It was Mesut Ozil’s fourth anniversary as a Gooner yesterday and the midfielder used the occasion to take a swipe at his detractors in the media.
The Germany international, who is out of contract at the end of the season, has endured criticism about the consistency of his performances throughout his time at the Emirates with some of the most pointed comments coming from former Arsenal players working in the media. The likes of Thierry Henry and Martin Keown were particularly scathing about the 28-year-old following the 4-0 defeat at Anfield last weekend.
In a statement presumably prepared with the help of his PR people, the World Cup issued a rallying cry to those with Arsenal connections calling on them to support the team despite their poor start to the new Premier League season.
Here’s what he had to say on Facebook and Instagram:
It’s September 2nd, 2017. I’m with the German National team right now, and yesterday we took a big step towards the World Cup in Russia after beating Czech Republic 2-1. During the last couple of days my DFB teammates have been asking me about how everything is at Arsenal at the moment. They claimed to have read about the current crisis through the media, as pundits and former players are commenting on a daily basis. They say that this could be the worst team in years, even decades.
I’m writing this text together with people that are close to me, and we’ve got something to celebrate. Although no match was won, or trophy was lifted today, Arsenal and I are celebrating our anniversary! Four years ago I was transferred in a last minute deal from Real Madrid to Arsenal – Arsène Wenger convinced me. He told me about the great history of this club, about its living legends such as Bergkamp, Vieira and Pirès, who owe a large part of their success to the manager. Arsène told me how he would help me to develop as a player, and this is something every player wants to hear, as it is great encouragement.
Although I initially struggled when coming to the Premier League, I accepted the challenge. I started as a left-winger at the beginning, and in all honestly, I am not a great admirer of that position for myself – I’m better as a ‘number 10’. When playing in the centre I can control the game and generate chances. The Premier League is physically much more demanding then La Liga or the Bundesliga. 1-1 draws are much tougher, and the smaller clubs also have very strong teams that can easily catch you out. Furthermore, there is no winter break, meaning the season is extremely long and exhausting, especially when you are playing at European and National Team level too.
We have achieved a lot in our four years together. Three of the 13 FA Cup victories have been accomplished in the past four years, with the other ten taking 75 years for the club to win. This is in addition to our three Community Shield wins. After all, six titles in four years is quite something. However, this only makes myself and the team even more disappointed for not playing a role in the title race at the end of last season – this is something we hope to change this year.
Personally I’ve had to accept a lot of criticism during my time in London. ‘Too expensive, too greedy, bad body language, and lacking fight’ – this is what people have said about me. Some of these comments are made by those who do not know me, some are made by former players – both successful and unsuccessful during their time here at the club. Although criticism is something that all football players have to deal with, I nevertheless expected legends to behave like legends – my advice to these former Gunners: stop talking and start supporting!
I would like to thank all the Gooners that have always supported me and believed in me. When I leave the Emirates after a game, I see the fans standing along the street cheering. When I’ve played well, I hear you sing my song, and this makes me incredibly proud, giving me goosebumps every time. I have been privileged enough to have met both Brendan and Charlie. They support the club despite their illness, and their strength and positive messages constantly motivate me. Moreover, I’m thankful for all the other personal relationships I’ve made over the past four years.
Even though I personally do not know how my career will continue after this year, I look forward to my fifth season with Arsenal. This is because Arsenal is a great club with great people and great traditions. I am glad to be able to wear your shirt, Gooners. I’ve had so many great moments in the last four years and I really appreciate what this club means to the people of London, the UK and all over the world.
__
Hopefully, in six days time, we’ll see this level of combativeness from Ozil on the pitch against Bournemouth. We certainly need some spike if we’re going to get ourselves out of the current mess.
Sounds awfully like a goodbye letter and preparing the terrain for exit with as little fallout as possible to me.
Stop taking and start supporting!
Because anyone who raises concerns over our disjointed run club is not a supporter?
Yeah the real “supporters” on the other hand made sure Wenger and board have enough support to give us another typical fascinating season. Cheers to “the real supporters” and fuck the rest of us who talk…
@Thaigoon We are all supporters, regardless of our differing opinions. blaming another set of fans because the club makes cock-up after cock-up is a waste of time. The club listens to the Wenger ins and much as they listen to the Wenger outs. focus your ire at the club, specifically the board and the owner – both of which (should) have more power at the club than Wenger. Regardless of your opinion of the clubs workings, we all want the same thing, Arsenal to be successful, so the sooner we stop blaming each other, and blame those that can actually… Read more »
There’s a difference between criticism towards the board and vitriol towards the players.
