Walcott defends under fire Arsenal star and he´s Right!

I might not agree with everything that Arsene Wenger has been saying this week about Arsenal and his under fire players, not many fans would after that shocker against the Greek champions, but I have to agree with him on what he said about the laziness of the football media and how they report on and analyse games and individual performances.

Quite a few Gunners have come in for criticism for their role in the defeat to Olympiacos, David Ospina not surprisingly more than most, and I read one pundit claim that Theo Walcott and Alexis Sanchez were the only two that had really turned up.

They were certainly our two best players on the night but I cannot see why Mesut Ozil has been singled out again. Well I can actually; it is because he is an easy target and like Wenger says, these so-called football experts seem to be happy to regurgitate a theory they have heard rather than actually think for themselves.

Check out the nasty and lazy piece of journalism from the former Man United midfielder Johhny Giles in The Sport Review.

Giles said, “It was an absolutely disgraceful display.

“He was totally dishonest in the way he played. Instead of making a genuine effort to win the ball back, he was giving silly free-kicks away. That is always the sign of a player who doesn’t want to make a real effort.

“He hasn’t done anything for Arsenal at all. Arsenal won’t do anything if he is in the team.”

This `he doesn´t do anything´ accusation has been used against Ozil ever since he signed for Arsenal and it has been proven over and over again by the stats to be wrong. He may LOOK lazy and languid but he gets through as much work on the pitch as anyone. He is not, however, a defensive player so expecting him to get stuck in and win tackles will always leave you disappointed.

He did struggle a bit with the pace of the game last season but he worked on his strength and fitness when recovering from injury and after that he covered more distance than any other Arsenal player, as reported by The Telegraph. Have you noticed how he does not get subbed off by Wenger half as much these days?

What Ozil does give the team with his running is space and fluidity in our passing and creative play. And as his team mate Theo Walcott told Arsenal Player, the rest of the Gunners are always impressed and grateful about the quality the German play maker brings to the side as he explains why Ozil really is a world class player.

Theo said, “The first thing he does when he has the ball, in fact when he hasn’t even got the ball, is that he looks. He looks first before he gets the ball and he knows where he’s going to play it before he’s even got it. That just shows the sort of quality we have in this team.

“Mesut’s involvement in the Stoke goal sums it up and also shows what he can do for this team. He makes football look easy and he’s a special player who has so many assists in his game.

“He can do it anywhere on the pitch, he’s a threat from anywhere and when you’ve got that in your dressing room you can build on it.

“I know what he’s going to do now when he’s got the ball, I just need to keep making those runs and hopefully we can get that relationship going.”

Ozil already has three assists from six Premier League games and it would be more if our strikers had been on form, so please do not let the constant sniping of the football media make you think that Ozil is a liability.

Tags giles Ozil Wenger

34 Comments

  1. I want ozil to silent his haters by stepping up against man u tomorrow, and do his talking on the pitch with a victory! Coyg!

    1. What’s with all this bull Sh,,,if Giroud gets rubished on his game, so should Ozil. He should be dropped and Ramsey may not have the flair like Ozil but boy he gives so much more in a game. It’s the worst Transfer of 42mil by Arsenal and Giles is right. Let’s face it no team now would pay no more than 10mil for Ozil and that’s a fact, so sell him Jan and buy a player that gives all in a game not once in a while with a fancy flick now an then. CB

  2. Oil is a great player. We have a fairly good squad. Ospina is a great keeper.

    I said it before and will Say it again. The game vs olympiakos was a o be played by the exact same 11 bar giroud.

    That was wenger fault and the rage that he showed proves it.

    Hopefully he knows and he will take care of things.

    1. Now we ourselves are in a position that we can’t play any player except the best XI. We have to win all the matches for qualification sure shot.

      1. Actually we could have won the game even at 2-2. If we not have conceded that goal just after the break. That killed the game, because all Olympiakos had to do is to defend deep. Fair play, they did quite well.

  3. Walcott is no poz to defend anyone. Not only him but every players beside Sanches and Kos should Shut the F… Up.

  4. Running around and covering space is easy enough for any professional footballer, it’s what you do with it that counts!
    And unfortunately Ozil hasn’t even kicked in to third gear since we signed him.
    I know that he can do alot more than what he has shown at Arsenal, that’s my reason for being disappointed with him.

    He has been here long enough now, so there’s no excuses,
    The only consistentcie he has shown is that he goes missing at a time when you need him the most!

    The most annoying thing is that he is the first one to talk of the importance of a big game coming up but never shows up himself ?

    1. Ozil was singled out for special treatment, it was Cazorla however unlikely who showed next to nothing from a top priority position. Same for Cog, and defensively speaking the entire midfield along with our defenders looked amateurish at worst possible moments,.

      Back to Ozil, he had to go far out to left wing to find any space. Whenever he came in to find some space he would get picked up. Still he should have done better alright no matter how well drilled or prepared opponents seemed to be.

      I can forgive a playmaker for a lack of creativity at times if against a solid unit. I can forgive a creative player for not sliding to win ball back and for not notching up top numbers/stats defensively speaking. What I find hard to forgive is when Ozil went out to close down a shot (which led to first goal) but changed his mind and basically moved out of the way, it’s a ball, not a grenade.

