Mesut Ozil says injuries and poor results against smaller sides played a defining role in derailing Arsenal’s title chances.
While the Gunners rallied in the final weeks to pip Sp*rs to second, something the German describes as ‘good for our fans’, he also acknowledged the need to make new signings this summer to be more competitive next season.
Speaking to Sport 360 in Dubai where he was unveiling an Emirates A380 clad with Arsenal player stickers and visiting the club’s regional soccer school, the 25-year-old reflected on Arsenal’s failure to capitalise on the poor form of others.
“I think for us, in the end, it was important to qualify directly for the Champions League which is the second or third place. To be second in the last game of the season and be on top of Tottenham was also good for us and our fans. It was a good finish to the season.
He continued: “I think we dropped a lot of points that we shouldn’t have dropped like against smaller teams and I think that was the point in the season where as a team we weren’t strong enough to take just a point and go ahead.
“Especially after the Barcelona game we lost some points. That was a time when we weren’t good enough to just take points and go.
“It’s a long season and a lot of things must go right in the season. One of the things is players getting injured which is one factor definitely.
“On the other hand, we just have to focus more and with stronger players maybe coming in be competitive for next season and we will see where we end up at the end.”
Ozil, under contract for two more seasons, is expected to secure a bumper pay rise by signing a new deal at the Emirates in the coming months. It’s a contract that could see him stay on past manager Arsene Wenger, whose current deal ends next summer, although he made clear he’s not willing to comment on the boss’ future.
“For me it’s important as a player that I concentrate, play football and that I do my best for the team and myself.
“I’m not telling something about the future of a manager, it’s not my work to tell this for the club, it’s for the club to decide about. It’s not for me to decide.”
Common sense from Ozil. DM, AM and Striker and possibly someone in defence (plus replacements for anyone else that leaves).
Let’s hope we get them and move onwards and upwards.
If we had Arteta, Rosicky contributing much to the season then we would have been several points higher. Hope we can buy younger fitter equivalents plus someone to knock in Ozil’s assists.
Spurs and Leicester will struggle more next season being in the CL. The other usual contenders will be stronger (though they don’t have great squads currently they will have more motivation).
Weren’t Spurs in the Europa, on a Thursday-Sunday/Saturday schedule, travelling even further (a lot more random Ukranian teams in the Europa than in the CL)?
They were, fair point, but I recall them rotating pretty heavily which they can’t do for Champions League
Yes, they did. But even in Dortmund, which was a big game and not that far away, they played their second string. I guess (didn´t check) they did the same at some more ´exotic´ places and therefore rested the first teamers, which they wouldn´t necessarily do in the CL
You’re quite the optimist arent you? You do realize Arsene is still in charge this summer, right?
We have, in the last three seasons, been 4th then 3rd then 2nd, despite not having a great season this season.
Cut out the ‘deadwood’ as mentioned above, buy well (lots of wages have been freed up with Arteta and Tomas going, possibly Flamini too, so we can afford to pay them) and we must have an improved chance.
No guarantees but Victoria Concordia Crescit.
If Walcott leaves, that’s transfer funds plus wages freed up.
OX, Flamini, Arteta, Rosicky, DeBuchy, Ospina…and Theo need to go.
Ospina is really good. Agreed otherwis.
Ospina’s a good understudy. Ox deserves one more season to prove himself.
Even Ozil is saying sign players. The subtle message about the present lot not being good enough, and new players required to get the team stronger, is clear to everyone, but Wenger will as usual bury his head in the sand like he does everyone summer and not sign all the players required to take the club forward.
Personally I’m not too happy with Ozil pointing fingers at squad strength when the team’s stuck by him when he’s been really frustrating. One season of greatness and now considering himself to be a step above most others reminds me of another left-footer from not so long ago
Nah, I disagree. I think he will sign “like a banshee” this offseason 😉 😉 😉
He’s going to have to. If he doesn’t Pep and the rest will get what quality IS available and we’ll be left with an empty, greasy chip bag.
Wenger has tried for the past 2 seasons to get in a clinical striker. He bought Welbeck after failing to get Suarez, Higuain and others. This season Welbeck could have caused real damage had he not been injured, the same could have happened to any striker we bought in. Walcott ultimately let us down and wasn’t trusted up there after a few invisible performances, so we were left with only 2 genuine CFs. Giroud is Giroud, a great option for when you need a target man, and nobody has more headed goals since his arrival to the Premier League. These… Read more »
I would swap that AM on the list to a winger.
We have Ozil, Iwobi, Carzola and Ramsey as AM in the squad next year (although Carzola has established himself as a pivot, he was pretty good at the AM role as well).
A genuine winger (rather than a converted forward or a CM), will offer something different, especially when we struggle to unlock teams that defend deep.
Not saying it has to be Mahrez (wouldn’t hurt) but someone similar. Someone who can contribute goals and assist.
I’m having lasagna for my tea tnite ?
Yeah we dropped points against smaller teams alright lol liverpoo away, manure away, chavski home and away, same with spuds!!!
Yes, smaller teams. Özil is right.
He was saying the difference was made against the smaller teams. Probably because we were expected to win them. But you go on saying the first thing that comes to mind.