Why not, if the players cash big amounts of money and do not care on the pitch like against Liverpool ? This is part of the nature of their profession. Politicians do not get tenth of their salaries and get ten times more vitriol.
Why not? Because it has a negative impact on their performance. During the 90 minutes if you’re in the stadium get behind the team or don’t come. Last season when the fans chanted “you’re not fit to wear the shirt” I think the players deserved it. I didn’t like how bellerin unfortunately got singled out but what the team got at that moment they deserved it. Right now we need to try and put the shambolic 4-0 loss to liverpool behind us and get behind the team because that’s the only chance of our team being successful. We need to… Read more »
Look at real madrid ffs. They criticize their stars and look at them knee deep in shit. We are so lucky we can shut up and enjoy this well run club ?
Criticize but don’t be so critical.
Can you question Ozil and still be a good supporter? The guy refused to sign and is saying he is proud of trophies. I believe in Koscielny and Giroud when they talked like this. Before we even heard about negociations with them, they have already signed. People like Henry and Ian Wright are not paid as Arsenal fans but analyse games and teams. This is only PR from Ozil nothing more.
BS they signed extensions with basically no wage increases. Why does he have to sign a contract?
He better stop talking and start performing then!
Taking what?
The piss, the Micky, the Cayman, the palaca! ? let’s all just get along…. COYG ( it takes ballz to be an Arsenal fan these days!)
Why cant we stop the pessimism for once. And look at it from a positive angle that this guy so much love this club and he is willing to stay if we can change our negative atitude and some unnecessary criticism toward this club during bad run of games. If Chelshit fans were so critical of their team last year at the beginning of last season, I doubt if they would have won the league last season.
He has so much faith in Wenger and love for the club, he doesn’t even want to sign a contract that increases his salary massively. So many people can’t make a difference between PR and reality.
It doesn’t matter his motivations are about his contract situation. If he wants to play it out let him. If Arsenal wanted to transfer him out they should have. Its not his fault that Arsenal let it get to this point. They should have offered what they are offering now last summer window and it would have been over with. In your eyes they already make a massive amount so any increase is massive already. Your criticism is just petty.
Absolutely spot on.
It’s very telling that Ozil left Henry out of the “legends” list and he also pointed out all these legends owe a ‘large part of their success to the manager’. I think Henry has been terrible as a pundit and all he has done is shame the club alongside mugs like Carragher and Souness. I watched Henry interview Lacazette and Titi was being a bit of a dick to Laca. You watch his other interviews with Harry Kane, Ibrahimovic and Diego Costa, he has nothing but praise for them. It’s not nice to see proper legends like Henry ridicule the… Read more »
Agreed. Henry is a bit of a prick, probably always was from the period of the Invincible onward but back then he was a goal machine and asset to the club. Now? He chose cash over his “love if the club” and he’ll burn any bridges he needs to in order to satisfy his Sky contract. A pity, but it’$ hi$ choice i$n’t it.
@ramgooner @beNZed Are you pair trolling? So what if henry left for the money, he’d given the best of his career to Arsenal, and he had 1 last good contract in his career… but most of all remember… WE SOLD HIM. So I don’t blame him. And as for him taking pot shots at the club, utter crap, he has said nothing different from what fans have been saying for years, Ian Wright included. Yes it hurts to see a legend say dissapointing things about the club, but to be frank, it’s 100 times worse when its true. Him saying… Read more »
We sold Henry because his sulking became more trouble than its worth. Remember, or did you choose to forget?
I didn’t find it TOO telling that he left out Henry. He pointed out midfielders which is what Özil is, Henry was an attacker at his best, even when he came in from the left.
Henry is like a mentor for Lacazette and I did watch the interview and know you are not telling the truth. Henry never asked for Wenger to be sacked like Ian Wright and others. Ozil, Arsenal legend and Henry is not, you make me laugh. Tony Blair is more of a heroe than Churchill, right ?
So a guy who offered to coach for the club without pay is a prick.
this is the most defending Ozil has done in 4 years!
