The stats involved in this article about the Arsenal and Germany star Mesut Ozil were made before the Gunners´trip to Loftus Road to face QPR in the Premier League, so may have changed a little but not much.
The German playmaker has been the subject of so many articles in the football media since he made the transfer from La Liga giants to Arsenal in the last days of last season´s summer transfer window. Most of them have not been too favourable and that is an understatement.
Ozil started well but dropped off in his debut season before getting injured. And this season he took some time to get going after the World Cup triumph in Brazil, before another injury lay-off stopped his good form. So plenty of people have had their say about him being a waste of money and a flop in English football, but these OPta stats in a Metro report tell a different story.
The player who came with the tag of being king of assists has actually done what is says on the tin and is the third most prolific provider of goals in EPL history, just behind Cesc Fabregas and another former Gunner Reyes. Ozil also scored seven goals last season and already has four this time and that is pretty good when you conside how little he has played.
Then you have the bad, in another stat report by Metro which suggests that his recent return has had a terrible effect on the form of Alexis Sanchez, who has just one assist and no goals in the seven games since Ozil´s comeback.
Ozil certainly seems to be a bit of a strange player who can divide opinion like no other. Is he languid and cultured or just lazy? Is he brilliant or boring, anonymous or the oil in Arsenal´s gears?
He is a Watchful Provider, Silent Assasin,.. Brown German Knight..
que?
Ozil is quality, he has been great since back from injury. Stop all these useless articles.get off his back and giroud as well.they are our top and main player’s. Well done lads
Please spare me this price tag thing!!! Was it Ozil who placed the 42m price tag on himself?
Why are Arsenal so poor in big games ?
I will cry if Arsenal lose to Man Utd in the FA cup/
You know stats are goddam misleading when reyes is the 3rd most prolific provider of goals in EPL history. Anyway, Ozil is a player I obviously want in the team, but lets be honest here he didn’t live up to his 42m price tag. Obviously he’s doing well against the small teams now, but for that price tag he needs to show more, ESPECIALLY in the big games that define our season. We cant have him disappearing now and then and when he’s not showing up, he really is a luxury we can’t afford to carry.
Ozil is a talented player no doubt but he also has a very specific skillset. I have a feeling we may need to build the team around him to get the best out of him, instead of trying to fit him into our already established style of play. Whatever the case, I hope he works out for us, because I really hate seeing a massive talent like him falter at our club. Lastly, just wanted to point that his injury this season actually helped him and gave him some much needed breathing space IMO. He was nowhere near good form at the start of the season and probably played the worse I’ve seen him played for us.
Well put, but what is even more worrisome is how bringing him back has affected Sanchez, watching him today with all his brilliance and a fantastic goal, he seems frustrated at times. WENGER should be able to compliment both players, every major team has superstar players and is the Coach job to bring the best of both players to the common good of the team.
You bring up a good point. Wenger did a great job of acquiring some great players but he did not necessarily always get players who would compliment each other. (Too many midfielders who all want to play in the middle, for example – the wide play suffers).
Thus it is more difficult for Wenger to find the magic formula if there is one.
@ Mia gunner
That is such bull sh*t your insinuating that ozil is causing Sanchez to get frustrated? Have you watched Sanchez at all this year? He looks frustrated constantly cause he demands perfection from himself and his teammates and you want a player
Ike that.
I love how no1 mentions that Sanchez also stopped scoring since giroud has been bangin in the goals but hey let’s blame ozil
Analysts and fans with agendas will ALWAYS use stats to support their agenda when they work and will disregard them as meaningless when they don’t.
I am a solid Poldi fan so I always cite the fact that Poldi was statistically the best finisher in the league every year he played for Arsenal (Shots on goal per shots taken, goals scored per shots taken, etc.) And he lead the league in assists his 1st year until Wenger benched him for some inexplicable reason.
Obviously stats don’t mean everything or Poldi would not be Italy. (Although I want him back – most fans don’t).
I’m a big fan of Poldi too but I can see why Wenger dropped him. Poldi is not a natural winger and usually doesn’t contribute much to the overall gameplay except for popping up to score goals here and there. He’s performed poorly too when played at cf, as he neither has the strength nor movement to bring others into play and open up opportunities. IMO, the problem with Poldi is a misfit with the Arsenal setup. I see Poldi’s best position as a second striker, but unfortunately Arsenal doesn’t play a 2 man forward lineup, hence there’s no way we can bring the best out of him unless we drastically alter our style of play.
