Mesut Özil Thread (official!)

[Niall_Quinn]

Anyone ever thought that he's playing with little bit handbrake on because the WC is near?

Hadn't thought of that but you may have a point. He knows he's coming into an agricultural environment where boots and shovels and ploughs and all sorts of shit smashes around the place and flies in the air, so maybe he's a little defensive in his approach.

[Power n Glory]

Or Wenger has him playing to strict instructions, which I think is likely. Ozil is doing two things very well right now, keeping it exceptionally simple and therefore retaining possession and momentum, and his off the ball work is creating tons of space for other players, which could roughly be translated as making others around him play better. It's simple, simple stuff but achieved at a rate of 90% and it makes an overall difference to our game. Plus Giroud, as effective as he is in some respects, is probably not the ideal target for the type of play Ozil used to put in when working with Ronaldo. I guess some people want to see him "justify" his £40mill tag by running the length of the field every five minutes and rounding the keeper, or blasting it in from the halfway line. That's not and never has been his job. The job he's doing now is more than good enough, although against the better teams his efforts haven't been as effective because those teams have better players. The Utd game is the only fly in that ointment, we lost that one in our heads before we lost it on the pitch. Should have been a straightforward three points but we bottled it. I think we'll murder them in the return though.

That's what I don't accept. An argument that suggests he's not capable of doing more. We haven't seen anything yet and if you're excited now, just wait until he's operating on full throttle. It's been tidy and neat so far.

[Niall_Quinn]

That's what I don't accept. An argument that suggests he's not capable of doing more. We haven't seen anything yet and if you're excited now, just wait until he's operating on full throttle. It's been tidy and neat so far.

I love the way he's been playing so far, I think we may need to add a couple of players around him to squeeze the maximum. RvJudas would have been great - what a stupid twat of a bloke to piss off just as the tide was coming back.

[Power n Glory]

We need a better striker but I think he just needs to adapt to the league and just start bossing things. Take his man, go for the shot...he's not the tika taka type and I'm slightly worried he's going down that path and won't try the outrageous. But...it's very early days and his teammates need to learn how to find him and get him the ball.

[Niall_Quinn]

This is why I suggest Wenger has had a word and has asked him to play in a certain way. It does feel at times he's holding back and selecting the simplest option at all costs. But that works too.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

I've not often been concerned with him and PGtips' clip has got me excited about having him all over again but there have been a few things that have been out of character.

In a few games he has been giving the ball away or running into blind alleys and not doing much which is uncharacteristic of him but as most agree, he is adapting to a new league and there is much more to come from him. I think Wenger is famously very loose and restrained with his instructions to attacking players in regards to how they attack so I would be surprised if anything Wenger has said has subdued too much. I think he very much observes that the positions he takes up is all part of Ozil's natural instinct as a player too.

It is actually nice that we haven't just got a player in who's so brilliant we become over reliant on him immediately and who all his team mates are in awe of. I think he has come here and thought.... gosh some of these lads can play! I bet he thinks that about Ramsey, who he would have known a lot less about before he got here.

[IBK]

When he's hit form, we'll revisit this but I don't believe for a minute this is all he capable of. He's been good in flashes and anonymous in big games. It's not the player I remember catching my eye when he arrived on the scene for Germany. There is more to come and we've already seen flashes of great performances like vs Napoli but that's it.

This. He's better than we've seen and he knows it.

[She Wore A Yellow Ribbon]

Hadn't thought of that but you may have a point. He knows he's coming into an agricultural environment where boots and shovels and ploughs and all sorts of shit smashes around the place and flies in the air, so maybe he's a little defensive in his approach.

Enough about India. What about Brazil?

[Kano]

This is why I suggest Wenger has had a word and has asked him to play in a certain way. It does feel at times he's holding back and selecting the simplest option at all costs. But that works too.

I utterly buy into the idea that the purchase of this guy has upped the games of several players around him. It's human nature. Particularly amongst men. You work in a team and this God like figure arrives and dependant on his personality it goes either two ways. Thankfully Ozil doesn't appear to be a cock so everyone else has been inspired by his presence. Sure, he hasn't been the edited £40m+ Youtube FIFA +90 master he was hyped as by those who didnt watch him in La Liga but he has been absolutely integral to this surprising season so far.

[AFC Leveller]

He's probably done more of the pitch than on it but i think there is a lot more to come from him. He's been a bit below part in the big games and has looked timid/lost in some games but his talent is there for all to see.