Maybe the fact that the Arsenal and Germany international star Mesut Ozil has still not put pen to paper on a new contract to keep him in north London past next summer is causing Arsene Wenger to tread carefully around his talented but sometimes frustrating number 11, but if Ozil is happy at Arsenal as we have heard I am not sure the boss should be so easy on him.
And let’s be honest, Arsenal fans, this idea that Wenger is too easy on his players when they do not perform as we want and need them to is an old and long running theme at the club, but did the Frenchman have a point when he reacted to the criticism of Ozil from Steven Gerrard and former Gunner Martin Keown?
The former Liverpool midfielder admitted that Ozil can be a real world class player but when Arsenal play away he does not do enough, especially when the Gunners do not have the ball, calling the German a liability and suggesting it is like playing with a man down.
Wenger responded, “I think he did fight.
“It is difficult to single anybody out. I believe we had many, many chances and personally I don’t think he deserves [criticism].”
Does he really believe that do you think? If so is he right? I do have some sympathy as Ozil was one of the few players who looked like they might break the Stoke defence and chasing back and tackling is not his strong point. Or do you think Wenger was also frustrated by his star and will deal with it behind closed doors?
I do think that Ozil is an easy target for the pundits because of the oft repeated thing about his body language, while stats often show him covering more ground than most. What do you think Gooners?
Bob.
Ozil is a lazy player only surpassed in his laziness by Riyah Mahrez. I can’t believe we are rewarding him with a 280k contract. Decisions like these are why we need to get rid of Wenger asap. He is weak and so are his players.
I think he is not lazy, but he lacks the skill to possess the ball under the opponent’s heavy pressure. His playing style is just not suitable for Arsenal.
If Arsenal keeps playing like this without lowering the tempo down, I suggest they switch to a completely pragmatic style. Get players with excellent physical attributes, like what Manchester United has done.
Manchester United have Pogba, Lukaku, Matic, Rashford, Martial, Bailly, Valencia, etc. Most of them are fast, tall and strong, make MU able to dominate physically.
Wenger and his staffs have been trying to play with more technical style, but the result is not good. Why not try something new?
What? Team’s don’t apply heavy pressure against us aside from the build-up…
The two teams we’ve faced so far have played crazy deep and looked to counter.
Yeah and that’s Özils biggest problem. He can’t break down good defences. He doesn’t take players on, the majority of his passes are sideways or backwards and he doesn’t defend. He is overrated and everyone can see it except Arsenal fans. No other team wants him, he has called out Bayern Munich, Dortmund and Schalke for a return to Germany, his manager sounded out Barcelona. If he is as good as most of you think he is, then why in 4 years hasn’t one club tried to buy him? He had one season that was ok but let’s be honest, 19 assists is not the same as scoring 20+ goals. A lot of those assists were a pass where someone like Sanchez beat 3 players and smashes it from outside the box or a corner put in by Giroud.
I agree, and I wish we had never spent so much money on him from the beginning as I was already doubting he would suit us from the day I heard he was coming to Arsenal. I remember saying to myself this was going to be a huge gamble because he didn’t have that one thing I like in all successful attacking midfielders, which is hunger and ability to carve out something from nothing, he always relies too much on his teammates. Like everyone has said before on this forum, he’s a luxury player, because a team will need to accommodate for a player like Ozil and Arsenal do not have the financial muscle or players to do that. I sometimes also suspect it was a panic buy from Wenger because we got him at the very end of the transfer window, but even if it wasn’t I will still blame Wenger for not having the vision and for being near sighted to not see that Ozil is not what we wanted. Instead he could have spend it on someone else who would have been more effective for us.
The problem with having Ozil is that he is a luxury player, if you want the best out of him you need to build a team around him. I believe our attack is fine, it is behind him that we have problems. If you want a player like him you need two midfield beast enforcers to protect him and our back four. Their sole purpose would be protection and letting him play. We possess the ball all the way up to the opposition box then pass sideways rather than load the area. The problem then becomes loss of possession and too many players over committed, if they have a Vardy speedster up front it ultimately ends with a shot on our goal within 8 seconds of loss of the ball. If Wenger insists on sticking with Ozil then he needs to get Seri or Carvalho or at least play a physical guy like Coquelin.
Players are diva’s and managers have to be careful what they say about players or they could upset them which might make them feel unwanted and look for a new club. Personally i think Wenger is to easy on the players and my solution for Ozil would be to buy someone who could slot straight into his position so that Ozil will have to perform to keep his place in the team.The only problem is who that player should be.
Mahrez has been fantastic so far this season. 3 assists in 2 matches. He has given my fantasy football team 16 points. He may not contribute a lot defensively but he is fantastic attacking.
Mahrez would be excellent competition for Ozil. If not Mahrez then Draxler or Lemar would be even better.
Players in their position are not supposed to be massive defensive contributors… Leicester won the league with Mahrez playing near every game.. You can afford to carry a weak defensive player as long as they at least work to cover holes.
Bleh! The Ozil haters will absolutely lap this up…
Few fun stats. 91 completed passes, 4 chances created. Both the highest of anyone on the pitch. Soooo he literally had the most and the most effective possession of anyone…
oh and that goal we conceded? So Ramsey’s busy with a forward run.. Xhaka turns it over and decides to blindly press the ball afterwards leaving a gaping hole between midfield and our back-3. Whoever is going to track Jese’s run? Ozil tracks him until the ball is played to Berahino.
Sick of this absolute vomit that gets spewed about Ozil. He’s in the team because he’s a playmaker..
After the Leicester game it was clear dangerous turnovers cost us goals and it happened yet again! Ox, Bellerin and Ramsey – 5 turnovers a piece.
