In defence of Ozil by Dan Smith
I was surprised when Ozil decided to sign a new contract back in January. After all why would he want another 3 years of being the scapegoat? His countrymen have now copied gooners in the fashion of making the German an easy target. What he’s finding out is once you get labelled, it’s hard to change perception.
He was brought to Arsenal to make goals, he’s one of the best in the world at doing that. Not an opinion, a fact! Since moving to the Premiership no one has more assists then him in this country, not even close. That was the same case in La Liga, The Bundesliga and on international duty. So statistics show he’s good at what he’s meant to be good at (imagine if he was in a better team?)
Fans though like to focus on his weak points, eg; his lack of defensive awareness, he doesn’t track back, his body language, not physical enough, doesn’t fancy the cold Wednesday night at Stoke, to name a few. Could it be that he’s rubbish at all of the above because HES A PLAYMAKER!!
Name me the best number 10’s and I bet you they don’t do the dirty side of the game either. Ozil is playing the same role he’s always played which had been effective enough to win silverware in Germany, Spain, end our trophy drought – and the small matter of a World Cup medal. So he’s done something right in his career.
Ozil is the first to realise he’s not protected by his midfield, that he can’t trust his back 4, that the strikers are not on his wavelength in terms of vision. He’s wondering where is the world class DM, CB and CF who have skills in their specific roles to let him express himself. He wasn’t hammered at any of his former clubs for being a luxury because he had the best defenders and DM money could buy.
When Arsene Wenger was splashing out 40 million on him , it was his stats in the final third that he cared about. Instead of us asking Stan Kroenke ‘why is Ozil not playing with players on his level’ we aim our anger at the midfielder himself. After all he’s the one with the massive wages so he should be playing the role which isn’t his responsibility?
Which is why I’m stunned why he would choose to stay in North London. Nothing will change in the immediate future, it might even take new owners. Ozil will continue to play for a decent cup team with no ambition to win the Premiership. This summer we will continue to sign players based on value over bettering the squad, leaving it to him to take the abuse.
With Mr Wenger forced out, Ozil will become the board’s main shield. The marquee name expected to do the impossible with limited resources. He could’ve left for a team with better players , better owners and fans who support him.
Dan Smith
See the problem is, if you create two goals because of your offensive brilliance, then cost us two goals because of your defensive incompetence, your net effect in the team is zero. Nonetheless, am not going to blame Ozil. He was used to playing with two DMs behind him at Madrid, and more defensively capable defenders behind those two DMs. He signed an extension purely for the money, he has already won everything he ever wanted to win. Does it bother me? Absolutely not. It has been increasingly dawning on me the clubs sole ambition is to be and remain in the top 4. Wenger delivered devastatingly humiliating defeats in the biggest of games but still kept his job. Only got fired when he failed to deliver and looked like failing to deliver again the top 4. So why bother about the club? Decesions are made by the management with zero regards to fan opinion. Just wait and see, if Emery finishes in the top 4 he will get contract extensions every year regardless of whether we challenge for the league or not. The day we drop out of the top 4 he will be fired. Am sorry for the doom and gloom perspective but years of seeing the same thing repeated over and over have nearly killed my passion for this club and for football in general.
Yes, no need to bother, because Ozil will stay for at least another three years
Emery said he would use 4-1-4-1, but I think he has to use 4-2-3-1 just to include Ozil
I agree.
Considering Xhaka signed an extension, it has to be 4-2-3-1 – with a DM (Torreira or Nzonzi) and Xhaka in central midfield.
And re: ‘Ozil doesn’t track back.’ He actually tracks back more than Xhaka who is supposed to do that more, so I think it’s more to do with perceptions related to his body language. Yes, he’s not particularly good defensively, but at least as good as Hazard ever was (regardless of his position).
My biggest issue is with him playing on the right wing where every move of his is predictable. Goal-scoring left-footers play on the right, not someone like Ozil who hardly ever scores.
I concur to this post, I know ozil is the best player in his natural wing when played with the right players
I totally agree with you Ozil is far and away the best play maker in the
Premier League and our best player.
I don’t remember the game but I remember this incident in it. Ozil flew done the right wing and took 3 opponents with him , about 10 meters from the goal line he sent a superb pass across to the right dropping the ball about 5 meters in, thus changing the attacking side. There wasn’t a single Arsenal player to be seen and the ball went lamely over the goal line for a goal kick.