Seriously, sign a contract or bugger off. Writing little letters like this makes you look weak mentally. Imagine Vieira or Keane whining like this back in the day…
Yes I do if they had the platform back in the day.
I like this from Ozil! Good, get angry, you should be. Hopefully this translates to the rest of the squad and they get their shit together for Bournemouth.
Agreed. But his words might mean a bit more if he showed the slightest interest in staying with us.
@midgunner, I suggest you read what M.O said above again. You seem to have the wrong emd of the stick..
I have and I like what he says. Signing a new contract would speak louder for me though.
He is technically brilliant but it would be nice if he showed a bit of that fighting spirit on the pitch. Talk is cheap.
He shows it if you watch. Just nobody gives him credit when he does, and going by comments many only seem to see about 25% of his game.
I and am sure many other of his critics see a lot more than 25% of his game and don’t judge players based on what pundits say. When we don’t have the ball he usually just jogs around looking uninterested. When he loses the ball he doesn’t make too much of an effort to get back and he pulls out of challenges and tries to avoid headers when there there is an opposition player anywhere in sight.
Why are my non-offensive comments moderated when there are offensive comments below that are let be?
I guess you have a Ozil cam where you watch him and only him during the games.
I do. And it’s far better than ‘Arry’s ‘run around a bit cam’.
Özil is just unlucky that he was the first high profile purchase for Arsenal after years of self imposed financial restrictions. The high purchase value meant that people expected the sun, the moon & Jupiter from him. He is an excellent creator of chances, a good team player. His body language makes him a lightning rod for all of the team’s failures.
Someday, we will look back at having him in our midst with a smile on our faces.
It’s funny people who like Ozil say how great he is technically and going forward. People who don’t like him say how rubbish he is a liability when we don’t have the ball and lack of fighting spirit. There seems to be a lack of acknowledgement that both sides are correct.
This comment is spot on. Football’s not about good or bad players, there is a vast array of individual physical and mental skills necessary to becoming a footballer. The trouble with Ozil is that if you had to say how good he was at these individual skills, he’d always be at one extreme or the other. As BromleyGooner points out, he is a player of great strengths and great flaws. Managers will often speak about ‘building a team around’ certain players. Ozil is one of those players who needs a team built around him. In a team that makes up… Read more »
I watched the Germany match, and Ozil was just brilliant, as far as I could tell on television. Keeping the ball with defenders chasing him until he could make a telling pass; regularly creating chances and half-chances. I think he made one bad pass. It was an interception that led to a counter that might have been dangerous–but Ozil chased it down and looked like Coquelin breaking it up. Really.
A world-class player, who desperately wants to win. Sometimes plays poorly. Sometimes looks frustrated. Isn’t sure about a contract. Phil Neville thinks he’s shit. Phil Neville is a moron.
I’ve always thought he had a touch of Churchill about him and this confirms it.
Subtext reads “I’m available to speak to any interested parties from 1st January”
Subtext of your comment reads “I’m a shallow bell end”.
Bell end? Shallow? The only shallow thing I see is the end of the gene pool you’re swimming in. All I see in his statement is deflection and guff. let’s see at the end of the season.
He’s probably right anyway. I won’t be surprised if ozil leaves on a free next year, and that’s not good for the club.
Who are the people liking this comment? It is an irrelevant insult at someone who made a controversial although not ridicuolous comment.
It’s also against the comments policy on this site.
Sign on a new contract and go on to become a legend yourself! He has what it takes.
It’s a letter full of self-pity. No word that maybe he is responsible for the critic he gets. Bad journalists, bad ex players, bad fans. Bad Arsene for playing him in the wrong position. Everybody is responsible for this mess but him. Typical Özil. Would have loved to see him go this summer and I’m glad that this definitely sounds like he will be off next summer.
Bad fans? Where?
“Personally I’ve had to accept a lot of criticism during my time in London. ‘Too expensive, too greedy, bad body language, and lacking fight’ – this is what people have said about me”
pros: nice passer, great when we have the ball, good eyes
cons: can’t defend if his life depends on it, mentally fragile, folds like a house of cards when the pressure’s on
Conclusion: not the player you build a squad around.
I still wish we had Cesc in that role.
after the last match:
“Blame us, shout at us, criticize us, but I’m also very disappointed about today’s game ?.”
He’s not blaming anyone else there.
