Ineffective Ozil gets slaughtered after Everton defeat

Fans are not happy with the performance of Mesut Ozil today. It seems that the general opinion is that Mesut Ozil was the worse player on the pitch today in our abysmal 1-0 defeat at the hands of Everton. Zero shots on goal, zero key passes, zero tackles and zero interceptions were recorded by whoscored who gave him Arsenal’s lowest rating, and it was rarely obvious that the German was even on the pitch.

Ozil certainly had a woeful game but he was not the only one, however, I suspect the reason he has come in for more criticism than the other players today is because he was the captain. He is our most talented player and receives by far the highest salary and therefore, more is expected from him in comparison to his teammates.

A quick look on Twitter and the anger at the German is palpable, here is just a small portion of the sort of tweets Ozil has attracted.

It has to be said that there were some defenders of Ozil but they tended to get drowned out, but I do see some fickleness from a few of my fellow Gooners where he is concerned. Only last week he was being praised following a string of good performances and I am not sure it is fair to only blame him, when almost the entire team was found wanting.

The manager should also not be immune from criticism, he picks the team, the formation and employs the tactics, he is supposed to make the changes when it goes wrong and there was no sign of that today.

40 Comments

  1. Ofc ozil looked bad the whole team did ,you can’t set the team up like that and expect ozil to run the show .
    I said 10 mins in that ozil would get crucified after the game and it looks like he now is .
    Take the defence away yesterday and you’re left with
    Miki
    Elneny
    Ozil
    Matteo
    Laca
    Now that that is not an attacking side of a team that’s going to trouble any team ,I’m not sure what ozil was meant to do .
    We e seen what he with auba and laca can do so why was one of the leagues top scorers left on the bench ?when it’s been working really well in previous matches .

    1. A true world class player should be able to inspire his teammates, put in extra effort and contribute more than that in a tough away game

      Emery had to start him due the to media’s and fans’ backlashes if he didn’t, but Ozil’s display should justify for his exclusion at the next away games

      1. So you’re telling me that the media and fans pick the team ?
        Ridiculous ,he was picked because of his form ,no link up play for him so was forced to come deeper as the match went on .i will admit that he played sh1t but so did 90% of the team .when you have elneny as you’re outlet you have no chance ,so why was elneny played ?he hasn’t played all season then he was put into a position which in my view is the heart of the team .without that core in midfield you have no chance .like I said before Ramsey was fit for the bench so he should have been fit to start .

        1. I hope you enjoyed the Ozil facade while it lasted, now back to reality, what did we learn from starting Ozil in a difficult away game? He’s plain USELESS.. The bench is definitely calling and after seeing him haul his jacket at Emery, I’ll be surprised if he starts another game this season.

          This was a game that begged for the famous Iwobi/Kolasinac combination play down the left flank, to create 2 v 1 situations with Coleman seeing that Richarlison was instructed to remain high up the pitch Incase of counter attacks. But Emery baulked under pressure to play Ozil and I’m sure he’s regretting that decision now.

            1. Xxnofx, maybe Elneny played because the other midfielders in the squad were under injury clouds?

          1. Th14 very true absolute truth
            I will not be watching a game with the failed axis of Ozil Mustafi Xhaka/ Elneny
            The insane manager looks ridiculous in that jacket! Where is Dennis Suarez? Ramsey on the bench? Iwobi comes late on and not at half time? The team should donate last weeks wages to charity as a token of respect to the fans . Only hope this crap team does turn up to face Napoli.Shame on you Emery for picking this trash. Better still leave this May once and for all you clown of a manager!!

          2. anyone looking to iwobi for an arsenal revival cant be taken seriously … the sad truth is we need at least 4 world class players in the summer 2 defenders a b2b midfielder and a winger if we are going to progress .. and by world class i dont mean players from bournemouth or leicester … in my own opinion i dont think emery is the right manager for this team but the real problem lies with the tw** holding the purse strings

            1. And there in lays the problem ….
              We all know we will probably sign 4-5 players worth total less than 100 mil,when we probably need double that .like you said if fans think getting rid of ozil and playing messi iwobi will solve it they have a big shock coming to them .

