Ozil - Do we need him?

[Power n Glory]

I’ve seen a lot of talk of Ozil checking out early for the season and looking for the exit but do we really want him here if that’s the case? I’m usually on side with the players when it comes to this sort of issue but not in this case. I don’t think Ozil has done anything to warrant such high praise.

People point to what he did last season as proof of his quality but I’m still not convinced. After Christmas he checked out for the rest of the season. When I compare that purple patch/run of good form with other players, such as Ramsey 2013/14 season (34 games, 16 goals, 10 assists) or even Theo’s run (43 games, 21 goals, 16 assists), I’d take either of those guys replicating that form over Ozil’s 45 games, 8 goals and 20 assists.

Maybe he’s hung over from the Euros and needs to get up to speed but it’s disheartening to see us play games without Giroud and have all out pace up front and he’s not threading anyone through. His influence on the game has to extend beyond one decent pass. The chances he’s creating aren’t even killer through balls that sets us up with chance after chance. Heck, against Southampton the stats will say he created 4 chances but not one of those were clear cut one on ones. I really don’t rate him as a playmaker and won’t lose any sleep if he leaves. He’s not essential and I’ll have to see a massive improvement to think otherwise.

[Niall_Quinn]

He didn't check out for the rest of the season. Wenger went 100% negative, that's what fucked our season. Dull, repetitive, predictable, static, slow boreball. A player with Ozil's talents is wasted in a set up like that. Same for Alexis. When we lost Santi, the player on which Wenger's comaball is loaded, the manager pulled up the drawbridge and opted to scrape out the bare minimum in the most negative manner we've seen since the days of Don Howe. All our opponents crashed around us an we floated, lifeless, to a 2nd place finish that would be inconceivable under normal circumstances. In some ways our 2nd place finish was more miraculous than Leicester's title win. Quality players like Ozil and Alexis must have been horrified at the whole embarrassing spectacle of it.

Weren't you the guy who spoke up for RvC and the understanding you had for his situation? A quality player stuck in a zero ambition environment probably labouring under a whole heap of Wenger's lies and false promises? Well here we are again then. What has changed since RvC fucked off? Nothing at all. We've always had at least some quality at the club, lured in on the reputation of a manager that had delivered the Invincibles. Well the gap between then and now is lengthening season by grinding season and the myth is being exposed. Pretty soon, and we already started to see it with the last transfer window, we won't be able to fool the big players into coming here. Hell, we couldn't even con Vardy into making the switch. You may get your wish and soon. Ozil will be gone and we'll be stuck with Walcott. How you can possibly see that as a good thing is incredible.

[Power n Glory]

There is a huge difference between RVC and Ozil. One is a player we could do with right now. Even with Wenger trying his best to botch things up, I'd never doubt RVP's effort or contribution. Ozil - he's not essential. As said, I'd take 2013 Ramsey or 2012 Walcott over last seasons Ozil.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

We get that you are not a fan of Ozil, and additional to that he has not played well the last couple of games

But i'd say look at when he came on against Leicester and against Watford, and i think he is pivotal to us in an attacking sense. I think it's abundantly clear that when Ozil is not playing well it tends to nullify our attacking potency. And if he is surplus to requirements than it would necessitate us playing in a completely different way.

I'm going to be honest with you, it's your opinion and your entitled to it but i don't think whether 2013 Ramsey or 2012 Walcott was better doesn't even merit discussion to me. I think Ramsey's performances in 2013/2014 were in many ways complimented by having Ozil in the side. And Walcott was scoring goals in 2012/2013 but it's hard to say he was playing well (well he was probably playing well by his limited standards).

I am going to agree with NQ, if we are not getting the best out of a great player like Ozil it's because the limiting effect of having a manager like Wenger.

[Power n Glory]

Ozil isn't a great player. He's just as marginal for Germany as he is for us. He's a good player but far from great or pivotal.

[Niall_Quinn]

There is a huge difference between RVC and Ozil. One is a player we could do with right now. Even with Wenger trying his best to botch things up, I'd never doubt RVP's effort or contribution. Ozil - he's not essential. As said, I'd take 2013 Ramsey or 2012 Walcott over last seasons Ozil.

