Some worrying news this morning comes from the German national team who have announced that Mesut Ozil, having completed an individual training session, requires a scan on his knee.
The playmaker is set to travel to Munich for an MRI for an as yet unknown issue, but it’s one that will worry Arsene Wenger and Arsenal fans.
If he was carrying a bit of a problem it might go some way to explaining his performance on Sunday against Chelsea when he struggled to get into the game.
With so many players out injured the last thing Arsenal need is a problem with one of their top men, so let’s keep fingers crossed it’s nothing too serious. Ozil, despite his indifferent form, has still created 14 chances this season, more than any other Arsenal player (via Squawka).
Germany are set to face Poland on Saturday before hosting the Republic of Ireland next Tuesday.
Please note: use of the phrase ‘blessing in disguise’ in the comments will result in a sound thrashing.
Give Rosicky another chance!
This seems like a B in D
@ Maorimadman
Your middle name describes you correctly … did you get up from the wrong side of the bed
Moron mad man
What were you just saying rosicky? Let’s spark this team back into life you rock star you.
Despite what people say about him, let him rest up and play only when he is 100%.
Can’t wait to see him in the middle, Walcott on one side, Alexis on the other and Welbeck up front.
More and more teams are just sitting back and soaking up the pressure while playing against Arsenal. Arsenal struggles to break down these sides because our speedy forwards don’t have space to run into and our playmakers can hardly pick out a penetrative pass. Hope Wenger finds a way to deal with it
Alexis to left of me, Walcott to the right, here I am stuck in the middle Ozil… any takers?
In the worst case Santi/Ox can cover the position and Walcott and Alexis can play on the wings. We have got plenty of cover
Dlessing in bisguise!
Prepare to be thrashed, scoundrel!
How do I unvote an accidental thumbs up…screw this fone
The fingers you have used to vote are too fat. To obtain a special voting wand, please mash the screen with your palm now…
No Arseblog, he wont get thrashed. Just because you dont agree with it doesnt mean its wrong. Ozil deserves a lot of time on the sidelines. For some reson, he is off form, he gets knackered by the 60th minute. Cazorla on the other hand have displayed some fine form. We have enough players not to miss Ozil (At least not the current form Ozil) and we might actually find some momentum. Ozil should stay on the sidelines, and when fit he should fight for his place in the team just like every other player. We are not the first… Read more »
It will be a ‘blessing in disguise’ if it will excuse him of international duty and offer him enough rest time for the hull game. So u see, B in D is not entirely a bad thing here except when it is used by a st. totteringham fan.
So aswell as Ozil not having his greatest game, he was crocked..and he still played 90 mins.
Crazy negligence from Wenger.
Or maybe he just picked up the injury in the game? Still, bravo for twisting it into a Wenger-bashing opportunity…
“Please note: use of the phrase ‘blessing in disguise’ in the comments will result in a sound thrashing.”
Thinking they’d use “in disguise” is overly optimistic on your part, Blogs.
Am I bovvered tho? Yeah. If only for Wenger’s mental health at another injury.
£42 million and he gets bloody injured!!! What a joke Wenger…
we should have bought one of them cheaper non injury players.
Yes, it’s obviously Wenger’s fault he got injured. And it’s also obviously the fault of that 42M pounds.
Thanks Obama. Thanks for the Ozil injury.
I hope it’s not serious nor long-term, whatever it is, if it’s anything at all. Maybe it’s a UFO?
If it is then Cazorla finally in the middle again, please.
Hopefully this is only minor and he is used sparingly for Germany. Then he will return fit and raring to go for our “easy” run of fixtures!
This is a blessing in disguise…I mean…oh wait…
Shame. He’s a good player, but like Ramsey, he isn’t in his best form right now. Some time of pitch might do him good (though I’d rather see him put in some solid performances for Germany during Interlull and come back to us with raised self esteem after some not-critic news articles).
He could disappear to the fortress of solitude for 2 months and people would still be trashing him. It’s sad. We’re about to lose another top player to injury and folks are taking the opportunity slag him.