The TV showed the look on Ozil’s face. Was it a picture of anger? Was it a picture of frustration? Was it a picture of despair? I don’t know. It could have been any one one of these. But I know this: It was his fault the ball went lamely for a goal kick.
I don’t know why he has stayed, but I am glad he has.
The best playmaker in Premier League last season has the highest number of assists, crosses and through balls:
premierleague.com/stats/top/players
I just dont understand why david silva and mata are rarely criticised as opposed to ozil, silva was really poor in the WC but hardly any pundit calling his head. I am not saying ozil is untouchable but i feel the media want to divide arsenal fans by criticizing him.
The reason the likes of David Silva, Mata etc don’t get as much criticism as Ozil is because you never hear them being over hyped to the limit like Ozil. You hardly ever hear Silva or Mata etc being overhyped. You hardly ever hear people make excuse after excuse for them “They need this type of player. They are not here to help defensively. So and so is average in the team so this is the reason Silva / Mata are not performing to their max. Build the team around them. They need a winter break. The critical media are to blame. The manager is the problem. The fans are the problem. Missing DMs is the reason why they underperform etc”..
Those players don’t get as much hype so they will not get as much criticism as Ozil that is overhyped at every opportunity. They are not earning £350,000 a week on top of that..
Ozil is not world class and not our best player. And certainly not the best play maker in the league. This is all the typical fanboyism from his fanbase. Ozil is a good player. The overhype from his fanbase is why we keep hearing this talk about him being “World class. Best no10. Best play maker. Our best player etc”. It all mostly comes from his Twitter sycophants.
Say what you want about ozil, but he came us when we didn’t have Amy super star, won the FA cup in his first season, made us attractive for the likes of Sanchez and all that came after him, I know he’s not messi or Rinaldo, but I don’t see those guys been slated for not defending, can ozil do better? Yes! But he’s not the reason we are where we are now, and why Germany was eliminated..
Ronaldo is just a goalgetter, but Messi, Modric and the Spanish playmakers pressed their opponents hard in this World Cup
Pirlo is still my favourite playmaker for now, and he plays from deep, but yet he will literally watch opponents stroll past him, without making any attempt to tackle. Özil has the most assists since he joined the PL, and many of the playmakers he’s up against like David Silva (who I rate highly also), have been playing the PL for longer…….and they’re finishers weren’t as wasteful as ours. I just don’t understand why Özil has to be the scapegoat everytime his team doesn’t play well. Most of you guys will easily leave out the good games he’s had against manure, chel$#!+, looserpool, man $#!++y, among others, and say he doesn’t turn up in big games. Hopefully with our new strikeforce and reinforced midfield, you all will be reminded who the true master of assists is.
Pirlo had gattuso, vidal and marchisio who did the dirty work for him, ozil’s best season was when we had a decent CDM in coquelin (2015-16), coincidence??
LL COOL you don’t see Ronaldo or Messi standing like a tourist on the pitch while the opposition player with the ball feet’s away on a counter attack they always hustle unlike Ozil
I have seen messi and ronaldo stand while players run past them, its not their job to defend, you conserve energy so you can worry your opponents defence, let your defenders worry about their attackers..
yes when they are 4-0 up
It’s fine for Messi and Ronaldo to stand because they are Match winners. If Ozil was a match winner like them then no one would complain. But a player whose game is solely dependent on others hard work should never be conpared to the likes of Messi or Ronaldo. Ozil should grow some balls and start taking responsibility in from of goal. This business of passing on responsibility / burdeing others with scoring responsibility is why I refuse to buy the constant “ozil is the best this and that talk..”. He shouls cut down on his inflated / overly padded “Chances created stats” and vary his game with taking on more shot on goal. Goals win you games.
