Mesut Özil Thread (official!)

[Power n Glory]

It's not the goals for me. It's the level of influence he has on our overall play and the lack of authority that probably has people concerned. It's early days and without referencing rival players and other leagues, I'm thinking of the way Cesc and Rosicky make their presence known on the pitch. Conductors of the midfield but Ozil isn't that sort of player. Even if he isn't that sort of player, at least individual brilliance like when Arshavin first arrived and could be asked or when Nasri was playing for his contract. Even Cazorla's first season, you see the class when he was up on his game. I've yet to see that from Ozil and we're expecting a lot more from him. I'm hoping he comes to life in this second half of the season.

[Syn]

He has never been a player who takes the game by the scruff of the neck. And I don't know what you mean by individual brilliance but it comes in different forms than a flashy trick. And his influence is far greater than someone like Flamini even though he doesn't shout and point all the time. His off the ball movement is fantastic, he's always able to find space and you have assurance he's going to play the best option 9 times out of 10. With that, he raises everyone else's game and less moves break down. Goals and assists are a really poor measure of his contribution even though he will almost certainly top the assists chart at the end of the season. He's been a part of a team that's top of the table so he has made a decent start.

But I guess he came here because Wenger gave him the big sell of how Ozil could grab the headlines, so for fantasy football obsessives I expect a lot more goals from him. We don't have many runners in our team but Ozil knows how to do it - at least for Germany. Just a bit more composure needed, as was the case for Ramsey.

The big problem for him has been adjusting to the physical side of the great English game, but maybe he has toughened up a bit by now. Should be interesting to see how he gets on now he has had his winter break.

[Niall_Quinn]

Guy has already had a Bergkamp effect that has transformed the fortunes of the club, not single handedly but he's the catalyst. His mere presence rewrites the script, we were a selling club and rapidly becoming a feeder club, now we're buying £42mill superstars from Madrid, reversing the flow so to speak. Can't ask for any more than that in the short time he's been here, but the great thing about this player is he'll be even better when he's got a season in the PL under his belt. Only thing that might destroy it is injury (fingers crossed) or fans forgetting where we were just a few months ago and taking shit for granted (but that would never happen).

[Power n Glory]

He has never been a player who takes the game by the scruff of the neck. And I don't know what you mean by individual brilliance but it comes in different forms than a flashy trick. And his influence is far greater than someone like Flamini even though he doesn't shout and point all the time. His off the ball movement is fantastic, he's always able to find space and you have assurance he's going to play the best option 9 times out of 10. With that, he raises everyone else's game and less moves break down. Goals and assists are a really poor measure of his contribution even though he will almost certainly top the assists chart at the end of the season. He's been a part of a team that's top of the table so he has made a decent start.

But I guess he came here because Wenger gave him the big sell of how Ozil could grab the headlines, so for fantasy football obsessives I expect a lot more goals from him. We don't have many runners in our team but Ozil knows how to do it - at least for Germany. Just a bit more composure needed, as was the case for Ramsey.

The big problem for him has been adjusting to the physical side of the great English game, but maybe he has toughened up a bit by now. Should be interesting to see how he gets on now he has had his winter break.

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.

[Power n Glory]

There is more to come.

[Syn]

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.

Fair enough, he has definitely had his fair share of below-par performances and I agree that there's more to come. But I guess my point was that some his good performances get overlooked just because it's not as noticeable as scoring a goal or making a crunching tackle. His influence isn't going to be like an all action Gerrard or Rooney. The only thing I can think of - that he has shown for Germany but not for Arsenal - is pace. He is normally rapid but we haven't seen that yet. Again, maybe adapting to new fitness levels.

[Power n Glory]

The arrogance and audacity may come later but he hasn't really tried to take on his man and drive at the defence here. I'm not expecting all action which is why I'd point to Rosicky and Cesc. I remember before Cesc started scoring and assisting like a mad man, his game was subtle but he moved the ball around the pitch well. Very intelligent play. Rosicky doesn't score or assist much but I always love seeing him do the simple things, like pick up the ball deep in midfield, swivel to lose a marker and create an angle for the pass, then fire it off so we're on a quick attack. Ozil is very different from a deep laying playmaker and if he plays in spurts, I'd rather see him adopt a more selfish direct approach instead of the odd flick and lay off for someone else to latch on to. But I'm sure we will see more from him.

[Özil's Panoramic View]

Guy has already had a Bergkamp effect that has transformed the fortunes of the club, not single handedly but he's the catalyst. His mere presence rewrites the script, we were a selling club and rapidly becoming a feeder club, now we're buying £42mill superstars from Madrid, reversing the flow so to speak. Can't ask for any more than that in the short time he's been here, but the great thing about this player is he'll be even better when he's got a season in the PL under his belt. Only thing that might destroy it is injury (fingers crossed) or fans forgetting where we were just a few months ago and taking shit for granted (but that would never happen).

Nothing more needs to said.

[Özil's Panoramic View]

Anyone ever thought that he's playing with little bit handbrake on because the WC is near? Regardless of this probability, his influence has been immense, so much so that an entire team have raised their game and competing with the very expensively assembled squads.

There's more to come from him, lads, as he can only get better as he adjusts to a new League and a team with less outlets than what he's used to.

Little bit patience, please.

[Niall_Quinn]

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.

EDIT: this is in reply to a post that has since departed.