Seems to be a week of ex Gunners announcing their retirements, with Mesut Ozil hanging up his boots less than 24 hours after Adebayor did the same.
Some might say he unofficially retired years ago with his last three employers all paying him to have his contract ripped up.
At the very least you could suggest that while he loved football, it wasn’t his only passion.
In his final year at Arsenal he accepted being paid to essentially sit at home.
The sad part is he might be remembered for the final few years where his potential was unfulfilled, and not for the amazing things he did do on the football pitch.
He won La Liga, ending Arsenal’s 9 year trophy drought by contributing to our 4 FA Cups, lifted the World Cup, got the most assists for three years running in Spain, 19 assists in one season was a Prem record bettered by only one other player, and no one made more goals then him at the 2010 World Cup or Euro 2012.
That’s a CV that most professionals dream of.
It seems strange to list those accolades and then ask was his potential unfulfilled?
Even in Germany where most champions should be idolised, relations are strained with the player accused of lacking loyalty to the nation due to his Turkish heritage.
The 34 year old feels there are examples of discrimination both in the German media and FA, famously saying ‘they only see me as German when we win things.’
Wherever you have agreed with his stance before or not, he’s had the convictions to stick to his principles and been willing to die on his sword.
An admirable quality to have.
When he felt the Kroenke Family were lying over 12.5 pay cuts from the squad saving staff jobs he wasn’t pressured by the majority.
When he felt his refusal was purposely leaked by the club he told his truth which put the negative PR onto the club.
As a senior member of the dressing room he hadn’t refused, he simply wanted clarification what our billionaires owners were doing with their own money to help the club during the Pandemic before giving up his own wage.
He was proven correct when the majority of his peers took the reduction and yet still 55 employees were made redundant.
He even offered to pay the sacked Gunnerssurus’ salary.
He spoke out against China’s persecution of the Uighur population and questioned why Muslims were not highlighting the issue more.
When Arsenal distanced themselves through his agent, he correctly pointed out other political issues the club had been willing to support.
When Arteta didn’t submit him for either his domestic or European squads, through his advisors he wasn’t shy expressing his thoughts why he was suddenly surplus to requirements.
He almost became the poster boy of the transition between Mr Wenger leaving and the rebuilding job at the Emirates.
It’s easy with us top of the League now to say our manager was right to freeze out a player who was never going to track back and suit the current system.
Yet that didn’t explain how he originally trusted him, the player created the winner against West Ham, and that qualified for him to never play for us again?
We never did get that explanation.
How did a player who was creating goals before the Pandemic, afterwards not even make the bench at all?
A bench where you could select 9 names .
With a straight face our manager tried to tell us that football reasons were the only reasons why Ozil wasn’t a sub in the FA Cup Final but Matt Smith was.
Matt Smith at the time was 19 years old, still is yet to play for the first team and has been loaned out to League One Clubs.
For the Spaniard to suggest Smith got on that bench instead of Ozil based on sporting merit, is an insult.
Arsenal are finishing 8th, not qualifying for Europe, our worst finish in quarter of a century, and yet Ozil can’t even be an option off the bench?
If the player was starting before lockdown (and assisting) but suddenly couldn’t get in the team afterwards then common sense says something happened during the 3 month period when the UK was in isolation.
We know during that period two things.
Ozil refused the pay cut and Arsenal’s fixture with Man City was not shown in China due to Ozil’s comments.
Arsenal leaked out both stories making it clear they supported their player on neither case.
So as much the midfielder became the face of everything wrong with the culture of our club to some Gooners, others saw Arsenal sacrifice their principles for the sake of saving money.
Pretending Ozil wasn’t one of our best 23 players, even when we lacked creativity, paying him to sit at home while we were finishing 8th, not even inviting him to attend the Cup Final to pick up his medal, etc.
Not to mention leaking out stories that were untrue, Arsenal did a lot of immoral things to try and make someone feel so miserable he would agree to having his contract ripped up.
A contract Arsenal were happy to offer, a scenario where the man would be made out to not be loyal had he left a free agent.
It’s funny how when a club want to sign a player a player is selfish if they don’t want to extend their deal, yet when it doesn’t suit the club, a player is wrong for not honouring his agreement?
Mr Wenger came the closest to giving a footballing reason why Ozil might not suit the English game in this current era.
In the nineties, early 2000’s you could get away with a number 10, flair players, etc.
An Ozil in any of Mr Wenger’s Double winning teams all Invincibles would almost be a luxury player.
Over the years, the number 10 seems to have gone out of fashion, with coaches preparing hard working midfielders who would allow full backs to be attacking outlets.
Think under Pep Guardiola, a KDB and Silva still need to press and work hard to be in his team.
Ozil wasn’t going to do that.
He didn’t have the personality to be the main man or the leadership qualities to lead others.
It’s a fair accusation to say that to have Ozil at his best, he needed world class talent alongside him (at Real Madrid and Germany).
Yet it’s not his fault he was never given that.
Perhaps zero player in our modern history has divided opinion quite like Ozil.
Arsenal have won 14 FA Cups in their entire history. Ozil contributed to 4 of them. No one can take that away from him.