I for one hope its minor…with all this Bayern Rumours going around its the last thing we all needed…
Wenger’s own doing, playing him “flat out” for 90 on sunday was a ridiculous decision
Imagine being a footballer and having to to play 90 minutes while doing your job. Not sure how my bosses would feel if I stopped working 30 minutes before finishing because I was getting tired…
I’m thinking what’s best for the team. You can get a good 60 out of Ozil. Why not remove him when he begins to fade?
It’s his job right, but you remove someone who isn’t doing their job correctly. Wenger’s fault again for not having a personal fitness plan for someone who can’t complete 90 mins properly.
You’re not a footballer you fucking moron! Stop comparing Apples and Pears.
Well that’s not very nice.
And you were?
@Subhankar: that was creative of you. Really got m ribs “injured”.
Dlessing in bisguise.
*runs*
*Straight into Subhankar who had already posted this “joke” 5 minutes ago*. Do keep up.
give it a rest and just quit.
……. no.
Heh, I did not see that i̶n̶c̶i̶d̶e̶n̶t̶ comment!
Does it ever end?
The better question is: How does Colin Lewin keep his job?
Maybe through common sense? Perhaps people with half a brain cell can recognise that Gary Lewin is actually not allowed to literally wrap players in cotton wool?
Neither are other club’s physios. Yet this happens to our players over and over and over again. If any of us had a comparable record with regard to an analogous responsibility at our job, we’d have been fired long ago.
If it were an issue with his conditioning, yes, it could in part be attributed to Lewin. Do you know that it is? Please share your secret knowledge with the rest of us if you do. To me it sounds like he may have just got an injury in Sunday’s game and is getting it checked out but, yeah, let’s find a scapegoat and demand sackings now, not knee-jerk at all.
You’re kidding right? Have you just started watching Arsenal? This is not just about Özil. Perhaps the clue should have been the original comment I responded to. This had been going on for five or six seasons. Pulls, strains, tears—and injuries that are one-to-two weeks become one-to-two months. We have lost more players for longer periods than every other club in the Prem for more than a half decade.
At some point, it’s no longer bad luck. Again, if any of us were in charge of something that went so consistently wrong, we’d lose our job.
Well that’s it then, Arsenal can call off the analysis and root and branch reviews, it’s in fact all very clear. Some halfwit who hasn’t a clue about what actually happens inside the club has deemed it all to be the fault of Colin Lewin so we must sack him for it has to all be his fault. Thereafter Arsenal will no longer suffer lots of injuries and we’ll all wonder why we didn’t listen to you… In reality all we know is that there is an issue but you haven’t any more clue who’s fault it is than anyone… Read more »
Let me try another approach: “Hello, Mrs. Lewin. Welcome to the Arseblog comment section.” Seriously, it’s not knee-jerk, it’s been five or six or maybe more seasons. Go read the comments in the more recent thread. Half of them are of the “How the hell does this keep happening to us” variety. It’s been so constant we’re now expecting it. And yes if I were ultimately responsible for something that performed so poorly for five-plus years without things getting better where I work (implying I was incapable of figuring out and addressing the problem), then I’d get fired and I… Read more »
Just admit it, you don’t have a scooby about the real causes, you just can’t cope with grey. You pile on here with your definite conclusions based on a very small picture of what actually goes on at the club and you’re expecting people to take you credibly? It’s exactly your sort of knee-jerk ‘fans’ that make our supporters a laughing stock. 9 years ago we played 9 different left-backs in one season due to massive injuries and it was a completely different set of medical staff at the club. There are obviously issues now and what I’m categorically not… Read more »
Look, I’ll happily go back and forth with you endlessly on this but at least try to come back with something more substantive than I’m being ‘knee-jerk’. I’ve stated clearly and explicitly multiple times that this is a reaction to what has been taking place over multiple seasons. And as for not knowing the details of the inner workings of the club medical staff, where did I ever claim I did? That doesn’t mean that you can’t call into question those who are responsible for the care of the players. Look at the results. And this isn’t just about getting… Read more »
The context of my original reply was that, on the basis of an article about a reported and unestablished injury to Ozil (at that point), you bluntly stated that Lewin should be sacked. There was no obvious connection to Lewin at that point and yet you flew off the handle to call for sackings based on a report that something might or might not have happened to Ozil. That is knee-jerk in every sense of the word. You can try and rationalise your first comment now if you like but it remains knee-jerk and ill-informed. You seem to view human… Read more »
The manager would have a problem fitting in the players when all are back, fit. Oxlade-Chamberlain and Cazorla cannot just be forgotten in the scheme of things. I would prefer the Ox to Theo, perhaps until the latter is fully fit and scoring.
