Arsenal need to stick with Ozil by Sam P
I am not going to sit here and tell you that Mesut Ozil has not been a bit disappointing for Arsenal at times, or that his performance against Man City at the Emirates on Saturday was another one of those frustrating days for the fans. But I am here to support him.
A lot of people saeem to want Arsene Wenger to drop the German playmaker but I think that would be a big mistake. Not just because it would damage his confidence, but because Arsenal need him on the pitch. He might look a bit casual or even lazy at times but he always does, even when he is having a good game.
I think that Ozil has still not quite come back from Brazil yet but he is on the way and his stats from Saturday were not too bad, creating a couple of chances and helping us to keep the ball flowing. If you need any examples of why it is worth sticking with a player we know is real quality, then just look at the cases of Ramsey and Wilshere.
If some of us had our way then both of these midfielders would have been sold and replaced by now. It is just a matter of time before Ozil clucks into top gear but that will only happen sooner if he keeps playing. Keep the faith Arsenal fans.
Exactly,support him he is that good. I believe in him.
The Wizard of Özil has done well at Madrid, and at international level with Germany. Obviously, the issue of quality is out of the picture. The big question for me is: “Does the Wizard of Özil need to tailor his play to fit the Arsenal’s or does Wenger need to tailor his system to fit him in?”
Lets do a quick poll. Who has been better for Arsenal since the start of the season?
Cazorla (Thumbs Up)
Ozil (Thumbs Down)
should ask the question what has Ozil done that Cazorla hasn’t…
Cazorla coasting home 😉
Better question, who has done more since Özil was signed last year. That one is easy so shut the fck up and support the best CAM in the world. He’s signed for another 4 years so you better get used to him in the starting 11. Form is temporary class is permanent.
With Özil as the CAM last year we were leading the league for half of the year. Carzola cannot make that same claim. Get off his back and let him work.
If wenger won’t play ozil in the middle the he gotta drop him and play someone good in that position. Simple!
Ramsey and Wilshere at some point were played on the wing and they were terrible, Wenger came out to say it was education for them to appreciate playing in small spaces, I think it’s the same thing with Ozil.
Wilshere was not terrible on the wing. Not good but not terrible.
Swansea, Norwich, Marseille matches some of his good performances in that position. for those who have selective memory.
Good thought, but I don’t think Ozil needs the education… He was touted as the best no. 10 in the world when he was at Real Madrid. Surely the educating part would be done by now.
I think its a simple case of playing out of position, which has in turn also lead to him losing form.
That approach may or may not have merit with young and unproven players but Ozil is already a world class player and doesn’t need the Wenger ‘magic’ breathed upon him.
what he needs is fast players to run onto his through balls, give him that and his preferred position and he will quietly shine.
He does need to put some effort into games though.
Then why did he buy him ,he must have known his best position .It was a panic buy first time he has paid out 42mil He is not used to paying big money for big stars like the top 3 managers he just buys very good ones and hopes to make them into world class Arsenal will not do well any year with his stubborn attitude,new blood is the go done well but not 2015 caliber now CB
Wenger’s latest comments on Ozil:
“People always have this kind of attitude about him,” Wenger said. “He worked hard against City and he played quite well.
“You see a good Ozil when you watch the game again. Then you realise his timing, his quality of the pass and something you can be frustrated during the game but you must not overreact.“When you watch the game in a cool manner, you see what a good player he is. I have so many offensive players. I give him freedom to play outside and inside and he likes that.“It is not easy but Ozil is a team player and he takes it very well.”
I’ll like to see Campbell given a start tomorrow… Or is it that he’s not impressing the boss enough in training?
not against dortmund but campbell will get opportunity against the saints in league cup…
@vijagunner
Why not against Dortmund?
Ozil best position is in the middle of the pitch…….Just consider fabregas playing on wings and accused of less effective.
People who are praising fabregas now forgot that ozil has more assist and key passes than him when they both played in two best teams in spain (although fabregas got less chances but still ozil has highest assists in europe).
Just give him his best position and you will see what ozil can do. But I think wenger now has habit of playing players out of position so to accommodate his favorite player.
There are 3 reasons why Ozil is struggling.