During our title drought, he was our player of the season the year we finished 2nd. Now there are readers who call 8th and 5th progress.
Ozil challenged for titles, won cups, played in finals.
I know readers who abuse Ozil, who then say it’s negative to say Eddie Nketiah isn’t good enough at this level.
Say that out loud, I can’t say Eddie Nketiah is not good enough but those same people saying that can say Ozil wasn’t.
Ozil retires a La Liga winner, 4 time FA Cup winner, an assist record breaker in England and Spain and a World Cup Winner.
Arsenal have wished him the best of luck on their website.
Quite cheeky given how they treated him in end .
They still failed to answer one simple question though ……..
If he assisted a goal before the Pandemic, how could a game after he suddenly not be good enough to even be in the squad?
I know the answer. Do you?
Dan
Ozil was like marmite -love him or hate him .
No doubt he was a luxury player who divided the fan base in his time here ,great first few years not so good at the back end of his Arsenal career ,I was never his biggest fan but when he was on it he was marvel to watch no one can take that away from him.
As no one can take away what he accomplished in his playing career,the achievements and accolades will aways be there for him .
You have to remember he was part of a squad for 5years that apart form the cup wins were always going through the motions regarding the league .
Sometimes it looked like he could t be bothered ,maybe he couldn’t but his teammates weren’t exactly pulling up trees at the time ,I think he got the brunt of fans anger because of his wages nothing more .
I hold no grudge against him ,I’ll leave that for the stampede of comments to follow below ,which is everyone’s right .
Maybe the game moved on he got older that’s life .
Özil wasn’t Emery’s favourite player either, because he didn’t fit the pressing game he tried to implement.
In addition he wasn’t tracking home, and definitely a one-way player. In today’s football you can’t expose your defenders, and let them take care of the defending more or less alone, which was our reality for many years.
For me Özil’s Arsenal carrier was two different stories, from September 2013 to May 2018, and from August 2018 to January 2021. First part mostly world class, second part something to forget.
👍Fair comment, DP. Ozil’s unofficial retirement began after his contract was renewed; August 2018 close enough.
He was the archetypal luxury player at arsenal. Yes he set up a lot of goals, but he often hid when the games were tough, and he frequently surrendered possession of the ball meekly, showing no fight or care whatsoever – to me, the negatives of having him in the side generally outweighed the positives. He was pretty much only good when the team was playing well, he never made the team play well, in my estimation.
That said, reading through the article, I’m not without sympathy for some of the off field stuff. It was our mistake to offer him *that* contract, and some of the points he made and stances he took were correct and even admirable in my opinion, though others were simply examples of a victim mentality and arrogance.
Overall, I’d say he was a mistake of a signing. He’d already achieved everything and his influence on the squad was not one that was driving the team to success, quite the opposite.
The only mistake we made was the contract renewal, especially for that weekly wage. His original signing by Wenger was spot on. It ended our trophy drought and did some good to our marketing and marchandize.
He’s not without blame though as I considered him very lazy and will always fault him for falling out publicly with Emery. I really wanted him gone for footballing reasons
I will never forgive him for his unprofessional display against Chelsea in the Europa League final.
👍
“It’s a fair accusation to say that to have Ozil at his best, he needed world class talent alongside him (at Real Madrid and Germany)”
I agree with that opinion. I also think that non-high-pressing players with excellent technical abilities like Ozil and Ronaldo will only be effective for their teams if they’re surrounded by highly-technical players or their compatriots
Unfortunately, Arsenal didn’t have many players with such profiles at that time, nor did Manchester United
Now we have Odegaard, who’s been working much harder to press from the front. Without our CF’s and Odegaard’s high pressing, our defense will suffer
Hey Dan, you forgot to mention that Özil was German player of the year for five seasons in a row. He was a lazy player, yes, but I really admire his sticking up to his values. I don’t blame Arteta but the club. I was glad he was gone for footballing reasons, but I really wonder how people can point a finger at him and accuse him of being a hinderance. There are some on here whose view towards Özil is always entirely negative. They even mock his assists. Imagine that. But like I would always say, 99.9% of footballers can only dream of having a CV like his
The most divisive, mayhem and trouble steering figure that I have ever seen in my life as an Arsenal fan.
Good luck to him in his new ventures but my goodness, what a poor stinking personality he was at Arsenal. Couldn’t wait to see him leave our club.
I also give him a 5 / 10 overall as an Arsenal player if I am being charitable.
Good luck to him otherwise.
Think what you want about him but there is no denying that his skill set was absolutely phenomenal. He thrived in a floating roll with minimal responsibilities, that was very clear long before we signed him.
Whoever has followed my comments over time would know that I rarely ever criticize players but the management. Özil was lazy before we signed him so I will also not blame him for his footballing shortcomings, although I wanted him gone because of those same footballing weaknesses.
Many keep on winding on about how bad was. They refuse to admit he was sidelined not for footballing reasons but because of money
When Ozil was turned on there were none better. He dazzled and made football look beautiful, the passing and touches were the stuff of legends.
The game never stops evolving and sadly it had no place for him and his approach to the game.
My memories of him with Arsenal will be forever linked to his partnership with Alexis.
That combination in attack was some of the best play I have seen in years. Too bad we never capitalized on that as a club, but life goes on.
