Ozil - Do we need him?

[Power n Glory]

The "Ozil doesn't turn up for big games" bullshit is pure media. Arsenal doesn't turn up for the big games and this brings us back to square one. Are we relying on Ozil to compensate? If so, we picked the wrong player. If we want a world class playmaker in a well drilled team then Ozil is our man. If we want an expensive artisan trying to dance on a reservoir of sewage then, however you look at it, it's not going to be pretty. You seem to have it in for the guy because he doesn't have the character to pull this team up by himself, despite the crazed manager. He didn't have that character at Madrid and he didn't have it for the Germans. Other players provided that and Ozil supplied the ammo. That's what he does, in teams that have an ambition to attack the opposition, rather than bore them to death.

Exactly. We picked the wrong player to build around.

I have it in for him because he's our record signing and has been coasting his entire time being here. Am I supposed to be happy about that given the criticism I've dished out to Wenger when it comes to this sort of topic?

[Letters]

IMO, PnG, what you're doing to Ozil is like Usain Bolt getting a new coach who insists he wears lead shoes, or maybe a better analogy is he just lets Bolt get really fat, and then when Bolt stops winning races you're saying "See? Told you he was shit".
Ozil has a proven track record at the highest level and at times his stats for us have been impressive but in a team no longer playing for each other or the manager he is struggling like the rest of them.
You can't really blame the player for that - not that I think our players completely get off the hook but I think he's the wrong target for your ire.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

I personally think the whole discussion has become irrelevant. Whether we need Ozil or not is no different to a point we could make about the entire team. Is he going walk about in big games? For sure but we have one or two players maybe that aren't.
Sanchez is still getting the odd goal but you can't tell me his head is in the right place anymore, if we were talking about five-six years ago where the likes of Van Persie was pulling us over the line in a team full of average players no Ozil is not doing that, equally we are 6th at the moment so it's hard to argue we'd be doing any worse without him in the side.

We see whether he plays, when he doesn't play the difference is negligible. But that's far more about the malaise throughout the entire squad. Ozil isn't a strong character whose natural ability is going to shine through in times of adversity even the people most admiring of his talents will admit that, but it's fair to say it's still up for debate whether a better manager could be getting more out of him.

Towards the end of last year Ozil was stinking out the place with his showing on the pitch, now it just passes without notice.

Would it be the end of the world if we got rid of him? No more than it would be the end of the world if any of these players go now really. I think it's all subordinate to the much larger issue of the manager, if he stays than I think the only way is even further disappointment and abject performances.

[Power n Glory]

IMO, PnG, what you're doing to Ozil is like Usain Bolt getting a new coach who insists he wears lead shoes, or maybe a better analogy is he just lets Bolt get really fat, and then when Bolt stops winning races you're saying "See? Told you he was shit".
Ozil has a proven track record at the highest level and at times his stats for us have been impressive but in a team no longer playing for each other or the manager he is struggling like the rest of them.
You can't really blame the player for that - not that I think our players completely get off the hook but I think he's the wrong target for your ire.

Wrong wrong wrong.

Has anyone seen Ozil perform for Germany at a much higher standard than what you've seen for Arsenal?

[Power n Glory]

Also, if Cazorla would have stayed fit throughout the season, does anyone here think we'd have seen a different season and gear to our play?

[Niall_Quinn]

I personally think the whole discussion has become irrelevant. Whether we need Ozil or not is no different to a point we could make about the entire team. Is he going walk about in big games? For sure but we have one or two players maybe that aren't.
Sanchez is still getting the odd goal but you can't tell me his head is in the right place anymore, if we were talking about five-six years ago where the likes of Van Persie was pulling us over the line in a team full of average players no Ozil is not doing that, equally we are 6th at the moment so it's hard to argue we'd be doing any worse without him in the side.

We see whether he plays, when he doesn't play the difference is negligible. But that's far more about the malaise throughout the entire squad. Ozil isn't a strong character whose natural ability is going to shine through in times of adversity even the people most admiring of his talents will admit that, but it's fair to say it's still up for debate whether a better manager could be getting more out of him.

Towards the end of last year Ozil was stinking out the place with his showing on the pitch, now it just passes without notice.

Would it be the end of the world if we got rid of him? No more than it would be the end of the world if any of these players go now really. I think it's all subordinate to the much larger issue of the manager, if he stays than I think the only way is even further disappointment and abject performances.

If Messi joins us in the summer, by winter the headlines will be Messi Finished, What Happened to Messi?, Messi #stealingALiving, Messi - Awful Goalkeeper.

[Power n Glory]

There is no way Ozil deserves a new contract. IMO he lacks aggression and fight, he is easily brushed aside and is a passenger in most of the big games. how can he demand 300k a week when he is one of our underachieving players? IMO we should sell him and get a replacement. There are loads of attacking midfielders who would improve us.

The problem is Wenger sees him as some kind of saviour and someone we cant lose. Bollox, Ozil needs to go. How long can you realistically wait for him to come good and produce what he can on a regular basis? he onto his 4th season and has shown zero progress. I remember when Walcott held the club to ransom and was given 100k a week despite being an average player, this canot happen again with Ozil (i know he is a quality player but he doesnt produce enough, nowhere near enough).

Also. I didn't start this conversation again.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Wrong wrong wrong.

Has anyone seen Ozil perform for Germany at a much higher standard than what you've seen for Arsenal?

Depends what you mean by higher level?

If you are saying at no time has Ozil matched the hype you think has been placed upon him at Arsenal than no he hasn't performed any better for Germany.

However if you are arguing that there are times where he's been fantastic for us albeit no where near enough, yes that level has been shown for Germany and arguably more often than it gets seen at club level the last three-four seasons.

Whether he's invaluable to us is moot, because we haven't reached a level which he would have been invaluable in getting us too. Is that somewhat his fault? Yes but not substantially more than it is the fault of any player who puts on the shirt.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

If Messi joins us in the summer, by winter the headlines will be Messi Finished, What Happened to Messi?, Messi #stealingALiving, Messi - Awful Goalkeeper.

If he joined us in our current state from Barcelona this summer, they wouldn't wait until winter to write those kind of headlines

[Cripps]

The original question is do we need ozil, imo the answer is no. Generally speaking, in the premier league you need players that have energy, high work rate and desire, and imo he lacks all 3.

If you replace him with a player that has those 3 attributes I think we'd do much much better.