Ozil - Do we need him?

[Letters]

But will those assist lead us to the title in CL? No. He's a good player but not the one we need.

Did Bergkamp's? Did Henry?
Bullshit argument.

[Niall_Quinn]

Because he's not that good.

Again, do you think he'll produce the same as he did last season and if he does, what good will it be if we don't have enough goal scorers on the pitch?

This is a bizarre question. Whose fault is it if we don't have enough goalscorers on the pitch? Whose fault if we have static forwards who stroll inside? Whose fault if we have players that constantly check back instead of push and go?

Our tactics, such as they are, reek and the idiot who insists we play to the strengths of opposing defences is 100% to blame. Did you see the PSG front men attacking as a 3 last night? We NEVER do that any more and yet it was one of our greatest strengths. All because we have an idiot in charge. And a coward. And a cheapskate who's not even competent at being a cheapskate because he's spent big buying yet another second tier striker when we had the money to buy that one marquee player who could have opened up all sorts of possibilities for the likes of Ozil, Santi, Alexis. Same with Welbeck. Decent enough. Second tier. Unwanted by the big clubs so he'll do for us. Is that Ozil's fault too? Is it down to Ozil to make Welbeck a better striking option? And if so, why is it Wenger managing the team and not Ozil?

You're blaming Ozil because he can't carry the whole game himself, every game. Because he can't compensate for the lack of pace and movement ahead of him. Because he can't force the players around him to be ambitious as opposed to conservative. Yet you are happy with Elneny, another second tier player, albeit a decent squad addition. Ozil is on a different planet to these second stringers. If we lose him and we lose Alexis and replace them him another Elneny or Perez or one of the other cheap options we favour we are not just fucked on the pitch, we are fucked off it too because what will it say about this club?

I get the opening post. If Ozil is done with us now then that's a problem. That's an issue with his professionalism though, not his talent. Fair enough, if he's not prepared to put in 100% in every game then maybe we need to think the unthinkable because there's little to be gained from forcing a key player to remain against his will. But if what we are actually seeing is a playmaker struggling to make the play in a team set up to do anything but play then let's at least target fire at the idiot who calls the shots.

[Power n Glory]

Did Bergkamp's? Did Henry?
Bullshit argument.

Well that's a great rebuttal.

What's Bergkamp or Henry got to do with what the team needs now? Today?

Second, the quality of Bergkamp's and Henry's play was on another level and they made a significant impact on the team.

[Niall_Quinn]

But will those assist lead us to the title in CL? No. He's a good player but not the one we need.

Name one player that we could realistically bring in to replace him. Remember, Wenger has shown time and time and time again he will absolutely not compete at the top of the transfer window. So let's rule out once in a lifetime alignment of the constellations and bizarre twists in circumstances and timings that might see Messi end up here. Let's assume Wenger has to go out and compete for the signature of a player of Ozil's calibre - on the back of Ozil having left the club. And Alexis might be heading out too, thus making the biggest pitch we have remaining the London nightclub scene, because we won't pay the top wages either remember.

Who are you bringing in?

You know what and who the real problem is. That's the person who has to go before we can either extract everything that Ozil can offer or realistically compete for a top tier replacement.

[Power n Glory]

I think we all have our pet dislikes in the squad, mine has consistently been Aaron Ramsey (although throw Ospina in for good measure)

It's fair to say In the case of P n G that player is Ozil, one of our longest arguments was about Ozil. I am arguably biased myself but on the other end of the spectrum, Ozil is far and away my favourite Arsenal player (used to be Tomas Rosicky) the amount of games I've watched high up in the stands where he's opened up the defence like a skeleton key by finding a pass that only with the benefit of aerial advantage that I could see was on.

I don't always agree with NQ but I think he's spot on here, if we can't make the best use of a player of Ozils calibre than its a damning inditement on the manager and contributes to why he looks so disinterested at times.