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We could argue about Ozil, but his achievements last season are not good and the ex-footballers that criticized him know footballmuch more than a mere football fan like me. The FA trophies he got at Arsenal are the results of the whole team’s work, including Arsenal most hated players or ex-players such as Welbeck, Sanchez, Bellerin, Koscielny, Mustafi, Cech, Iwobi, Xhaka, etc
Talking about statistics, Lemar also had better statistics than Bernardo Silva at Monaco, Silva is more willing to take higher risks and is braver in taking on the opponents. Cristiano Ronaldo has higher statistics than Messi in air duels and league goals, but Ronaldo does not have the world class playmaking ability Messi has
Ozil definitely signed for the huge salary and there was no real interest in him from the other big clubs. He has nice ideas and very unselfish, but he is not the playmaker Arsenal need and he could work better in other team (but not in the German World Cup 2018 squad, despite surrounded by world class players)
Ozil are surrounded by world class players in the German squad i beg to differ, last in their group and exiting the world cup as champions in the group stage, chew on that stats
Gotanidea ..the guys criticizing know more than we do, for every one of them there’re others who’re singing his praises. The Germans were singing his praise not too long back, they ( the huge majority) seen his as the best talent in Germany by a long shot. The English pundit’s are on his case allot, but I put allot of that down to Ozil being German for one, along with him being weak with the one area that Englishmen have always had in spades. So of course they’ll hype that stuff up to world class levels. If England had a genuine Mesut Ozil, I am almost certain that the English pundits would be singing a totally different tune.
In his last World Cup game Ozil created at least 5 clear cut scoring opportunities of which his “world class” team mates converted zero. Yet Ozil is made the scape goat and gets the bulk of the blame in Germany. In this case the criticism is unfair. What was he supposed to do, create and score himself?
Unfortunately Ozil got offside with a lot of people in Germany by showing his political naivety in appearing with the Turkish President.
I can think of £300,000 reasons why Ozil re-signed for us. It’s not rocket science. Maybe 300,000 and one if you consider that the teams with “better players and fans” weren’t exactly banging down his door.
what happened to the 50’000 of 350’000 pw 🙂
He would have been free, so he could have got a huge signing on fee as well as a big salary. PSG wanted him, manu might’ve too.
yes its the money
It wouldn’t matter where Ozil went to play. He will always be a scapegoat. Even the German media and public are pointing the finger at him for Germany’s bad performances at the WC. Ozil didn’t even play every minute of every game!!
The guy is an easy target because unless he assisting constantly, no one is happy. Fact is, he needs good players around him to perform to his max. He also takes a lot of the flack because of his high wages and the level he has set by himself and the clubs he has played for.
Ozil reminds me of the Carry on film made in the early seventies where the factory workers were punting on hot and cold taps on sinks on a conveyor belt and the chap who puts on the hot tap was ill and stayed home, when the manager asked the cold tap installer to spend his time half on hot and half on cold to get the product out the worker refused and said “i only put on cold tap’s” and they went on strike
moral of the story is you have to do what it takes to win the games as a team if it means you track back you have to track back instead of looking up in to the sky with your hands over your face every time we lose the ball
i really rate Ozil’s ability but clearly something is not quite right with him, hope he sorts himself out soon to become a great player once again
Do you ever ask yourself why it’s necessary for the whole team to track back, because somewhere in your team there is a defender or defensive midfielder that cannot do their job properly, do we moan if the centre back or goalkeeper don’t create goalscoring opportunities, moral of the story alot of people watch the game without really understanding the game, then they hear what so called past pros and journos have to say and they jump on the bandwagon, every single player have a job to do on the pitch, so its obvious that he should be rated based on job performance nothing else
WOW, why dose the truth hurt so much? fact= OZIL DONT DEFEND that’s why the whole world is on his case, everyone in a team has to be able to DEFEND ZONE’AL its a must i am not asking Ozil to drop deep to defend i’m saying with the rest of the world agreeing DEFEND YOUR ZONE i’m sure all his team mates agree with the rest of the world too
Sell ozil get isco or James Rodriguez…get lanzini or Golovin to replace Wilshere since torreira is replacing cazorla…and we are sorted in midfield
Chiza i don’t think no one at the level of JR wants to come to arsenal in a hurry, we are not the club we once were we first have to get back to CL then we have a chance of getting players of James’s caliber and it don’t help when our board keeps saying we cannot compete with big clubs which means we will never challenge for the EPL or CL
So go and support another club otherwise don’t spread negativity.
are you joking little boy?
Arsenal should have let Wenger go
3 years ago+ sacked 25 players then.
By now we would have
a completely rebuilt squad.
The fact that Cech is still number 1 and that 32 year old Monreal
is still regarded as our best player says it all.
Auba Ozil Bellerin Kolasinac deserve to stay and
Niles Nelson Nwakali Nketiah + Mavropanos shows promise.
I would sell everyone else may be get 230m.
