Kieran Gibbs says the Arsenal squad are more focused than ever because they don’t want to disappoint new boy Mesut Ozil.
The 25-year-old German has enjoyed three consecutive wins since moving to the Emirates from Real Madrid with Gibbs suggesting that the midfielder’s mere presence has lifted the whole squad to another level.
“It’s positive for us and a signing like Ozil is going to push our squad forward because you don’t want to let him down,” Gibbs told Arsenal.com after Sunday’s win against Stoke.
“You want to perform for him and he will take us to the next level. He’s really enjoying himself. He looks very determined and happy and he’s a humble boy as well.
“Coming from a club like Real Madrid you would expect a player to come with a bigger head on their shoulders but he’s very down to earth and he’s passionate.”
The left-back also touched on the way Arsenal have picked up where they left off at the tail end of last term and underlined his determination to see the club challenge for the title.
“I think the team is just gelling. We’ve had a strong finish to last season and people could see the players really gel. I think that’s happening this season at an earlier stage.
“I’m very excited about the quality of the squad and when we get more players back from injury I feel like we’ll be a force. We need to keep focused and build on our run. I’m sure we can be contenders.”
In other news Arsenal have confirmed that 19-year-old centre-back Semi Ajayi has signed a contract at the club after impressing on trial. Arseblog News wonders whether he might have a shot at first team action as soon as Wednesday’s Capital One Cup clash with West Brom…
‘We don’t want to let Ozil down?’ Is he inflatable?
I do not know but I do know ryan shawcross remains a cunt….
Only a slightly bigger cunt than Robson. I can’t bear to listen to him commentate, it really is nauseating.
Good.
Lets grab a couple more of his quality, bring everyone at the club together behind the team and the manager and pick up where the Invicibles left off.
About bloody time
this has been the most stable arsenal squad in 3-4 years. wenger leaving next year will definitely do more harm than good.
I’ll play the devil’s advocate here and say that stability is an important factor, but success, or significant progress is very important too. So can we just be happy at where we are right now, and make the important decisions at the end of the season to see where we are, and act accordingly.
Hoping the feelgood factor continues.
Please don’t say things like that, I can’t bear the thought, Wenger has been at Arsenal all of my life. I would only be some semblance of happy with Klopp or Low.
don’t worry, however u feel about it, wenger’s not leaving arsenal any time soon…
Why the hell would you end a perfectly good statement with that there’s an off-chance wenger could leave? I don’t know whether to thumb up or??
I felt this too. If Theo can start returning the assist favours. We’re really gunna be a force to be reckoned with.
I just feel that players like Giroud, Wilshere, Ramsey and even Mertesacker (see his scoop-tackle against Stoke) have played with a lot more flair these last few games, and it’s not entirely down to confidence either. Ozil’s arrival has sort of pushed them to compete for the style points and show what they’re capable of. After the last two seasons in which we lacked creativity, this is a good thing.
Is it a good time yet to mention my thoughts.. What if barca dont have a good season?? Cesc will want to be here.. No doubt in my mind.. Just thinking out loud.. Or am ii smoking strong shit??
I know you have a nice land race strain down there, Durban Poison, and that might be a factor because your first premise, that Barca is going to have a bad season, seems unlikely. They might not win a trophy, but they’ll finish at least second in the league (almost certainly) and they’ll have some great games in the Champions League even if they go out early. It’s never going to be so bad that Cesc wants out, and the new manager there likes him a lot, and plays him. He’s pushing on at Barca, so I don’t think there’s… Read more »
Woot another South African Gooner!! AWE BRA!
Cesc can stay at Barca. We’ve got Ozil.
That’s another Jeff. I, Jeff D henceforth, would take Cesc back in a heart beat if there were a snowball’s chance in hell of bringing him back, and I would pay Ozil-type money to get him.
Think man. Cesc in central midfield. Behind Ozil. With Wilshere, or maybe Ramsey.
and what would we do with arteta, flamini, cazorla and rosicky ??
and don’t say rosicky is old anyway. his “footballing age” is like 22.
Ozil would be what…the B2B or the DM? Neither would work for him and would be a tragic waste of what he’s best at, creating.
You know what? I just can’t wait for Ozil, rosicky and Cazorla to grace us with their presence on the pitch at the same damn time. I don’t think even “orgasmic” cuts it. there’s not a word for it tbh.
It’s gonna be passgasmic, flairgasmic and technigasmic.
Take your favorite pic.
A picture of Laetita Casta naked wearing nothing but an Arsenal scarf. That would be my favourite pic.