Typical Ozil? When did you last read or hear what you percieved to be “self pity” coming from him? Or are you refering to his body language etc, which he had every right to bring up in his post… case in point… Can’t win… show a bit of bite, snap back at being singled out time and again, and its self pity… We needed someone to come out and say something…. anything…. I think the vast majority of fans appreciate it, and take it as a positive. I also find it strange that blogs mentions in the blog that he… Read more »
Despite all of the flak he gets and some below par performances I like mesut. He seems like a genuine decent bloke and when he is in form he’s a joy to watch. Problem is there hasn’t been enough of those performances. My message in reply to mesut – you are entitled to your opinion and I want to see the strength of your words translated to a dangling pair of testicles grown on the pitch. I’m always behind the team but have a right to express my displeasure if you don’t show up. And I will continue to think… Read more »
If he stays or leaves it doesn’t matter. He’s great regardless. Arsenal isn’t about one player its about the team.
Fans like yourself just don’t understand how brilliant he is.
Well he has a point.
And that point is what exactly?
The point is that the journalists are talking rubbish. It’s their fault arsenal are crap, it’s not arsenal’s cheapness that makes the journalists say they are crap, it’s the journalists saying arsenal are crap that makes them crap.
Also counting charity shields as trophies. ROFL
I would not count the Charity Shield either, but it’s not weird for a European player to count the nation’s supercup as a trophy; it’s always included in the list of how many trophies Barca or Madrid have won in a given year.
The big boys are mean to him
The big boys had their time and then it ended. If all they can do is sit on their fat passed it arses and have a go whilst collecting mega media salaries from people like Murdoch then that is pretty lame.
The big boys are the big boys because they responded to critics on the pitch and by committing their future to the club. So they now have every right to criticize things at the club when they think they should.
I have no time for moaners and people who revel in negativity because it achieves nothing. Some of the big boys of yesterday do themselves no favours when opening their mouths.
You have no time for men who tell it how it is, you prefer supine boys who do as their told.
Some people just call a spade a spade, and because you’re too weak to take criticism you attack the person not the argument.
We’ve got Özil!
We need Per to kick some arse with his big boots!
Obviously this was written with the help of PR people & is easy to be cynical about but on the other hand it could be exactly what we needed.
Regardless of how cynical you have to admit it wouldn’t have e come out of the ozil camp without ozil
It’s good to see Özil show some fight. He’s not lacked effort so far this season but he can only be judged by his chances created and unless they are finished then Özil is an easy target.
Having said that, I would rather he sign a new contract with Arsenal as a rallying cry.
Yeah, he would have deserved to have 1 assist by now. Has 1.18 in xA for the 3 games and that’s good numbers considering how totally shit the Liverpool game was from our team. 0.26 xG is too low tho, he should be a goal threat too. Has all the skills for it.
What do these letters mean?
Not sure why people are down voting instead of answering?
I tried googling but still don’t know what xa xg means.
Expected assists and expected goals
“6 titles in 4 years!”. You poor deluded fellow, it’s clear you are suffering from a terminal dose of the Arsenals.
Easy as JVC …2 words
Yesn it was so much more fantastic with Cech Fab! No title at all: it was lots easier to count?
Ozil is a jewel for Arsenal Football Club. The moment he leaves then we will know how much of a world class player he is. Ok he is not the type of player who tracks back but is that the work of a no. 10? Pogba last season struggled when given the same duties but look at him this season with Matic behind him. Why didnt Wenger go for Matic? The problem is not Ozil but Wenger and DM position which to be honest is very light.
Your point about Ozil is correct but you can’t just say “Why didn’t we go for Matic?” This aint Football Manager! Actually even FM wouldve said the same thing “Matic has no interest in joining”. Matic wanted Mourinho and therefore Manure. End of story. Citeh or even perhaps Bayern/RM/Barce wouldn’t have had a chance because he had eyes for only one cock!
It didnt have to be Matic.
N’Zonzi wanted to leave and could have had if we were just willing to spend.
If Ozil had that cover he would flourish even better. He never had that at Arsenal in his four years.
N’Zonzi, that decent bloke that played for Blackburn and Stoke RC?
Even tho it’s with help from PR guys he does show that he cares a lot. But it’s weird that he opens up about german national team players asking him about the crisis at Arsenal without saying anything else about what he thinks himself about our crisis. Does he agree with the teammates at Germany? Or does he think they’re totally in the wrong and Arsenal will do very well this season?
