You never know with Arsenal because there have been so many times when Arsene Wenger has spoken of players having only minor injury problems and then being out for ages, but hopefully the knee problem that meant our Germany international Mesut Ozil missed the game at Newcastle will not keep him out for long.
We also have a couple of weeks for Ozil to recover, with the international break meaning that our next Premier League game, at home to Stoke City, is on September 12th. So hopefully our club record signing will be fit again for that because I think we really missed him at Newcastle.
It is often hard to judge just how important the former Real Madrid star is to the Gunners because his style of play makes it look like he is not doing too much, but the boss has often spoken about this and about how Ozil is like the oil in our engine, making everything run smoothly and helping all the players around him to play better.
Ozil did provide a great assist for Giroud to score our only ‘proper’ goal of the season so far and with Santi Cazorla he has created the most chances, 12. THe Spaniard has completed more passes but Ozil is second and his tend to be further up the pitch.
To be fair, possession was not our problem today, penetration was. Against a team defending deep as Newcastle were forced to with 10 men and as Stoke will surely do at the Emirates, the guile and vision of the German could be crucial. So was he the major reason for our struggle to score today?
nope
Nooo!! Come on folks…we struggled because Wenger could not zip up his jacket.
Our manager is great. If he was’t distracted by his jacket we would have won 5-0.
You are my idol Wenger.
AKB K-ool.
😀
Of curse I tot of it, and we played with our fastest front three in OX_Theo_Sanchez, but unfortunately Ozil is absent. Hope its not long term.
Playing the ball back to the midfield with just a single defender on him, can’t even turn and creates chance for himself it is just a shame of a striker to say a little: Oooh! Sorry it is just the beauty of hold up play.
I would rather see Theo given more game time so he can rediscover his confident and with his pace even, if he is not scoring he pose some problems to opposing defenders and confusing their set up.
No. We played Walcott up top. Should’ve had him on the wing or Ox with Giroud up top. Happy to see Gabriel and Kos have a good game together. Need to figure out our attack.
I remember Paul Scholes getting really irritated when asked about the lovely football Arsenal used to play when he played for Utd.
He couldn’t understand it – to him it was about playing effective football , scoring goals and not conceding whereas Arsenal were being lauded for high % possession which created nothing , passing which went no where and being runners up.
A lot of what I see is players afraid or refusing to take responsibility, passing the ball sideways and backwards rather than forwards and passing the ball rather than having the courage to shoot – hence our reputation for walking the ball into the net.
Our attitude in the transfer market is the same – go for the bargains so if they don’t work they fly under the radar or wait until the last minute and get the players the other big teams don’t want or try to pick up the player that is no longer wanted because a new big signing has come in.
It’s a weak watery policy that’s akin to trying not to lose a game rather than have the guts to say “let’s go win this”.
This attitude permeates throughout the club and comes from the top down.
Fans need to be inspired but so do the players and that comes from the Manager and owners leading by example saying “we expect to win and if you’re not the best then we’ll get the best”.
My drunken rant for the night ?????
Here here!
Part of it
1. Ozil absence
2. Alexis not in form
3. Walcott not a CF
Lets hope
1. Ozil and Mertsacker heal up soon
2. Wenger signs a freaking CF by Wednesday
#1 : sign CF
#2: sign DM backup,
we do need OZIL back.
mert can take time: we have gabriel.
Whenever teams put 10 men behind the ball we run out of ideas, with or without ozil. I can watch the team pass the ball from left to right and right to left for a good 10mins without penetration. And that is supposed to be entertaining play?
The issue is we dont have a single player that can consistently shoot outside the box. Thats why the opposition can crowd their penalty area without fear. I find it ridiculous really, that with all the talent we have, that we are so one-dimensional in our play.
I say stick Alexis in the CAM position for a couple of games. He’s wasted on the left wing really as he cuts in too often, making him predictable. He played there last season to great effect.We need some spark in the middle, someone to take on players and is not afraid to take a pop. Alexis fits the bill.
ox and sanchez can shoot from outside the box. they are taught not to. giroud tried to shoot one today and so did cazorla. small beginnings.
how about sanchez at CF? i reckon he could be like an aguero. we could put oX on LW, walcott on RW: that would mean all 3 fast men would be at the front. Plus, OX and walcott would play and play as wingers and not at other positions. of course, unlike giroud, sanchez would be mobile and rove around. sanchez at CF with ozil behind : could make for some cunning moves.
Chealse & liverpol lost last night… Theo suck, Ox suck… MOTM Ramsey… why arsenal fans hate Girud & ramsey?
He is simply a lower team striker not Arsenal material. I even asked myself why some Arsenal mediocre fans love giroud? They went far even calling him a handsome. If anyone loves his handsomeness better he provides his mum to him but arsenal is a football club, fans like players who can lead them to success so your Giroud isn’t there and not even close.
