Ozil - Do we need him?

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Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn

Who can know what Wenger says? All we can do is examine the results of whatever he says when we watch the team on the pitch. We have all speculated why we generally play such a slow and purposeless game. It looks like you are saying that most of the time this is down to the players not being on their A game. This implies we have a very poor collection of players because they therefore only seem to hit their A game once, maybe twice a season. It seems far more likely it is the instructions of the manager that dictate the nature of our performances. This is supported by the final scoreline. We were in a position to annihilate the chavs by scoring several more goals. We didn't. On a one off basis you couldn't read much into that. But we rarely eviscerate the opposition when we get the chance. We'll go 2 or 3 up and then that'll be it, we ease off. This is hardly down to our players suddenly falling off their A game mid-game. Far more likely once again it is the intervention of the manager.

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It’s not down to the managers instructions. The clichéd phrases from Wenger we constantly mock, ‘playing with the handbrake/lacking sharpness’ suggests he’s not happy with the pace and caution we often display. Sometimes it’s down to the players. If Ox were playing instead of Iwobi, maybe we wouldn’t have scored a 2nd goal because he takes a heavy touch and then they score at the other end to make it 1-1. Fine margins. Sometimes it’s down to the opposition breaking being organised, disrupting up play with fouls….I don’t think it’s a case of us intentionally going into games looking flat.

Seems to be a mix up between tactics/instructions and mental preparation. I don’t think Wenger prepares the team mentally and he often has no answer when plan A doesn’t work. What we saw against Chelsea was Plan A. It’s no coincidence that this was our best performance since Man Utd. The players said after that game that they had a meeting and G’d themselves up for it. Not sure what the mood in the camp was like for Chelsea but we sometimes pull it out the bag for the big occasions. I wouldn’t be surprised if look flat in our next games against Basel and Burnley. How many times have we seen this before? It’s been going on for years. Tactically, attack wise at least, I don’t think he instructs them to do anything differently for most games. This certainly isn’t an example of that. Some games we’ve seen us soak up pressure and counter attack but that also often depends on our opposition and how good they are on the ball. In most cases it’s the same stuff. We won’t see our wingers staying wide and attacking the full back to create space, we definitely don’t play it long, it’s always us trying to play in our opponents half zipping passes around. I’ve watched games where we start well with the right tempo but one bad and we get hit it a counter. It happens.

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Originally Posted by Penguin

I thought Ozil was brilliant on Saturday. Chelsea's midfield couldn't handle him, especially Kante who was chasing his shadow all game. That turn by Ozil in the build up to his goal was the icing on the cake :lol:

I have to agree with Herbert on this one though, as good as we were Chelsea defended like spastics. I would show Holding a video of just Luiz's performance to show him what NOT to do in almost any situation. He has always been a ball chasey defender like Kolo and Vermaelen, but worse.



Ozil could have played Theo in there and probably should have. He's among the best in the business at seeing that sort of pass so it's no big deal that he didn't on this occasion. Although if you watch it again, Azpilicueta spots Theo's run and follows him, which left space for Bellerin to run into and the rest is history.

I think you're downplaying the quick, purposeful short passing though. It kept Chelsea's players off our toes and gave us that little bit of space between the lines for Iwobi to turn, look up and play in Hector. It was a great move all round.

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I'm not downplaying it. It's just an example of the fine margins. If that move breaks down, we'll be accused of overplaying. I have no problem with our short passing game. It's just when it works some will say it's purposeful but when it fails, we overplay and it's tippy tappy. That's the sort of thing I don't agree with.

I think we are holding on to a somewhat arbitrary and subjective idea of the phrase 'tippy tappy'. Surely it alludes to the pass, pass, pass and one more pass ideology rather than giving a full picture of a gameplan or tactics.... it basically ignores what is or isn't happening off the ball, including positioning and runs made. I tend to agree with P n G in that on a good day it is lauded and on a bad day where the opposition don't cross the half way line until a counter attack emerges it is ridiculed.

Just as on a good day when team mates spot a Theo run and give him the ball Theo and the assister may be praised and another day when the run isn't spotted people will recite Theo's touches of the ball in 90 minutes and say he went missing. That's not to say all criticism of him is unjust but I think the difference between the sublime and lame isn't always as great as we think.

Penguin's line about down playing quick incisive passing kinda brings P n G's idea about application (or perhaps more specifically execution) into relevance.

If these players so routinely fail to execute Wenger's game plan, why does he sit on his hands for 68 minutes every match without lifting a finger to change things? Isn't it his job to make sure they execute his plan? And if they are only good enough to do it once or twice a season then isn't it time we got a whole new team?

There's a strand running through the aftermath if this match that suggests we were at our best and the chavs were at their worst and hence it appeared as if we put in a good performance whereas in reality we put in the same performance as always but this time circumstances worked in our favour. And yet, there's nothing to suggest any of that is true. We played at a much higher temp, for starters. And we pressed much more effectively than usual, for some of the match anyway. I recall mentioning during the game when the press started to drop off. It was very obvious. If the players decided to do this off their own backs then that again casts doubt on the manager's performance.

Wouldn't it just be easier to look back at the games where we have played well (not so hard as there haven't been that many of late) and compare what we did in those games to what we tend to do on a regular basis? There's a strong contrast. When we play direct and at pace we are dangerous in the opposition third, even though we might ship a few goals in return but when has that ever been different? When we are negative, when we slow the game, when we fear shipping those goals then not only are we less effective in the final third but the defence also suffers because we just don't do that part of the game very well.

This thread started out suggesting we don't need Ozil. Saturday showed we can't live without him. Now we've moved on to other theories that just don't stack up against what is being witnessed on the pitch. I'm sure if you asked 90% of the fans they will be able to tell you the difference between our play on Saturday and the stuff we are normally subjected to. Night and day.

Whatever, it won't come down to us it'll come down to Wenger. If Saturday helps him find his balls then great news. If not then we know where his conservatism lands us, yet another 4th place trophy.

Hearing news that Ozil may have signed a new, long-term contract with the club. Great news if so.

Not only a huge talent for the club but also the type of player that can be used to attract other talented German players to the club.

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Originally Posted by Thierrymon

Hearing news that Ozil may have signed a new, long-term contract with the club. Great news if so.

Not only a huge talent for the club but also the type of player that can be used to attract other talented German players to the club.

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I've been burned by twitter before to fully trust it yet but good news if true. Would be more trusting if it was geoffarsenal instead of AFCCAMDEN reporting it, mind you.

You can tell that he loves it in London from his social media accounts; it's very cosmopolitan (large Turkish community) and similar to the German cities he grew up in. Sanchez is still holding out apparently I guess with him being South American he's probably less as attached to London as Ozil is so we'll have to persuade him more using money or results/performances/silverware.

He's done a madness bruv

He wants the number 10 shirt.

Give it to him, Jack can do one

Let him have it.