People are totally missing the point on Ozil. He is a top quality player with bags of skill, but he isn't a proper fit for our team. Ozil is a luxury player, both in the way he plays and what he offers us at the moment. Although it was a great buy from Wenger, it was the wrong buy from Wenger at the time. We don't have the right balance in the teams midfield, which its packed with too much of the same thing. Ozil needs the right conditions and players around him to function at his best, he needs the right blend of midfielders and most of all PROTECTION, so he can weave his magic. Stick him in the Invincibles team, and he would look outstanding, but that was down to us having the right blend of players.. But he doesn't have the power or strength to do any of the dirty stuff. It's not what he's all about. He's a Bentley Continental, you won't drive that off-road would you? If Wenger brings in a no nonsense power house of a DM next season, then we will see Ozil shine. But if he persists with having small, skilful midfielders that do pretty much the same thing,in mdifield, then,I can't see the point of having Ozil.
He wouldn't have got in the invincibles team for a start. In a 4-4-2 in place of who? Bergkamp? Pires? No chance.
I agree with you. However he hasn't helped himself either. I can appreciate the lack of pace in the side has affected him as there's not been anyone he can slide through-balls and the static movement has affected him also, but sometimes I feel we are just making too many excuses for a player who, when you watch him in isolation, doesn't seem to be bringing the quality of play you would expect from one of the biggest sides in the world and who was renowned for being the ''assist king'', especially when he is struggling to do the basics at times.
If we played a 433/451 formation. A midfield of Viera, Gilberto and Ozil would work very well. It is very well balanced with power, defence and skill. What you buy is what you get, this is the way Ozil always plays. Our priority should have been an imposing DM style player but we ended up with another skilful creative midfielder. If you put Ozil in the right team say Chelsea, then we would see Ozil perform better and that is down to them having the right mix in midfield, namely Matic. If we did a straight swap with Matic right now, it would make us stronger and them weaker. We have plenty of creative midfielder that could step in for Ozil like Cazorla but we are struggling with one DM! Saying that I would keep Ozil as he is pure quality. I would only consider selling him if it meant getting a WC powerhouse of a midfielder. For me this is the one missing link in our first 11.
No idea what the fee has to do with anything. Tell me who is playing better than Ozil at the moment for Arsenal? Maybe 1 or 2 - does that mean none of the rest are cutting it either? Should they all be sold? How is he not fitting in with the team when he is one of Arsenal's best players over the last month? I suppose we all see things differently and I would be very happy if Ozil cam back to Madrid.
The fee matters because money matters. But really, who cares how well any of our players play? We've been here before. We've finished fourth without Ozil, we'll finish 4th or thereabouts with him. We could recoup £40m for him, buy a world class DM and I'd expect we'd still finish 4th because we don't fight together as a team often enough or play with good tactics often enough. And that's not because of any of our players. Ozil can't help his own fee... He is a very good footballer... He isn't the best in the world... He can't take games by the scruff of the neck and dominate.... But him playing for us, or not playing for us, will make no difference to our ultimate success playing under Wenger.
I agree with some of your post @cini65 . Ozil is not the type of player to dominate games, he will create chances and make others look good and that has always been his game. I don't agree about the fee because the money has no effect on how a player plays the game. It is not Mesut's fault that Arsenal paid a lot for him. His game is well known and Arsenal wanted him. You can not then slag him off because he is not what you want him to be. He is what Wenger wants him to be. As for Wenger i think he is the best manager around and if he can not win with Arsenal then I do not see who could?
Quite a few managers have achieved a lot more success with far worse sets of players. So not sure how you qualify Wenger as being the 'best around' but that's your opinion so fair enough.
Ozils a boss. Supporters always seem to need a scapegoat, a player or two they can moan about all the time. Ramsey, Walcott and Giroud are three players to have had the treatment in recent years. And all three are amongst our most productive players over the lat few seasons. Arshavin was another player we didn't appreciate as fans. Every season he played for us he contributed lots of goals and assists for the amount of appearances he made. His overall play started to decline but he continued to get us goals and assists. In fact you'd be hard pressed to find a player as productive as Arshavin during his time with us (fabregas being the obvious one). Even right before he left us he came on late against Sunderland to assist Henry for the winner. He had that world class talent but occasionally when trying to pull off the brilliant other players where not on the same wave length. And he didn't like to defend which made everyone dislike him. But that isn't the sort of player he is. Us fans seem to ignore the player and expect the same from everyone. And we struggle to appreciate players if they don't seem to be running around all the time... It's funny we pretty much slate anyone who gives the ball away but bemoan the possession style of football we play! Some people will never be happy! Ozil is the most talented player in our squad bar none. If we set up the right way around him he will destroy teams. He is the player we should build our team around.
Ozil 2013/14 - 7 goals, 15 Assists (first season in the country and team) Ozil 2014/15 - 4 goals, 5 Assists (injury hit, season still on-going) Totals: 11 Goals, 20 Assists, 56 Appearances (at least a handful of which have been as a sub) That's 31 Goals/Assists in 56 Appearances, or a Goal/Assist per 1.8 Apps in his time with us so far. You can say what you like about him, have whatever opinion you want on his playing style etc, but he has been a very productive player for us. As a comparison David Silva in his entire time at City has a ratio of a goal/assist per 1.96 games. More interestingly, if you take his last 56 games he has 31 Goals and Assists, the same as Ozil, with a goal/assist per 1.8 apps.
Very good posts thank you @afcftw ! I loved Ozil at Madrid and have always been confused by Arsenal fans attitude towards him. Some of it is based on style of play which I don't think English people appreciate generally but some of the other criticism about giving the ball away and not being able to pass five yards is a complete untruth. I don't know where that comes from. Perhaps when other players give it away more it is ignored because they did not cost £40m. It keeps coming back to that I think. Expectation around how much money was spent and a completely wrong picture of what type of player he is. Almost as if £40m meant Messi was expected or a 30 goal a season player or something.
This is what I'm trying to say, and at the moment, our midfield isn't set up the right way. Ozil isn't playing badly but he isn't playing at the level he should be either. There is a lot more to come from him, providing he has the right players around him and the right setup in organisation. However, I disagree that he is our most talented player in the squad, I would give Sanchez that tag, this guy can pretty much do anything, coupled with an amazing spirit and fight not seen in many of our squad. Ozil is second best at the moment with Cazorla at third.
Purely on talent I'd rank it as ozil, Cazorla then Sanchez. Ozil and Cazorla are both more technically capable than Sanchez, but Sanchez turn of speed and tenacity make him lethal. Of course talent doesn't always mean best performer and I'd have them the other way round for impact so far this season as Sanchez and Cazorla have been ever present and very important to us.
Fair play to Ozil for the assists. He was alright today. Not spectacular, but a tidy performance with two lovely assists. The jury is still out on him, because sometimes I do feel he slows us down when we're attacking, but I'll give credit where its due today.
Ozil had a good game, but it's time he starts pulling the strings in the big games that really matter, which is why we signed him, and which is when he often goes missing. It's all good doing it VS Everton-Villa, and long may it continue, but we need these big players for the big games.
The season prior to Ozil arriving we struggled to break down the lesser teams, we did lots of passing around the box. Ozil creates plenty in those games as he goes for the killer ball and often pulls it off. That's where he has had a real impact on us.
