Barca v Arsenal - Match Reaction

[Power n Glory]

Dont worry , we wont miss him when hes gone. Wilshere will be back next season, just like a new signing. For 3 months of the season mind you.

Ozil is the least of our problems. He was never a goal scorer so why should we depend on his goal scoring now. Did we not know what he was before we bought him?. That like buying a Ferrari and complaining that its shit at the off road thing. Its a crap car, cant pass though a wet grass field FFS!.

Because the best attacking midfielders in the world could come up with piece of magic to settle a close game. Be the deciding factor. A sublime pass or an unstoppable goal. I don't often see Ozil pull off a splitting pass that creates that sort of opportunity. Just look and compare the attacking midfielders that are at the top of their game today or those from the past.

Yes, we have a Ferrari. But it's like buying a Ferrari F50 and realising the older Ferrari F40 was a lot better. But scratch the car analogy because I've never driven those.

It's like buying a Samsung S6 and realising the Samsung S5 was better because they've removed a lot of features from the S6 like removable battery, memory card expansion....there. A better analogy.

Maybe we bought the wrong player for this team. I agree with that. He never was a goal scorer but to be up there with the Zidane's, Ronaldinho's, Iniesta.....he needs to put in more work. He's supposed to be a star man.

[Niall_Quinn]

Funny how this mirrors what's being said about LVG too...

Another dinosaur. But Utd will have him out the door the minute this season ends. There's the difference.

[Niall_Quinn]

That's a complete myth. His stats over all 3 seasons are fantastic.

Completely true. But the media says no. So completely false. The jury is still out on him. We have Flamini who can play there.

[Power n Glory]

There's no movement in our team. We're static. Slow. Fucked up little triangles, always finding the congestion, always dallying long enough or playing that extra pass sideways so the opposition can organise themselves at leisure. We create tight spaces, we engineer eye of the needle requirements, we make it twice as difficult as it needs to be. Wenger's system is fucked up beyond belief and it's killing all our players, not just Ozil but Alexis, Theo, Ramsey, all of them. Ozil often has to come and find the ball himself because the fuckers behind him won't move it on. It's as if possession is the only purpose, everything after that is a secondary concern or even unimportant. How many times do you see our players finally engineer a shooting opportunity and then opt to pass - again? That can't be what the player actually wants to do. That has to be some fucked up regime installed by he who shall not be named. When players join the team they look fresh and inventive. By the time Wengermort has weaved his magic they are confused, jaded, plodding imbeciles on the pitch. It's him. Forget about blaming the players. We spent season after season doing that but we've had so many players through the door now, so much talent, it's time to slam 100% of the blame where it belongs. He's fucking killing us. We can't even pass these days. Can't score a goal to save lives. Can't cross a ball. Can't defend. Won't press. A total shambles and we know why. It's as if the idiot has literally choreographed our football and players are compelled to pass to a spot on the pitch rather than directly to a team mate. The team mate in turn is expected to be on that spot, regardless of where the ball is. It's the only explanation that can explain our new found tendency to measure passes directly to the opposition or into a vacant space.

Get Owen Coyle in. Used to be a joke but now we need him before this gets worse.

The above bold point is Ozil in a nutshell. How many times have you seen him in the box and pass instead of shooting? When he did that rare bit of trickery to in the box against Watford but passed to Campbell, why didn't he hit try to whack it into the top roof from a tight angle? The greats usually have the audacity to try something spectacular. He plays it safe and calculated too often. Great dribbling ability but he won't attempt a take on in the box in fear out of losing it.

[Power n Glory]

That's a complete myth. His stats over all 3 seasons are fantastic.

What's the stats in the big games?

Wait - 5 goals and 9 assists is good for last season?

6 assists in the league and 4 goals

[Niall_Quinn]

What's the stats in the big games?

This is just illustrating my point. What you have been asking is why Ozil is not winning games for us. The answer is, because that's not his job. That's the job of the team, and we don't have one of those. Trying to single out our most productive player is not going to get us closer to the real problem (singular).

[Letters]

The best attacking midfielders I remember would create chances and come up with the important goals. They’d have way more of an impact on the game besides creating chances. Zidane, Ballack, Sniejder, Ronaldinho, Rivaldo, Totti, Iniesta, Silva…..even Cesc….it’s a long list. Ozil doesn’t score enough goals and it’s not as if he’s creating quality chances where the striker of the ball hasn’t got much work to do. Cutting the ball back in a crowded box so someone can pop a shot off isn’t exactly a great chance created. Still requires a lot of work.

If he had pulled off that ball over the top Messi had or even the assist Campbell set up for Walcott the other day on a regular but we were fluffing our lines, fair enough. But he isn’t. I really can’t stand how often he’d choose to cut the ball back instead of dropping a shoulder and driving in on goal. Create a shooting opportunity for himself. All the best attacking midfielders have that ability and way more of a menace when on their best form. He doesn’t score enough for an attacking midfielder and doesn’t touch or spread the ball around enough to be an essential playmaking passer like Xavi and Pirlo. If this is the best he has to offer then I’m not really fussed. I’ve seen better players.

Of course there are better players but that's not an argument.
A top striker would have filled their boots this season with the service Ozil has been provided. We don't have that many really top players but he's one of them.

[Marc Overmars]

Ozil's importance to this team now isn't just measured in assists. Without his competency on the ball I dread to think what this team would have produced this season, even at the best of times it's such a slog for us to construct decent passages of play.

Most importantly though, what kind of a message would it send out if we lost our marquee/game changing signing after only 3 seasons? It would set us back years.

I've criticised Ozil plenty of times in the past and I acknowledge there are issues about his consistency but he's not why we've flopped this season, far from it.

[Power n Glory]

This is just illustrating my point. What you have been asking is why Ozil is not winning games for us. The answer is, because that's not his job. That's the job of the team, and we don't have one of those. Trying to single out our most productive player is not going to get us closer to the real problem (singular).

Did Cesc not win us games? Zidane, Ballack, Iniesta, Ronaldinho not win games for club and country? When someone is being dubbed 'world class' and you pay a premium, it's not unfair to expect more from them. They are match winners. That doesn't absolve Wenger but it doesn't absolve the players either.

[Letters]

The Southampton game is a case in point. He made chance after chance in that game. No-one could put any of them in the net.
He's doing his bit, his frustration with those around him not doing theirs is understandable.