Arteta definitely has Mesut Ozil on board with new philosophy

conflict with our star midfielder Mesut Ozil

But now Mikel Arteta is in charge it would seem that Ozil has put all the conflict behind him and is very happy to work under our new coach. The German told Arsenal.com: “He can show us everything he has learnt his long career so he knows exactly what we need to do, and so we know what we need to do as well,”

“He just pushes us far to get there so we can play successfully.

“He knows what to say to us, how to give us a positive attitude and how to make us be successful. I can see he is really hungry, but at the same time he is very down to earth and that is a very good characteristic to make us be a successful team.

“It is basically getting us back to the old Arsenal virtues. Fighting and having possession, being in control of the game, having the ball all the time. These are the things that he is working on with us and you can see it – everyone is smiling, laughing, enjoying their time at the moment and this has made us be successful now.

“I think he is the right man at this club.”

That statement alone is a massive boost to Arteta; to have the senior players on board in a time of change and damage limitation is a given if he is going to have any effect on changing our mentality and confidence in the road ahead.

Arteta has brough Ozil back into the fold, has persuaded Granit Xhaka he still has a future here, and now maybe he can get Mustafi playing like a World Cup Winner again and we will definitely be back in business!

Admin Pat

26 Comments

  1. I think every player has no choice at this point but to be on board with the new manager. Emery was a disaster in coaching and premier league tactics, but the players also lost faith in him long before he was sack. Now that Arteta is honestly doing a lot of work on and of the pitch, the players must play their parts, we are not there yet but am very impressed with Arteta’s maturity and calmness with the press, transfers. The guy has some class! I am a massive fan of Ozil, he has improved but I want more, I want more from all the players. Some said Ozil was dead and Arteta shouldn’t even talk about him at all, well he has proved them wrong.

  2. I think Arteta would give Ozil chances to start in games till the end of this season, as what Emery did in his first season. Ozil couldn’t be productive last season, hence Arsenal allowed or maybe urged Emery to sideline Ozil in this season

    Ozil has made some improvements in his first-half performances, but he is still not good enough in the second half. If he cannot create assists, crosses, chances or pre-chances, he should have offered something else

    All unproductive players have to be more combative to help their teammates. I expect him to be the goalscorer now, because Lacazette is still dull

  3. Pat, Emery deserved to be sacked based on his deteriorating results, but to say that he was “a disaster in coaching and premier league tactics” is nonsense given he got Arsenal to 5th place and the Europa League final.
    Your assessment doesn’t say much for all the coaches/managers he beat along the way.
    Players have to perform for Arteta, because he has made it clear that if you don’t you won’t have a future at Arsenal.
    As for Mezut Ozil he has one of the best, if not the best, PR teams in football. You are right that he has to do his talking on the football field, something he has failed to do consistently for 3 seasons. One only have to look at his goals and assists in the EPL compared to other AM’s, which has led to Arsenal’s lack of goals from midfield.

    1. My assessment of Emery is 100% my opinion and it is based on everything i have said since last season, premiere league USA league that involves game by game. Every team you beat home or away will give you a new challenge in the return fixture and this is where Emery failed. He got us 5th because of the challenges of last season, we lost our 4 positions so badly, we performed worse than teams that performed badly until the position went to Chelsea. His man management skill is a massive disaster. His tactics are confused, the players were confused, the system is confused, pundits were confused and fans. Square pegs round holes, playing players out of positions, changing systems 1 day before games. Sorry ozziguner, he was a disastrous. Especially from where Wenger left the club to where Arteta met it??? We were defending like children because players don’t know what to do, we conceded more than 50 goals, chances created by oppositions, fans criticising players every week? He has no single respect for how many goals we concede? My assessment is bang on!!!!!

        1. Pat, of course you are entitled to your opinion, but you give no consideration of the injuries and poor player performances or the fact the Board would not get the players he wanted to play his system, which impacted on Emery’s ability to pick a consistent team. By the way Wenger finished 6th in his final season.
          Time will tell whether Arteta is supported by the owner and Board.

  4. Still not 100% convinced about Ozil, He needs to show some consistency, especially away from home where he usually fails to provide. I hope Arteta will bring the best of him again.

    1. I highly doubt Ozil can consistently shine at away games again, because he has played for Mourinho/ Wenger/ Emery/ Ljungberg and rarely produced at away games since 2010

  5. Even the improved Ozil is still no where near good enough though.

    It’s great Arteta has got him FINALLY working hard off the ball, but that’s a minimum requirement anyway. What is he offering along with that? Barely creates, and never scores. It’s not as if Ozil’s creating opportunities, and his teammates aren’t finishing them. His link up play is good, and that’s about it.

