I want to like Özil, I really do.
Actually, that’s a lie, I want to love Özil.
But it’s just so damn hard.
He’s been at Arsenal for over a season now and for whatever reason, he’s just not doing it. He’s not performing like a £42.3 million player should.
I am not completely ignorant and understand the talent he has, the big question is – is Mesut Özil an Arsenal player? Is he suited to the Premier League?
Alexis Sanchez, Calum Chambers and Mathieu Debuchy have all hit the ground running. They’ve settled in, and their high-energy performances have pleased the fans. Özil however just doesn’t seem to be doing it.
People argue that it’s because he’s being played out of position, or that he’s shattered after playing all summer. But for me, there is a more fundamental problem with him – he’s just not what Arsenal need.
The main problem is there are better players in his position. Santi Cazorla already fulfils that role well and with Tomas Rosicky as backup, the role is well catered for. Another problem is that he needs to play alongside certain types of players – rapid warriors such as Cristiano Ronaldo who can latch onto his intelligent balls – and for whatever reason the other Arsenal players aren’t on the same wavelength.
That’s not a criticism of Mesut Özil or the other Arsenal forwards – everyone has their own style of player – but is a clear indicator that Özil is not what we need.
We had a chance to bring Cescy back for around £28 million (depending on the reports you believe) this summer and after having a conversation with the Arsenal manager, Cesc revealed that Arsene said he already had Özil in his position. At the time I thought Wenger was better off selling Özil, banking the spare money and bringing Fabregas back to The Emirates – he desperately wanted to come back to Arsenal, he wouldn’t need time settling in and knows the club inside and out. And most importantly, doesn’t need to adapt to Premier League football.
And you see how he’s performing for Chelsea now – he is the focal point of their team, suppling the bullets for Diego Costa to fire Chelsea to the Premier League title it seems.
If we brought Cesc back, we’d have one hell of a chance to win the title, and do special things in the Champions League.
You also wonder how much Arsene Wenger wanted Mesut Özil in the first place. He was only made available on the last day of the transfer window last summer and if you ask me, it was a case of having a world class player available and taking a chance on him. I don’t believe that Arsene wanted Özil all along, and I genuinely believe that if Karim Benzema or Gonzalo Higuain were made available on the last day then they could have easily arrived at Arsenal as well.
I think Özil’s availability was too much of a good opportunity to miss and we took it. But over 12 months on it looks like a big mistake.
Our performances improved as a team once Özil arrived, but his influence quickly wore off. He put in some good shifts and scored a few goals, but went off the boil. We won the FA Cup but he contributed very little to that success. In games he’s ended up being a liability.
Arsene Wenger is finding himself trying to justify Özil’s place in the team. With the massive price tag, dropping him is not an option even though it would be the best thing to do. Santi Cazorla should have played against Manchester City at the weekend and he does a lot more in terms of tracking back. With the energy and running of Sanchez, Cazorla, Ramsey and Wilshere Manchester City would never have equalised in the last 10 minutes. Having Özil on the pitch is a liability.
There are Arsenal and Germany supporters who are critical of Özil for varying reasons, the main one being his work rate is poor. Defenders of him will point to his statistics, saying his passing figures are exemplary. But the problem is for all the short passes (which offer no real penetration in most games) he is on the whole ineffective.
If you look at the positives this season, has he really contributed? Did he help in the late comeback against Everton? Did he contribute in the two Arsenal goals against Manchester City?
The problem we have is that we now have a player which such a big price tag that we can’t drop him. And it seems clear that Arsene Wenger doesn’t know what to do with him either. Whereas Cesc Fabregas was nurtured in Arsene’s methodology and would have made a massive impact on this team.
Delusional.
Wow. Another Arsenal “FAN/SUPPORTER” turning on their own players? No surprise there.
This author talks about players hitting the ground running and then ignores the fact that for the first 5 moths that Ozil was at Arsenal he was superb.
Try and give the guy a little show of support. You never know, he might actually come through this dip in form and you can write an article about how you never lost faith in him. Just like all the Arsenal “FANS?SUPPORTERS” are having to pretend they didn’t say the exact same pathetic things about Ramsey and Wilshere.
Arsenal fans are a joke! And yes I’m one of them. I just refuse to jump on the Arsenal hate wagon so many of you idiots love riding.
Buying Ozil may prove to be a mistake , time will tell , but he is a Gunner therefore he must be supported , the REAL mistake was not getting Fab4 back
Very intelligent and well put together it just about sums up Wengers`s stubbornness and, I must say, `stupidity`.