One thing I’ve also wondered about was the position he played on the pitch. Before he signed for arsenal, I’d always seen him lining up out wide as a nominal winger, which to me signified his place in the squad – good enough for the first team but not trusted to be the creative centre of the team with a genuine free role. For arsenal, however, he pretty well always played centrally as a number 10, which i saw as us catering to his wishes, because i always thought he was more useful or wide.
Which Arsenal team were you watching? Özil was always mich better playing centrally than on the wings. Even at Madrid, he always played centrally while being flanked by Ronaldo and Di Maria
I said he played centrally for arsenal, but when I’d seen him before it was usually as a winger (I didn’t watch too much of him before he joined and am happy to be corrected)
For Madrid he was used quite sparingly to my understanding, at least when mourinho was in charge. Mourinho got the most from him by bringing him off the bench or playing him for an hour in certain games (again, happy to be corrected)
I will say though, I’ve never understood the hype with Ozil. To me, he was a clever little player who was brilliant in moments. Like a sniffer (i.e. like Inzaghi) but for the final pass, rather than the goal, and I’d never call him a playmaker – playmakers, to my mind, would see much more of the ball than he did.
My opinion about Özil is similar to his Arsenal carrier.
From September 2013 to May 2018, most of the time an excellent world class player. From August 2018 to January 2021 a tragedy both for player and club.
I have problem to remember Özil do anything great in an Arsenal jersey for approximately 2,5 years. There are definitely two parties to blame, but Özil himself has the main responsibility.
What should an employer expect to get when paying an employee £350k a week?
Ôzil was fantastic to look at when he had the ball. He could do extraordinary things.
But as a team player, he had his limitations.
He wasn’t too bothered trying to help win the ball back. His body language was very negative, when things went wrong.
He hardly ever produced anything against big teams.
His stats went steadily downhill.
There are plenty of footballing reasons to have dropped him, and no need to claim ythe club was in the wrong here.
That is only one angle, and there is no proof, only pure negative speculation.
I was happy when we signed him and I was happy when he left. Great success 😁
Ozil was a great player, one of the best play makers of all time. With the right set up and support he dazzled. A world champion and five time German player of the year. I wish him all the best in life.
I feel blessed as a football fan and a fan of Arsenal to have lived in a time where I can witness a number of phenomenal players. Im proud to say Ozil is one of those players and I’ll treasure the memories he has given.
I’m only here to focus on the good memories. There’s no need to linger on his downfall in his later career. Happy retirement MO10. Ya Gunners Ya!
All my sons have a Jersey with Ozil name in the back, why people loves him so I don’t know.
Yes most football players would love to have his amazing accomplishments
Was really sad why couldn’t he had acted like William and walk away.
I remember a time when Adebayor looks the happiest man on the Spuds bench, his snow white teeth could be spotted from distance away, the derby when he assist Henry to score against the Spuds is still special to me.
Both men hanging up their boots in the same day, what a coincidence.
Arsenal legend
Sorry Stephanie to disagree; Dennis Bergkamp is an “Arsenal legend”, Mezut Ozil is not.
First kick for Arsenal was an assist to Giroud against Sunderland let us all never forget that, Ozil brings back the happy moment in our team after almost a decade trophyless, I can never forget how excited I was the day he sign for us 2013. Even our legend Henry14 has is flaws has all human beings those, Champion league 2006 finial’s was his poorest game has an Arsenal player after everything he has done from the group stage down to knock out stages, but the day of the final stage he mess up 3good chance that would hv won us our first champion league trophy but that those not stop him been a legend at our club. I rate ozil game with us throughout his years has a 7/10 imagine playing with a strong midfielder like partey during those year maybe you guys would hv rate Ozil high. One of the best the game hv produced and one of the great players that has ever put on an Arsenal shirt.
I always like to see what other professional in the gane say about a player and here are a selection from those who I consider to be the cream of the crop :
Messi : Ozil is Germanys undisputed star. He’s top class and in credibly creative.
Ronaldo : Ozil made me the star I am today.
Pele : I fear every German player with my heart, mainly Ozil and Muller.
Marco Reus : Best player? Mesut Ozil, because he is a player with a really good eye for his team mates, can create goals and many assists.
Platini : I don’t take shirts from many players, but I’d love to have yours. It would be an honour.
Gerrard : He’s the type of player you would have liked to have played with during your career. A lot of assists and a lot of magic.
Cruyff : Ozil has the ability to adapt his game to a team like Barcelona. If you have the ability to play one touch football, you have a lot of quality.
Lukaku : Oh my God!! That was tough. He always played forward and in the right spaces and was there at the right time. He was constantly creating, so every time he got the ball, he never played it back.
Iniesta : He understands football better than anyone else. I was very surprised Madrid let him go.
Griezmann : He’s an outstanding player. I rate his style of play, passing quality, his solution with a long ball or dribbling.
He’s elegant with the ball.
Kaka : After Ronaldo, my favourite player to play with at Madrid, was Ozil. His understanding of the game, his space and movement was second to none.
Dennis Bergkamp : Mesut Ozil is a tremendous player who can make the difference for Arsenal. His effective skills are his cpntrol, creative passes and taking the right position in the field at the right time.
