Match Reaction vs Man City (away).

[Dein-machine]

It’s normal now to see such a saturation of talent in one team but it wasn’t always normal. Club football has surpassed international football in that regard. You used to have to wait for International tournaments to see some the finest players in the world assembled in one squad but it’s now common place with modern day super clubs. Things were easier for Ozil at Madrid and he didn’t have as much pressure to be that game changer and focal point. Wenger will have to set him a goal target for next season and challenge him to take on more responsibility. If the pass isn’t there he needs to go looking for the goal. Make something special happen.

I don’t even think we need to spend crazy money to get the best out of his passing. We just have the wrong players. Giroud has stopped making intelligent runs into the box and Walcott has hardly played this season. Santi is a good player and could assist Ozil and free up space for him because he’s another ball carrier. We had the same problem when Cesc and Nasri were here and Cesc just started banging in goals. We need a mix where we can develop Ozil into a better player but also have players on the field that can utilises his passing and movement.

Someone of Ozil's quality should be central to do what we do but I seem to see him playing in wide positions. We need him central & further up the pitch with pace & quality around him. We'll get away with Flaminin, Whilshere, Cazorla, Giroud in 80% of the P.L games we play but in the other 20% & for C.L we need to add quality. The simple difference between us & Man City in Saturday was quality in the final 3rd, didn't think they were great defensively but Toure, Fernandinio, Nasri, Silva, Negrado & Aguero all seemed to link well & had the same train of thought. The only one on Ozil's level at the moment is Rambo. I'm afraid Santi could turn out to be another Arshavin & Giroud the French Bendtner. Certainly need Theo to spice things up & hope that Podolski comes back a different player especially with his old mate in the team now.

[Power n Glory]

Cheers, that clears it up. You were ignoring my argument, inventing an alternative and then knocking it down. As usual.

My argument from the outset has been, let's not write off a player coming back from a serious injury like we wrote off Ramsey. It has nothing to do with criticising (or not criticising) a player when he has a bad game. I have no problems with the latter - except the one you have created out of thin air for me.

There is no invention. I get the main crux of your argument....get behind the players. Very simple. But I couldn't help notice you have another dig at Walcott in the same breath with the 'finally putting in a semi good performance' comment and other digs I mentioned before. I can't take you seriously when you do that and especially with all the past conversations we've had where you've written him off as a footballer. You tried to move the goal posts by making out the digs were related to the contract talks then saw sense and brought it back to his performance for the club. Walcott and Wilshere's dance in the spotlight as the salvation to Arsenal and England are almost parallel. Bad injuries, hyped up expectations by fans/press/manager and the struggle to live up to that expectation, being played out of position.....it's very similar. As said, you were very dismissive of Walcott before and I sense that old itch is still there so I'm skeptical. You can't blame me.

Also, I don't think anyone here is writing Wilshere off. At worst, people are saying he's overrated and should be judged on where he's at now. He's doing pants and it needs addressing. If someone in the camp isn't telling him where he's getting it wrong, then he won't get any better regardless of his potential. We don't know what's in store for the kid and someone pointed to Reyes as a cautionary tale. It happens. I think a lot of people confuse criticism with a write off. It's not always case. Just a simple, if a player doesn't start doing X,Y,Z more often and improve in certain areas he won't be world class or fit in to our current set up. Wilshere struggled on the left flank and would probably benefit from playing on the opposite flank or in the middle. It's very similar to what I've argued with you in the past about Walcott not being a winger and more of a Michael Owen/Defoe number 9 type striker. But we move on.

[Power n Glory]

Someone of Ozil's quality should be central to do what we do but I seem to see him playing in wide positions. We need him central & further up the pitch with pace & quality around him. We'll get away with Flaminin, Whilshere, Cazorla, Giroud in 80% of the P.L games we play but in the other 20% & for C.L we need to add quality. The simple difference between us & Man City in Saturday was quality in the final 3rd, didn't think they were great defensively but Toure, Fernandinio, Nasri, Silva, Negrado & Aguero all seemed to link well & had the same train of thought. The only one on Ozil's level at the moment is Rambo. I'm afraid Santi could turn out to be another Arshavin & Giroud the French Bendtner. Certainly need Theo to spice things up & hope that Podolski comes back a different player especially with his old mate in the team now.