It's not even a case of dislikes. It's about effectiveness. I dislike Giroud but I’m objective enough to say he has strengths that we don’t play to. With Ozil, how much more can we play to his strength? It goes back to needing to sign a top striker like Aubameyang or Griezmann which isn’t going to happen.

[Power n Glory]

Name one player that we could realistically bring in to replace him. Remember, Wenger has shown time and time and time again he will absolutely not compete at the top of the transfer window. So let's rule out once in a lifetime alignment of the constellations and bizarre twists in circumstances and timings that might see Messi end up here. Let's assume Wenger has to go out and compete for the signature of a player of Ozil's calibre - on the back of Ozil having left the club. And Alexis might be heading out too, thus making the biggest pitch we have remaining the London nightclub scene, because we won't pay the top wages either remember.

Who are you bringing in?

You know what and who the real problem is. That's the person who has to go before we can either extract everything that Ozil can offer or realistically compete for a top tier replacement.

Realistically, what will it take to get the best out of Ozil? What do we need besides a new manager?

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

It's not even a case of dislikes. It's about effectiveness. I dislike Giroud but I’m objective enough to say he has strengths that we don’t play to. With Ozil, how much more can we play to his strength? It goes back to needing to sign a top striker like Aubameyang or Griezmann which isn’t going to happen.

I think he's playing to our weaknesses rather than us playing to his strengths, the passes he's able to make considering the lack of space afforded to him by the slowness of our build up play is remarkable. If our build up play was quicker (which I think it would be by having Xhaka behind him as it means he receives the ball quicker affords him even more space, which if we employ pace on the flanks and a striker who can read the game) he would be phenomenal

If we a bit more direct going forward I've no doubt he'd be better still, but still think despite our limitations as a side the guy stands out more often than not. And really considering the amount of chaff we have in the side currently he is bottom of the pile when it comes to player problems.

[Letters]

Well that's a great rebuttal.

What's Bergkamp or Henry got to do with what the team needs now? Today?

Second, the quality of Bergkamp's and Henry's play was on another level and they made a significant impact on the team.

You're the one who started comparing him to Bergkamp
And you're saying that the PL's leading assister for last season isn't making a significant impact on the team?
And I've already produced the stats to show it wasn't a one off.

We get it, you don't like Ozil much for some bizarre reason. I don't like Ronaldo but I can't sensibly deny his talent. Stop being silly. He was the PL's leading assister last season, he is (or was, but he won't be far off) Europe's leading assister since 2010. And you're saying he's not that good? Behave.

[Niall_Quinn]

Realistically, what will it take to get the best out of Ozil? What do we need besides a new manager?

A different manager. Pretty much anyone will do, I mean not your Brendan Rodgers but anyone from competent through above average and on to decent. Pick one and you automatically get more out of every player because we'd be going out on the pitch drilled and with tactics and a gameplan suited to the opponent. In-game changes, sane rotational policies, team selections that hadn't come straight from the looney bin. All of these things would be an immediate benefit to every player in the squad. The we could settle down and look at really complex stuff that Wenger used to get before he went senile. Stuff like, if we pick pacy forwards then play a game built around pace up top.

This is where we absolutely must start before anything else can happen. It has become a complete waste of time talking about Arsenal and football in the same breath if that conversation hasn't been prefixed by Wenger Out!

[Niall_Quinn]

I think he's playing to our weaknesses rather than us playing to his strengths, the passes he's able to make considering the lack of space afforded to him by the slowness of our build up play is remarkable. If our build up play was quicker (which I think it would be by having Xhaka behind him as it means he receives the ball quicker affords him even more space, which if we employ pace on the flanks and a striker who can read the game) he would be phenomenal

If we a bit more direct going forward I've no doubt he'd be better still, but still think despite our limitations as a side the guy stands out more often than not. And really considering the amount of chaff we have in the side currently he is bottom of the pile when it comes to player problems.

Exactly. We're criticising Ozil for being immersed in shit and failing to come up smelling of roses.