Arsenal’s superstar midfielder Mesut Ozil has come in for a mountain of criticism this season for not living up to the hype and ‘going missing’ in big games. The fact that he made 19 assists last season, approaching Thierry Henry’s record, but has only notched up 7 this season, speaks volumes about the impact he is making at the moment.
He was again accused of going AWOL in last week’s defeat at Tottenham, but Arsene Wenger feels he is being unfairly singled out for criticism. “I believe to just criticise Mesut Ozil’s performance against Spurs does not reflect exactly what happened on the pitch.” Le Prof said.
“Overall I believe recently he has put a lot of effort in. He was a bit, like the rest of the team, not physically at his best.
“I felt that we gave a lot beforehand and had not completely recovered for the game. And he was one of them as well. But we have looked at this physical performances and they have been at a very high level.
“And at the end of the day his style is his style and what you measure with Ozil is his efficiency. With that is the basic quality of retention and his creation of goal chances.
“Overall the big players get criticised more than the others. His style is more fluid, less aggressive but it doesn’t mean you want it less than others.”
“Big players have to carry the responsibility of the team. People look at it like that. I think he embraces the challenge to play big games.
“You want all your players to be at their best in every single game so when they don’t achieve that of course you are frustrated.
“We know we are only human beings and you have to accept the ups and downs.”
Ozil himself has said before that he has been made a scapegoat for some of the Gunners’ poor performances, but does he deserve more criticism that our other players simply because of his price tag?
Darren N
Firstly he did not put a lot of effort in. When he lost the ball he often walked. Not good enough the minimum expected should be to work hard at ALL times. He clearly is in need of a kick up the a&#% he is supposed to be our star. That means he makes the difference in big games. Lately he’s gone missing in a lot of games
If we get a new manager he will go because the manger will want more
It’s hard to blame him when he didn’t do anything.
I’m sick of talking about him. He is a cat.
Agreed.
Ozil is such a coward.
Always missing in the big games.
He stinks. Enough of the excuses. He’s another Arsenal player that doesn’t perform.
Everyone……………….ok, not everyone seems to be obsessed with the statistic of assists.
When it comes to Ozil yeah, he may assist but that’s the least he should be doing from a player of his calibre. The problem I have as an Arsenal fan is the same as many others in that he seems very disinterested when it comes to really putting a shift in.
He often loses the ball and makes little or no attempt to get it back. Maybe he’s of the opinion that ‘a player such as his self’, doesn’t get involved in those dirty parts of the game and should be left to the lesser skilled water carriers of the team.
Ok, we can’t single him out for the loss at Spurs as it was a team effort but……………..unlike the others around him, there’s very few occasions when we can say that on an individual basis they’re downright lazy.
Ozil has had the luxury of playing alongside lots of excellent players for Real and Germany, players that because of they’re level of quality and roles in the team, can often make up for his own shortcomings in the game and he’s given quite a bit of autonomy to do what he wants, if and when he wants in a game which isn’t as rough and tumble as the premiership.
Based on his performance, I agree with a lot of the criticism that he does get as you can’t be a team player if you only want to play one type of game which suits yourself and is within your comfort zone. Nineteen assists don’t equate to just one of the goals that we’ve conceded due to his lack of interest and application !
“Overall I believe recently he has put a lot of effort in. He was a bit, like the rest of the team, not physically at his best.”
After Ozil had those performances where he put in a lot of effort, he proved to me one thing. He’s capable of more but has not been giving more. If it’s fitness then Wenger needs to rest him more. If it’s attitude then maybe he can do one.
Ozill cost us 42.5M….the day he will repay his price tag with a 42.5M performance against the top teams is when the criticism will stop. Until then, he is just another flop like Xhaka.
Stop calling him “LE PROF”
He does NOT deserve terms of endearment – the man is an habitual failure who is rapidly sending this club into mid table mediocrity.
And the reason that players like Ozil and Ramsey are absolutely useless?
THE MANAGER
HE is the reason they are not performing – that idiot could not motivate anyone to save his life – he accepts everything and does nothing and tells us that by changing formation for meaningless games is showing us that HE can change. That HE can adapt. That HE is the catalyst for change.
Would Alex Ferguson accept what is happening at Arsenal?
Or Mourinho?
Or any half decent manager?
The players attitude is a reflection of what is happening at Arsenal.
And its all Wenger’s fault.
Le prof my behind.
Le fraud more precisely.
Just because someone is a professor of something does not mean he is great at everything he works at. I know a professor who was so poor that he ended up homeless and begging on the street, we still called professor when we seen him, he was a school teacher. A very good teacher we all thought ..wait a minute, think that was a movie.
Calling Wenger Fraud is an insult to all the fraudsters or intending fraudsters all over d world, the man isn’t even a Manager, a coach or anything related to football.. a time or day will come wen d fans n the board will look back n Wished they had taken Arsenal seriously.. looking at Arsenal I remember Leeds United n laugh cos by the time most of us will realise it, it might b too late
All players should give 100% in every game and if that means running non stop for 90 minutes plus or taking the ball in the face to stop a goal bound effort from the opposition then so be it, us fans should expect nothing less weather or not we are fans of Arsenal, Leicester or whoever, the players get paid thousands to do what i did for fun growing up only i ran for longer than these so called professionals. Ozil is not the only player for Arsenal who has not performed this season and all players should be treated the same way regardless of how much they cost or earn. We all have our own thoughts about who should stay or go but at the end of the day its out of our hands and we shall have to wait until the end of the season, possibly a little longer to find out what is going to happen.
People often say “Oh, but Ozil was surrounded by great players at Real Madrid and Germany” when attempting to reconcile his past successes with his perceived failings at Arsenal.
It’s true that he has a languid style of play, and isn’t the physical powerhouse that people love in the EPL, but he’s a classy player and can work magic in a decent team. So maybe the solution for Arsenal is to surround him with players that perform well, using tactics from a decent coach, and we could play like Real or Germany.
Every team has a blend of players with different attributes, and it’s up to the manager to make those attributes shine in each individual. If our defence was properly organised, with reliable cover from a consistent DMF, proper wingers, no Ramsey giving the ball away, and a better (And more mobile) striker than Giroud, then he would be the brilliant Ozil that played for Real and Germany (And Arsenal sometimes) once again.