1. Position
2. Arsenal midfield
3. Ozil
1. We all know his best position is down the middle so naturally his performance would drop playing on the wing. On the wing all the passing options are limited to one side of the field compared to the luxury of the middle. Just look at how well Silva played in the middle for man city. If you think about any top playmaker where would his best position be?? Imagine Xavi on the wing??
2. We have too many playmakers/attacking players. Even if Ozil were to play in the middle he would still find it difficult because, we have so many players who want to play the killer ball. At Madrid he had Khedira as the engine to break up play and Alonso as the deep lying playmaker, this meant the attacking creativity came from him- At arsenal we have Wilshere, Ramsey, Cazorla etc.
3. He has a lack of presence – He needs to demand the ball. I feel he does not have as many touches on the ball as Wilshere and Ramsey, resulting in less opportunities to express his creative side. You always see Ramesy and Wilshere with thier hands in the air screaming for a pass. If you do not demand the ball you will have less opportunities to express yourself.
What I’m trying to say is Ozil needs to play in the middle, but if he does not demand the ball then he will continue to struggle. Arsenal have an array of attacking players so he must play with authority in order to succeed.
1. Yes you right, but that should never justify the fact that he looks not interested at all and gives the ball too easily with no any defensive presence. In this modern game even Messi, Ronaldo should come back and help the defense.
2. No, I don’t agree, play-makers should always look for the ball as you said in 3.
3. Yes I gree, and on top of that he should be more aggressive and stop being so delicate
Regarding the topic, in general I don’t like this baby sitting approach, it’s not fair to leave better performing player for the one with less performance just because you believe in him. We cannot afford to start players out form just until they got their form back and I’m very much against Ramsey example when Wenger kept playing him until he get his form back, because this is too risky experiment (may cost you a lot of games) and remember we are not bottom table club to baby-sit players.
Yes, he needs to regain that presence. I feel it is possible in this line up. Just replace Walcott with Ox.
Ozil
Walcott Welbeck Sanchez
His playing time needs to be reduced as well since he does not have the stamina for 90 minutes.
At his best, he is 1 of the best playmakers in the world. If he is given a few games in his favourite position, in the above line up, then I feel his presence will return.
solve 2 problems w 1 move:
play ozil for 60min, cazorla (or someone else at cam) for 30min each game.
how’s a 41131 ?
sz
RB, mert, koz, gibbs
DM (flam:yuck, arteta:yuck, diaby:??)
B2B (wilshire or ramsey, never both)
sanchez@LW , ozil, campbell/ox/pod
welbeck
1) Everyone bar the two that matter at the moment; Wenger and Low. Whilst they may be aware of where ultimately his best position is their thinking will be aligned to what is the best for the team. Has anyone given thought as to how or why JW appears to be playing himself in to some sort of form? I’ll give Wenger and Low the edge over anyone on here when it comes to the bigger picture.
2) Find this an odd comment – in an 11 man team all of the top clubs have 5 attacking players. That is the standard make-up of a team. In any event he managed to create more and be better in possession than the other play-makers/creatives last season so you would imagine someone else would make way if it was a case of “overcrowding”/too many playmakers.
3) Lack of physical presence for sure – but what are we going to do, genetically modify him and bulk him out with steroids? Your “feeling” about the number of touches/passes etc compared to others is a false one. Look at the stats. AR shades him but he would sitting at the fulcrum of the team; MO gets more touches than the other AMs on a 90 minute metric measurement. And I don’t see AR and JW “always”…..”with their hands in the air screaming for a pass”. But you do touch on something there – we are a very undemonstrative and quiet team. Maybe they are sufficiently drilled to know instinctively where the pass is going, or should be going.
If Bayern want Ozil then they’ll have to give us Gotze in exchange, there’s no way our money conscious board would sell a player for 32 million when we payed 42.5 million for him.
gotze + 10m & gotze recently said he could leave Bayern & with thiago alcantara/muller/rode all present it looks difficult 4 him
Get Müller instead!
give rosciky/cazorla/ox a chance & give ozil a break so that he can prepare 4 aston villa game
Remember how Ozil played in his first game? He started on the left but he had a presence! He demanded the ball and dictated play. Unless he can re-create that presence then he may struggle even in his best position.