    It felt like we were already a man down against Palace, before Auba’s sending off. Ozil was a ghost! He was also barely visible against Leeds.

  6. Ozil had 3 very good games and 2 average games under MA.

    He was not called the maestro for producing assists and goals,no.He has aspects that many dont see.Finding pockets of space,link up plays,superb passes,touches,technical abilities are what many dont understand in this player.Those are not easy stuff to do.

    Talking about those 2 average games he had,
    The leeds game,no player stepped up in the 1st half because they were all not playing to the plan.He grew up into the game after the break and was effective until he was subbed.

    The crystal palace game,he was effective in the 1st 30 mins or so.And its his touch that laid the ball to laca and who found him,david luiz.That sums up the problem.Was the double pivot effective offensively that day?I dont think so.Torreira and xhaka were good in control and defensively they did better but no line break passes.And maitland niles couldnt contribute through the inverted role because he had to deal with zaha.I am not trying to justify ozil,he could have helped by going to the deep which he didnt do so he was partially wrong and i honestly think if auba didnt get sentoff we could have won,we were growing into the game.

    The point i am trying to make is if the players around him are playing better,ozil can make them the best.But if they are having an average display dont blame it on ozil.I think MA said it himself that Ozil can do it all alone.

    1. And also talking about stats,
      Numbers are something that helps you understand the problem and not how you got into it or how you solve it…

      #Justmyopinion

  7. By giving Ozil and Xhaka chances is literally compromising the vision of Arsenal. Those guys are hopeless, because the pressing in the middle of the park is too slow. They don’t to deserve to wear Arsenal shirts

    1. Top Gunner, that’s your vision of Arsenal…and that is completely different to the one Mikel Arteta and the players have.

      We either have to get behind the coach and his players (whoever they are), or continue to have dissent and toxicity in the fan base.

      MA has publically given his views on both players and it looks as if they are here for the foreseeable future.

      I can only go by the reaction of the crowd since MA took over and they seem to be giving their 100% support both to him
      and whatever team he puts out…long may it continue.

      I know we all have our own opinions (xhaka not for me), but perhaps some of us fan’s should think about supporting the shirt as well as players deserving the shirt?

      1. Ken
        Hi, I would add to that the club are not getting busy in the transfer market now so it’s a case of MA getting on with what he’s got until the end of the season. Maligning his players now would be obviously counterproductive. His approach to his new squad has been measured and clearly the players have responded. This in turn gives the supporters a feel good factor which can only help the team and results improve
        Like you said, we all need to get behind Arteta and the team and not continually gripe

  8. Ozil, is yesterday’s star. His ability to orchestrate games has gone. He flits around pinging balls here and there, now and again playing a nice pass but his ability to produce anything is past. He actually typifies Arsenal at this moment, struggling to get going. My belief is sticking with and relying on Ozil is going to reap no dividends whatsoever. Yes he looks happier, in his ozil way of looking happy and yes he looks up for it, in his ozil up for it way but he is and has been for years off the boil. Im waitng and have been for a few years now for ozil to actually wow me, im not holding my breath. My old ma would say “that lad needs a rocket up his arse”, We need to move on from ozil now, he is taking us nowhere.

    1. Just as well that you’re not holding your breath Reggie as Ozil still has another year on his contract

      1. I know Sue and i see him here for that year because he will have no suitors for him. Normally we would try to sell players in their last year but nobody will be in for him. My point is in this summer he needs to be given at least some serious competition, to put it mildly.

  9. Arsenals problem in my view isn’t OZIL.
    Arsenals problem in my opinion isn’t defense.
    For me the big problem arsenal face is transition from defense to attack.
    From Patrick to Fabregas to Rosicky to Santi we simply do not have a midfielder that dribbles the football.
    Arteta comes in and to hide this flaw in Xhaka he overloads by pushing the left back or right back forward whilst playing the ball over the top.
    Arsenal is in need of a proper box to box midfielder. My advice to MA is give your Spanish compatriot a chance otherwise your doom. Just look at the goal scored on the weekend. The moment we have a team back pedaling ozil will do the rest. Balls over the top are strategically for mid table teams.

  10. Jah son, midfield as you stated is a major deficiency; however “balls over the top” should be a major weapon in the armoury, when you have fast forwards like Aubameyang, Pepe and Martinelli. Arsenal has to be multi dimensional, not play through the middle all the time.

  11. Ozil can still deliver week in and week out only if he improves on certain deficiences. All top players go through lean patches and it is no different with Ozil. With the arrival of MA, one cannot blame Ozil for work rate and effort and he is still one of Arsenal’s biggest stars. We should all support him at this stage because anyway Arsenal will not do any major signings at least till summer.

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