Ozil moving out to the flank is how he plays and what he does. He moves wide, he sometimes goes deep or plays as second striker, all in one game. He's never told to stay central or to play wide, he's given freedom and that's how he naturally plays. I think the unorthodox movement means we don't have a talented player in the middle playing on the pivot. Ramsey is a bag of energy and never stays in the centre as the hub so it seems like we're missing a deep laying playmaker.

As for Santi, I think he's having to adjust to life on the left wing. I don't think it suits him in this league even though that's his natural position for Malaga. It's still early though. He's had a slower start than the rest because of injury and fatigue. He won't be an Arshavin. I think he'd be best suited in the middle or when we also have Rosicky playing. It's a hard one because we have so many players that should be playing in the middle.

As for City, their finishing separated us. Very clinical with their chances but a lot of their goals were gifts.

[Munchies]

BOBN is even adding gifs to his repertoire.

Big fan of BOBN me.

How is BOBN pronounced ?

Bob'on
Bob'en
BeOhBeEn ?

Great poster though, thoroughly needed and always backs his views.

BOBN

[Penguin]

Cazorla has already proven he can play at a very high level in this league, unlike Arshavin who only ever gave us one great performance. No chance of him 'becoming an Arshavin'.

I'm not sure I like him out wide though, he plays far too deep and central for my liking.

[GP]

How is BOBN pronounced ?

Bob'on
Bob'en
BeOhBeEn ?

Great poster though, thoroughly needed and always backs his views.

BOBN

Bonbon

[Özim]

I thought this was about Ozil which is bad enough.

Wilshere – oh hell no. That’s just too much of stretch.

Wilshere getting compared to Ronaldinho, Ronaldinho had more talent in one of his shoelaces than Wilshere will ever have

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

The comparison to the buckyoHare is a little unfair. Technically speaking, the Brazilian was out of this world and easily as talented a ball player as I've seen in my lifetime.

Ozil cannot do what Ronaldinho did with a ball, but that won't stop us from recognising Ozil's talents.

Should his attitude be right, I will be amazed if Wilshere does not become a resounding success at club level by the end of his career.

[JonasTC]

No one is comparing Wilshere, Özil & Ronaldinho, since they're 3 very different players. The "comparison" between Wilshere and Ronaldinho was only, that you cannot write a player off at the age of 21.

People only recognize "true" talent as however scores the goals theese days. Sadly it seems like our culture and the average football fan are getting influenced by the american addiction to statistics, years ago nobody really cared about statistics and just looked at however made magic on the football field, now the "worlds best" is just given to however scores the more goals. So if anybody cares about being the best in the world, they should just join the spanish league and tear up all the teams that could hardly do a job in the in the championship.

[Power n Glory]

How did you come to that conclusion? If people were ripping Wilshere and saying he doesn’t score and assist enough goals even though he’s playing well then that’s fair enough. But we were all applauding Wilshere before his injury and he wasn’t racking up goals or assists but you could see the quality. Ross Barkley is earning plaudits in this country as a young talent and he’s hardly racking up goals and assists. I think you’re off the mark with that one.

Also, I think the Spanish league gets unfairly criticised. It’s just poorly financed and unevenly structured. Barca and Real Madrid are way too powerful. I doubt the lower league teams would struggle in the Championship. It’s not that much of a gulf. Their teams usually do well in the Europa Cup and we’ve seen how bad the Prem teams have done. Besides doing well in the European club competitions, the national team has dominated international football for a while now. It’s all too easy to criticise and make out as if the Prem is the best in the world. We don’t export English players because they’re below par, don’t have any top English coaches dominating in other leagues and don’t do well for Internationals.