He’s a very good player and I have no problems with his style, but there is one concrete action he could have taken months ago to mitigate this crisis somewhat – sign a new contract. It would have simultaneously shown his faith in the manager he claims to respect, as well as faith in the future of the club after the manager. Rather than take that action, he (or his reportedly extremely well-paid PR team) has cottoned on to what the higher management have long understood – a nicely phrased speech can buy you a disproportionate bit of patience from… Read more »
Short term memory? He didn’t sign because Wenger spent most of last season saying he knows what he’s going to do but he’s not telling us yet, dithering and saying my dithering should not affect our season and then coming out at the end of the season and actually saying it was his contract situation that affected the club’s league performances… who would want to sign a contract with that shit going on. And even now, why would he sign a new deal when we have not strengthened in key areas yet again?
Ozil’ just a class apart. The way he gets scapegoated and slated every time the team as a whole doesn’t perform well is just beyond me. He is not that sort player who would track back and put in tackles. That’s not what he is here for. Put in a central mid who would bully players behind him and then you would start realising how good he actually is. And except for Ian Wright every other so called legend has behind our backs and slated us on TV for money. I don’t see the Legends from other teams doing it… Read more »
Lol. What right have they got to slate us? Maybe they give a fuck what happens to Arsenal.
Are you kidding me? What is with the selective memory of some fans? Henry left because Wenger did what he did last year.. he did not announce his contract decision until it was to late. Henry did not want to stay when the managers situation was up in the air.
I’m sorry, but I see this as just words.
His PR people told him to release a statement to get the fans on side, given that he wanted to leave this summer and isn’t signing a new contract.
Don’t get me wrong – I’ve always been a fan of Ozil. But I wouldn’t be too charmed by this statement, he still wants to leave us. He just wants us to love him too!
Best player by coach try mile against Stoke and Gerrard and sadly Keown slaughtered him and many a cunt buys into it. Created more chances than any other premiership player in last two seasons.
Country mile
No one doubts his qualities going forward but surely there must be a reason for the lack of clubs coming for him this summer unlike Ox and Sanchez
He has a classy agent and doesn’t see the need for tacky transfer rumours. I honestly believe he wants to stay and win with us, but the manager needs to prove that we’re serious. Creating chances for Welbeck and Walcott to trip over can’t be fun, and it would be really helpful if we had some midfield support around him. He worked well with Oli and should do with Laca, so I wish we could just send out a balanced side where he can do his thing and beat the assists record and get the credit he deserves.
Hear! Hear!
Tacky rumours?? Liverpool and Chelsea both made very serious bids for The Ox. And City, PSG and Bayern were very interested in signing Alexis. These were not rumours they were serious interest and actual bids. He is great at creating chances, no one doubts that. He should be getting more assists, no one doubts that either. The reality is in modern football you can’t get away with a player (possibly except strikers) who won’t do their defensive work and that’s why teams aren’t trying to sign him. It’s not because they don’t appreciate what he brings to a team going… Read more »
You mean players like Eden hazard. Pires was similar too.
Hazard does not pull out of tackles and headers and can defend the ball very well under heavy pressure.
Also offensively he can either pick a pass or rip up a defense on his own. In a tough game where you are not going to have the ball you could stick him up front and he can break the opposition with his pace, not having to neccessarily rely on runners to pick out.
Because we were shit against Stoke and lost. He can try or not try all he wants. We need to see the results.
I completely agree. But… why not improve your body language so you look like you care a bit more? It’s not hard, look angry instead of forlorn and maybe a bit of fist pumping now and then. Job done.
Yeah be more like Joey Barton!
No. Just look determined rather than fed up.
Throw your gloves, laugh when you team lose, leave the training! Yes, he can do plenty of things to get hailed.
He is spot on, Arsenal have achieved more in d last 4 years dan Liverpool, City and Spurs. Things are not perfect but it isn’t as bad as it has been presented by the pundits. Liverpool failed to strengthen d defence and d spine of d team but dey dint get mentioned. They needed to strengthen dat as much as Arsenal. They had a similar transfer market to Arsenal. I would have loved to sign a DM but dis market hasn’t been as bad as it has been made to be. Coq and Elneny can do the job. Wenger just… Read more »
In addition,wen dey retire, it’s all bout how many trophies u won not how many challenges
They
You
Or d club needs to get d right manager, d right owner and d right fucking attitude.