I doubt that will happen though 🙁 We don’t have space for more than one CAM. Cazorla can play on the left wing but CAM will be either Ozil or Rosicky. Quite a shame though
nope…
you are right that we can’t play all three together regularly…
but occasionaly,
ozil on left(he is used to playing on the left), cazorla in the centre(because he is two-footed), and rosicky on the right(he wears the no. 7 after all 🙂 ) can work very well….
in fact with that combination, we could split defenses like, you know, idon’t have an analogy, but you get the idea…
personally i think theyd cut through defences like a hot fish through melted butter
rosicky has superb flair and acceleration, cazorla is a great dribbler(he can play a one-two with himself), and ozil is and awesome passer…
it would be the perfect and the most lethal midfield combination the world has ever seen(sorry, if i have exaggerated it a bit)…
no need for fantastic and invented words, it would simply be invincible…
Fair play to Gibbo but…surely they don’t want to let the FANS down, more so than our new shiney toy?
Not wanting to let Özil down does not imply not caring about letting the fans down. I’m sure Gibbs doesn’t want to let the fans down either.
Exactly. You don’t want to let the club down, the fans down, and yes, your team mates, but let’s not put Ozil on too much of a pedestal. He’s just one player at the end of the day. That part came over a bit lame to me to be honest.
I liked it, Billy. It’s like having a guest over – you want the place to look nice. They’ve got a big new signing, they want to help keep up his morale. The last thing they want is for him to bring down the team spirit.
They don’t want to lose this sense that the team is going places – that’s what he means. He doesn’t want to disappoint Ozil. He doesn’t want to disappoint himself.
agree 100%. just recently i’ve read about one of ajax’ players mentioning that his fellow pros at the club took pictures and acted like teenagers on a trip when visiting the bernabeu prior to their game there. i’m not saying this is the exact same thing, as obviously it is not, but there is some small analogy. it’s not exactly good that Kieran is saying that, it’s not really professional. and it speaks volumes about confidence of some of our players – the very fact that they even have an idea to be thinking like that. and i’m not necessarily… Read more »
Well consider how many players of Ozil’s ability and stature (in football in general) have been bought in general by Arsenal (especially during their time). Let them enjoy the moment and once Ozil becomes integrated and the first team really believes they belong on the same pitch as a player like him, then you’ll see a shift in culture at the club which will attract more fantastic players and the players here will really believe they can win anything and everything. As long as our management shows they believe enough in the players to continue to invest serious cash in… Read more »
it ain’t a competetions between the fans and ozil…
Not letting Ozil directly relates to not letting the fans down. If Ozil is happy on the pitch as we chuck up good results are you not happy in the stands or at home?
I just hope Semi doesn’t approach the game half-heartedly
how far off is ox and poldi?
Depends were you live really!
*where
Poldi might be back as soon as Napoli (though I doubt it), but he apparently isn’t too far off, recovering better and faster than expected. Unfortunately Ox seems a bit further away, I’d guess December-January :-/
Dont let me down either, i want some silverware. Pretty please!
Exactly.
I dont wanna get carried away, but I can see our squad doing wonders this year. Im keeping my opinions on just how well to myself for now though…….UP THE ARSE
I am keeping myself grounded as it is do early in the season. Fantastic start, hoping we keep the momentum going and beat more of those teams around us (already scalped spurs). November we have Liverpool, Dortmund and man utd in a row, then in December I think it’s Napoli, man city and Chelsea. Big game clusters, and all being well with most of the team back fit. Make it to January in the top spot or within a win of it and then wenger can slap down the cheque book at the door of Real Madrid again and maybe… Read more »
What beats me hollow is that we’re currently playing with half a squad! I’ve not been this happy with our performance in 5 years! The attitude is right. For the first time in a long time, I see a team racing for a title. Wenger can’t possibly leave next year!
Wenger attracts Ozil and by all accounts Suarez and higuain – Moyes attracts Felliani and by all accounts Baines.
Thats a 25 point swing right there… we are gonna win the league!!
Higuain went to Napoli, and I think I remember reading they’re on an unbeaten run too. I don’t think Suarez is particularly attracted to Arsenal as such, he just said he expected to be playing in the CL. I hope we find a forward in January who really wants more than anything to play for the Arsenal and for the boss. I don’t mind if it’s not Benzema or any of those big names, just someone who’ll thrive and develop at the Arsenal like our HFB is certainly doing
That’s twice now someone has mentioned Wenger leaving next season
Have I missed something???
He’s in the last season of his contract and said he hasn’t decided whether to sign a new one. He wants to wait and evaluate his performance.
Is Gibb’s Sporting evidence of a time he let Ozil down or did he “walk into a door”.
If so did Ozil provide the “assist”
I dont care as long as we keep winning.
COYRRG
No need for the apostrophe in Gibbs; it’s his fucking name.
I hope SEMI doesnt go into tackles to HARD ON the pitch
I wasn’t that impressed with Ozils performance yesterday over all. He did well with the dead ball situations but did not create any real chances, paying 40 mil for a player I would expect more creativity. Actually I wasn’t impressed with Arsenals performance as a whole. Maybe their just fatigued with the current schedule.
We defeated the orcs from set-pieces(!), it’s good enough for me.
