are better chance creators and influence the game than he. It’s just that casual fans don’t see or refuse to see his contributions. And many fans jump on the criticism bandwagon because it’s the cool thing to do.

    1. Also forgot to note that with Lacazette not getting passes and link up play Chelsea were able to play back a bit more and not worry about the passes. This made their defense a bit easier by allowing them to clog up the midfield a bit more.

      Will the Gunners were able to create good chances. They would have had more with Ozil.

    2. Spot on … The idea that iwobi is a replacement beggars belief … And funnily while he is as reluctant to go in to tackles as ozil he seems to get a pass on this while his wandering is far more aimless than ozil who knows how to create time and space for himself … The team effort Sunday was laudable but without quality on show it is not by itself enough to take us back in to the top .. The 4th place hysteria with which a nil nil draw has been greeted … And I am happy to admit that I expected worse and was wrong … Tells us a lot about the state of the club

      1. hard to believe, people like you still critcise iwobi, after his display …you can never be satisfied evidently..even alan shearer said at half time that arsenal was tormenting Chelsea defecnce, through the alonso wing, and its iwobis moves and passes, that were releasing bellerin to torment alonso.

        fact iwobi made the attack more potent
        fact iwobi is stronger on the ball than ozil

        fact, its easier to dispose most arsenal players on the ballthan iwobi
        fact iwobi is faster than ozil
        fact iwobi can pick a pass, perharps not as accurate as ozil,..and when you loose a pass or pass wrongly, whats the use if you cant retrive or fight back for the ball?

        am in no way comparing the two as iwobi didnt play ozils role, but he was good on that day in his role…for you to castigate him, means you just started watching football, or you need to watch with less sentiments

  2. forget those fake analysis abt ozil trying to spoon feed a tired and lazy child even when it seems he’s fed up. If only wenger c2nue to drop ozil in big games and use him against smaller teams. Then we ‘re sure of getting good results week-in week-out. Body language these days matters alot to atleast 95% of those fanatics that goes out there to spend their hard earned money,paying just to watch good football. Hw do you expect me to respond to ozil’s non-chalant attitude everytime he gives the ball away or squander any good opportunity when in front of goal?? Uncountless times he did it two seasons ago and last season was worst. U remember the southampton game where he had atleast 3 good chances to bury that game. Instead he fluffed his lines entirely. When we lost to everton at Goodison park the same thing happened. These re just the few i can remember for nw. I dnt hate ozil but i hate his body language and non-chalant way of responding to things. we always play a player short whenever ozil comes up with those attitudes. He shld atleast be benched whenever we re playing a physical side and used against less physical teams. Its as simple as that

  3. There is no connection between the result and the importance of those two players to Arsenal. A team comprises 25 players of 21 years and above, all of whom are vital to the success of a club in a season. The performance, merely shows that while these two players are important to the team, every other player is equally important.

    Keeping those two players is also important for the confidence of the individual players and team as a whole.

  4. I always thought and still do think we should have sold them simply because we don’t have the financial power to be able to write off these two players without consequences.

  5. Best 11….
    ………………………cheq…………..
    Kos……………mustafi………..monreal

    Bellerin….. Ramsey…. Xakhai.. Sead..

    Sanchez………. Lacazzette….. Wellbeck.
    3..4…3

  6. I said many times a few weeks back where was the two so called stars when we lost 10_2 to bayern, well the team last Sunday played without fear and within their ability hence the result apart from grizeman at athlietico Madrid you’ll be pushed to name any if their players but come match day against bacca and r/Madrid you can’t predict the results so it’s clear that the rest of the squad don’t share the fans or pundits panic about losing those two, come on you gooooooners!!!!

  7. ‘uninformed and unsophisticated fans’ who do not rate Ozil? What a rediculous and insulting statement. I suppose that includes all the top managers of all the top clubs in Europe who are not fighting to sign him up.

  8. People will never be satisfied whatever Wenger does. Wenger sell players, they say he is concerned about making money for the owners. If he does not sell, you complain too. WHAT DO FANS WANT?

  9. The presence of Ozil and Alexis in the team is good for the team psychologically but Sunday result shows that Wenger should be more dynamic in team selections.

  10. Going by the performance of Ozil n Sanchez so far, they have been average, playing with iwobi against Chelsea we surely played better. It is time we play as per form not per name. I think Wenger now realises this that’s why he played Welbek ahead of our so called strikers, since our two super stars refuse to sign n they r average on d pitch, then selling them is not bad

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