Swansea at home, Southampton home and away, West Ham home and away, Sunderland at home, Crystal Palace at home, I dare say United away because they are really poor this season, I dare say Chelsea twice, because being defeated twice by a team that finished above the 10th ranking…, Stoke away, Norwich away, West Brom away. If I count right (without United, and Chelsea), it’s 26 points lost against Swansea, Southampton, West Ham, Sunderland, Crystal Palace, Stoke, Norwich, West Brom…
Well, hes not wrong.
Well said Ozil. Wenger must buy some key players to get fighting for the league. Let’s hope he can secure them ASAP!
COYG!
I think the only player who must be feeling let down by the team this season is Ozil. I must say inspite of that he has carried himself with so much dignity and class unlike rumors about Sanchez that was popping around. I was reading somewhere that there was some dip in form from Ozil during the second half of the season which I felt was entirely wrong because I thought he was continuing to play extremely well but just that there was no one in the team to convert the chances that he was creating, thus not enabling him… Read more »
it’s concerning that players aren’t developing under wenger. ox, theo, chambers, gibbs, jenkinson for example. promising prospects, but really haven’t progressed since being promoted to the first team. bellerin is the exception, but it’s still early. iwobi has shown promise this season, but will he continue to develop or flat line like the rest of them? you can probably throw ramsey and wilshere into that group as well. wilshere has been injured, but when he did have a run of games he really didn’t make an impact (the terrible experiment of having him, ramsey and ozil in midfield…ugh…nightmares). it seems… Read more »
Have you watched any match over the years? Gibbs and Jenkinson have improved massively sinne they were brought in to the first team. Jenkinson looked barely like a league one player in his debut, now PL quality.
Wilshere and Ramsey not developed???? Coquelin????
Really?
wow. tell me how you measure improvement…is there some minutes on the bench = progressing under manager statistic that i’m not aware of. or maybe there’s a losing your spot in the first team = world class status that these players are aiming for?
Just because they’re not World Class doesn’t mean they didn’t improve.
He’s a professor, not a magician.
even a professor should be able to tell me what ox’s best position is. or ramsey’s. or wilshere’s. or theo’s.
if you’re telling me these players were average to begin with i’ll accept that…but that’s not exactly what wenger has been saying over the years.
Of course he knows where there best positions are.
The problem is each player’s position affects the balance of the team. Ramsey is a good example: a great CM/AM with the right people around him. Santi another: when he was injured it affected Coquelin’s performances and others.
No team in the Premier League (except Leicester maybe) had the luxury of fielding their best 11 all in their preferred positions throughout the season.
Actually Mesut we weren’t too bad against the smaller teams. If memory serves we dropped points against the top 7 most of all (jeez that battering by Soton hurt).
I worry that without champions league football, Chelsea under Conte will be a force.
If we sign a striker (Higuain is the only contender I believe can be bought), Granit Xhaka and Raphael Varane.. we’re sorted.
Lukaku should also be acheivable.
Varane feels like a long shot. PSG (he is French), United (if mourinho is there), City ( Guardiola) are surely all over him and offer probably more money. Would love to see him paired with Kos though.
Varane and Kos would be a dream signing, but highly unlikely we’ll ever get him, or Wenger will ever go for him.
At his age, he kinda almost kills Chambers, if not some of our other youngsters.
Sign Greizman for £50 million
The probability is he’ll be going to RM – if not, then Juventus … leaving Morata free to come to us.
Pretty clear that the squad wasn’t competitive or strong enough this season and that the failure to strengthen it last summer must be annoying for the likes of sanchez and ozil. He’s publicly said it a few times now. Go mesut
But who had a better squad? Only one team finished above us, and we beat them both home and away. And our squad was far superior to theirs. Think our problem this year was less about having the depth and quality of players to compete and more about having the mentalilty of champions and the leadership and hunger to pull out a few draws from our losses and hold onto a few leads we let slip to draws. We’re missing probably two true on field generals that can inspire the team to develop the habit of winning, and put doubt… Read more »
This is at least the second – if not third – time he’s publicly stressed the need for strengthening the team over the summer. I wonder if it will come up in his contract renegotiations? Either way, I hope the club gets the message!
One of the few players who have performed during the whole season. Maybe Monreal, Koscielny and Bellerin the others. Chech being pretty good. Which probably tells where the strengthening is needed: midfield and striker. The first choice of Caz/Coq seems good but the team needs an alternative functioning setup. A new striker is a must, no question. Also think Jenkinson can take over from debuchy as the second choice RB , had some good patches for West Ham, so probably no new players needed there and funds can be focused on those critical areas.
Ozil is still 25..? Time must have stood still. Anyways not really looking forward to new signings, cos we are capable of making the best players seem like crap.
Nope, he’s 27. 28 this year. They have a knack of getting player ages wrong.
Get out while you can Mesut ……
Honestly the problem is for Wenger to go…. Its not working with him and I see the referees and match officials dont like him either. So it will be difficult with him. Arsene just doesnt want to resign in shame.
BOOM!!! XHAKA-LAKA!!!
Blogs…. Ozil is 27, not 25.
I didn’t write this one 😉
The fools that said Ozil was going somewhere this summer, that he stormed off the pitch and there was more to that than meets the eye.
😀
The things is, we dropped points against “smaller” teams because they are not that small. This is not La Liga, this is the richest and most competitive league in the world. Stop with the complacency and play at 100% for every match. And by 100% I don’t mean running arrrrrroooouuuunnndd, but keeping focus to hold onto a result, when we have to, rather than conceding cheap goals.
The watford game still hurts