      Enough of this anyways, bring on utd and let the good times role ..I hope.

    2. He doesn’t even dribble wen challenged these says, what he does now is just turn away from a challenge and pass the ball. He was more dynamic in his first season.

    1. You are right there, sometimes he sees to much as to who to pass to when the goal is in sight for him. Arsenal is in a crisis right now, but we can get out of it just in 3 games. Manu, Watford and Bayern Munich. We can win vs Bayern in one game I’m sure about that if we have a good
      defensive game. This is how quick football can change, it only takes 3 games.

      We know transfer window was a failure, but right now the players if not from the manager, or the other stingy people up in the board, need to lift themselves up. Not talk to media every now and then about how they will recover, rather do the recovery first then talk.

      1. i will never forgive wenger for his transfer window incompetence. he lies if he says he did not want to buy: he did: just his cheapness & incompetence & slowness are to be blamed.

  5. Ozil created more chances than any other player so far in Europes top 5 leagues (domestically). Believe me If Sanchez, Walcott and Bellerin play in the front three no matter if its Ozil or Cazorla the assists will rack up for either or both AMF regularly. We will still need a CF no doubting that but until then this is our best forward three and with Ozil or Cazorla as AMF.

    Actually Ozil does try to win the ball back even when we’re are losing. The most notable one recently was when Sanchez completely missed that shot against Chelsea. Go and have a look back at what happens before. Ozil wins the ball physically then Ramsey gets it who then chips it over the defence for Sanchez. Ozil has been defending better for us this season.

    1. Arsenal were creating 20- 30 chances per game,
      Long before Ozil came along ?

      The man himself said that he is not worth the money that Arsenal paid for him and that no player was worth 50mil ?

      I agree with him on the first part ?
      but erh… I think that Messi, Ronaldo , Suarez and even Bale lol are well worth that 50mil ?

          1. The funny thing is people easily overlook David Silva. Now that’s a player who makes the difference for City…

  6. The whippet is one of the problems … Can do ok against mid table teams … But will never worry serious defences as he lacks the range of skills needed by a quality striker …

    1. He has started playing lone striker this season. He can’t be world class in 4-5 matches. But atleast he is showing signs, that he can be.

  7. Don’t worry about Aguero and Lewandowski scoring 5 goals in one match each

    Giroud and Walcott > Aguero and Lewandowski

  8. Why is the atmosphere at the Emirates so terrible? Olympicos fans came all the way from GREECE and outscreamed our home fans. They even booed our players in our own stadium!!!I think this is part of the reason we are so toothless in our own home.
    Please guys, if anyone on here attends those home games, can we create an atmosphere for winning that will make our opponents uncomfortable? The so – called board robbed us for circa 10 years of winning trophies just to build the 60,000 seater stadium and yet, a sprinkling of opposing fans will come and outscream 55,000 of us?

    I’m all the way in Nigeria and cannot attend games as much, i and I’m sure other fans too far away are banking on you guys.
    Up Gunners!!!

  9. Funny how Arsenal is in everyone’s mouth for the wrong reasons. City scores their 6th, on comes Tiote and the first thing out of the commentators mouth was the great comeback against Arsenal from 4 goals down. Ever so called big club has been embarrassed at least once since then but that’s the game they all remember. SMH

    1. We are the team everyone loves to hate. I just wonder why that doesn’t make us stronger, but kills us instead. After all, they say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger

  10. Now we’ll start attacking each other,making excuses. The players should shut up and show what they can do on the pitch,it is like we are going back to 3-4 seasons ago,when we are poor on set pieces,both in defending and attacking,conceding unbelievable goals. We have a huge weak spots,Westham showed it to everybody,just look at the games we lost,we only show reactions in the next after we have lost one or two games,then we go back to zero again,lose a game,then react. Its like a circle. Wenger should wake up and change different tactics for different opponents,that’s how it should be,the players should show everybody why they are taking that huge amount of money. What is steve bould’s job?

    1. Giroud was important at set pieces, not being funny. Theo Cazorla Ozil Alexis Ox are nowhere near the tallest. Bellerin is lacking aerially. so that leaves us with Monreal and two CBs, also Ramsey and Coq who aren’t what you call tall but Coq is decent jumper. Giroud did make some difference and he is better at winning headers in defence than attack.

      1. giroud’s contribution at corners insufficient as a reason for him to start. walcott’s growing into CF role and unless he goes dry bigtime, OG is sub for forseeable future.

  11. A lot of the time Ozil has been misused anyway, particularly when he’s been pushed into attacking from wide positions when he’s not that pacey. He needs to be at least 10 yards in from the touchline with people making intelligent runs beyond him. I don’t think he necessarily lacks effort; I think our whole team very often lacks yardage in the stats due to high possession.

    I am far more worried about our defensive lapses. Against Olympiakos we attacked okay. Scoring two goals against a very organised side is reasonable, and it was our defending that cost us. Ozil made a bit of a bad decision as the ball was played in by trying to cut it out when he was never getting there, but that doesn’t shield Mert who stood still while Finnbogason knocked a beach football flick around him, or Ospina’s positioning when he dropped his clanger.

    Perhaps with so many individual defensive errors, it’s just Ozil’s turn to be whipping boy in the press this time around. Wenger isn’t instilling much defensive confidence at the moment.

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