Mesut Ozil was sidelined at Arsenal simply because he couldn’t perform under Mikel Arteta.
The Spanish manager needs players who can do the job for him, and that has seen him axe the German.
At the time that Ozil was struggling, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was arguably Arsenal’s best player.
The Gabon striker was scoring all the goals that we needed, and he earned himself a new mega-money deal, just like Ozil did in 2018.
After signing the new deal, Auba’s goals have dried up.
In a bid to avoid an Ozil situation, Arteta has played the former Borussia Dortmund man in several positions across the club’s attack, but he still cannot buy a goal.
I hope he starts scoring soon, but even if he doesn’t, he will be smiling on his way to the bank.
I wonder how much longer will he struggle before he gets benched by Arteta?
One message a manager has to send to his players is that no one is his favourite or above the team, yet Arteta seems to struggle with that.
In the absence of Aubameyang, we beat Chelsea 3-1. He still brought the striker back against Brighton and benched the in-form Alexandre Lacazette.
That action showed that the Spaniard can be blindly loyal, and I’m afraid, that might spoil his coaching career.
An article from Ime
Please Auba is not Ozil.
It’s not at that stage yet.
Lacazette has earned a start against West Brom no question
Arteta’s 3-4-3 worked well against big teams last season, but it wasn’t consistently effective for small games. It’s been found out in this season by other managers and shifting Aubameyang to CF position made Aubameyang’s shot stats drop
If Arteta keeps using 4-2-3-1 with Aubameyang as the CF, the CAM must be highly skillful and tenacious
It might well be Diego Costa leading the line 😜
Arteta must be crazy if he signs Costa 🤦♂️
I don’t know mate Wenger is a big fan of Costa so it would be no big surprise if Arteta is as well and Lacazette is the only forward showing a bit of form right now.. and Nketiah is championship level
Wenger might like Costa’s abilities to harass the opposition’s CBs, but Costa is too old now. If Arsenal have big budget in January, I’d prefer a taller and younger CF
GAI, You are spot on. The other teams figured out how to neutralize the left side, and since we don’t have creativity, Auba become ineffective. Auba need services from others and he has to be in the box to be useful. He will not dribble past defenders or create a passing lane for others. its not his game and MA need to find a way to bring him the best out of him. I think 4-4-1-1 might work If we dont get a skillful CM/CAM. Having him playing off another striker might help.
Thanks. Aubameyang is dangerous when he cuts inside from the left wing and when he lives on the shoulder of the last defender
👍 Spot on analysis.
What Auba achieved for our Club last season cuts him a lot of slack with me and ,thankfully, Arteta.
👍 With me too; hopefully he discovers his positioning, timing and running into space soon.
From single handedly saving our seasons from becoming total disasters and possibly relegation ( kudos to Brand also) to score own goals. What has happened to Pierre?
The players did not fail the system but the system failed them. Why are we just fixated on Ozil and Auba when most of the team is in the tank.
Why don’t we just admit that deploying the current players in a new system not suitable for their game is an error made by an inexperienced manager?
I hope we don’t make the same mistake with Auba that we made with Ozil by belittling him and destroying his character. Lets make him more relevant if we want to sell him.
Ideally we should sell all our older players and go with the youth. MA will get the players he wants and the club saves money.
ICW, You made a valid point. The system should be suited to the players and get the best out of them. Not the other way round. It’s non-issue If only one player is under performing, but now almost all of them are not doing good. This is a slippery slope if the trend continues.
No wonder Arsenal can never have coaches like Guardiola and Klopp, System should be made to suit players? God!! And when those players leave or get injured, change systems again ryt? Guardiola,Klopp, Ferguson: you either find a way to suit their system or you get out, and guess what? Those managers have all won the champions league with several domestic league titles
Baba Sagna, Yes you have to have a system that suits the players. You cant have a system that doesn’t fit the players in hand and expect it to be successful. You can not ask stoke players to play a tiki-taka style when none of them has the qualities needed to play that system. Why do you think Guardiola and Klopp bought bunch of players after their 1st season? They realized what they are implementing is not suited to the players they had in hand. They have get rid of the ones that doesn’t fit and bring new ones that can work in the system. No one is saying Arteta should not bring his sytem, but for that to work he has to have the players that fits it. Currently, I am not sure what his system is, but going by the result it’s not working. He inherited a team that finished in 8th but languishing in the lower part of the table
So you are basically arguing in the favour of the system then. What you just posted is in agreement with what “Baba Sagna” is saying if you dive deep.
The System comes first and the players have to fit in it.. Not the other way around. You don’t fit the system into the players, the players have to adapt or fit into the managers system. Hence the term “The players have to buy or the players bought into what the manager is proposing”..
That’s why we always cried about “Why does wenger have to keep playing Ozil on the wings, why does wenger keep trying to play Santi on the wings. Why does wenger keep play Ramsey wide?
Why does wenger persist with someone like Giroud when he has these small technical midfielders?. Why does we wenger persist with playing Wilshere, Cazorla, Ozil, Ramsey etc all in the same starting eleven?
Why does wenger persist with Xhaka blah blah.