That being said, it’s no reason for Wenger to completely freeze Poldi out. He may not be starting, but I can’t fanthom why he wasn’t even playing as a sub or in cup games. For me, Poldi will be my first option off the bench when we are chasing games and needed goals, as he always have a knack of scoring whenever he came on. Maybe Wenger let him out on loan cos he needed more playing time, but to totally ignore the man while he was with us is bewildering to say the least.
I will refer you to coach Buddy Ryan of the NFL and what he said about wide receiver Chris Carter on why he got rid of him, “All he does is score touchdowns.”
I say the same thing about Poldi, “All he does is score goals.”
That is good enough for me.
Also, Poldi was leading the entire league in assists more than half way thru the season a few years back before Wenger benched him.
And he managed this league-leading stat by playing WIDE LEFT. So much for the conventional wisdom.
I actually was glad that Wenger sent Poldi on loan. If Wenger was simply not going to use him there is no point of him sitting on his bum at the Emirates all season.
Poldi is topping the scoring and assisting charts in Italy till Mancini got jealous and drop him…
I hear what you’re saying about Poldi. His other issue (as far as not doing much else) was that he was very very poor with tracking back. Worse than Ozil.
Also, Super Tom is for sure the Super Sub. First off the bench, IMO. But I understand what you’re getting at with the Polid assertion. For me, Tom does it all though. Love that guy.
If we had Poldi as our striker against Monaco…i strongly believe results would b favouring us now
And reading your comment costed me 2 seconds of my time.
What defines a Superman football player? Not even Messi and Ronaldo score/assist each game and they’re twice as expensive as Ozil. Di Maria and Falcao are more expensive and aren’t doing shit at the OT. How about David Luiz, is he a Superman too?
In 13 BPL games this season Ozil has 8 goals + assists. Not to mention the myriad of chances he’s created up front. Could he better? Def. But people should be more appreciative of what he’s doing for our squad and not repeatedly slander him just because of his price tag.
Or how about willian who cost £30 f*ckin mil and has 2 goals this season but no1 talks about that
like di maria???
The fact that Alexis got a goal and was the second to last pass leading to Giroud’s goal nullifies that Metro article.
But let’s face the facts that Ozil has been blacklisted ever since he joined our club. It is up to him and only him to shut them up by playing his game… even though they probably never will.
So tired of hearing nonsense about Ozil just like I was tired of hearing the nonsense about Poldi.
Bottom Line: Ozil is here, he is a gunner, and we love him so………
Just sit back and let it all flow.
I hate all this constant talk and slating of ozil. He is a top quality player and he’s been showcasing his talent ever since his return from injury.
We should appreciate what we have he is a special kind of talent. Are there parts of his game can he improve on? Absolutely, but what player doesn’t?
Ozil was oozing class last night, especially in the second half he really turned up the heat. In fact he was one if not our best player on the pitch. Even though last season he had top assists and created the most chances, he seemed a little disjointed and I think being a record breaking signing put him under the spotlight which we all know he does not enjoy. The signing of Sanchez has taken the spotlight of him considerably and now I think he feels a lot more freedom to just play his game without too much scrutiny. The best of Ozil is yet to come but I agree that he needs to have more impact in bigger games.
i’m with Big Gun on this…..
Very well said @big gun. I think your spot on
Ozil is just not good enough ….
he should be released together with Wenger and the rest of the deadwoods in Summer..
And you should release yourself as an Arsenal fan since all you do is talk crap about the team. Ozil was voted player of the month for February…. and most of us are happy to have him here.
Ozil is a class player and one of our players who can add a pinch of the exquisite into the team to change a situation and cause goals.
That DOES NOT mean he is good for the team though. 11 players on a pitch have to work together, some combinations work and some do not. I will never attack a player for simply not working in a system – and clearly Ozil and Cazorla in the middle does not quite work for us. That isn’t to say either is bad or that either shouldn’t play but just they can’t play together as well as they should.
I wouldn’t say Ozil is lazy andI wouldn’t say he is a detriment to the team. I’d say he fits in in some situations and doesn’t in others. Simple as.
Would the real mezut ozil please stand up please stand up please stand up.
so now mezut gets the blame for alexis not performing the way he did in the 1st part of the season really??what.s next??
I think that the issue with ozil and where Alexis has got it right is we Afc fans are used to and love the battle + fight + toughness that we for so long had. We are proud and dont like to be bullied so when players like ozil look scared to fight and tackle it causes this divide. Talented yes and with a tough team behind him ok, Walcot doesnt like a tackle but just runs into defensive positions to hopefully block the route to our goal.