            2. Here we go again. You guys claimed that Ozil not playing is why Arsenal can’t win. Iwobi has been consistently amongst the best players than most. Can some of you just give him some credit or encouragement? Yes, l get that Arsenal needs more quality players but must it always be scorn and utter negativity when it’s lwobi? If Ozil did any little thing, “Magica! Ozil!”.iwobi? Fluke! He played well, but”, etc. Let’s be fair here.

    2. Ozil is in Arsenal to Make Money and not to win trophies.Remember Cesc ,Nasri and Van Persie all wanted to move out when they realized Arsenal could not Win any major trophy.Sanchez was right leaving Arsenal coz he wanted to challenge at a higher level but thins did not work out for him

      1. You are here to be a WUM (Wind Up Merchant).
        Every player is out for the money, it is called being paid, it is a wage.

        Do you have a job?
        You’re only in it for the money! You traitor to your employers!

        Idiots will QQ about talent and drive that talent away and then they will feel justified in slating Arsenal as often as they have.

        Real supporters want the club to progress and develop into the top team that wins everything.

        Ozil did help us to win multiple FA cups, when Arsenal wasn’t winning the FA Cup then Arsenal fans all over called it a big cup… As soon as we started to win it again then it became meaningless to them…

        Let me guess, you’re one of those ain’t you? That’s why you had to put ‘major’ as part of the trophy, you can deny anything from being major as it is opinion.

        Oh and Cesc wanted to move back to his boyhood team, that is why he left us.
        RvP Left us not due to trophies but showing ambition.
        Nasri left us because the board sold him after Wenger gave him assurances he wouldn’t be sold.

        You can’t even get the history right.

    3. Hazard has been inspiring Chelsea most of the time as compared to Ozeil who cant inspire a team he captained to a win

      1. And yet some gunners idolize that Ozil and call others who moved for trophies as traitors.
        Ozil is the traitor no 1 cause he rips ££££££ every week for a shit performance.Very true BenardoM

        1. You are a traitor to Arsenal.
          🙂
          What else will you call Ozil? I’ll call you it as well.

          I missed the ripping off part, you have ripped off your parents your entire life, wasting their hard earned money by being a waste of space.

          What am I calling you next?

      2. “​Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville has revealed what he thinks Eden Hazard has stopped doing which has led to the Belgian’s faltering recent form.

        Hazard has shown his class on numerous occasions for Chelsea this season and there is no doubt he is a top quality player, but too many times he has gone missing in big games where it really matters. ”

        Hazard has inspired Chelsea so much that they are sitting… Oh, they are below Arsenal and Ozil. Great inspiration by hazard.

        1. I’m sorry for having offended you through Ozeil comments but I believe in nothing but the truth.Cazorla was 10 times what Ozil is and Sanchez is more respected in Arsenal than Ozeil.He is just a puppet.

          1. Who’s truth is that then?
            Isn’t that just your opinion?
            My opinion is different to yours, sorry if it offends you, but Sanchez “respected”?
            Ask utd fans if he’s “respected” on a reported £400-£500 thousand a week.
            Santi was ten times better? Couldn’t even get into the spanish squad, while Ozil is a W/C winner.
            I loved Santi, but ten times better? If true..so what?

  2. This one “again”
    Is on emery
    Leaving your top scorer and top midfield scorer on the bench was an insult to Everton
    Mustafi and elneny are mid table players at best

    Why change to the team

    Does he know what he’s doing

  3. Talking about Ozil is pointless,I already know what he’s capable of so there’s no need for me to talk about him,but truth be told the whole team was awful,even Leno had an okay game his distribution yesterday wasn’t that good but am not one who will come and blame the coach for one defeat considering he has little to choose from yesterday,i know some will say not to talk about injuries but you can only use what you have and my only disappointment yesterday was the coach not starting iwobi knowing fully well that Everton will be very physical and the only person that can at least dribble in our team is iwobi but I guess the coach knows better than me.