We have 3 essential players as things stand, possibly 5 if you go a bit wider to encompass more of Wenger's basic failings. The 3 are Santi, who is by far our most important player (but with a major caveat), and Ozil and Alexis because they are the players who can rise above the general drudgery of our current system with moments of individual brilliance that can swing a game or allow us back into a game that otherwise would be beyond us.

The huge caveat with Santi is his effectiveness at being able to drag something out of Wengerball, a system that would by its very nature fail in this league were it not for the almost unique talents of the poor sod who is tasked with somehow making it work. Whether Santi would be as important in a sane system, I have a feeling we'll never know. Perhaps yes, because he's a two-footed, quick-witted and talented player regardless.

One instance, the third goal against Watford. A rare glimpse of real footballing talent from two key players who also help to pull the club out of the Wengerball depths from time to time. Not always, because Wengerball is a dead weight, but sometimes and sometimes at key times. It makes a difference over the course of a season. The players are human too. They, just like the fans, must scratch their heads at the manager's antics. They surely also realise we could do so much better with a coherent system and a little planning and organisation - the very basics at others teams but alien in a Wenger culture. So I guess being at Arsenal for them is not just about performing on the pitch but also keeping the enthusiasm afloat so they avoid being crushed by the inevitability of it all. Very much like the fans, we know where we will fail, we know when, we know how it will happen and why. And the one man who can do something about it, well we know he won't do a thing. I'd be deeply resentful under such conditions. In many ways it's a testament to the players that they continue to strive for a different outcome, offset of course by the huge rewards they get just for turning up. As fans we expect them to give 100%, but we must also realise that it may be 110, 120% they need to deliver as a baseline in order to compensate for the drag Wenger places on every aspect of our game.

The other 2 are Kos and Cech, unfortunates (relatively speaking) who must try to make head or tail of Wenger's shambolic and longstanding ideas related to the defence. RvC did his stint too, the guy expected to carry the ambitions of the fans and the crushing weight of the manager's incompetence. Because he got the stick the ball in the net he made a bigger splash than Ozil makes with each decisive pass, or each carefully engineered assist. You claim Ozil's assists are low quality. Even if that were true, so what? Better than taking the ball and then looking to lay it back or tap it harmlessly sideways. Don't underestimate a player that remembers where the goal is and what the point of the game is. If we lose him then no way is this club chasing the big player and spending the big money to replace him. In fact, no way is that big player coming here regardless.

It is Sooooooooo vital for Wenger to fuck off at the end of this season. Wait and see how much will change if that happens. Otherwise, we're done as a top club. Three more years of this fool and we won't have to worry about needing or not needing players like Ozil because there simply won't be any players of that calibre here, or wanting to come here.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Ozil isn't a great player. He's just as marginal for Germany as he is for us. He's a good player but far from great or pivotal.

Again your opinion, i don't think a simply "good" player has the vision and ability to find a player with a pass the way Ozil does.....by far the most technically gifted and intelligent reader of the game that we have at the club.

It's one of the only things in a footballing sense i agree with Jose Mourinho about.

[Letters]

http://www.skysports.com/football/ne...-chart-with-19

And that was WITH our fairly mediocre strikers. I saw games last year where he spent all game putting them on a plate and they kept missing them.

[Power n Glory]

We have 3 essential players as things stand, possibly 5 if you go a bit wider to encompass more of Wenger's basic failings. The 3 are Santi, who is by far our most important player (but with a major caveat), and Ozil and Alexis because they are the players who can rise above the general drudgery of our current system with moments of individual brilliance that can swing a game or allow us back into a game that otherwise would be beyond us.

The huge caveat with Santi is his effectiveness at being able to drag something out of Wengerball, a system that would by its very nature fail in this league were it not for the almost unique talents of the poor sod who is tasked with somehow making it work. Whether Santi would be as important in a sane system, I have a feeling we'll never know. Perhaps yes, because he's a two-footed, quick-witted and talented player regardless.