Thierry Henry : I loved to play with him. He reminded me of Robert Pires.
Sanchez : We really understood each other my friend Mesut. Wishing you the best in your next chapter.
Ronaldinho : Ozil is fantastic. One of the best in the world. Not only a great player, but a great human being.
AS FOR MANAGERS WHO HAVE WON THE LOT?
Pep : I admire him a lot. He is a world class player.
Klopp : I remember the 3-3 game at the Emirates. If arsenal had played wirhout Ozil, we would have won 3-0.
He is an outstandingly skilled player. I don’t know Mesut too well, but I would love to have him at Liverpool.
Mourinho : Ozil is unique. There is no copy of him, not even a bad copy. He is the best No. 10 in the world.
Wenger : If you love to watch football, you love to watch Ozil. He is like a musician who plays the right note at the right moment. His timing is perfect.
So, in summary Mesut, thank you for ALL the memories you gave to the footballing world – enjoy your retirement and carry on your wonderful charity work…. Oh and thanks for playing for The Arsenal!!
Now I know why my sons love him so much.
One think I knew before, Ronaldo was livid when Real Madrid sold him to us.
That’s excellent Ken1945. Well done. Glad you posted that. Ozil frustrated me at times. But when he was switched on, he was pure class. I often wondered, what was going on in his head. Sometimes it looked as though he picked and chose what matches to come alive with his genius master-class performances
Thank you PJ.
pjennings, too bad he “switched off” in the second period of his career at Arsenal. He couldn’t even switch back on when he dropped down the leagues to play in Turkey.
To have achieved so much in the game it disappointed me no end that Ozil ultimately became better known at the end of his time at Arsenal for his social media presence in the political arena and by attempting to embarrass the club by offering to pay the club mascot.
Was he also trying to embarrass the club by agreeing to a larger pay cut than others on the grounds that no non-playing staff should lose their job? How did it play out?
Do you know?
Predictable aa snow in wintr DAN chooses not to even mention Ozils legendary laziness and blatant lack or trying his utmost on thefield for year after lazy year after still lazier year.
IMO he effectivel retired after his ONE top class season, never to again EARN, by working flat out, even afractionof his ridiculously offered and greedily accepted massive new contract.
He is Dan Smiths hero and he is my all time Arsenal villain and a fraudulent conman on the pitch AND when throwing fake sickies and backaches when not fancying appearing in our shirt.
UGH!
After that first year I WOULD NOT CALL IT “PLAYING” BUT JUST APPEARING. I thought he would never leave but when he finally did, boy was I THRILLED!!
Jon, can you please give me the evidence of “fake sickies and backaches”?
I hace never read anything from the club claiming that this was so, but I’m sure you have the actual evidence, otherwise you wouldn’t have made such claims.
So, chapter and verse would be most welcome.
It’s funny how none of the players /managers I mentioned ever referred to Ozil as being “lazy” and what would they know?
Of course I understand this is your opinion, but they knew and played alongside or against Ozil, so I suggest they have first hand experience, rather than where you got yours from.
In actual fact, how many games did you attend during the years that you based this extraordinary claim that he was “lazy” or was your opinion from watching the TV?
Wenger, Arteta, Emery and whoever the German coach at the time was, selected a “lazy” player?
Mmmn, methinks they were too experienced to do that wouldn’t you say?
NO KEN!
I AM NOT GOING TO PLAY YOUR CRAFTY LITTLE GAME, AS YOU KNOW PERFECTLY WELL, AS DO ALL OUR FANS WHO WERE THEN FOLLOWING US, THAT OZIL FAKED SICKIES GALORE.
You just refuse to admit it ,as it does not sit well with your naive hero worshipping agenda of this Arsenal harming person.
All our fans ?
Not sure that’s true ,yes he had back problems but I’m not sure you have evidence that he was pulling sickies .
Just another excuse to knock a player you didn’t like .
I don’t worship anyone Jon, especially a player who left us two seasons ago and is now retiring from the game he blessed, as my quotes from some of the greats of football agree on.
So we can safely say that your claims about Mesut taking fake sickies and backaches that never existed, have no foundation in FACT
The article, which was well written but not concise enough (in my opinion) was to honour a player with a cv unrivalled in the footballing world.
Playing for The Arsenal was only A PART of that cv, but four fa cup medals and three Community Shield medals point to a very successful time at the club.
I know you believe MA has won TWO trophies since he became manager, so I’m sure you will agree that SEVEN medals in his time at our club, is a great return.
Anyway, onwards and upwards as AB says, we will never agree on Mesut Ozil and I guess my happier memories are much better for the soul than your unhappy ones.
Ken, as for your final paragraph, it IS certainly true that naively happily fooled folk ARE more content than those who are harmed by this player but who know it and state it.
I wish that he had never crossed our path or was bought by our club. I freely admit that I would now be happier by far had he never arrived.
I do not wish to have to call out any of OUR players for laziness but i have to, as I AM TRUTHFUL. And unlike you, not in the least bit naive. I am a realist , for the umpteenth time of telling you.
Ignorance truly IS bliss, as your final paragraph shows us only too well!!