Seriously I shears tears for M.Ozil, Truly he is not the type of player Arsenal FC needed. Playing him of position is another factor that we have to look at too. Let’s not easily forget Andrei Arshavin was played off position too and we knew how the story ended for the poor guy. I still think we still need to give him time when Walcott returns back from injury. If he can’t prove (ozil) him self, with due respect for Arsenal & Arsene Wenger he should be sold next season to any interested club.
wow what a pile of crap! we are 4 games in? unbeaten new striker looking good but will take time to Gel. Theo not back yet. Come on tralk sense we could finish 5th but we could also win still. dispite what people are saying we look stronger in the middle than last year. This lack of strength had nothing to do with the losing to Chelsea and Liverpool(i dont include the man city game as two disallowed legal goals and a missed pen= 6-6) those games where purely fear based and Arsenal all to often slow start away from home against big teams its a mental battle that bears no relevance to the players on the pitch. As for Ozil he has had more good than bad games last season. he is often a silent assassin. re watch the German world cup there was a split opinion he was vital in assisting the goals in many games as well as scoring 1. he will be good again like whilshire he will get pissed of and prove us wrong. Only danger is if the Arsenal fans dont chill out he will end up proving us wrong as Man city or another club! Arsenal fans Chill out and enjoy
u guys don’t know football at all, when fabregas was at arsenal we won noting, mr ozil came & we won fa cup, the season just started
d, u’re criticizing & saying rubbish
You know nothing about football, its all about teamwork and fighting hard for the team, Ozil is always on a picnic, even Ballack said it and i think its so true. He should be dropped no matter how talented he is. Mata is also talented but was sold due to lack of defensive abilities. How many assists/goals does he have? How many does Fabregas have?
Mata is a good player and had a great game for united yesterday, Ozil is a great player. The problem is some people know nothing about football. Ozil’s control is so easy that it looks simple, his style is so smooth that he ‘looks’ lazy, and the pass that he sees and plays (like fab4) is one that most players can’t even see. Get behind the team, get behind the manager and get behind ALL of our players.
I almost feel guilty saying it but I agree with most of what is said in this article. I told people that Ozil suffered after Theo’s injury and that’s true but look at Ozil’s performance this weekend versus Di Maria for united. This was the player we were initially after from Madrid but they decided to keep Di Maria and let Ozil go instead. I hope Ozil picks his form up soon because all the talk round him now is negative and he appears a lad who needs a confidence boost. Anyway. We are where we are. Play him in his correct position and lets get some wins under our belt. No point crying over Cesc now. Alexis playing brilliant. Jack growing. Welbeck looks to be on the right wave length. Ramsey needs to get back to basics and we will be in good shape to kick on
Lazy ,slow and no heading
Now , he has about between £20 to £30.
I see him,over his good time.
For sale “O’zil”.
Willing to wait but his work rate is terrible , reminds me of Arshavin. That’s why you see the frustration. He appears to be extremely lazy and when you have Sanchez flying around the comparisons are inevitable. It comes off as if he doesn’t care, is unwilling to track back or get stick in for anything. No matter how good you are and his vision and passing can be outstanding, if the effort is not there, the fans will give you stick.
Indeed it was a mistake. Ozil was a panic buy. He is a luxury player, it is true that he is being played out of position , the same goes for Carzola who quality shines every time he plays.
Ozil ‘s ideal team is playing world class strikers and wingers where he is not required to do the heavy lifting like with Germany and Real.
Ozil was good for 1 month last year and against very poor teams. We’ve have been hosed by Real .
Have you as an Arsenal fan is the BIGGEST MISTAKE. Just over a season ago you and your ilk, led by Piers Morgan, were a lynch mob baying for Ramsey’s blood. You still have your jars of tar and bags of feathers and you are still looking for a target to lynch. Last season it was Wenger, Jack Wilshere and Giroud. This season I guess it will be Ozil. Why you feel there is a need to wildely broadcast your ‘tough love’ rubbish to the whole world is beside me. People like you should be ashamed to spread rotten ‘feel bad’ messages to us. What makes you think Arsenal fans want to hear your pathetic negative thoughts? We are already worried with the form, not only of Ozil but that of Ramsey too since the beginning of this season and we don’t need you to point out the obvious and act like you are smarter than all of us when you are being a cruel prick. Fabregas is NOT an Arsenal player and Ozil is. Why don’t you migrate to Stamford Bridge and stop moaning. I prefer a crosstitute than whinger!
P/S do you Gooners allow le Prof to sell Ozil to Man United, Chelsea, Liverpool or Manchester City? If your answer is WTF OR NO, never even talk about selling off-form players are any vile rubbish opinion, EVER!
Very disappointed at fans’ criticism piled on players. Why not on Arsene? He’s the one who brought the players in AFC, he should have known those players’ styles and their best positions. He’s been playing them out of their positions and against their styles in order to continue his fantasy of formation experiments, which have been failures year after year. Then he started demoting players and wasted their short footballers’ careers on the bench. Arshavin and Ozil are 2 players playing football with their brains and skills to attack not stamina nor defense. He never makes good use of them and keeps demanding them playing their weakest parts of their games. This initially built up high expectation from AFC fans, but even more bitter disappointment when they showed they are not that good in their weakest game. The players then are relegated to the bench and eventually lost all their flair when they began the AFC careers. Wenger is actually destroying all their brilliance afterall. Can’t understand that he has not got the boot!
Arsenal lacks energy. Football is imroving every decade,and they still.play the same football as back than.they need to be more atletic-look how dortmund played,with such power.
And i think it is a lot to work on mental plane with ars.players,than they would beat anybody.
I thought psychological plane-in motivating them.
I think each player should focus on giving his utmost during the game,and not on the result. Because if you think of the score while playing,than you are allready doomed to dissapointment if other team scores the goal,but if you don’t think of the result during the game,but on givibg your best,than the result will take care of itself. When you are focused on result and receive a goal,than you loosr much if your confidence. But if you put your heart,mind and body on the ground than nobody can blame you.
Sorry for my english-i am not from uk.