[Vote Here] Should Arsenal Sell Özil For £30 Million In January?

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There are a few “reports” out there (mainly from the Daily Mail) that Mesut Özil is unhappy at being played out of position and is looking to move away from Arsenal – with Bayern Munich the preferred destination, and they are apparently willing to put in a bid for £30 million to “bring him home” in the January transfer window.

Obviously, this is usually a case of a newspaper putting two and two together and getting five, but it isn’t a difficult story to create.

Mesut Özil has blatantly under-performed for Arsenal this season, that is a fact which is undeniable. He is our record signing at £42.3 million and only has one goal and one assist to his name, both of which were at Villa Park. Aside from that, he has been poor.

Some people say that it is unfair to put pressure on Özil but for that kind of money, he really should be grabbing games by the scruff of the neck and making the difference. We’ve drawn too many games this season and he should be the man who helps us turn those draws into wins.

Against Chelsea he was anonymous, and it’s got to the stage where Arsenal fans are fighting over his performances. Some say he was a monumental waste of money, and a player that isn’t suited to the Premier League. Others argue that he needs time, and that he’s being played out of position. It really does get to a dire situation when Arsenal fans are seeing a serious injury as a blessing in disguise, and others pity him. Mesut Özil is like a cute puppy dog that we all want to do well but we’re afraid of telling him off because he’s so precious and can’t take criticism.

Whether he’s out of form, not suited to the Premier League or needs more time – the fact is Özil just isn’t doing it at Arsenal. He’s a luxury player who doesn’t deliver. His inclusion in the team means that it’s almost like playing with 10 men. Our game is based on pace, tempo and quick movement but he doesn’t track back, isn’t on the same wavelength when it comes to playing those killer through balls and you could almost say it’s affecting the dressing room.

How many times has Santi come off in the second half of a match when it should have been Özil? Against Chelsea, Santi, like the rest of us, were in utter disbelief when he was hauled off instead of Özil. Arsene clearly feels he is obligated to play his record signing and is afraid of dropping him, but it’s at the expensive of players like Santi Cazorla and Tomas Rosicky – players who have consistently performed well for Arsenal. You can tell Santi in particular isn’t happy at Arsenal at the moment.

So the question is, would you cut your loses, take £30 million and send Özil packing back to Germany?

I know what my choice would be.

Vote below and don’t forget to leave you comments in the section below:

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Özil Out Until After Christmas – Blessing In Disguise?

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Well we’ve heard that Mesut Özil is now out until after Christmas after having an MRI scan with the National team.

There’s no doubt that Özil is a world class player but this season he has been poor. Mainly because Arsene Wenger is adamant about playing him in the wrong position. He’s one of the best Number 10’s in world football yet has been stuck out on the wing.

So is this a blessing in disguise?

Arsene clearly doesn’t know how to use him and it’s affecting Arsenal’s performances and results.

We’ve been misusing Santi Cazorla, one of our best players, and players like Oxlade-Chamberlain and Rosicky haven’t been involved as much as they should have. Having Özil in the side is causing Arsene a problem he clearly can’t solve, so maybe being without Özil will help improve our performances, which have been poor to average this season.

In fact, our best performance this season was in the Charity Shield, when we swept aside Manchester City 3-0. And that day, Özil wasn’t available.

Can Arsenal Beat The Top Teams Anymore? Does Arsene Need To Go?

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Last season, our away days against the big sides was embarrassing and difficult to watch. Going to Stamford Bridge, The Etihad Stadium and Anfield was an experience and games we really wanted to forget. And even at Old Trafford, we only lost 1-0 but it was against the worst Manchester United team we’ve seen in the last 20 years – and Wes Brown and John O’Shea aren’t there anymore.

So onto Saturday’s game against Chelsea. We did well but that’s all we were – good. We weren’t excellent, fantastic or brilliant – things you need to be when travelling to one of the Top 6 sides. Against a lower team we probably could have got something with that performance, but against Chelsea, no chance.

So what is the problem?

It’s a strange one because it seems like a recent problem. Back in the “glory years”, we’d go to Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool, Manchester City and Tottenham and turn them over. And even stranger still, in our barren spell when we had players like Fabregas, Van Persie, Narsi and Adebayor we still managed to beat the bigger teams. We even beat Chelsea 5-3 at Stamford Bridge only a couple of seasons ago.

Now however, we just can’t do it.

And I have no idea what the answer is, do you?

Is it our tactics? Is it our formation? Is it the quality of our players? The problem is becoming so endemic that it’s almost impossible to pinpoint what exactly is stopping us from going to a big side and taking points off them.

Out next “big” away day comes on December 20th, when we travel to Anfield, another place where we got humiliated last season. So can Arsenal go there and get a victory?

I guess only time will tell.

Arsenal Clearly The Better Team As Lucky Chelsea Park The Bus

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It was always going to be a big ask going to Stamford Bridge and after the humiliation of last season, Arsenal vastly improved on last years performance and deserved at least a point from this afternoon’s match.

Arsenal started with Flamini, Jack and Cazorla in midfield, with Welbeck supported by Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Özil. The more conservative formation worked well, and restricted a robotic Chelsea side to only a few half chances.

It was a close contest, with Arsenal looking much stronger defensively than they have been in recent big games. Then a piece of magic from Eden Hazard broke the deadlock.

Chelsea’s number ten waltzed past Flamini and Cazorla, and with Koscielny the last man making the decisive challenge and give the hosts a penalty. Koscielny received a yellow card when he could have perhaps picked up a red. Losing a man and a goal from the penalty would have meant the game was effectively over as a contest so we were fortunate we could still play the rest of the game with eleven men.

But after that though, Arsenal’s “luck” ran out.