Good opportunity to give him a bit of a rest either way….but fingers crossed this isn’t serious. Plenty of winnable games after the lull that other players can fill in for. Will need him fully fit for xmas
Well at least the ox may get a run in the team.
Positive from a negative.
While it’s a loss to the team, it maybe good for him in the sense it gets him put of the glare. A bandwagon has formed around him, assuming we get a good run of form he may come back into a winning team having had a rest which most players coming back for the world cup haven’t had.
This is an aprobation incognito…
It is getting ridiculous now. I don’t thing Wenger knew about it. If he did, then his decision to keep ozil on is even mor baffling.
We do NOT need more injuries especially not on key players.. Haters will always argue that Özil is mediocre, that he is lazy and that he looks uninterested. These are the type of fans that have grown up with fifa.. Everyone got different attributes. No one got the same precision in the passing (in our team) like Özil. He always finds the key-passes that no one else in this league can. Haters can argue how much they want, when he does the key passes he is world class. Wenger should naturally want to build his team around him as he… Read more »
Time to dream: Khedira, Cavani, Carvalho (who can learn from Khedira, but definitely has the attributes) and Hummels
It doesn’t matter: we’ll not win anything either way! We wouldn’t win anything if we signed Messi!
Is it hard to type with tears all over your keyboard? Cheer up sook.
Did we have Messi last year? because I remember winning something which made every journalist and pundit have to find something else to beat the club with.
this really sucks. i hope its not serious. we need ozil to become a beast.
Am i the only person who thinks this is one injury that is not bad news.We may start with 11 players again
In other words, a blessing? In dis guys?
Disguised blessings
Hope he’s ok, I think the best is still to come from Özil
come on guys, have we lost so much faith in Wenger that we think he could play Ozil for 90 minutes knowing fully well he had a knee problem? Wenger has his faults, too many to mention but i’m not sure he would deliberately play someone for 90 minutes knowing that player is injured. and all this talk about playing Ozil in the number 10, sure that is his preferred position but any player who is quick and skillful can play on the wings. the only reason many of them don’t like playing on the wings its because they don’t… Read more »
100% don’t agree with that comment, just because someone is quick and skillful doesn’t mean they can play on the wings just as well as in the middle. Playing on the wing you have a considerably reduced radius in which you can pass or turn. When Ozil picks up the ball I want him to be able to go left, right, forward or back but when on the wing obviously you can’t. You view the game from a completely different perspective, I much prefer when Ozil is no10 and then drifts out wide, creates space in the middle for the… Read more »
I have to agree with that. I don’t think the likes of Xavi make great wingers. They’re so dependent on being a “passing hub” of sorts.
And yes, I know, Xavi is a Barcelona player and as such he’s a this and that and so on and so forth. Lots of cursing ensues. The point is, he’s been a brilliant playmaker for almost 15 years and I honestly think he’d suck as a winger. I just don’t think he has the right qualities, and neither does Ozil.
Ozil’s problem on the wing isn’t necessarily influencing the game, i have seen him have great and bad games playing both centrally and on the wings. however, when he plays in the number 10 we tend to ignore his lack of defensive qualities but we can all see it when he plays on the wing. i understand that he isn’t as good at tracking back as Walcott or Sanchez but he should at least try, thats my only problem with him as he doesnt always lose the ball.
That’s true as well it points out his defensive deficiencies when played out wide. Although I also agree that every player should put effort in and defend, I don’t really want to see Ozil back in his defensive third trying to stop an attack, I’d rather we had a beastly DM who can do this job and then pass the ball nicely along to Ozil who will no doubt be in space and can then assist our lovely trio of Alexis Walcott/OX & Welbz!
