Hi everyone, My name is Larry J Dunlop (from Bermuda) who currently lives in Manchester, UK and a true longtime Arsenal fan. I enjoy reading most of your articles on the JustArsenal.com website especially written by “Admin” and Konstantin Mitov. Konstantin is usually spot on with his post-game analysis amongst other contributors to your site. Here is my very first article on JustArsenal.
We all know the fame and glamour that Arsene Wenger initially brought to Arsenal.
We are also reminded that the Board allowed him to stay on two or three seasons too long.
Our new coach Emery has his own visions for the club to be successful and we saw some of his philosophy payoff until recent.
We need one or two strong/quality defenders and the coach needs to decide what he is going to do with Ozil and Ramsey in the January window.
Like many other “diehard” Arsenal supporters, I keep asking myself why he didn’t start Lacazette and Ozil in the most important games.
Mikhitaryan and Iwobi have been starting instead of Ozil and Laca but both do not have the “true” scoring ability required in time on the pitch.
It was evident in the game vs Spurs and several prior games, even the games that we won.
Mikhitaryan scored twice against Southampton but in a losing cause. Iwobi’s final touch lets him down time and time again..
I do hope Emery learns from his recent mistakes and selects the best lineup for every game going forward.
Our defence in currently in shambles with players playing out of position and some not good enough.
Koscielny is still not yet up to par in the central defender role having recently returned from injury.
Emery selects Willcock and Maitland-Niles to play in a big game against Spurs but they are still “rookies”
They were not ready for a game of that significance with Ozil and Lacazette sitting on the bench.
I conclude by saying this, the best defence is an offence. Lets win games 4-3, 5-4, 6-5.. at least we collect 3 points each time…..
Cheers,
Larry D
I think a club like ours has to build from the back because our defence has being so poor for decades and i think this mentality of preferring to win 4-3 as to 1-0 isn’t the best for us as we are a long way from challenging for the epl or champions league. Defence needs to be a priority when you are an underdog, don’t get me wrong, am not saying we should be like mourinho and pack the bus every game but i mean we need to focus on solidity at the back and that confidence will give the team composure to go and win. Notice that aubemeyang and lacazette have being missing clear chances, so they need to improve their finishing and i think with a strong defence, they will be calmer in front of goal knowing the back is covered. Defence wins titles, its why this Liverpool side has a chance of challenging city for the league.
Yes, people said attack is the best defense
But the players need to attack with high pressing and challenging the opponents as well, the methods that Ozil seems to be reluctant to do
Better force the opponents to make mistakes, rather than waiting for a perfect pass that rarely comes
Gotanidea I don’t really follow the bandwagon on this “Mesut Ozil doesn’t press bullshít” after each games, analysis Always put Ozil as one of the few players covering the whole pitch and running.. He does run and covers distance.. Now I really don’t care if most of his runs are forward runs, as much as his run forwards means we get to attack the opponents and create chances to score… Iwobi and Ozil, is there any difference between the distance they always cover?? How many times does Iwobi track back to help Montreal or Kolasinac?? Does he do that any more than Ozil does? Iwobi and Ozil, who loses the ball a lot more?? It’s even pure madness for me to start comparing Iwobi to Ozil, you guys are okay with Iwobi starting every games when he’s always poor but will fish out reasons upon reasons to leave Ozil out… Ozil needs to leave definitely, but until he goes will he do any worse than Iwobi and Mhiki??
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???compare Iwobi’s footballing CV to Ozil’s; what a joke!
Ozil is a jogger. He will jog for 90 minutes with no intensity or purpose to his jogging.
Seriously, watch the Ozil trying to find space and telhe ozil trying to press and win the ball back. Absolutely no difference between the 2. He jogs instead of pressing with intensity and purpose. You are pulling your hair out watching Ozil pressing, absolutely no effort, no intensity, no purpose, energy but just jogging toward an opponent for the sake of showing “See? You want me to show that I am working hard, there you are, i will jog toward the opponent that has the ball.”
Lol
Ozil 4 goals in 14 games; Iwobi how many goals?
Lol. I don’t rate Iwobi whatsoever. Same as Ozil. All of these wenger underperformers need to be sold in the coming transfer windows if any other club is clueless enough to pay any money for them.
Amd if Iwobi was being overrated and overhyped by his fanbase as a world class player, best this and best that. If iwobi was on more than £300,000 a week and was excuses galore like Ozil has been his whole Arsenal career than He would be getting the same reality check from some of us.