If you were TRUTHFUL Jon, you wouldn’t make up things such as “fake sickies” and false “backaches “, so I take what you say with a liberal pinch of salt.
If you cannot make your point, without making FAKE accusations that you have no evidence to back up with, you are nieve and not the realist you think you are.
As for your last paragraph, once again you show your ignorance by using the word “us”…. be a man Jon and grow a pair big enough for you to stand by your OWN convictions and not try to include others in order to make your opinions seem the majority opinion.
I would take any of the nineteen professionals I listed above opinions over someone who has to keep telling everyone he’s a realist, yet says things and never backs them up with FACTS.
As I said, my memories of Ozil, will be along the lines of Klopp (who you seem to hero worship) and the others, so I’m pretty chuffed that my footballing views are aligned with theirs – you can carry on being the miserable, hypocritical, unrealistic and ignorant person that needs to respect other people’s points of view.
@Jon
Type into google: “Ozil spotted partying at German Night club hours afyer missing Newcastle Game through illness”.
We won 2-1 and Ozil had called in ill with flu / a cold. But on that cold day he was pictured out at night clubbing with his entourage..
😊
Can’t be bothered TBH, Goonster.
I have wasted far too much of my time hoping this lazy fraud would eventually see thelight and start EARNING his wages by trying full out, and being disappointed when he did not, year after year, to care about him now.
I am just thrilled that he and all lazy players are not allowed in our club under this excellent manager we now have.
I LOATHE all lazy players and Ozil was by far the laziest I EVER SAW, in any team anywhere.
For Ken and Jon
I will try to give pluses and minuses of Ozil and then my conclusion.
Pluses.
a) Great vision. Great to watch. The pass to AMN in the game against Watford to lay it on a plate for the forward was a thing of beauty.
b) Great usage of space.
c) Hard working. His run stats are as good as any player. I will not call him a lazy player except for the last 2 seasons where he was injured and not picked most often.
d) Even when we are defending he is thinking about ending up in spaces to hurt the opposition.
Minuses.
a) Unless the players around him are of an elite level, he cannot function (i.e. Ronaldo and Benzema @ RM and Alexis Sanchez @ Arsenal).
b) Disobedient. He is not following the orders of 2 managers (UE and MA). They are looking for him to close down attackers rather than looking for space.
c) Did not show any leadership skill when it required him to do so. In the match against Atletico Madrid, he had a great chance to shoot, instead he went for the pass/assist which no other Arsenal player could see.
d) Too politically minded made him take his eye off the ball towards the end.
My own conclusion is that he was the wrong type of player that we needed in 2013 to win that title that year. We needed a striker and we had many Mesut Ozil type players (such as Jack Wilshere and Santi Cazorla).
IGK, You actually, in all seriousnes , think him “hard working”!? Hilarious nonsense!!
Well it takes all sorts, they say and boy are they right!
Yes I do. If you check his sprit stats he is hard working on the pitch. Only thing is that he is also disobedient as stated above which means he works trying to get into spaces when the manager wants him to defend by closing spaces which he does not do.
As stated in my conclusion he was an incorrect purchase as we needed a striker and got a person to assist with goals. Wish we had bought Sanchez first and then we may have won the league in 2013-2014 season.
IGL, Stats? Those misleading things? All you need is eyes that work OK and a normal brain , to see how bone idle he was. Stats dont tell us HOW HARD HE RAN! Or rather, didn’t run!
THEY SHOW WHAT THEY CALL A “RUN” BUT THEY DONT SHOW FULL OUT SPRINTS,WHICH HE NEVER DID.
He jogged around the pitch and never ran full out.
JOGGING AND COASTING ARE NOT WORKING HARD!
For Jon
You do have to READ the whole piece.
You may understand what I have stated.
He did work hard. But hard work in the opposite way to how our team and managers wanted to play means a lack of direction for the team. It means selected fans don’t see the work.
Again if you READ the conclusion, you will see that I stated he was not a right fit for our team as we had plenty of Number 10’s in our team. Another No. 10 that I did not mention earlier was Tomas Rosicky who was also in the team.
Indeed it does take all sorts – klopp, Pep, Mourinho, Wenger, Ronaldo, Messi, Cruyff etc etc etc.
Thanks for your views IGK and it’s not just Jon and I.
As someone said above, Mesut Ozil has been a divisive figure at The Arsenal, but his legacy to football cannot be questioned… unless one has no idea about football, in my opinion anyway.
For Ken
I agree with you. He is divisive.
Would he have been so divisive had AFC not given him such a ridiculous contract especially when there weren’t many clubs wanting to sign him?
I am not so sure.
I think Jon cannot understand that I am agreeing with him that he was not suitable for us. But that does not mean he was not a great player and being objective about it.
IGL I completely DO disagree with you when you claim he was a great player in his Arsenal days.
I say he was no such thing and to lazy too often to be any useat all after his first season and first part of his second.
THEREAFTER, HE WAS A WASTE OF A POSITION, PLAYED AND PAID. I loathed him as effectively an enemy of our club and always will. I wish to God he never came to us at all.
ken, Emery dropped Ozil and we all know how that player power ended up, with the Board forcing Ozil’s reinstatement. The Board didn’t make the same mistake, when Arteta (to his credit) decided Ozil was “not fit for purpose.”