Oscar made foul after foul and didn’t pick up a booking until four minutes until the end, and Gary Cahill almost took Alexis Sachez’s leg off with a reckless challenge and should have been a red card.

Then the biggest decision in the game proved decisive in the end.

A shot from Jack Wilshere was blocked by Cesc Fabregas in the box, but clearly by his hand. It wasn’t even a close call – Fabregas had his arms high in the air and the ball hit them. I don’t care if it’s intentional, it’s a penalty.

And that would have made it 1-1.

Once Chelsea scored from the penalty, they parked the bus.

Only one team wanted to actually play football and it wasn’t Chelsea. Arsenal were making all of the play, trying to score a goal and were faced with ten blue shirts in their way. Arsenal had some good passages of play, mainly through Jack Wilshere, but it was too much of an ask. Watching the way Chelsea set up shop, I wondered if any team could get through such defensive tactics.

Although hardly surprising given this is a Jose Mourinho side, you wonder if Chelsea fans like watching this kind of football?

Given a transfer budget which eclipses ours by a massive margin, it’s still amazing he still plays so negatively. Have ten men behind the ball and play off the break? You’d have thought a team like Chelsea would have more aspirations than that, but no, they like boring football that gets results.

Arsenal fans can be proud of their team today, as they gave everything. Wilshere, Flamini, Cazorla and Sanchez never gave up, and the back four were solid. The issue Arsenal had was Mesut Özil, who had a very bad day in the office.

At 1-0, with Arsenal needing a goal in the second half, the game was begging for Oxlade-Chamerlain to be introduced with at least half an hour left, and it should have been for the lethargic Özil.

But what does Arsene Wenger do?

He introduces Oxlade-Chamberlain with only 25 minutes left, and takes off Santi Cazorla!

Alongside Jack Wilshere, Santi was our most creative player – and added to that, he actually tracks back and defends, unlike Özil.

I understand Özil is our record signing but Arsene needs to recognise when Özil needs to be taken off. It is ridiculous to think a player can always have a great game and Özil was a million miles away from that. Taking off Cazorla is something which is mind-boggling, and even the player himself was mystified as to why he was hauled off.

Obviously Arsene was hoping that Özil would come up with that piece of magic, or the final pass that would make the difference but ultimately, he was slow, lazy and didn’t contribute a single thing to our performance. You don’t care if a player is in a bad patch and isn’t in form, as long as they give 110%. I’ve always supported players like Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere when a lot of Arsenal fans were slagging them off because they may not have had a good game but they bust their balls off in an Arsenal shirt.

That’s all we want to see when players put on the red and white of Arsenal so to see a player waltz through the game without a care in the world is painful to watch.

On Özil, my thoughts during the game sum him up:

The game in end showed Chelsea for who they are – a functional team that will sacrifice football and the beautiful game for results. A side which is boring to watch, and a team full of massive cunts. Any respect I had for Cesc Fabregas has well and truly disintegrated after his actions on the pitch.

It didn’t take him long to become a “true” Chelsea player.

Why Arsenal Are Going To Get Stuffed At Stamford Bridge!

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There are only two teams in the Premier League so far who are unbeaten – Arsenal and Chelsea. But whereas Arsenal have won 2 games and drawn 4, Chelsea have won 5 and only drawn 1.

And the teams will meet on Sunday afternoon in what promises to be the clash of the weekend.

So how will Arsenal do? If it was at The Emirates, I’d be confident of at least a draw – although a draw would be the most likely outcome as that’s all we seem to be doing this season!

But at Stamford Bridge? I have no confidence about that at all.

I can see us losing by 3 or 4 goals.

It’s amazing to think that in 6 games already this season, we’ve only really be convincing in 45 minutes of football, which was the first half against Aston Villa. Apart from that, we’ve stuttered to draws in games we probably should have won (against Tottenham and Manchester City) but did get a point in games we should have lost, against Leicester City and Everton.

We haven’t got into our groove yet in terms of performances and this is down to several reasons.

The first is Mesut Özil. Arsene Wenger is tinkering with him too much, playing him wide when he should be given a free role in the hole. Against Aston Villa, he was exceptional, only for Arsene to move him back into a different position in the next game against Tottenham.

Another is our injury problems. Mathieu Debuchy is out for a few months, and Olivier Giroud is out until the new year. Then we have Nacho Monreal, Mikel Arteta, Aaron Ramsey, Theo Walcott and Yaya Sanogo out for differing periods of time, and there are concerns about Jack Wilshere’s fitness after his ankle injury against Tottenham.

So we’re not in good shape.

And if that wasn’t enough, several players just seem to have been frozen out by Arsene Wenger. Lukas Podolski, Tomas Rosicky and Joel Campbell can’t even get a look in – and Santi Cazorla who is one of our best players, has been consigned to a redacted role this season, spending a lot of time on the bench. This can’t be good for morale and surely you need to include these players more rather than just give them 3 minutes here and there.

And then we have Chelsea.

They are a completely different animal this season with Costa and Fabregas.

Fabregas is the creative hub of the team, pulling the strings and making Chelsea a much better passing side than they were last season. And then we have Diego Costa.

Unfortunately for Arsenal, if you were to compare his style and game to anyone it would be Arsenal’s kryptonite, Didier Drogba.

Has a striker ever given us more problems and headaches than Didier Drogba?

Costa is quick off the mark, big, strong and great in the air – all the things Drogba was in his prime – and all the things Arsenal hate defending against.

Because of all those reasons, I think that sadly, our unbeaten run is coming to a spectacular end. Added to the fact that when we’re away from home against the top sides, we’ve shown a mental fragility which has become endemic in our team.

Once we go one goal down, we panic and throw everything forward to try and get an equaliser – and from then on a team like Chelsea are good enough to pick us off on the break.

Usually I would be excited about a clash with a big side, but this Sunday I am dreading it.