But Iwobi is a midtable average player that nearly everyone acknowledges. I bet he is on about £60,000 or a little bit higher a week and is perfroming to that average level.
That is the difference.
Sorry to have to say Eddie that it is ONLY Nigerians on here who defend and worship Iwobi. Few others do, as he is regularly and rightly criticised by most on here. PERHAPS YOU SHOULD HAVE SAID “YOU NIGERIANS” rather than “you guys”!
I just think people are still Delusional when it comes to Ozil. The guy has had enough chances in an Arsenal shirt and has not taken the opportunity. Wenger and the Ozil fanbase have cuddled and made all kinds of excuses for his underperformances since he moved here. They have blamed everything and everyone for Ozil’s flaws;
1: It’s because of Donkey lamppost Giroud.
2: it’s because of all the average Arsenal players he is playing with. He went from playing with the likes of Ronaldo to Ramsey blah blah.
3: Ozil is not showing his true potential because of old stale past it Wenger. Even if it’s wenger that kep cuddling him and changing everything to accommodate Ozil.
4: Ozil is underperforming due to some of the clueless Arsenal fans that don’t cuddle him but criticise him.
5: Ozil is not showing his talent at Arsenal because he is used to the winter break. We should make a provision for him to get a winter break.
5: Ozil is underperforming because of the clueless UK media that don’t have a clue about real talent.
6: Ozil is underperforming because he is being played on the wing and not his preferred No10 position.
7: Ozil is not playing well because of this mysterious back spasms.
8: Ozil is not performing because he broke up with his long term Girlfriend.
9: Ozil needs to be sweet talked from everyone so that he can perform.
10: Ozil needs to be protected from the thug tacklers of the EPL.
11: Ozil needs a new start and a new manager etc..
Seriously, the guy is now 30 years old but we still have fangirls going on about Ozil will come good. I swear, if he has not been able to come good in his prime (in his mid to late 20’s) then how can any normal person think that a 30+ year old will all of a sudden become our saviour? If a 25-29 year old Ozil has been frustrating some of us with his laziness and no-shows, then imagine a 30+ year old Ozil. Fasten yoir seatbelts. Lol
What i am saying is that Ozil has been finished for a long time now. Been on life support. Stop the delusion and accept reality.
I don’t think people are delusional, Ozil is done at Arsenal but I don’t think they’re being delusional. I don’t try to defend Ozil, he let himself down. But my question is, Will Ozil play any worse than Iwobi and Mhiki have been playing for the past 1 month??… For now we are paying him a huge amount of money, are we supposed to let him stay home all day playing fortnite while his teammates sweat and hustle and bustle every weekend?? Not taking the fact that he’ll get his massive paycheck at the end of the week. I say play him, throw him in let him work himself and run as much as Iwobi and Mhiki have been doing, let him work and sweat for his paycheck, unlike Iwobi and Mhiki he’s known to have just flashes of brilliance, and it might help since Iwobi and Mhiki ain’t helping in any way. I see no sense in paying him that amount every week and we let him stay home every day while his teammates work for their paycheck. I don’t get why you guys are trying to justify him staying at home and doing nothing while the other sweat themselves
?Exactly, let Ozil earn his money and hopefully prove Emery and others wrong. He is more productive than Iwobi and Mhikataryan.
I don’t care about if he is on more than £300,000 a week and not playing. That is up to the club to deal with. I just don’t want to see Ozil on the pitch jogging, floating and throwing his hands in the air because he was robbed of possession and not getting a foul he was hoping for.
Ozil on the pitch and Ozil off the pitch makes zero difference on the team majority of the time apart from causing divisions and frustration for some of us.
He can play fortnite (whatever that is) and let those less talented players give the best they can to the team. I would prefer a headless chicken like Iwobi on the pitch as long as he is tryig his best, than a so called world class Ozil that floats around the pitch like a princess.
How did we get to this? Choosing between the better of the worst? “Oh i prefer Denilson to Elney because Denilson is bad bad not as bad as Elneny.”.
That is the current Ozil vs Mkhi and Iwobi. Choose the better of the 3 bad / poor options.
Absolutely depressing times at Arsenal right about now.
Smh
How can you claim that Ozil has not come good in his career. You obviously have no idea of the facts relating to Ozil and what he has done in his career.
Here are a few.