Monreal has not travelled to Dortmund. Chambers, Gibbs and Bellerin all in squad
ozil played at an avg for 63 mins per game at Madrid he doesn’t have the stamina to play full 90 mins both ger national squad & Madrid figured that out he needs 2 given break from time 2 time if he found it hard in la liga he definitely will find it more difficult in PL rotate him & he will get better
We’re gonna be playing Santi Cazorla/flamini at CB soon if these injuries keep happening
@ leo
thats one of our biggest problems right there
when i comes to rotating players and tactical subs wenger seems slightly tarded
he just runs the same players into the ground time after time
and when a game is screaming ouut for certain players to come on he just neglects them
or they come in on the 85th min
I confess I am not on board with the standard Wenger 70min substitution. But it isn’t like night follows day that things will improve or change the game just by merely changing things. On Saturday MP made the early changes and duly lost the lead, AW resisted change and clawed the match back.
I’m hearing Chambers also a doubt and missed training. Know if thats true?
Great. Perfect timing.
Conquelin plays then..??
Erm he scored for Germany against Algeria in the 120th minute at the world cup
Us Gooners need to show our class and support Ozil even when he’s on a worse form than we all expecting him to be all season. No need to slam the guy we all know what great things he can be capable of.
@Skandalouz
Wish there were so much support for Olivier Giroud. Oh yeah. He didn’t cost 42 f**kn mil…
Arsenal is an unbalanced team. This contributes heavily in certain players failing to show. players like Ozil have to compromise their skills so as to help the team in certain areas (which are oblivious to many). Mr Wenger failed to stock properly during the transfer window but its water under the bridge now. Lets get behind what we have and wish for the best.
@Sango
“Players like Ozil have to compromise their skills so as to help the team in certain areas” That sh*t was laughable dude…
AND THE DEFENSIVE PROBLEMS HAVE STARTED!! WELL DONE WENGER
Karma is bitch..Hope Wenger understands now.!!
Guys, checkout slow motion goal scoring video in arsenal site. Really nice.
Ozil has been playing out of position. So i have some sympathy for him. But at the same time a player of his class even when playing out of position must perform better than that. At least he should show the appetite, the hunger, the fight irrespective of played anywhere. I do not expect him to provide assists every now and then playing wide, but there are so many other ways he can contribute. Like Sanchez, even if he has a bad day, his passion and energy keeps everyone around him on toes and gives the whole team a lift. That is what i expect from him. If Ozil cant do that then sorry, he needs to get back to bench for a while and make up his mind. On the other side of the coin, Wenger as a manger looks clueless to manage so many world class central MFs at the moment. If he is getting one to perform to the max(Wilshere), the others are dropping(Ramsey,Ozil). I am still perplexed at the thought of that such an experienced manager is facing these issues.
No surprise. Remember when Wenger played cesc in the centre with nasri and rosicky on the wings?? Chelsea were laughing. Keep Playmakers in the middle and wingers on the wing.
Are there any free CB’s available? Heard Yepes gone to some other team.
Ok, uncle Ks, is going to teach you a secret.
The problem is not Ozil, but its Wilsher and Ramsey.
Lets pressume Fabregas would have never left us for Barca. Ramsey would turn into what he is known today, and so woud Wilsher. Wenger then, unabable to choose would make one of them play on the wings. He did it once with Ramsey, the end result was shoking, he did it with Wilsher, same result, and he would also try it with Fabregas on that poz out, the end result would again be the same.
Ozil is playing on the wings bec, from all the 3 of our nice players we have, he is the most talented one. Even a poor Ozil is still a better winger then a Ramsey or Wilsher.
Ramsey and Wilsher dont complete with each other. If one of them plays good the other on is a shadow. A complete waste in the starting line up.
Wenger is forcing them into the pitch beside knowing that, he wants to make everyone happy. Ramsey ( he is Wengers favorit and i think fans aswell, bec is such a nice guy), Wilsher ( he is English, not having the same love from the fans like Ramsey, bec he is like a rebel a bad boy) but England demands from Wenger to develop this guy, he simple must. And there is Ozil, a player with big reputation. ( other fans love him more then we do, other managers respect him more then ours do).