Xhaka – 4 and a stupid decision that led to Jesé having an almost free run at our back-3.
Ozil – 1.. Despite the most passes of anyone.
But sure.. Keep feeding the narrative, because half fans don’t know actual football and they’ll remember the times he’s shown bad body language SMH…
Couldn’t agree more. Everyone wants to criticize Ozil after every game even though he is arguably the best chance creator in the league because he doesn’t look like a maniac running around the field. Those same people will tell you how awesome Alexis is and how badly we need him even though he had the most turnovers out of any player in the top six clubs last season. And to top it off stats from last season show Ozil covered more ground per game than almost anyone for Arsenal. It’s a joke how people will jump on board with BS without even checking facts.
ozil need to taking game to the oponent with intent to cause more impact damage. but he goes about his game reservedly almost as if he not wanting to over exhert himself, yet planning and scheming in his head how to deliver that killer assist (or goal).
I see many are getting impatient with ozil and want him to be more up and in the opponent face but he’s hardly that type. our failure is not purchasing player to complement ozil and that means saying goodbye to ramsey, walcott and even giroud players that are not at the level he is accustomed to.
*if its consensus among our fans to see the back of ozil then so be it. but once quality is gone it cannot easily be replaced. we’re a team in transition so lets wait and see who goes/arrives in the transfer wind.
It’s not that he’s planning or scheming.. it’s the fact that he doesn’t force it. If the killer ball is on he’ll find it with ease and sees the bigger picture..
Perfect example of this in the stoke game was what I thought was our best attacking move. Ozil collects the ball on the wing. Plays a 1-2 with someone then fires the ball at Giroud who flicks it into Welbeck for what should’ve been a pen as he was knocked while he shot.
.Josh 37 – i dread to think how we’d get through a season without ozil particularly faced with europe competition. careful what you wish for, once he is gone who would we get that comes close to him?
Ozil is my arsenal favorite player but his contribution of late is not encouraging. I hope he buckle up sooner rather than later because even patience has its limit. My loyalty is to arsenal FC.
Why wenger not consider Krychowiak since he knows the midfield have problem. Right now, Chelsea & West Ham are considering to bring him. Why wenger? Why..
Krychowiak played in a massively defensive system at Sevilla.. In a much more attacking PSG he’s failed to find a place miserably.
Why people keep suggesting him I’ll never know…
Now just imagine we lose at Anfield next Sunday, what then? Can Wenger really afford to sit on his hands this week when it comes to acquiring players…can we really afford to stand pat and hope things will just magically work themselves out…just look at recent history when it comes to how many losses can be had for anyone with title aspirations…even though I honestly don’t believe we are in the running, I’m more than a little concerned about the ramifications of suffering another defeat so early in the season, considering the fragile environment at the club presently
blaming the refs might provide some comfort for those under Wenger’s spell but it will never get you the 3 points and it will rarely make the situation with future officials any better…think about it, Wenger has been bitching about the officials for years and how has that worked out for us…just another example of the irrational behaviour that has led us to the place we currently find ourselves…it’s like our manager is being played by John Clease and instead of a dysfunctional hotel owner, he’s an overwhelmed and out-of-date football manager…unfortunately there is nothing funny about this show
we can’t even get rid of players that have barely mannered to us for several years…which is incredibly annoying considering that our beloved owner would never risk his own financial resources whether he brought in some new blood or offloaded several failed Wenger projects for less than market value…he would simply make a little less and the burden would fall squarely on other sources of income, primarily us…I don’t know about you but I would gladly use all the money they have been stockpiling to rid ourselves of those that don’t meet acceptable standards and to replace them with a few higher priced gems…I know, I know, Wenger and his minions have been scouring the globe for years now to find anyone that was as good as our current lot to no avail, but I’ve just got to believe there must be two or three guys somewhere out there that can play this crazy game
We seem to manage without Ozil when he starts the season a month late because he had played some summer matches for Germany. We seem to manage without him when he has extra time off at Christmas because in Germany they have a winter break and we seem to manage without him when he is out with injury. He is a luxury player who is not 100 percent dedicated. Sell him.
if Ozil is as good as some Arsenal fans think he is, he wouldn’t be criticized all the time . I mean. this guy gets criticised in 32 of 38 games.. I’ve never seen such a fraud all my life …
I can count the number of times Sanchez was criticised last season maybe 4 to 5 times… like it or not, we only have two world class players at Arsenal
Sanchez and Koscienly . Cech is past it and Ozil is overrated. Lacazette can be world class too but I doubt that will happen with Wenger in charge. so many passing
I’m still not convinced Lacazette is or will be world class :/
He just has ‘sunderland’ written all over him. Hope i’m wrong.
The dead fish stinks from the head … Whole team has a work ethic problem … We don’t provide support and doubling up whether attacking or defending In way the top teams do …. And it’s the managements job to instill that … Our laurel and hardy comedy management duo are where the problem lies and until they go it wouldn’t matter is we paid messi s release clause problem would remian
I guess it high time wenger start using wilshere..
Mahrez is far better than ozil,even all our attacking players except Alexis Sanchez, we keep tagging him as a lazy player,he is always threat to opponent I don’t know why we are bias to players of other clubs………
Ozil is not the real problem. The lack of quality centre backs is,and has been for the past 5/6 years. Holding and possibly belik will make the grade, mustafi clearly will not. The fact that mr wenger paid 35 million for a defender who is average at best merely highlights the incompetence of the man and his support team. The situation will not change until he retires.
Oziel poor performance…..
Sell oziel, sanchez, walcott n get mbappe, seri, d.sanchez