We don’t have the right set of players either behind him, or in front of him to get the best out of him.
We’ve had plenty of opportunities to do so, but have had a our lack of ambition and drive to get things done.
Don’t blame him, or any other player for wanting out.
All very nice, but it’s just words. The facts are a different thing. Had he and all the rest performed ppl wouldn’t be criticizing them, simple as
Oh, no, this is not as simple as that and you can’t ignore it.
http://arsenalist.com/f/2017-18/liverpool-vs-arsenal/horrible-giveaway-by-arsenal-leads-to-another-chance.html
As a kid, I loved the likes of Adams, Keown, Dixon, Smith, Merson, Wright and would not hear a bad word said about any of them. As an adult, I find them embarrassing, with very little of interest or intelligence to say. They use their connection to the club essentially for their own financial self interest, and seem willing to pile on and spout the latest media criticism of club for whoever will pay them. Unfortunately I’m starting to put Henry in this group as well.
I broadly agree but take umbrage with your inclusion of Dixon. I believe he provides digestible and erudite tactical analysis.
Merson on the other hand can swivel. Cracking player, unintelligible punditry.
I agree wholeheartedly. I would point out, however, that Ian Wright pretty much says what the rest of us are thinking. He’s not doing it to further his own cause, from what I can tell. You just need to listen to his interview with Andrew to see he loves the club. Martin Keown just seems to listen to whatever is said around him and agree with it. He also changes his mind about something about 5 times a game, based on what just happened. Merson is bitter about being tossed aside by Arsene Wenger, and Tony Adams seems like he… Read more »
I would agree that Dixon is not a dimwit in the class of Merson or Adams, but I don’t find his punditry very useful. It’s mostly just a lot of references to ‘in my day …’.
Great message Ozil! Every Arsenal fan should gather round the team and manager in this time of crisis! A lot of people who became such passionate fans of Arsenal did so because of what Arsene has done! For the past 7 years these toxic fans starting with some high profile people with a loud platform and slowly spreading to people like Robbie and all the other parasites who thrived on the hard work over 20 years have consistently put down, insult and poisoned the support base and demoralize the team, till finally we are not even in the top 5!… Read more »
Years ago yes we played good football. Can you really say that now???
Pass the sick bucket, thought we’d got over this sycophantic arsene knows best bull crap!
So let’s see the banners out with the same message to the players and especially the board “stop talking and start performing”
Opta stats shows that Ozil is one of top runners in terms of distance covered in epl,
He played every game in 2014 world and won the WC with Germany none of his critics managed to do that.
I look at the statistics, and Ozil looks great. I watch him on the pitch and he plays brilliantly. But none of that matters, because his shoulders slump and he does not have the right body language. If only his friend Mathieu Flamini could teach him to point and shout, the pundits would see that yes, being the fulcrum around which a World Cup-winning team is built probably means you are not that bad.
Shame everybody doesn’t have the same attitude
Hopefully the recent thrashing will give them all a kick up the arse
Good stuff from Özil in my opinion. For someone often portrayed as a more passive, meek character, this is more in line with actually showing a bit of leadership. I think any of his teamates would be affected positively by reading this. I do have (only a little) sympathy for these ‘AFC legend’ pundits. When it is them giving these disparaging critiques it does hurt a little more than from the rest of the non-Arsenal punditry rabble. Essentially, they are doing their job but because of their Arsenal history, their words cut deeper than most. If we’re honest, perhaps they… Read more »
“The World Cup issued a rallying cry…”
It’s a bit like the Sorting Hat, so I understand.
Why the F couldn’t we find a decent centre mid to actually defend properly, Kondogbia, Carvalho…anyone…?
Imagine a Gilberto Silva in this team, quietly going about his business and mopping everything up.
So frustrating
Yep. His goodbye speech.
If you want to read something a real living legend says about us, check out Petit’s interview, spot on.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/emmanuel-petit-brutal-arsenal-ozil-11102065
Petit — who buggered off to Barca after, what, two years with us? (thus breaking up perhaps Arsenal’s greatest-ever central midfield pairing) (Yes, I’m still a little bit bitter about it! : )
Fantastic player, but should someone who showed so little loyalty to the club and fans really be lecturing us all on what “a true Arsenal player” looks like?