Why does the manager keep playing someone like Auba outwide when he should be playing in the middle as a proper striker?
Fans have been asking these question since the wenger days, “Why do managers keep playing AMN as a wingback when he should be playing in the middle?”
Why does David Villa, Eto, Suarez etc all have to play outwide at Barcelona when they are supposed to be strikers? Etc.
I can keep naming situations where we as fans keep questioning every managers decision when it comes to team selection and formations.
This is the same question that most of us fans ask. Not just Arsenal fans, all fans from other clubs ask this samr questions about their own managers each season. “OUR MANAGER IS CLUELESS, why does he keep playing players in the wrong positions? Play them in their natural positions.
Because if we start talking about “Play to this player and that players strength, where does it then end?
People will say, play to Giroud’s strengths.
Others will say, play to Xhaka’s strengths,
Others, play to Ozil’s strengths
Others, play to Auba’s strengths.
Play to Laca’s strengths
Play to Parteys strengths
Play to Saka’s strengths etc..
Can’t play to each and everyone’s strengths. So the best thing as always is to come up with a system of compromise. Everyone has to compromise in order for the whole teams betterment.
It’s because that’s how football works, players have to adapt to systems and if not they will be shipped out..
It’s the system first and then the playees have to conform to it.. Not the other way around.
😊
God bless you brother,, you really understand football, most people only scream at the TV and get ideas put in them by the media and some clueless pundit. I wish fans can get behind the team and let the manager sort the mess.
Exactly.
Look at Zlatan at Barcelona. He was bought but refused to conform to the Barcelona system, so he was shipped out.
Sanchez at Barcelona did not fit in the Barcelona system. He got shipped.
Santi had to play wide, No10 and finally as a CM in his Arsenal career.
Even Ozil himself. He had to adapt to the German system in the world cup. He played wide. Same as at Madrid. And in his earlier times at Arsenal.
Cesc could not fit onto the Barcelona system. So he was shipped out.
Theiry Henry had to play outwide when he was signed by Barcelona.
Remember that CL final where Eto’o played as a wingback under Mourinho at Milan? Lol
Only special players like Messi / Ronaldo can command special systems to fit them. As their input and output for the team is immeasurable.
Just to finish off. Players have to change for the system and not the other way around. Those that can’t adapt are either frozen out of the team or shipped out..
😊
I think Ferguson adapted his systems to suit players actually. His adaptability is what enabled him to be so successful for so long at the same club. It also meant he could win championships without having an amazing squad – if nobody else had a truly outstanding squad, United were always around to pick up the default win because he’d just get the maximum from whatever he had. The attack-attack-attack mantra defines his best sides, but he won a few titles by accumulating clean sheets and tight 1-0 victories when he didn’t have the best forwards.
I don’t know how some people writing articles think, it’s one thing to be entitled to one’s opinion but those opinions shouldn’t always be stupid ones. Why is just arsenal mostly publishing the stupid opinions, imagine this man comparing Aubameyang’s situation to Ozil’s. Another one on Twitter even said Ozil is a bigger legend than Liam Brady. I guess too many stupid opinions make the brain permanently stupid.
Baba Sagna, Yes you have to have a system that suits the players. You cant have a system that doesn’t fit the players in hand and expect it to be successful. You can not ask stoke players to play a tiki-taka style when none of them has the qualities needed to play that system. Why do you think Guardiola and Klopp bought bunch of players after their 1st season? They realized what they are implementing is not suited to the players they had in hand. They have get rid of the ones that doesn’t fit and bring new ones that can work in the system. No one is saying Arteta should not bring his sytem, but for that to work he has to have the players that fits it. Currently, I am not sure what his system is, but going by the result it’s not working. He inherited a team that finished in 8th but languishing in the lower part of the table
I am guessing that Twitter post was a reaction to the report in the Metro about Brady stating that Ozil was given plenty of chances by Arteta but reverted to type and is not a good guy in the dressing room or on the pitch. When the king of Highbury who will have inside knowledge of what goes on at the club makes a comment like that then it has to be respected.
Yes,, you got it right… I don’t know if Ozil is bigger than Arsenal because I just can’t understand how someone can even compare Ozil to Brady… Just like Anthony Joshua against floyd mayweather
That last statement though, so between Anthony Joshua and Mayweather, who is Brady and who is Ozil?
Arteta said the reason for not starting Lacazette against Brighton was that he had a sore back after the City game. I hope the team that beat Chelsea will be the one to start against WBA.
We have such a rubbish midfield they can never play Aubameyang through. It’s a miracle he scored goals and usually had to create them himself. Xhaka, Ceballos and Elneny are creatively challenged…..poor. Of course Aubameyang will rise again. My worry is that Arteta, as enthusiastic as he is, lacks something the more experienced managers have. It’s like he’s a bit blinkered and doesn’t see many angles/perspectives. Our midfield is shite. Anyway at least Partey will return soon. We desperately need a midfield maestro.
Well said Sean. The positive forward passing midfielder is missing amongst those three. Rest Xhaka once TP is back as against Brighton he was far to cautious choosing sideways or backward passes when Aubameyang made his runs. Annoying!