It is not only the Germany international star that needs to pull his socks up for Arsenal and put in the sort of performance we know that he can, but as he is among the club’s top earners, if not the very top as some sources have suggested, as well as having the reputation of being one of the best creative footballers on the planet, you can understand why people expect more from Mesut Ozil.
While the German play maker was still having an impact and often a telling one on games up until his recent drop off, Ozil’s effectiveness has fallen away in the second half of the season. When he scored against West Ham at the start of Decemeber it ook his goal tally to eight and that matched his best ever for Arsenal with more than half of the season to go.
Just like his assists last season, however, those numbers have dried up and Ozil has added just one more strike for Arsenal since then, in the comfortable home win over Stoke City. There have been a lot less assists from Ozil this time as well and those who criticise him for being lazy have now got a stat to back up that theory.
The Mirror reports that Ozil’s distance covered per game is now at 10.5 km and that is down from 10.7 last season which was down from 10.9 the previous one, so it is clear that Mesut’s efforts are dropping and even though it is not a huge drop, it is a damning stat given the circumstances.
why the hell does wenger keep starting him?
Mediocrity has already taken the norm at arsenal and we won’t allow it to continue. Enough is enough! Wenger must (and should) go (at the end of the season)
House of Rahman
Welcome back!
Welcome back @Hafiz.
I missed all the controversies. ?
Stats or no stats Ozil is overrated..he is just another midfielder who relies too much on others to flourish….
Believe it or not,Ozil limits us with his one-dimensional style of play, if your No.10 is agile, commanding, unpredictable and skillful it affects the offence and it won’t flow well…
Ozil has only one thing;The Final ball, and that is never enough…
Remember when Cazorla came and the whole league was raving about him just like Payet????
He is a complete player, an outstanding No.10 and so dangerous in and around the box, he can dictate play and doesn’t go missing…Ozil is no where near his technical quality.
Infact,I believe Ozil is more exposed now due to Cazorla’s absence..Ozil can’t win big trophies for a team like Arsenal..
I so miss cazorla in the number 10 role! But, I reckon he’s been equally good as a CM. What a beast of a player.
I think Ozil has two outstanding skills, a vision to see a good chance to penetrate the enemy and an unselfish mentality (this is why his teammates and manager like him). But he is lacking in other areas.
If you compare Ozil to Hleb, he is much better than Ozil when playing behind the striker centrally. I still remember when Arsenal trashed AC Milan 0-2 in San Siro, March 4th, 2008. In that match, Hleb shows incredible dribbling skill, ball control and vision to create assists for Adebayor, our main striker at that time. I hope our next central attacking midfielder has skill sets like that. Otherwise we can assign Sanchez in that position (if he is willing to stay) and get another world class goal-getter like Lewandowski, Suarez and Aubameyang.
I meant if your No.10 is NOT agile…..***
If we had another manager that is flexible enough, we can have this line-ups: ..4..2..3..1.., with this front 4,with sanchex as the 10..
…….Sanchez…….
Walcott…….Welbeck…..Perez……
2). …..Sanchez….
Walcott……….Perez……Welbeck
3). ……..Sanchez…….
Ox…………Giroud……….Welbeck..
And so on….
Then in a 4-4-2…..
Walcott….Xhaka…Elneny…Welb..
….Giroud…Sanchez….
2).
Ox…..Xhaka…Coq……Perez…
……..Welbeck…Sanchez…
And so on….
We can play all this formations without Ozil and still be fine, but Wenger is too rigid and doesn’t have the gut to drop Ozil….
Cazorla is not included because he is injured…
Did ozil flop regularly at Madrid? Does he flop for Germany? The answer is, no. Then why does he often have this lukewarm displays at arsenal. I agree that players need to have self motivation and discipline, and play for honour. But since players do not have similar levels of self motivation and discipline, this is where management comes in. Has Wenger manage Ozil and the squad well? I have my reservations.
Ozil is one of those players who have to be pushed.He is not like Sanchez. But Wenger has been too soft on Ozil and a majority of arsenal players that they no longer care much how the season ends.This is a contributing factor to Sanchez’s frustrations.
As much as Ozil has his blame to take, Wenger is contributing to his poor performances.Sometimes the coach has to have the guts to tell his star players to either deliver or f**k off.
Wenger should just go
The point is not so much how far he runs but how he positions, presses and tackles. The other night he just let Xavi Alonso have free reign with no pressure. Several times I watched him pull out of tackles.
You are having a laugh with that stat, no? Zero doubt that Ozil underperforms and is a luxury play better suited for a team full of WC players like the German national team than for a team like Arsenal with maybe 2 WC players.
But the fact he runs 0.2 KM less than last year could be down to many factors and is hardly prove of his lack of effort. One example might be that this season Sanchez is in the middle instead of Giroud and Sanchez covers a lot more ground than Giroud did, reducing the distance Ozil needs to cover and reducing the spaces Ozil can run into.
I am not defending Ozil here for his poor performances but this statistic you quote, in isolation, does not tell us everything we need to know.
Wenger isn’t doing Arsenal a Favor by staying, people talk like Wenger is Jesus Christ or d god of soccer before Wenger Arsenal existed and after Wenger Arsenal will still exist.. he won’t be jobless if he leaves so why do fans make it feel like it’s a terrible thing.. We have stagnated and if we want to move forward then Arsenal need to step aside. He’s taking us backwards every season it’s no good having him around
I’d like to know what the stats say about Coqueline. I’m pretty sure I saw Ozil make more successful tackles than Coqueline in the Bayern game.