Was that before the coronavirus epidemic, the Chinese refusal to screen Arsenal game, his refusal to take a pay cut until he knew the facts or after the above before he became “not fit for the purpose” OG?
It has to be after, because he played him in all of the undefeated run of 12 games before the pandemic, so was it that that made him unft for the purpose?
He wasn’t the only Arsenal player to refuse a pay cut but was the only one named which was a deliberate ploy to cause a rift between him and the fans. One of the finest players I have had the fortune to , he way he played was exceptional, he spoke out against the horrendous conditons that the Uighur are enduring, so get youe facts right instead of half hearted statements
ken, I always support anyone’s right to speak out on things of concern to them; freedom of speech should be sacrosanct. The actions of the PCP against showing Arsenal games just gave added prominrnce to the Urghur issue. Mezut Ozil was right to speak out on the Chinese Government’s abyssmal treatment of the Urghur minority; however he hipocritically was silent on his mate Urdogan’s treatment of the Kurds.
I loved Mezut Ozil in his first years at Arsenal, but was abjectly disappointed in his on field performances and petulence displayed in his post contract renewal at Arsenal. Not his fault for accepting what Arsenal offered, but I expected Ozil to give his best for the Arsenal.
His decline continued when he dropped to the Turkish League, where he had “god like” status.
He was lazy and he wan 5 time player of the year in a world champion team, from 2007/08 season he won trophies each season abit one or two until 2017/18 season that is legendary doing. I don’t know why you hate my star boy like this. Is first touch for my beloved team was an assist how may players those that FIRST TOUCH I REPEAT FIRST TOUCH Not first game. Pls safe ur haterd on him he has achieved what other players are praying to achieve. He light up the Arsenal wen we’re in our dark moments for almost a decade
This is by far the most disgusting assessment i ever heard.
You are either an idiot to your beef with KEN1945 is making you completely irrational.
you read the litany of comments yet you are stuck on the
contract that the club offered him . Why don’t you call Kroenke and have it out with him? Seriously!!
I think fans started disliking him after that penalty miss against Bayern Munich , I personally rated him less when in our UEL semi final first leg against Athletico Madrid when we were 1 man up , at home and our tails up , our best player ( ozil ) didn’t / couldn’t take control of the game whilst thiers ( Griezman) took over and ….. the rest is history.
Same thing happened in the UEL final against Chelsea where he was so bad he was taken of and replaced by Joe willock who actually scored in that match. That game too Chelsea’s main man Hazard took the game by the scruff of the neck in the second half whilst ours didn’t/ couldn’t.
In any case I love him as a person and as our ex player who game us memorable moments. Wish him all the best and I pray he bears no grudge nor hard feelings with the club , I would really like to see him come back to the club In some capacity like how Fabregas is now. Once a gooner always a gooner.
I think it was Iwobi who came on and scored and what a cracking goal it was too😍
Strangely enough, the report about Ozil “partying”, was made by the German newspaper “Bild” but no photographs were ever produced to back this claim up that he was “partying”.
In fact, Ozil had been given permission to travel to Germany to recuperate, after The Arsenal medical staff confirmed he was not fit to play.. point of interest… not Ozil, but the medical staff.
Arsene Wenger confirmed the above and also stated that the player had not been “partying” but had gone to the nightclub to wish a friend happy birthday and then returned to his hotel.
He also remarked that, if Ozil was “partying” the newspaper, or any of the guests at the party would have taken pictures.
Strangely, not one has ever been produced and one would have thought, with the German FA blaming Ozil for their bad performances, this would have been an ideal opportunity to blacken Ozil even more.
If one goes to the Daily Mirror for confirmation, there was a poll running at the time, asking if Ozil was being unfairly criticised…. Yes or No answer required.
96 % said that he WAS being unfairly criticised…. now THAT’S when I would use the WORDS “96%OF US” to prove a point.
Really interesting when the FULL story is explained, rather than cherry picking headlines. 😊😊
Of course, if anyone can produce those photographs, it would be very useful. 🤔
By the way, as far as I can tell, there were no photographs or mention of his entourage in the reports I read either.
I guess, if there was one, it would probably be his wife and bodyguards, remembering the attacks that he was subjected too, both on line and at a personal level in Germany at the time.
Again, well researched Ken1945. The problem we have here, people like Goonster and Co are so gullible in believing half rumours and myths. So gullible, the above people most probably believe that snakes talk to each other, and believe in Santa Claus and tooth fairies. I’ve of certain stories and rumours regarding Ozil, but none have been proven
The problem is PJ, it really doesn’t take long to check things out, with the Internet ready and waiting.
That’s what I did when I read about the incident and drilled down to check for photographs, along with comments from anyone involved.
Now I don’t know if there is anything else that might come forward, but photographs of him partying alongside his entourage?
Just like the accusation of taking sickies etc are trumpeted out, but when proof is requested, none is forthcoming!
Of course, if hard evidence was to be produced, that would be a different story.