Instead of Wenger being a manager and do the best, he chooses to be stubborn and damage the club and players. Ramsey and Wilsher are young and cant handle the pressure by playing out of poz. But mr Ozil should, bec, he has a big repuation and he is one of our 2 word class players we have. This means that he simple has to play there and also perform bec we dont care if your game suffers, you are a world star and world stars are not allowed to be out of form and also to suck.
Wenger needs to rotate players for f sake and not force them into doing things they cant do. Okey he likes to play them all. But what about Rosicky, Poldi, Chamberlain, and what will he do when Walcott will be back. Rotate for f. sake and do your job. In Wenger i dont trust. Coyg
I think for all of AW’s 18 year tenure he has nearly always had a player “project” on the go. These often look baffling to the outsider but there is normally a bigger picture to be gleaned on closer inspection. I think his present mini-mission is to play JW in to some sort of form for the rest of the season. To a degree he has been successful. And I think you are right the sacrifice is sticking MO out on the left. AW is treading a tightrope if you ask me but who knows the outcome. An in form JW may pay dividends further down the line – remember last year when MO and AR were injured we didn’t have great options.
I don’t think he has the engine to be a left winger. He seems too tired to get up and down the pitch all game long.
To me, if you’re not going to play him in his natural position, why did Wenger even buy him? You’re wasting what he can potentially give you by trying to make him something he isn’t.
If he was going to make Ozil a left winger, it makes passing on Cesc even more stupid.
couldn’t agree more.
wenger should accept he need not play ozil every game just bec ozil cost 42m.
and he need not play ozil 90min to get his money’s worth.
put ozil at cam only, and give cazorla or roz 20-30min: ozil will be happy, caz/roz will be happier, the cam spot will be energetic for 90min, results will be better.
+ if u rest ozil for CL game, he’ll be ready to go for villa.
if u play him vs manc & dort, then he’ll be a veggie for the villa game.
wenger needs to build a golden idol in the shape of ozil @ no10 statue and make everyone in the squad bow down before it to make ozil feel special again and he will be rocking and rolling again wengers first commandment will be play ozil @ no10 only no where else, command no 2 build the whole arsenal attack around ozil only at no 10,
ozil is the future of our attacking play along with wilshere and ramsey controlling midfield in box 2 box roles along with a worldy d/m in front of back 4. we are the arsenal!
As long as we are playing this new formation, Ozil, Ramsey and to a ceryain extend Corzola will never improve. This formation will only suit one player….Wilshere and its tailored to get him back to his best but at a cost to the team….Wenger is so stubborn and will only change this formation at the end of season after finishing outside the top 4!
I said as much above – but do you not think an in form JW may be of benefit for the 50+ game long haul? I think this a short-term measure but could be wrong – I think the damage is more to MO than the team, he is taking the flak for this Wenger project.
We buy the best attacking midfielder for 42m, a season later we play a formation without any need for that player….if it was any other company, Wenger would have been fired already.
Play Ozil in Carling Cup matches only with Sanogo, and them lot
Play someone good in all the other matches
we need a tatical guru for the next manager that will love ozil and make him the centre of attention in all our attacks he is the sort of player klopp would love to work with him playing a strong counter attacking style with ozil spreading the play in the attacking gulleys of our attackers running through.
a modern manager would know how to use ozil properly and how to utilize the box 2box players in midfield well in a awesome around attacking well balanced team that can defend as a team as well as save our defence
Klopp wouldn’t last 5 minutes on this site with the “spend, spend, spend to show real ambition brigade “- whilst tactically cute he doesn’t spend big and sells his best players. You can argue till the cows come home as to how tactically superior Klopp is to Wenger but they are identi-kit twins when it comes to philosophy and style. The loud geezers on here deserve a Van Gaal or similar – he may be available in a 9 months time.
@jonestown
Exactly…
Oh ok then the problem is Ozil is played out of position……………..
And he will be our best player once he never leaves the hole behind our front man at any point……………..
Oh and Wenger tells Ozil that he can’t leave the left side of the pitch and drift in to the middle and rotate……………
Listen to you lot with your excuses for him all laughable.
Yet you are that special guy who loves to find excuses for no other then Giroud.
Girouds contribution to Arsenal football club far out weighs Ozils.
What you just said again is laughable.
No surprise you had no answer to what I said above as every word makes sense.
Just admit he’s not good he’s way out of form and he would be in any position for us currently.
@ergs
Thank you very much.