Mesut Ozil has been slammed for his display against Stoke City yesterday, being singled out as a ‘liability’ for Arsenal.
The German international has come under similar criticisms on a number of displays last season, and it appears as if nothing has changed.
“We’ve all seen him [Ozil] on his day and he’s a world class talent in possession, although he was poor in that respect today,” Gerrard said.
“I just worry about his body language and his reaction when the ball is turned over. He offers his teammates nothing away from defensively and away from home he’s a liability.
“Both his and Xhaka’s reaction in the build-up to the goal is weak. Ozil gives up and quits, he doesn’t track the run.”
Former Gunner Keown also slammed his efforts, continuing: ‘Arsenal can’t afford to carry him away from home.
‘It’s not real you can tell he’s going through the motions and he needs to take a long hard look at himself.’
The German is into the final 12 months of his contract, and has mostly remained silent on his plans for the future. It remains unknown whether his uncertainty is causing him a distraction on the playing field, but his attitude needs adjusting if we are to seriously contend for this year’s Premier League title.
We have a number of options in our squad who can play in his position, and Arsene Wenger may finally have to drop him if he continues to fail to show the fight needed to help propel us up the table.
Some have argues that his exceptional reading of the game and creative ability is too good to exclude, but the amount of times we have seen his failings damage our team’s result is inexcusable.
Does Ozil deserve to find himself being benched until his attitude changes? Is his uncertain future causing him problems?
Pat J
totally agree liability , falls back on his inconsistent supreme talent
is he more gifted than bergkamp was? cos dennis tracked back
who is he to give up when possession is lost an ball watch while the other team scores
we bought a hugely talented bottler. its what he always was, even at madrid , where he was protected by the gifts of ronaldo di maria etc
coutinho, eriksen, mkhityran, all less than 20 mill, all give twice as much to there teams as he does
my disdain for theo is clear , he was never good enough
mesut was always good enough, but lacked the personality…thats for me is worse, way worse
Total rubbish. Probably the most unfairly maligned player in this country. Works as hard as any player and never hides. Was the best Arsenal player yesterday but no one took advantage of some of his crucial passes.
Where I should your evidence on his work ethic
Is your
Yep… they all protected him soooo much by converting all his chances when he had the second highest assists in Europe with his time in Madrid. How dare they pad his stats with those goal things!! Lol
I would argue that when Dennis gave the ball away which he hardly did we had holding midfielders and a defence who knew what to do. Maybe the problem is that while Ozil is good some of the players aren’t? Right player wrong time, ozil behind Henry is surely better than ozil behind welbeck
Giving him a 300k/week contract will be criminal. The guy has 2 good half seasons in 4 years here. Go take a look at the way he plays at Real Madrid and the way he plays Arsenal, the decline is obvious. The same guy that beats players for fun and splits defences with his passing in Spain cant even open up mid table squads like Stoke and Crystal Palace nowadays.
He has been found out, end of. Easily pushed off the ball, doesnt track back when losing the ball, hardly any defensive presence, doesnt score goals. Even his assists and defence splitting passes dried up these days. When was the last time he made a pass that makes us go wow (even with Lacazette). I have run out of excuses, Ozil was a failure for us in his time here.
Oh how i miss those days when Fabregas used to create chances for fun with his over-the-top chip balls. Shocking how we missed out on Fab because of Ozil
“The decline is obvious”? When you’re surrounded by Walcotts, Ramseys, Wilsheres, Oxs, Iwobis, etc… instead of Ronaldos’, Benzemas, Di Marias’ and so on and so forth, yes, the decline will be obvious. Ozil is a playmaker. Give him Players, not Muppets, and he’ll create. Some fans are ridiculous.
I remember getting ozil when we should of brought eriksson coz eriksson was more like bergkamp in my eyes but hey that’s wenger for ya he got Eduardo but didn’t get modric he got Walcott but not bale and what these transfers all have in common is spurs brought all the players we should of brought from the same team in the same transfer window apart from ozil being at Real Madrid! Wenger doesn’t have an eye for talent and I no this bcoz I do! I wanted van dijk (Celtic 10mik) I wanted alli (MK dons 5mil) I wanted Mane (s’ton) to replace Walcott and these are just a few players that arsenal were not even linked with that I wanted us to get so if I can follow and find them why can’t arsenal or Wenger I’m telling u when we get a new manager if he brings in new staff n scouts we will be reborn into a super club bcoz it’s not that hard when u are as rich as arsenal and one day usamanov will take over and our life as fans will begin bcoz his passion and money will attract the best manager around at that time then the money won’t be wasted plus mangers these days no how to defend Wenger is a dying breed of couches that never bothered with defensive duties
KROENKE OUT! WENGER OUT!
Get rid of all staff dick law scouts everyone just like Chelsea did with abromavic then
USAMANOV IN!
NEW MANAGER IN!
NEW STAFF IN!
NEW SCOUTS IN!