An interesting player. In his career he won a world cup,played for Real Madrid and was prominent in helping Arsenal winning three FA cups in four years. Yes, he could be described as a lazy player, and yes he probably held the club to random in negotiating his contract deal, but what was the club to do going into a new season with, Ramsey, Xhaka and Elneny as their sole midfield options. Ozils unpopulary with our fans lies in the fact that he made those magical passes and pinpoint corner kicks look so easy. His body was not designed for kamikaze diving tackles. I can only drool at how good he would look playing alongside Partey Odegaard and Zhivchenko. A real Rolls Royce of a player.
I would have to agree with you Joe. S. Ozil didn’t have the physic to go into heavy tackles. He did however make up for that in other areas of his game. Talking of player’s physic and build,, it will be interesting to see how young Viera’s footballing career pans out. Obviously Mikel Arteta sees something positive in the lad. Time will tell. I can remember people here not long ago whining and bitching about Martin Odegaard when he first came to Arsenal,, and take a look at him now. Arteta is no fool
Arsenal would be playing with 10.5 players on average; 11 player with the ball in possession and 10 without it, when not in possession.
Today’s Arsenal, everyone works hard with possession or without it.
Ozil got off to a great start at the beginning of Emery’s stint as Arsenal manager and was a key player in our twenty odd game unbeaten run. Some of those amazing goals which seemed to come from nowhere still linger in my memory and Ozil was usually involved in one or two passes. In that golden phase he was linking up so well with Guandouzi and little Uruguayan. Things started to fall apart when injuries hit the team. If my memory serves me Holding, Bellarin Torriera and Ramsey were all injured at key moments and we were stuck with those two nut jobs Sokratis and Mustafi as our last line of defence. To top it off Xhaka was also playing like a headless chicken and things fell apart. Captain Kos’ return from a long injury spell only made things worse because by this time the guy’ confidence was a wreck. Poor Ozil copped most of the blame with everyone looking at his salary and expecting him to work miracles.
Yep sometimes you just have to look in the direction of the manager .
What happens when the number of managers having difficulties with a certain player start to mount up? Surely one has to look at the player?
Wenger did t have problems with him
Dan, if you remember Wenger pandered to Ozil’s every whim, allowed absenses etc.
Can you remember sny other player being given the same consideration?
For example Merson was scrapped by Wenger and went on to win player of the season at Aston Villa the following season.
Ozziegunner, I can remember Podolski asking if he could go to Koln for their carnival (it’s huge out there, much like the Notting Hill carnival here in the UK) while he was injured and Wenger refused.
👍HD, thanks for the reminder about Podolski, a player who Wenger underutilized given his goals per minutes.
Ozziegunner,no problems 👍.
Yap absolutely true. When people succeed, it is because of hard work. Luck has nothing to do with success in football that’s what Diego Maradona said during his days. But for Arsenal plays, officials and funs how would you describe or remember what Ozil have done for the team imagine THE PLAY MAKER, THE RECORD BREAKER OF ASSIST IN ENGLAND WORLD CUP,THE WHO WON 4 AF CUP 4 EPL. So let’s do the best party for our hero. he deserve to be remembered.
I hope all these folks calling Ozil Lazy have won the ‘Ballon d’or’ equivalent in their profession. Losers are easy to point fingers at others. Enjoy your life Champ Ozil. Only a few stay at the top for 15 years and more. It takes a lot of hard work, dedication and commitment to be a pro football player not to talk of playing at the very top level. Too much disrespect for a couple of bad years.
Most recognise his extraordinary ability so it is just ‘unfortunate’ then that he was being paid £18 million a year during ‘those couple of bad years.’ ?
How much were the rest of the team paid for finishing 8th
A bl**dy sight less and some of them weren’t worth their salary either
Weird things fans celebrated 8th and 5th as progress
Ozil mostly played in cl , won 4 FA Cups , played in 2 other finals and got us 2nd in prem
So people are not allowed to criticise one of the biggest under achievers I have ever seen wear an arsenal shirt because in his early career he did live up to the hype? What utter nonsense. Shame on all those arsenal fans who criticised jeff blockley, terry Mancini, george wood, arshavin and so the list goes endlessly on. Saying ‘you’ve not won so and so’ implying you cannot criticise someones effort is not only stupid, its downright insulting to the millions who have done far more for people than ozil ever did.
Marge, Well said. How very true!
Quite true Sue P. Can you recall the match he downed tools when playing under Freddie Ljungberg when Freddie was care taker coach? Ljungberg subbed Ozil, Ozil slowly trudged off the pitch, ripped off one of his black gloves, and kicked it off the pitch as he’s walking off. Ljungberg and the coaching staff held their heads down with embarrassment. As Ozil was kicking his glove off the pitch, Co commentor said sarcastically,,” that must be Ozil’s best kick of the night”. That really annoyed me. Ljungberg came under alot of criticism pre match for naming Ozil in the starting line-up. That’s how Ozil repaid Freddie back. To me, that’s unforgivable for such a high profile footballer on such a massive wage
👍 Can anybody imagine Dennis Bergkamp behaving like that. He lifted everybody around him.
We’re not talking about Dennis’s legacy are we?
Neither are we comparing them, so what’s your point?
Let’s try and keep to the topic, which is Mesut Ozil.
