I will always defend Ozil because I think he had a thankless task. He came in at a time the fans were exasperated. The teams he played in were dead, we had a dead defence, at DM we had a combination of muppets, Arteta, Coquelin, **** Flamini, Xhaka and Elneny, up front was a bloody joke (Giroud, Sanogo, Bendtner) Walcott was hit n miss and Podolski was a shadow of his former self. After his (Ozil's) first season Welbeck and Sanchez were added, Sanchez of course being world class, Welbeck .. well .. nuff said. When Wenger left we saw the decline of Ozil, subsequent managers trying to play Billy Big Bollocks with him. He was marginalised by Emery and then by Arteta, but, considering what Ozil had to work with under Wenger I think he did bloody well, no player in the league created more chances than Ozil during his time under Wenger. https://x.com/Squawka/status/849688337468338185
My main issue with Ozil he was a bit of a coward. (harsh but fair). I can't remember him ever having great performance in a game where the pressure was on. For me it's the fact the was good enough to win us games on his own.. but he never did. Sometimes it would look as if he really didn't give a ****. He played for us during a period we would routinely get thrashed by our rivals in the EPL and the big sides like Barca/Bayern in the UCL. When Sanchez arrived he was a breath of fresh air because the little guy would fight for every ball and win us matches on his own. Ozil never did that for us. You look at our side now, we may not play quite soo attacking football but no teams are going to bend us over and spank us. Plus there's absolutely no hiding from the physical battles.Every player in the starting 11 puts a real shift in.
Wasn't just Ozil in that era - many of our players didn't care enough. That is what Arteta sorted out and why - more or less - the entire squad had to be overhauled. My biggest issue with Arteta is that he gave the players another chance when he joined and tried to work with them. He wasted a year. The very first transfer window should have been a clear out. That Arsenal squad was one of the most shameful in the clubs history - despite Ozil being one of the best players to ever play for Arsenal and others having much raw talent.