    1. I thought Sokratis was the only one that started with the right attitude, that first half hour I felt like kicking them all up their backsides. Elneny and Guendouzi started esp poor, someone touched on it earlier – the positioning they took up to try and receive passes from our rearguard was just pathetic. Elneny hasn’t been playing consistently, nor at all really, but Emery chose him for a reason and it backfired stupendously (CC anybody?, or Cazorla anybody?). Guendouzi’s positioning was equally as poor, he tried to up his tempo towards the end of first half, but he wasn’t choosing to up it with smarter positioning and quick precise passing into forwards feet, he was trying to do it with dribbling and that will not up the pace of a game. We stood off too much, not getting into peoples faces, we showed Eve either way too much respect or else we totally underestimated them, either way it was one our worst performances of the season versus only a half decent performance by Eve. We need to forget about the games being away, they don’t hold that much of an advantage over an away side, a pitch is a pitch, the lads let us down with the courage and the will power that they gave us on this showing. We claw away all season to try and put us in the spots, we’re near the end now, how could they just roll over like that, come on lads, one last stretch, you need to treat each game like the proverbial final.

  4. @gotanidea,you are right about the media and the fans,just imagine if the coach had not used Ozil yesterday and the team lost,some people on this site will say it’s because the coach did not use Ozil,am sure emery would have learnt some lessons yesterday and am still positive we will be in the champions league next season.

  5. I don’t think the fact that people expect more of the player had anything to do with it, by PL standards he was woeful. He wasn’t the only one. But the weird part is that Lacazette looked isolated, but the two in CM also looked isolated. I don’t know how Mkhit and Ozil managed to pull that trick off.

  6. Off topic Mr Admin, since updating software on iPhone and iPad, both are telling me that Just Arsenal is a “Not Secure website” when I log in. Does this mean anything or do any techies on here know? Thank you ?

    1. I think that means you are logged into http:\\justarsenal.com as opposed to Https (which is what it should be).
      The Https means it is a secure website if you are adding sensitive information like when you buy something. Not needed by me but my site should be Https.
      Check on a different browser?

  7. I’m not a great fan of Ozil but to slag him off for our defeat at Everton is a failure of fans to recognise where we actually fell down.To play a back three system when we are very poor at centre back does not make sense for a team whose strength lies in our attacking players.Surely Emery should have matched up with the 4-2-3-1 system deployed by our opponents who to their credit played well and with great spirit and intensity.To add to our problems Emery played two defensive midfielders who failed to contribute in an attacking sense .In the first 20 mins of the second half we improved to a degree but we simply do not have quality back four players to give us the solid platform we need to maintain pressure on our opponents.Until we bring in upgrades at centre back and left back we will continue to be vulnerable to counter attacks Yesterday I felt sorry for Monreal who has been a good servant to Arsenal .In the first half he received precious little help from Kolasinac who is useless when it comes to positional sense, and in the second period his lack of pace was evident to all with Everton making any down their right flank.Basically yesterday we were short in every position yet fans choose to single out Ozil who should be played as a number ten or not at all.

    1. Emery removed Kola and put in Auba who was worse, we had luck Everton players didn’t capitalise on low crosses Richarlison made into box having gotten the better of Nacho numerous time in the second half(sine Auba didn’t offer nothing defensively)

    2. This is my first thoughts on yesterday’s performance, as I decided to calm down and watch a brilliant sem-final game between Wolves and Watford.

      Two sets of fans who gave their team everything they could in support of their team, win or lose.
      Watford, when they were 2-0 down, never gave up hope. while at the end, the Wolves fans cheered their players off after coming so close to a Wembley FA cup final..and then I read the comments on here after our defeat.

      Brilliant suppport from two fan bases who knew what appearing in a fa cup final would mean to their club, the prestige, exposure and the money!!!

      You know, the competition that so many of our so called fanbase belittled as not being of any consequence, as it didn’t really count for anything and wasn’t good enough for a club such as us.

      The cup that we won three times in five seasons, hold the record for winning and deemed of little consequence when trying to destroy the achievements of the players/manager/club who made that history.