Look at the game against Newcastle; he kicked the ball wayward to the fan with his first chance, then he was given a killer pass by Cazora he was just with one defender and as usual he passed back the ball 20 yards, then another chance him against the golie he kicked direct to the keeper. Then you idiot/Muppet/pathetic fan with your blablabla “why arsenal fans hates giroud?”. We hate him and the like of you.
Did you see the chances Walcott missed? Giroud doesn’t get good service because we play so fcking slow. But he creates chances. I like the idea of Akexis as CAM. I think he plays there for Chile and they have great to watch. Keep Ozil off. Sub Ox. Find some Wingers! Where’s the next Douglas Costa?
Have the fans realise that Utd and City are both our main rivals tooo??
But according to you we are not in the race.
Here we go again. Özil has a good performance/run of games we are all over him, as soon as he doesn’t perform next game the hate train emerges. I know opinions fluctuate, but come on. We needed physicality in that game as well as other things, but i think Özil would have crumbled against Anita etc. But that’s a very subjective statement…
I think it is a combination of issues. Ozil definitely is a player who helps unlovk defenses in the attacking third. He helps create chances. But we had 8 shots on goal with essentially no goals ( on goal). That says something about our scorers, in this case TW, AS, and OG. Of course with 74% of the poesession, I think we should have had more than 8 shots on goal, and I think this is where Ozil would have helped with that because his trickery in the attacking third helps create shots on goal.
I think this points out the need for a more clinical finisher, as I think we all know we need, but also AW needs to figure out which lineup gives us the best chance to win, ie. create chances and score goals. I think OX on the right wing needs to be the norm.
sanchez at cf. ox and walcott on wings. i believe ox can play left, but walcott cannot; so put ox on left; walcott on right. ozil behind. ozil and sanchez would be good combination..
So much plastic flying around…!! You guys doing good job finding reasons to criticize Ozil and Wenger.. How can a team perform when they have such a supportive fan base… Keep on doing what u guys have always been doing… COYG!!
I am not a ozil fan and i have also said he was not needed when he was bought, i will admit he has improved in his defensive work, however Ozil occupies the number 10 position in the arsenal team, some would say its the Fabregas position, but i would beg to differ its the Bergkamp position and if you are in this position you not only create goals, but score a a few and also take on defenders which create space for other players.
Ozil is a good creator of goals, but of note defenders drop off him and wait till he tries to make his killers passes even when there is an opportunity to shoot. I was quite happy today when he did not play due to injury and even hope he says out of the squad for a couple matches for the squad to get some momentum going.
I would love to see an Alex Sanchez behind Giroud withe walcott or Campbell on one wing and ox on the other, even the four at top today i felt would give us more shots to goal, i would like them to get one more opportunity at it
I wouldn’t mind seeing Sanchez play Ozil’s position myself, he’d be some handful. That position is difficult for defenders to pick up on and Im sure he’d be the last person the big centre backs would want running straight through the heart of them.
No new world class CF
Then end of any title hope.
Hahaha
why the f***K didnt we bid for jackson martinez? he’s much better than OG/welbeck/theo.
A few thoughts.
Crystal Palace. Claiming their first big scalp. All of a sudden three points away looks pretty damn good for me. They’re a good side.
Liverpool and Rodgers.. Bahahaha. Now without their best player by a country mile for the United game. Reeeally hoping for a 0-0 draw there.
We gave up one shot to Newcastle… One. Pretty routine stuff. Got the goal, controlled the game. Was it easy on the eye?? Nope.. It was about as boring a game as we’re going to see this season. But we had absolute control of the game and to be honest Newcastle never looked close to scoring. Playing a bit more attacking football would have been great and decimating them could have given a bit more confidence. But the biggest priority was 3 pts at any cost and to be honest never looked like finishing the game with anything but.
Wenger tactically inept, always wants to play the beautiful game, doesn’t want to do anything to win. Blah blah.
We played boring as F#$k football, walked away with three points and never lifted from first gear. If it was Mourinho I swear some of you would be calling it ‘tactical genius.’
Seriously well put I always appreciate your posts since you use logic and reasoning and emotion like the kids on here. I think if theo put that 1st chance away it would’ve been a way different game, but I couldn’t believe how bereft of ideas we looked without ozil. Ive always known he makes our game more fluid and keeps things running smoothly but you’d think sanchez Ramsey cazorla could’ve created some decent chances
Not*
Don’t know what game you watched, Arsenal didn’t struggle. Krul had a brilliant game and other than that would have hammered them ..also we controlled the entire match. We defended very tidy especially last fifteen as they were always going to throw caution to wind seeing as there was only one goal in it..
A 42m price tag does not make a player great. For me Ozil is shit in arsenal and a spot wasted. The amount Wilshere, Giroud, Mert get criticized, Ozil must get it too. He slows down our play. He can’t get past a player. He never runs at full pace. Hez shoulder drops n shrugs rubs negativity to the rest of the players. He cannot complete 90mins that’s y Madrid always subd him at 70. So il give him credit for his passing ability and goal creation at times. But the negatives don’t allow him to do it enough.