I’m not sure why you’re getting all the thumbs down. Wenger said nearly as much as you in his post-match conference: there’s more to come from Ozil – he can create in other ways than passing (i.e., a little penetration once in while, please) and that Arsenal were dead tired in the second half.
The quality of his delivery though should be seriously appreciated, and revered if he can keep it up. That’s light years better than anything we’ve had before since I started watching in 2001 – the best set piece deliveries I’ve seen – including a couple corners we didn’t score from. Everyone else hits the first man, most of the time. If he can duplicate those set pieces – even just a set piece goal every two or three games, it will be brilliant – that’s the lasting impression from the match – the top class set piece deliveries. I loved… Read more »
It’s not the flowing football that we all love to see, but it is exceptional skill.
He hit Mertesacker directly on the forehead 3 times at the near post, two of Per’s headers were on target and one of them went in. Last year we scored 18 goals from set pieces, 8 fewer than United and Chelsea. I wouldn’t be surprised – with Özil’s delivery to Mertesacker, Giroud, Koscielny, Vermaelen and the spring-heeled Sagna – if we score the most this year.
We don’t need to do orgasmapassing to win a match comfortably. We were efficient yesterday. That’s where the draws become wins. We’re getting there. Build some depth and we’re fucking unbeatable!
hmm we aren’t going to win every game in extravagant style. 3 points is 3 points and against a dirty team like Stoke you just have to take that sometimes – no pleasing some people.
I suspect you’re getting the thumbs down for failing to acknowledge that we out Stoke’d Stoke. Basically doing what United spent the whole of last season doing, not playing particularly well, resorting to set pieces and still bagging the three points. On a scale of losing 8-2 at OT to beating Barca 2-1 it was somewhere in the middle.
And we don’t need dodgy penalties to do it, either.
“How far is ox and poldi…reply;depends where you live really”hahahahahahahaha!lmao!…GO RAMBO,KILL EM ALL AND KEEP MOVING.
I love Ramsey
Me too.
I might love all the lads, but definitely Rambo.
If all the players are fit what would be your best line up. Tried few different combinations and each time not content as someone too good will be on the bench. Best squad we have had in many years. With addition of new striker in January we will have one of the best in Europe. The goalie and back four are straight forward. Ramsey, Ozil and Girroud all must start. That leaves Flamini or Arteta for dm and two out of poldolski, ox, theo, cazorla, jack, rosiky, diaby, Gnabry.
Add Theo on the right, for sure.
Santi on the left – it has to be. I love Poldi, but it’s got to be Santi in the first 11. Poldi has a better chance to displace Giroud than Cazorla.
Let keep our hands crossed and c hw fr we will go,4 nw we are gud let oZiL bring d best in orders and hope D Prof will bring in d likes of Suarez in january
Please speak English
For being absolutely free, flamini is playing brilliantly. He’s all over the pitch working his ass off.
Everybody loves him as far as I know. I certainly do.
Flamini worth 21mil according to Wenger yesterday.
flamini might just be priceless.
1)Ramsey 2)Özil 3)Giroud 4)Gibbs 5)Mert et al…. Like if u understand n agree wit that #Cheers #COYG
Why the hell would you end a perfectly good statement with that there’s an off-chance wenger could leave?
stoke showed no true quality or class and are just a bunch of thugs who shouldn’t really be in the EPL
How about we bring in Lewandowski in Jan?
World class striker and would be lethal with Ozil, Cazorla, Wilshere and of course Rambo!
Anyone know anything about Semi Ajayi? A 19-year-old defender, signed when we’ve let Miquel go out on loan for (I believe) the whole year, could well end up playing or at least on the bench for the first team.
Dunno, last young English defender we got from Charlton worked out so I guess we see something in him.
Good point! 😉
As someone who became a fan after the club started to decline and/or regress (Around 2006, don’t bash me: I wasn’t born a football fan :P) I don’t think I could tell you a point in those past 7/8 years in which the club had this much positive energy floating around it: The fans, the players and the management all seem to be in perfect harmony.
And quiet honestly? I am absolutely loving it. Is is this how Man U fans (used to) feel?
As much as I can appreciate what Gibbs is trying to say, as a fan I would rather he said
“We don’t want to let the FANS down, they’ve put up with 8 barren years, we want to do it for THEM”
Yes, Özil is amazing and yes he has given us ALL a lift. But come on, let’s not put him on a pedestal, he is a vital cog in the machine, but a cog none the less.
Has anyone seen the team photo this year? Who is the massive bloke next to Viviano?
Well… it’s only the greatest that ever lived!…
That would explain why i didn’t recognize him, didn’t realize he was that tall!!
I really think Niklas Bendtner is a force to be rekoned with with Ozil’s set pieces.
I would say he’s up there with our most dangerous ariel threat on the books…. if he hasnt eaten too much Nando’s chips and gained some lead in those boots.