      Congratulations to two wonderful sets of SUPPORTERS and two teams who gave everything.

      Now onto The Arsenal and our “supporters” reaction:
      UE got it wrong with his team selection, yet he was without Xhaka, Torreira, Kos who all would have played if available, let alone the long term injuries.

      That obviously affected the team, both in defense and midfield.
      It also meant that he had to make the decisions that, as our manager, he is paid to do…you know the decisions that had put us in control of our own CL destiny up until the final whistle AND which we still do by the way.

      Hindsight is a wonderful thing and I do agree that Elneny and Gueds in the middle of the park was a disaster waiting to happen.
      However, UE is with them every day of the week and he made the call…leaving all us budding premier league managers to say how he got it all wrong and how easy it was to have picked the team that would have won.

      That, in turn, left the field open to slam Ozil yet again, without taking into consideration the fact that he didn’t have the same players around him that had assisted him in doing so well (along with the team) in the last few games.

      Gone was the support and optimism that UE and his team had got from our “fanbase”, instead out came the knives once again.
      The same ones that were used to stab our previous manager in the back for only winning the fa cup etc etc.

      UE made a bad call, the TEAM didn’t play well, a better team on the day beat us and we proved what a wonderful set of supporters we really are with the reaction on here.

      For heavens sake, take a leaf out of the fans of Wolves and Watford…they are proving what real supporters are made of, even if it was only the third rate fa cup semi-final.

  8. l don’t know why people criticised our best players while they are silenced about wasted players of the team. look at Guendouzi and Ainsley nails how many passes they given to our opponent. sometimes I’m doubts about those who are talking about Arsenal tops players they are not real Arsenal fc Fans/Supporter’s/legend.

    1. Maitland-Niles, not nails…
      Did you watch the game, AMN had one bad moment but he was doing a damned good job on the right, Everton wasn’t such a threat on our right compared to our left.

      The goal came from a corner, not open play, AMN done a good job overall.

      I did watch the game, I know this because I watched it, if you watched it then you would see and prob not moaned about AMN who wasn’t at fault. He didn’t have his best game at RWB but the team was set up poorly, again, this you would know if you watched the game.

      Calling Guendouzi and AMN wasted players and then you go and question if other people support Arsenal. How about you?

      Those people you mock, they question a players ability like you questioned two players ability. You questioned their support… so how about you?

      I doubt you are a real supporter. Easy to make such a claim isn’t it? Questioning one players doesn’t make them a non fan as you are a supporter while you questioned two players.

      1. Calling Guendouzi and Niles wasted players was wrong, we can’t deny Niles had a very poor second half with bad passes and almost cost us a goal, Guendouzi positional sense was below bar yesterday. No need calling names let’s move on please.

  9. The way people are all going about pinpointing players for criticism is alarming and bad, the team was bad poor yesterday but calling out Ozil is wrong, he had to drop back into midfield to help ball transition forward since the central midfield players weren’t helping. We should stop scapegoating our players and criticise objectively please.

  10. hey all I hardly post but when I do I try and single out things and do so constructively. ozil was bad but yet again most of the team. ilwobi was good when he came on no1 will tell me otherwise not talking about passed games talking about the Everton one and he always put in a similar shift whenever he plays. then to get back to something that will help the team. we lost the game in midfield and unfortunately for us we don’t have another option where we have fast and skilfull wingers that can draw people out of position that worry to run wide to go cover so they overload the midfield knowing we’ll try and play through Everton thou have good hard working players there one of my personal admires whenever he plays Mario Gomez and then the industry of Geay next to him so ozil was pushed out to the left after we had the success in the resent time with 3-4-1-2 ue decision to go to 3-4-3 was the wrong one. I have a strong belief in starting your best time and h could’ve start with the same team that beat man u and took us through to face napoli the result would most definitely have been better. the one thing that I was getting to is arsenal should invest in two out and out wingers with good industry which will take more pressure from ozil cause he”ll definitely shine in a number 10 role with two good wingers and our two fowards in front of him with playing 3-5-2 out and out attack with better quality we’ll be unstoppable no doubt.

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