By the way, he did behave disgracefully that game, no excuses for that at all – renmember Dennis in that home game against Liverpool OG? Angels are only found in one place I’m told!!
I am comparing the general attitude of two international players during their playing careers at Arsenal.; that is my point, ken.
Ozil was a panic buy because we messed up the Suarez deal.
Indeed. Also, like all panic buys it went badly wrong.
If all our panic buys were Ozil we would have won 5 titles by now !!!!
One of the laziest, over hyped, and rubbish talked about, players of his generation. Putting it politely. People will say, ‘the stats don’t lie’, okay, brian Talbot was one of top passes completed players, and doubtless would have been among the top, modern, meaningless, ‘assists’ figures for that side, but he was nothing more than a workmanlike, jobbing midfield player. Which is more than I can say for ozil. At the time, I was suspicious as to why Real were so keen to get shot of a ‘world class’ playmaker’ – I soon realised. Lazy, unwilling to get involved unless the opposition let him, and a total diva, its no wonder successive managers benched him. When the club offered him the new contract it smacked of desperation by the new regime, and resulted in collective dropped jaws among fans. Of the many massive transfer clunkers we’ve dropped over the years, ozil is top three, and that’s up against some hefty opposition. When he left I breathed a long awaited sigh of relief…
Marge I agre with every word , save only “of clunkers, top three”! Definitely in a class of its own as a catastrophic mistake to sign him in the first place and then to offer that new contract.
I loathe him with a passion for how he cheated Arsenal by sheer LAZINESS for almost his entire time here.
Good riddance and we must NEVER repeat this clunking mistake ever again.
While Arteta stays here we will never again indulge ANY idle player. Thank God!
When he signed for us from Real Madrid, I imagine every Arsenal fan felt the same as me, at last we’ve signed a truly world class player since moving to the Emirates. By the time he left, I can honestly say, I’ve never known a player to divide the fan base as much as Ozil.
For a few years things started to look up for us on the pitch, with Ozil playing in 3 FA Cup winning teams and 1 Community Shield team, but then he started to go off the boil. Could his mind have been on his business projects, like his coffee shops, computer game and his clothing firm ?
Allowed to go home to Gelsenkirchen to spend the New Year with his family, and then allowed to swan off to Turkey in February to be with his girlfriend became a regular occurrence. Alright for some.
Dan Smith, so what is the reason he wasn’t in the first squad when the season restarted, but was in the next 2 squads ?
Agree totally, although the fact Real (as they later admitted they were) were so keen to get rid of him worried me. At first he seemed to live up the hype, then he had his first, during his first season remember, ‘time off to get his head right’ and never looked consistently top quality again. Yes, he played in cup final sides, and, when we were on top, he looked useful in those. But people tend to forget that his name, as was always the case, was barely mentioned until we were. As for the divisions, that tends to be between those who actually watched the feckless so and so on a regular basis, and those who become invisible when we aren’t doing well.
I did read an article in which Ancelotti, the then Head Coach at Real Madrid, said he wanted Ozil to stay, but was over ruled by the President, Perez.
HD so you ” imagine” EVERY Arsenal fan felt weve signed a truly world class player”, eh?
You have one hell of an imagination then, my naive friend!
So jf, you didn’t think he was a world class player then. You obviously never saw many of his games before he joined us then !
By the way, what is your opinion of Robert Pires ?
HD, Seemingly, from your question ,it may come as a surprise to you -and possibly to some others – to learn that , as an Arsenal fan , not overly concerned with foreign clubs ourside our ownPrem I care rather little even though I do often watch it, as it is still football after all – for players not on our radar or of whom I am unaware that one day they MAY come to us. Yes I did notice Ozil (whom I privately nicknamed Pop Eye, as he has eyes that seem to pop out, though THAT is an irelevance)!
But I am concerned only with what he did when playing for US and I suggest THAT is what actually MATTERS to almost all Gooners, even though possibly not to you.
As such, I need not add to my well known distaste of him and his lack of character and lack of playing flat out when with US.
I could easily see his sublime inate talent, as could we all. But as I HAVE SAID COUNTLESS TIMES ON JA and elsewhere, TALENT without proper and consistent application, is virtually useless in a TEAM SPORT.
THAT remains my view of Ozil and will always remain.
On PIRES, I thought him a true “legend”, though I very much doubt Arsenal was more than his job to him.
I will always remember him with fondness as will almost all other Gooners, IMO!
Watch him play, stop simply parroting pundits platitudes (as his admirers spend all their time doing) then come back to me. As someone who clearly hasn’t seen him play, otherwise you wouldn’t be making such comments, who are you to call anyone who has an ‘idiot’?
@Marge+Jonfox
It definately undermines your lack of football knowledge when you are discarding every expert
footbaling minds as to the qua;lity of the MO.
Do you think Iniesta and Xavi were lazy?
Yet Ozil has better stats tan both of them.
Unfortunately you are looking at his time here as
a problem vs what actually transpired in a larger scale. The player delivered his forst few seasons but when you surround him with your typical garbage cast not much anyone can do.
In any case you guys need to do some reading and Marge as far as me parroting is highly unlikely since I have actually played in 2 European leagues.
I am sure you rate Jack Wilshire higher……