2010 World Cup at 21 years nominated for player of the tournament. Top assist provider
UEFA Champions league 2010- 2011Top assist provider
EEFA European Championship 2012 top assist provider
Premier League top assist provider 2015-2016
German national team player of the year 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016
World Cup Winner 2014.
Arsenal player of the season 2015-2016
FIFA Ballon d Or 2010. 13 Ruth place
2011. 14 th place
2012. 14 th place
2013. 16th place.
These are some of the achievements which indicate that he has made it as a footballer well before the age of 30 which you indicate that he hasn’t.
Don’t see Iwobi Mkhitaryan Ramsey etc ad with the greatest respect to them having achieved the heights Ozil has. So I am not delusional. Fact is Fact
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I don’t care what he did before in his past life. Here at Arsenal he has been an Anticlimax. Ozil has won more Excuses and praise from his fanbase at Arsenal than he has won us games.
He has been so underwhelming and in the way I analyse so called big signings at every club i say he has been been exposed as a very very limited, overrated and overhyped player I have ever seen in an Arsenal shirt. Absolutely excuses galore. If players were paid on the amount of excuses their fanbases manufactured for them then Ozil is the best in that category.
??????????????
How true and how refreshing to hear the PLAIN truth! Total agreement from me!
Ozils time at the club is up, the new manager wants 11 players giving their all for the badge not 10,
We don’t have room for passengers whose only attribute is giving a final ball which most of the time only happens in 1 out of 10 games, Ozil type of AM is extint
We now have hybrid cam’s and AM’s who do both attack and defence re: kdb, Silva, Sallah, hazard, eriksen, and a lot more all these guys press and defend
Messi and Ronaldo put in their share of defensive shift but some fans want the manager to give Ozil a free pass because he unlocks defenses once in 10 games
This same guys berating the manager for his decision were probably the same lot who gave Wenger a free pass for 10years, Ozil is their new love child always putting an individual before the club
If he is so great why didn’t any major club come for him or don’t they need the best 10 in the business???
I trust the trident of Unai Sven and Raul to get this club back to where it belongs, with time we will get rid of all the remaining dead wood.
I’m dreading next weekend… the trip to Anfield. Yes we have Burnley & Brighton before that which should be taken seriously also, but with all the injuries to our defenders & having to use a makeshift back 3 or 4…. it could be an absolute annihilation. Hector’s out until the new year… Mustafi is a doubt I think… So if we have to use Koscielny/Lichtsteiner/Jenko or even Xhaka… their front 3 will have a field day! With all the grinning Firmino & Klopp will probably be doing, they won’t need the floodlights on ?
After that horror show on Wednesday (?) we really need some positives (& goals!!) So come on Arsenal let’s kick off the Christmas period with a convincing win tomorrow… COYG
Agree that attack is the best form of defence.The problem i s the gunner defence
is below par for decades because the fm did nt bother about strengtening the defnce
Moreover the hdl with a pedestrian lineup of defenders is a recipe for a disaster.
Burnley wnt be easy meat.They will defend innos and hit on the break.Thats why the gunner attack must be fast and sudden.
Otherwise it will be back to the drawing board
WTF are you all smoking?
Where do you come off with these ridiculous cliche like attack is the best form of defense?
So Pep getting his defense stable and Mourinho asking for world class defenders are all crazy?
According tom this idiotic post we should buy a team full of Ronaldo’s and go at it.
Every world class manger builds from the back and unfortunately we as a club were not smart enough to hire a coach like Someone who would build Arsenal to proper team but hired UE who in turn can’t manage anyone bigger than him.
For years our GK situation was a joke and finally Wenger brought Cech in (albeit not at his prime)
and with Leno maybe we are making some progress but we need world class defenders to stop
us leaking goals. Giving up 3 headers to Southhampton is a slap in the face and if we keep ignoring this like Wenger did we can never expect us to compete.
Emery needs to find a way to buy or create by any means a group of solid defenders. In addition your MF and strikers can play better when in fact they know you are solid in the back.
They can make forward runs and not worry that if they can’t get back fast enough it could be catastrophic.
and BTW get off the Ozil hate band wagon. The problem is not there.
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Simeone would not leave Atletico Madrid. Emery has had only 6 months, has to manage what he has inherited and handle injuries to key defenders. Let’s cut him some slack and hope that scrooge Kroenke has a “vision of Christmas future” and supports Emery in the transfer market.
Nice to have you mate.