Ozil is a gem if played in the hole. He is second to none. Its Wenger’s, not Ozil’s fault for his form.
Yes it’s clearly Wenger’s fault that Ozil runs the ball into touch and refuses to stand up to the might of Fabregas in a 50-50 shoulder-to-shoulder battle.
He’s one of the best players in the world, and you want him fit. I just can’t understand how anyone could think otherwise. However, one mitigating factor is that there are loads of options in that area of the field. If this was Kos or Mert, then I’d be thinking seriously about soiling myself.
We are cursed..there’s no other explanation.
Diaby returned to fitness – all our other players get injured one by one
Sold Park Chu Young – we struggle to score goals
Sold Djourou permanently – our solid defense now have more holes than swiss cheese
He is just going for scan – could be nothing worse than a bit of bruising.
This could be a blessing…. for our opposition.
It is indeed a blessing on disguise for Özil though. Poor guy needs some serious introspection. A short break from the spotlight should help him I think.
As if only cheaper players are supposed to get hurt? Dumb. Fact is its just another notch in our far too long injury list. Mind boggling to look at our injury record no matter the physio team.
So.. how about voodoo or something? Maybe we should start praying to some ancient Aztec god? Sacrificing a goat perhaps? Wrapping our players in bubble wrap? Playing football in plate armor? With swords and shields?
I’m open to suggestions here, because we won’t even have a team left soon.
Maybe we can sacrifice Sanogo?
The only blessing I see in this is if it forces him out of Germany’s games as a precaution thus giving him a good rest up ready to come back in for the Hull game and play himself into some form.
For all the people saying they can’t wait for Theo on one side and Sanchez on the other. Never going to happen. Wenger hasn’t played with 2 proper wide men since 1963. Also pace doesn’t matter because we tip tap around and the opposition can sit so deep it wouldn’t matter if we had usain bolt.
We need to be the ones sitting deep and breaking but we don’t so who cares about pace.
i cant understand why wenger doesnt see this. what does pace count for when the other team are in their box? do you want to run out of the stadium?
Just sit back a bit and let them come then use your pace. if we dont adopt this method, we’ll keep passing around at the edge of the box without an end product.
Can we restart the season- please!?
Please.
If he is out for a month even (hopefully not) whether we play well or not it is bad news.
We beat average teams; great points on the board but when Ozil comes back the critics will continue
We drop points against average teams; ah the season is fuct.
This post has nothing to do with Ozil’s apparent injury.
Just wanted to share this hilarious thread from the United forum – http://www.redcafe.net/threads/gifs-that-sum-up-footballers.397343/
Fingers crossed its nothing serious. He has obvious quality, just lacks consistency. You dont get that from being injured
he is not one of our ‘top men’. least not currently
When it comes to Ozil we are starting to sound more and more like chelski sounded about Torres…
Sure on their day they’re world class, but it’s so very rarely their day.
The sort of player who can win you a game, but you know, just don’t bet on it.
Ozil is by no means a useless player, but come on he isn’t worth the price we paid, and he’s not worth building a team around.
He’s Supporting cast material, but not centre piece.
bah i’m pretty sure its bingeing slid issues.
what with the goals and assists.
Meh, I don’t know what’s up with him. He was playing like a legend, group stages of the world cup qualifiers he was Germany’s top scorer. He was the boss. I’m not saying he’s playing bad or anything. He’s been excellent for us this season, but clearly hasn’t been the best number 10 in the world. I remember the 2010 world cup, I was like meh. Mesut Ozil, he’s most likely so overrated. I was supporting Germany, and I was blown away at how he played. He was the number 1 on the pitch in every match. Just complete domination.… Read more »
Form is temporary…
Hate all you want, this one, unlike Giroud, IS blessing in disguise ^_^
For those who haven’t seen it, Ozil’s performance last season situated in context:
http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/news/news/2014-15/oct/opta-blog-on-true-pass-masters.html
It’s probably a case of left/rightwingitus.
Cure is a few months playing down the middle.