Ozil - Do we need him?

[Mac76]

It's possible. He's no spring chicken. We have to find a solution though. That solution doesn't necessarily have to end with Ozil on the pitch all the time. Hopefully, he can get his act together under Emery. Ozil has some serious talent but it's rare to see him tap into all that he is capable of. Reminds me of Nasri.

The big problem is that big fat contract, he gets good money whether he plays well or not - or even plays at all - and i just think the wenger years have taken the fizz out of his play.

On the evidence so far, I'm not convinced Emery is going to be able to force him to up his game.

Ozil's probably just sticking it out and then can go play in the States or Japan or wherever

No big CL-level team will buy him, he's damaged goods and doesn't seem to have any motivation to prove himself at the highest level any more.

Not good for us...

[Power n Glory]

All this talk about Ozil, but in fact the reason we lost at the weekend was firstly because Aubameyang missed quite a few sitters and secondly and most importantly because the defence was shocking again, 5 goals conceded in 2 games isn't exactly great. Had we had a decent defence we'd have probably won, so I'd suggest the defence is the issue not the attack.

People love to go in on him, I'm not saying he was great, far from it but he wasn't really a massive issue. It was alwasy a risk to not really buy top quality in defence and that will beour downfall, Mustafi is rubbish, Bellerin can't defend and Sokratis might be OK with someone decent alongside but in the current lineup he's struggling somewhat. 5 goals conceded in 2 games and to be honest if City had their shooting boots on it woud have been a lot more!

I remember the days when people would used such deflection tactics to keep the focus off Wenger. Blame the Board, blame the players, blame the fans. Blame anyone but Wenger.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

I actually think Ozil just needs a little time in his new team. Problem is the first 2 games have been tricky (and isn't an especially large sample size anyway) and Emery is still figuring it all out. It may still not look any better in 3/4/5 games time, but I have faith that it will and I think the sooner Emery cements his structure and identity the better. The faster they can all work out their parts within it and make sure the good things they do in it become a habit no more cohesive it will look.

As people have already pointed out though, we best well better make use of Ozil...because he will get paid either way.

I think about Ramsey the same as I thought about Wilshere. He should slip further back into midfield where his talents can affect the game and where the best periods of his club career were. Where he is highlighted as the '10' the opposition defenders take that approach to him. His runs forward should remain untracked by him starting deeper, picking and choosing very carefully when to go (Lord knows he has the engine for it) and being covered by others when he does.

Ramsey like Ozil is a wasted asset if not used, but we shouldn't play either of them at the expense of the team if they simply aren't playing well enough. However a larger range of games will help discern, incidences from ongoing trends.

If I was coaching them I would be very tempted to divide the time accordingly by;

a) Partnerships/trios on the field (double pivot, left back - left mid, Right back - centre mid, Gk-CB-FB etc)

b) Zones/units (Defence, Midfield, attack)

c) Positioning, transitions, play as a team.

The only way way to overcome teams more talented individually is to be better as a team so we really have our work cut our for increasing the team cohesion and output

[IBK]

I actually think Ozil just needs a little time in his new team. Problem is the first 2 games have been tricky (and isn't an especially large sample size anyway) and Emery is still figuring it all out. It may still not look any better in 3/4/5 games time, but I have faith that it will and I think the sooner Emery cements his structure and identity the better. The faster they can all work out their parts within it and make sure the good things they do in it become a habit no more cohesive it will look.

As people have already pointed out though, we best well better make use of Ozil...because he will get paid either way.

I think about Ramsey the same as I thought about Wilshere. He should slip further back into midfield where his talents can affect the game and where the best periods of his club career were. Where he is highlighted as the '10' the opposition defenders take that approach to him. His runs forward should remain untracked by him starting deeper, picking and choosing very carefully when to go (Lord knows he has the engine for it) and being covered by others when he does.

Ramsey like Ozil is a wasted asset if not used, but we shouldn't play either of them at the expense of the team if they simply aren't playing well enough. However a larger range of games will help discern, incidences from ongoing trends.

If I was coaching them I would be very tempted to divide the time accordingly by;

a) Partnerships/trios on the field (double pivot, left back - left mid, Right back - centre mid, Gk-CB-FB etc)

b) Zones/units (Defence, Midfield, attack)

c) Positioning, transitions, play as a team.

The only way way to overcome teams more talented individually is to be better as a team so we really have our work cut our for increasing the team cohesion and output

Sensible post

[Bumble]

For the money he is on - Ozil should be winning games on his own, he should be dragging the team along. He is probably on 50% more than anyone else. He doesn't look like someone who enjoys it, he has given up international football. Does he really have the motivation to perform at the top of his game? He only signed a new contract because nothing better came along. I am sure if City, Barca, PSG came in for him for £200k he would have been off.

World class players drag teams along with them, Ronaldo does it for Portugal. Even in team games you still want someone to look to, to inspire you and raise your game.

Do we need Ozil, no but we are stuck with him so we need to find a way players like him, Mikhi and Ramsey can play in the side to make us an affective unit. Not necessarily at the same time but there must be a solution to this.

Or it might just be simply we lost to two better sides and we will pulverise west ham on Saturday, then Cardiff week after and Newcastle and reality might dawn that actually we are in at the level we expect to be.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Even if he were sold, you get the feeling we wouldn't replace him with another world class player. Some may argue we don't need to replace him as we have others who can play at 10'....but I would say, well we don't have to play him now if we don't want to technically.

[Marc Overmars]

Even if he were sold, you get the feeling we wouldn't replace him with another world class player. Some may argue we don't need to replace him as we have others who can play at 10'....but I would say, well we don't have to play him now if we don't want to technically.

I'm not sure, I think we'd definitely look to bring in a marquee name. It would free up a massive chunk of wages and we'd still probably get 20-30m for him.

We got Auba in after losing Alexis, so I think those days of inadequately replacing top players are behind us. I hope!

[Bumble]

Even if he were sold, you get the feeling we wouldn't replace him with another world class player. Some may argue we don't need to replace him as we have others who can play at 10'....but I would say, well we don't have to play him now if we don't want to technically.

yes we might not replace directly but we might replace with someone who fits in the formation Emery wants to play and the style he wants. Although not sure we would get a lot of money for him not even £50m. But as you say we don't have to play him although I guess its psychologically difficult to not play your highest earner regularly.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

I'm not sure, I think we'd definitely look to bring in a marquee name. It would free up a massive chunk of wages and we'd still probably get 20-30m for him.

We got Auba in after losing Alexis, so I think those days of inadequately replacing top players are behind us. I hope!

I think we would struggle. Auba was a strange situation with a genuinely world class player available for a fee we were willing to pay. There are very few examples of world class players around now we'd actually be willing to pay the fee for.

An equivalent attacking midfielder/number 10 we would never be willing to pay for now. Can you see us paying for somebody as good as De Bruyne.....or even someone like Eriksen with how much Spurs would charge....or Coutinho (if you see any of these as world class but if you don't the point is strengthened).

Maybe Dembele but even he would garner way more than we paid for Auba and this summer has kind of demonstrated we aren't willing to pony up.

[Power n Glory]

A player that consistently puts in 5/6/7 performances isn't hard to replace. We'd get better results taking a risk with a young player like Iwobi or just playing Mkhitaryan there. It can't be any worse than what we're currently getting from Ozil.