When we first signed this guy from Real Madrid, I honestly thought he would be one of the best players to play at our club. He was coming to us with such a huge reputation, amongst the highest amount of assists in Europe and had experience playing with the best players in the world. He temporarily created a feel good factor around the club, even in spite of the fact that we didn't strengthen in other positions. I understand that a player can't control the fee that a club pays for him, but a club pays an extortionate fee for a player because there is an expectation on that player to significantly contribute to the team's results.
Roll on to the start of his third season and there are still mixed views on him.
My own personal view is that this is make or break time for him. He has to perform to a consistent standard over the course of the entire campaign, not just for half of it.
His performance yesterday was absolutely abysmal. Outmuscled with ease, cumbersome on the ball, no incisive passing at all, took too long to make a decision and congested the left side of the field which made us even easier to defend against.
And the thing is, although the whole team was substandard yesterday, Ozil has had too many performances like the one yesterday. When the chips are down, he hides. The amount of cynical fouls he committed bourne out of frustration was just so incredibly stupid. He looked out of his depth against a 16 year old for crying out loud.
He simply can't keep being anonymous or lackadaisical in matches and then get a free pass every week. It's embarrassing seeing certain fans attempt to justify his price tag through every little neat flick or fancy trick that he does. Or just because he doesn't perform particularly terribly.
If he doesn't deliver this season, I'm hoping Wenger will swallow his pride, accept that he spent big and it hasn't worked out. Sometimes certain players never acclimatise to the Premier League or don't suit it, for one reason or another. The more I see of Ozil, the more I feel he just wasn't built for this league.
I hope he can prove me and his other critics wrong, but I just don't see it.
What to do with Mesut Özil?
posted on 10/8/15
"We can't continue to have no pace upfront and not runners and expect ozil to perform. There is literally no point starting him unless we play pacy attacking players"
People just can't wrap their heads around this.
posted on 10/8/15
comment by Samir (U2630)
posted 4 hours, 35 minutes ago
Ozil isn't our biggest problem, but he is A problem. It is a problem that his inclusion in the team means we don't play as expansive, attractive or efficient football, especially when he drifts out wide (which I'm not sure if the manager instructs him to do or not).
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Regardless of whether Wenger instructs him to or not, what else would you like him to do? There is simply no point in him staying in the middle when everybody else is there taking up his space.
There are basic fundamentals being applied wrongly in this team, and that's the main thing we need to work on. Get that right, and hopefully Mesut will start to shine.
Again. I'm not defending Ozil, he was average yesterday. But he was the only midfielder going about the game with any common sense.
posted on 10/8/15
"I said it at the time that he was bought in to keep Wenger in a job,and it worked."
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What an oaf.
posted on 10/8/15
Comment Deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 10/8/15
comment by Tu Meke Santi (U3732)
posted 30 minutes ago
comment by Samir (U2630)
posted 4 hours, 35 minutes ago
Ozil isn't our biggest problem, but he is A problem. It is a problem that his inclusion in the team means we don't play as expansive, attractive or efficient football, especially when he drifts out wide (which I'm not sure if the manager instructs him to do or not).
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Regardless of whether Wenger instructs him to or not, what else would you like him to do? There is simply no point in him staying in the middle when everybody else is there taking up his space.
There are basic fundamentals being applied wrongly in this team, and that's the main thing we need to work on. Get that right, and hopefully Mesut will start to shine.
Again. I'm not defending Ozil, he was average yesterday. But he was the only midfielder going about the game with any common sense.
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But this is not an isolated incident. It's not always the central parts of midfield that get congested, he sometimes moves out wide because he feels like he isn't getting the ball enough rather than sticking to his position.
This is more than his positioning on the pitch. This is to do with him not improving since he joined. This is to do with misplacing simple passes, getting dispossessed effortlessly and not playing with any urgency. These things aren't the manager's fault. The game itself yesterday there was certainly a collective responsibility because it wasn't all his fault for the reasons you stated above, but where you and I differ is that I think he was one of the worst players on the pitch, whereas you don't.
Yesterday was just the straw the broke the camel's back in a way because he can get basic things wrong on a regular basis.
You're totally right that there are fundamentals wrongly being applied to the team from a tactical viewpoint, but the players don't do themselves any favours either.
posted on 10/8/15
comment by kneerash-23 Cara Gold (U6876)
posted 5 hours, 11 minutes ago
Would any of you take Couthino ahead of Ozil?
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Not a chance.
posted on 10/8/15
Ozil was known for bottling big games in Madrid as well, disappearing and being inconsistent. This isn't an Arsenal specific thing. At the same time he's capable of magic passes, his talent his unreal but I'm starting to think he's just a highlights player and his contribution to the team over 90 mins is nothing special.
His general play is non existent a lot of the time so the question is do we accept that for his creativity and assists that he can give... atm the moments of magic are not even that often anyway, it's way more negative than positive.
So what to do with Ozil, for me we should have sold him after the first season and cut our losses. Vieira said in that documentary a while back that Wenger's faith in players is his biggest strength and weakness, I hope he's right with Ozil but I just don't see it.
posted on 16/8/15
Was sublime today. Hope he keeps it up.
posted on 16/8/15
TheChavProject has been hiding all day
posted on 16/8/15
comment by Tu Meke Santi (U3732)
posted 2 hours, 32 minutes ago
Was sublime today. Hope he keeps it up.
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Yeah, I'll give credit where it's due he played very well today. But he needs to do this regularly and not do his disappearing act midway through the season when we need him to step up.
It's a big season for him.