Well said.
A rallying cry from Ozil is a bit like getting a rallying cry from Hans Moleman or Old Gill.
Football in the groin! Football in the groin!!!!
Can’t help but love Ozil. Let’s be honest, he is a creator not a pacy winger. But if you’re threading through balls to Walcott and Welbeck to cunt over, the creativity isn’t reflected as such. Even a pretty much average Song looked worldly when assisting for RVP, made his career high assists that one season.
Ozil is not lazy. What I find unacceptable is when he’s on the ball and no one is bothered to make a run. Even a dummy run helps open up space.
Imagine RvP getting onto the end of an Ozil pass.
That’s what we should be seeing with Lacazette,play him as CF with Giroud supporting him in a front two.
The goals will come.
Just a question about the leaky defence…
That’s the dream really… About the leaky defense, the two central midfielders need explicit orders to not even fantasize about straying forward coz that would get them benched.
Make them play by strict instructions, very strick defensive instructions.
Maybe… just maybe, Ozil is taking the first steps in his development, to be the leader this club needs.
Seems an unlikely source, but I’m all for supporting anyone who wants to stand up and take on that challenge.
Fair play to him.
Im baffled by some of the comments, so it’s ok for fans to criticise Arsene, the players & the club but legends can’t?!? That’s bullshit, Arsene has been given benefit of doubt for way too long, let’s call a spade a spade. He was fantastic but now he’s average at best, and we need better than average & everyone at the club deserves to be criticised by Everyone.
agreed – said so earlier. We don’t have the Monopoly, the more people in important positions that join the fans, the bigger our voice will be.
It looks like our players will have another “meeting” to fix the problem for the next 2 or 3 months, lol. Maybe they should invite the manager this time to express their feeling towards him.
…if it has the desired effect we should just add it to the scheduled meetings list on a bimonthly basis.
Nice poetry. Now get back to ACTION
His job is to create chances. Those who expect tackles, body checking and professional fouling have to look elsewhere. He´s excellent doing his job and has created a lot in the last three matches. All great playmakers have guarddogs behind them cleaning up getting the ball back and pass it to them again. There´s the problem at Arsenal.
Ozil is class , which we all know is permanent. We need a coach to set the team up to make use of his obvious world class talent and stop playing silly games with players out of position. Ramsey can play in a double pivot but he needs controlling when to bomb and when to sit. Left footed defenders on the left and right footed defenders on the right would also maybe help as would playing centre backs centrally.
It ain’t fucking rocket science!
One of my favorite athletes in the world. Created 10 chances in 1st two games. When he creates chances for Germany, like he did Friday, they put them in the net.
Also a charitable, decent human being. We’d do well to keep him but the 3-4-3 doesnt suit him. 4-3-1-2.
Xhaka as the lone midfielder would see us leak goals left, right and centre(as if we aren’t right now. LOL) If you say 3 central midfielders, where on earth is Arsene gonna find three CMS in his current squad? Elneny, Coquelin, Xhaka, Ramsey are the only fit players right now. Unless Arsene plans to convert Iwobi or Nielson into CM, which won’t be a bad idea considering they are some of the very few players in the squad who can dribble their way out of trouble. But knowing Arsene’s team selections this season, I’d rather bet on Theo in the… Read more »
All this stuff about Board, money, direction etc is well and fine but last I looked, the main point of being a football fan is the football and we kinda need to get behind the team and its players.
I love Özil.
I think Ozil is happy at Arsenal when the team actually functions properly. Thank fuck he isn’t like leg ends Savage or Carragher. Great player, well said.
Lets have it in our best interest to support the club. Even people wanting Arsene out know that he isnt leaving so just get behind the team. This toxic atmosphere will not do good to anyone guys
Very strange; like an early ‘goodbye’ letter. MO could do some very easy things to change peoples perceptions of him (a) defend, track back and close players down, and (b) acknowledge fans after a game, win, lose or draw – don’t just trudge off down the tunnel
It’s not the worst squad we have had but its probably the worst team in the years i have been a fan.
I personally see a connection between invincibles/champions league final then kroenke takes over and bam it turns to shit
COYG
Nicely done Mesut.
Now, when you get back, sit down pit pen to paper and spark that optimism we had when you signed four years ago.
Rally the team and let’s try and do something fantastic this year.
COYG!