Change this loosing formula that Wenger has set up and go back to being the king of London the old Highbury arsenal with character and winners and scouts that see players that’s have to be brought and tell usamanov to get them now bould an empire build a strong mentality with defensive coaches etc make the emirates a loud and proud stadium coz we have all the tools in place! When Chelsea did it they could sustain as good as we could bcoz of our stadium and status is bigger and fan base so there’s no excuses it just takes an owner with the effort and passion to do it coz arsenal is a diamond in the rough club right now! My dream has got to happen it’s the only way forward
I’m predicting that Wenger will keeps us out the CL for the next 2 seasons then arsenal will loose money kroenke will get fed up usamanov will swoop in with an offer he can’t refuse then the rest will be history! Let’s just hope that the offer kroenke turned down this summer wasn’t the one that could of saved us and that we don’t fall to far away from Everton and Liverpool that we can’t attract players when usamanov is ready to spend coz his timing this summer was perfect in my eyes with all the players contracts running out and a new manager coming in etc let’s hope Wenger don’t sink this ship to deep b4 usamanov saves arsenal football clubs exsistence
The problem isn’t Ozil. If he was in a decent team he’d be excellent, just like at Real Madrid and Germany.
Why do all our breakthrough young players start going backwards after a season? Why do all our best players want to leave eventually? Why do we bizarrely play people out-of-position? Why do we never get enough quality transfers in? Why do we always hear lame excuses for playing badly? I could go on and on…
The problem is Arsene Wenger.
I can’t disagree with him
When he doesn’t have the ball he isn’t interested.
Way to fix it would be to strengthen our defense, get a top defensive midfielder and to get a new attacker like Lemar, Mahrez or Draxler to challenge Ozil. Ozil needs top competition. Bench Ozil when he isn’t playing well. He will soon improve when he is warming the bench.
He’s just not as influential as he should be most games. You expect more regularly and he doesn’t deliver. When Arsenal have a bad game Ozil is always in the group of players that did not produce. Stoke game wasn’t down to Ozil, but he is yet again in the group of players that did not perform. There’s a pattern.
As we are keeping Sanchez i say sell Ozil. Too much a liability. Have anyone notice he does not dictate the midfield at all. He plays like a support player. We can’t afford a top class player doing well only 30% of the games. Give iwobi or the ox a run there.
and whom exactly is offering buy Ozil? I have not heard of a club hoping to take him into their squad. i have heard “his agent” has talked, but which club(s) specifically have made an offer for this player?
Arsenal needs a strong midfielder like wayama, Matic, Pogba etc. we need a man who has the skill, strength and stamina in the entire 90 minutes of play. The above listed players are all attached to a team at the moment but there are others still available on the market to hire for example Draxler just to name a few.
What do you expect of a guy who faces no competition? Lukewarmness at best!
I have been saying it for years. He is overrated and lazy. Sell him.
Huddersfield bought Aaron Mooy for 8mil. He works hard on and off the ball, 2 games, 1 goal, 2 assists.
why the need to take notice of what gerrad has said bout ozil performances. dont think for a moment he does not have an agenda to see arsenal implode or fall out of the race to top 4.
plus gerrard it was that made a slip up and cost his team the league so perhaps he needs to look closer to home with his loose talk bout ozil being a liability to our team.
Ozil would never be selected over Bergkamp or Gerrard!
…gerrard’s comments are meant to cause “derision” in our side and amongst our fans. so try reading between the lines.
Sell him rather than bench him.We still have 10 days to get rid of him.There were so many people here who were talking so much about Ozil before the season began.How he will supply great passes to Lacazette. Look what has happened .Ozil is a lazy player who does not defend , does not tackle and one strong tackle from opposition , he goes into hiding behind Ramsay and Xhaka.
I agree that Ozil tends to be too casual about trying to get the ball back after losing it and doing very little defensive work in general. Yet there were a couple occasions again Stoke where did at least appear momentarily to sprint at full pace in pursuit of someone he lost the ball to. Maybe that is some sort of progress? Sort of? Maybe? Can I hope or fantasize about this at least? Plenty of memories last season of poor pass give-away, looking mildly perturbed, and lightly jogging in the general direction rather than fighting to get it back. He has plenty of good qualities when he is on form, but whenever I see him do the “give it away, then casually jog, oops no big deal” it really grinds my gears.
Let ozil, Sanchez, cech, Debauchery, Gibbs and probably Wilshire go so that an ambitious and passionate boys that want to be in the white and red can come in. And of course, Wenger out
Ozil is a liability. He is not delivering. His passing is often sideways and he won’t push into the final third due to fear of being tackled. His heart is not in it. That’s clear. He won’t drive at the opposition and as everyone knows won’t track back. He is an acceptable luxury if he is having an impact with his passing and causing havoc in the final third with quick exchanges and through balls…..but he is sitting too deep and going through the motions. Very disappointing contribution in the first two games.