One instance, the third goal against Watford. A rare glimpse of real footballing talent from two key players who also help to pull the club out of the Wengerball depths from time to time. Not always, because Wengerball is a dead weight, but sometimes and sometimes at key times. It makes a difference over the course of a season. The players are human too. They, just like the fans, must scratch their heads at the manager's antics. They surely also realise we could do so much better with a coherent system and a little planning and organisation - the very basics at others teams but alien in a Wenger culture. So I guess being at Arsenal for them is not just about performing on the pitch but also keeping the enthusiasm afloat so they avoid being crushed by the inevitability of it all. Very much like the fans, we know where we will fail, we know when, we know how it will happen and why. And the one man who can do something about it, well we know he won't do a thing. I'd be deeply resentful under such conditions. In many ways it's a testament to the players that they continue to strive for a different outcome, offset of course by the huge rewards they get just for turning up. As fans we expect them to give 100%, but we must also realise that it may be 110, 120% they need to deliver as a baseline in order to compensate for the drag Wenger places on every aspect of our game.

The other 2 are Kos and Cech, unfortunates (relatively speaking) who must try to make head or tail of Wenger's shambolic and longstanding ideas related to the defence. RvC did his stint too, the guy expected to carry the ambitions of the fans and the crushing weight of the manager's incompetence. Because he got the stick the ball in the net he made a bigger splash than Ozil makes with each decisive pass, or each carefully engineered assist. You claim Ozil's assists are low quality. Even if that were true, so what? Better than taking the ball and then looking to lay it back or tap it harmlessly sideways. Don't underestimate a player that remembers where the goal is and what the point of the game is. If we lose him then no way is this club chasing the big player and spending the big money to replace him. In fact, no way is that big player coming here regardless.

It is Sooooooooo vital for Wenger to fuck off at the end of this season. Wait and see how much will change if that happens. Otherwise, we're done as a top club. Three more years of this fool and we won't have to worry about needing or not needing players like Ozil because there simply won't be any players of that calibre here, or wanting to come here.

I agree with Cech and Kos being essential and then it’s Sacnhez. The rest, too many variables need to be in place for them to be considered essential. Santi is close but I believe Elneny is really good at keeping the ball moving and recycling play. If we throw Xhaka into the mix, we have a really good pairing because he’s supposed to have that same ability but an even better passer with variety.
Ozil essential ? Not to me. He is the epitome of what you hate most about Arsenal. Endless low risk passing for percentages. He rarely takes risks with his passes, it’s usually direct to feet when he sets someone up and not a crafty ball played into space and he hardly ever shoots when the opportunity is there. But that’s not all. His game depends on too many variables.
If the two deeper CM’s playing behind him are struggling to pass the ball and being pressed, he can’t influence the game. He can’t impose himself to help them out and keep the play ticking over. Hence why we’re calling for Xhaka to play yesterday.
Also, he can’t play with a striker like Giroud. The partnership doesn’t work. Giroud isn’t quick or mobile enough to get on the end of a through ball. Ozil doesn’t have the drive or tenacity to make use of Giroud’s knock downs and quick one twos that creates space and shooting opportunities for a more mobile attacking player. If it’s not Ozil crossing to Giroud, it’s like the pair cancel each other out. So one of them has to hit the bench.
But seeing how Giroud has been benched and we’re playing games with more mobile attackers and looking just as toothless, it’s a real worry. We all said Ozil needs runners in front of him and that’s what he’s getting. Maybe it’s just a case of time and adjustment, but I ‘m starting to come around to Henry’s idea of Giroud being played with someone like Sanchez behind him. Even Perez. Which means Ozil has to make way. I don’t think he’s that good and would take Kevin De Bruyne over him right now. He has to step his game up and it can’t all be blamed on Wenger.

[Power n Glory]

Again your opinion, i don't think a simply "good" player has the vision and ability to find a player with a pass the way Ozil does.....by far the most technically gifted and intelligent reader of the game that we have at the club.

It's one of the only things in a footballing sense i agree with Jose Mourinho about.

I believe Jose was pulling a robe a dope and overstating Ozil’s importance just to further push the point about Wenger’s incompetency. The way Mourinho plays, someone like Ozil is perfect. Counter attacks and quick transitions. For us, we need someone more relentless in that role.