Match reaction: Manchester City 2-1 Arsenal

[Power n Glory]

The thing is Ozil used to get panned ridiculously unfairly because people didn't take note of the influence he had on our play about two years ago, and just criticised him on what was seen as a lack of work rate because you don't see him running himself into the ground like Sanchez does.

And now i look at him as one player amongst many who isn't performing, i don't blame Sanchez because he's having to drop so deep just to get the ball

But Xhaka, Coquelin, Ozil, Walcott, Monreal (well he's terrible anyway) are all letting the team down

I would add Mustafi to that list as well but he hasn't been playing but when he was, he was all over the place and has contributed to our defence looking shaky

Ozil is a pivotal player and i don't think it's acceptable that a player we paid so much for, doesn't turn up when the going gets tough.....but i think there is a singular tendency to give him abuse.

If we had Wilshere in the team I would drop Ozil for the next few games for sure (well i would have started Wilshere against City), but with Cazorla injured and Ramsey who you just can't trust anywhere near the first eleven we haven't left ourselves with a lot of options.

Where do you see abuse in what I post? I question where he's influential and how he does it.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Where do you see abuse in what I post? I question where he's influential and how he does it.

If i meant you i would have said you, there has been a long standing tendency for Arsenal fans to single him out for abuse to clarify

All I said is that you have a bee in your bonnet about him, not the same thing. Like I say your criticisms aren't always without merit but I think he's somewhat become the focal point of your ire, in the same way Ramsey has long been of mine.

[Munchies]

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

I love Arsenal Fan TV although i'm still not convinced that they aren't paid actors

It's like an adult version of the muppet show meets Police Academy

Claude Cagliari was listed as a missing person by Essex Police when the twitter trolls got too much for him. Obviously i don't want to dig at anyone who has depression, but with social media if you can't stand the heat stay out of the kitchen.....nuts to all these safe spaces.

And Robbie is the ultimate Agent Provocateur, he lights the fuse under these people.

[Power n Glory]

Ozil is the focal point because any criticism of him is met with the most resistances from fans. Also, opinions vary on what it is he’s supposed to be doing. I keep hearing different answers. I’ve heard so many people talk of his appreciation for space and his intelligence and ability to the game, his movement and finding pockets of space, etc. In games like yesterday and where we’re struggling in midfield to find an outlet, all the above is ineffective. You could even interpret it as hiding and I’ve seen lesser players accused of the above.

Even when people say he’s dropping back because Sanchez is taking up most of the space he used to occupy, how is that not resulting in more control over the midfield since we have more bodies back there? It’s because he’s not actually helping us keep possession and it goes back to the same problems we had when we’d play Arteta, Wilshere and Ramsey in midfield. All three were incapable of controlling the midfield, zero midfield discipline and intelligence from Wilshere and Ramsey in particular. But I expect a heck a lot more from Ozil and Xhaka. Mainly Ozil because I know he’s capable of more than what he’s showing. Xhaka just seems a mistake with a high price tag. I I’d rather we played Elneny. But that’s another discussion.

[Power n Glory]

GW is broken.

[Munchies]

Ozil is the focal point because any criticism of him is met with the most resistances from fans. Also, opinions vary on what it is he’s supposed to be doing. I keep hearing different answers. I’ve heard so many people talk of his appreciation for space and his intelligence and ability to the game, his movement and finding pockets of space, etc. In games like yesterday and where we’re struggling in midfield to find an outlet, all the above is ineffective. You could even interpret it as hiding and I’ve seen lesser players accused of the above.

Even when people say he’s dropping back because Sanchez is taking up most of the space he used to occupy, how is that not resulting in more control over the midfield since we have more bodies back there? It’s because he’s not actually helping us keep possession and it goes back to the same problems we had when we’d play Arteta, Wilshere and Ramsey in midfield. All three were incapable of controlling the midfield, zero midfield discipline and intelligence from Wilshere and Ramsey in particular. But I expect a heck a lot more from Ozil and Xhaka. Mainly Ozil because I know he’s capable of more than what he’s showing. Xhaka just seems a mistake with a high price tag. I I’d rather we played Elneny. But that’s another discussion.

I agree with you

[Niall_Quinn]

Strolling more like. That's disgraceful.



That's the bare minimum required for any central midfield/attacking midfield player got Arsenal. Hleb, Nasri, Cesc, Arshavin, Cazorla, they all have that ability to control the ball and pass it off. Heck, Denilson, Song, Arteta, Xhaka, Coq and Wilshere can pass the ball and not lose it. You contradict most of your own arguments because we wouldn’t be able to dominate possession and play tippy tappy for the majority of our games if he’s the only player with that ability.

Check the stats and recall the game yesterday, Ozil lost the ball more often than Coquelin and despite having the superior footwork, wasn’t good in tight spaces. 40 out of 47 of his passes were short passes. Only 19 passes were successfully played forward and he played the same amount of successful passes backwards. Isn’t that an example of the #TippyTappy you can’t stand? Not one successful take on and we’ve all seen he’s exceptional with the ball at his feet. He’s capable of so much more. We were struggling with possession yesterday and it didn’t help that he wasn’t helping to close down the opposition to win the ball back or drop deep to help our midfield mount an attack. He can’t do it all on his own but there was a serious lack of effort yesterday. Am I out of line for saying that?

No, no, no. Your argument is and has always been that he's a luxury player and we don't need him. Taken on the evidence of a 13 second clip, perhaps you are right. Taken on the evidence of two and a bit seasons you are dead wrong. We have no context for that clip whatsoever, but let's assume that like all the other players on that pitch yesterday, excluding Giroud who did seem to give it a go when he came on, Ozil gave up. Well sure, that's totally unacceptable and somebody needs to slap him around a bit and remind him why he's here and why he's getting paid by the wheelbarrow. The exact same thing can be said for the rest of them, even Alexis can't get a pass for that second half performance yesterday. And certainly Walcott can't.

http://www.squawka.com/comparison-ma...ot_accuracy#90

Taken over the season we can see precisely why Ozil is so vital to this misfiring team. Yesterday's statistics in one thing, the season statistics something entirely different. If Ozil's not on that pitch then we have a lot less meaningful possession and do a lot less with the ball when we do have it. Especially with Santi missing. What, are you going to rely on Walcott to make the play? I'm not sure how you get an average score of MINUS 10.62 for possession but it more than gives a clue why we can't rely on him to control a game. As for Coquelin, if he outperformed Ozil yesterday then that's the exception, not the rule.

Saying Ozil should be benched or is not necessary at all is like the gypos shooting their feet off by leaving Silva sidelined. Why would they do that and why would we? Can we expect more from Ozil. Yes, especially if he wants a big pay bump. That's a fair criticism. Let's see more from him. Let's see him start to grab these games and stamp his influence on them. I'm all for that. But I'm not for making huge over-reactions and spiting ourselves by losing what he has been steadily providing. Unfortunately for him he's playing in a plodding, often static outfield. The dashing about I was referring to concerns our stricken defenders who have to suffer Wenger's bullshit system of leaving huge spaces and then using pace to try to recover the problems we make for ourselves. Comedy at the back. Lethargy up front. The Wenger Way.

[Bumble]

Look we lost consecutive games not the end of the world. the chavs lost two games in a row against us and Liverpool and were pretty out played in both then they go on a long unbeaten run and are now favourites for the league.

We have a relatively straight forward run of fixutres in the league, an easy FA Cup game and only two more games left in the CL. So we can focus on the league.

lets be positive..... being optimistic has been shown that it makes you live longer and we have to live longer to give us a chance of seeing another Wenger Title.

[Munchies]