Add that to the 70 mill transfer kitty = 300m mill.
2 GK’s, 2 CB’s, a LB and RB, 2 DM’s, 2 CM, 2 AM’s and a striker.
22 man squad plus 3 more academy players
lol
Ozil was unfairly singled out after Germany loss to South Korea. Having said that, this “poor Ozil, he always gets the blame” is a strawman’s argument. For every one comment criticising Ozil, it feels like there are five saying how unfair it is. This makes it seem like there is more criticism of him then there is.
There’s a lot to love about Ozil’s game. There is also a lot to dislike. Like the man himself, his supporters need to toughen up.
See if people just start ignoring it, what will happen is the critics will influence things and it will look acceptable, more critics will fall on board that’s just the way some people are when it comes to a crowd. Also, if someone is of another opinion, they have a right to argue their case, it’s not being weak, not speaking up would be weak.
I’m glad he stayed with us! I love watching him play
I really support the last comment that’s exactly what Arsenal need for now to move forward. Ozil remains Arsenal best Player no matter how you hate him and must include Xaka and Rambo they can perform under a very young and discipline manager let see what the new manager is planning for this season.
Is that what you think TAS.. let me ask you a question…if you are a player and you see the 6th biggest club in the world wants you badly you think you can reject it so quickly without hearing them out and knowing their ambitions,you must be joking TAS.. Arsenal is a big club and will always remain one… Only players above arsenal right now is Ronaldo Messi and Neymar.. Believe me when i say that
lol i use to think like you but i’m older and wiser now 🙂
Emery will take us to where we belong as a club.. I really believe in him… I just want arsenal fans to give him some time,afterall if we can give a clueless manager like Wenger so many years to impress why can’t we give it to Emery and make it a level playing field..everyone with equal chance… He is very determined and wants to impress… Fear such coaches,they succeed easily…you would see that determination on the touchline…and you would see it in our players on the field of play
Chiza here we agree, but always expect the unexpected in football don’t forget your dealing with young successful larger then life players who think they are untouchables
Dan Smith-thank you.A perfectly scripted account of THE BEST PLAYMAKER IN THIS COUNTRY.
Ozil stays, Ozil plays, Ozil assists, Ozil scores.
Ozil stays home Ozil is ill
Ozil stays home Ozil scores?
??? dirty mind!! ?
Oops, rumbled ?
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My take is when you guys are going against Ozil would you be courteous to compare statistically.
Otherwise you’re views really don’t matter
I am an Ozil Hater
The Ozil lovers must understand the Premier League does not have any luxury players, if you do not put in a shift your team will lose. If you are the highest rated player, the highest paid player and considered the most talented player in the Arsenal squad, then it is only right that expectations of you should be quite high. If you are not meeting these expectations you will be getting complaints from fans like myself and others.
I must mention though that i do not agree with blaming him for the early Germany departure from the world cup, the entire team seemed like they were in Russia just for the holidays and site seeing and he had negative press even before the world cup because of the Turkey visit saga.
Anyway back to this conversation, no other team wanted Ozil because although he has the assisting ability, that alone can not get you in the top five teams of the EPL. It his left for Emery to get the best out of Ozil or surely move him on out of the club
You can’t blame ozil for the disappointing world cup,the entire team was poor.please tell me any Germany player that impressed you if not let us support our players.
football is not just on the pitch,us fans play a major role,if we are positive it drives a positive energy to everyone.imagine how you would feel if you are not welcome at home.
Ozil only signed because Not a single so called Big club was interested in him. We were mugger off paying such laughable wages (£300,000 a week) to a player that was not getting some at Arsenal and anyone outside of Arsenal excited. But credit to the guy, he took advantage of our lukewarm/ desperate situation. I guess we all would have done the same if afforded the same chance.
“with no ambition to win the Premiership.” Not having a bottomless pit of money and having no ambition are two completely separate things. Do you think that Spurs have no ambition to win the PL? Because they’ve spent less money than us, so I’m sure there’s no chance at all that you’re just another one of those “fans” that likes to attack every aspect of our club, basing your accusations on not a single bit of hard evidence.
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Ozil is still an asset to us, on his day we can’t underestimate what he can do, with a new manager , new morale and right players he trusts, I think he will be on his best days more often than not… ozil is pure class, don’t slate our flying german, he’s one of the few reasons why I still watched our games last season after we had literally nothing to play for.