Mikel Arteta said he handed Mesut Ozil a start at Bournemouth because the German had earned it with his performances in training this week.
The World Cup winner was in fine fettle during the first half at the Vitality Stadium, repeatedly pulling the strings for the Gunners after finding pockets of space.
Ahead of last weekend’s game with Everton, interim head coach Freddie Ljungberg said he wouldn’t have selected Ozil – who was injured anyway – for his starting lineup because of his stroppy reaction to being subbed off against Manchester City. It was a bold move but seemed to provoke a reaction from the player.
Unfortunately, his teammates squandered the chances he made but Ozil’s 75-minute cameo was a definite positive for the new boss on a day when his side had to settle for a 1-1 draw.
“To be fair his attitude in training since the day that I walked in the building has been incredible,” Arteta told his post-game press conference.
“I’ve seen this. I’ve said that I was going to give a clean slate to everybody and it was fair to give it to him.
“When we did the game preparation and were watching the opponents, where we could hurt them, we believed that he could be a key point.
“We prepared the game like this with him. He responded, did what he had to do, and we could’ve scored two or three goals because of him.”
With Chelsea and Manchester United to come in the next week, an influential Ozil is definitely a boon. Let’s hope he can build on today.
It might not be what some people want to hear, but Xhaka and Özil were probably our two best players today
Torreira as well. The midfield looked better today than it has pretty much all season. If the finishing wasn’t so bloody dire, we could have won quite comfortably, but I guess that’s what happens when you’re playing with no confidence.
Hopefully Arteta can get get them playing with the belief and ruthlessness he alluded to in his early interviews.
Honestly, I was very happy with our performance overall. Nelson and Saka probably showed their age through a lack of composure, but that will come with time. Under Emery I never got the feeling playing a game again would change anything, but I think we could play that match 4 more times and win them all.
Saka usually seems to have more time before crossing, but he’s been rushing it a bit since moving to LB. It’s not that his crosses are just not connecting, they are just way ward. He’s just going though the ups and downs that come while learning something new. It’s painful but ultimately, it will be a very useful educational experience for Saka.
Neither player is a bad player, in fact, under the right circumstances, they are both elite, technically adept players. We just haven’t been able to fit them in a system and motivate them as individuals. If Arteta pulls that off it will be huge , even in the short term. Good players will be attracted to that kind of vision and leadership, and our best players might be persuaded to stick around to see this project through. I’m clearly a glass half full kinda guy, but I’m loving what I’ve seen of Arteta, and this shift in the mood in… Read more »
Yes Ozil and Xhaka had better than usual performances but Xhaka is bang average so when he is at his best still only above average and at fault for first goal. In most games you don’t have the ball for 50% of the time Ozil is a liability and a coward and when was the last game he stood out? He worked harder and wasn’t able for the 90 mins. It’s strange how the team seemed better but with so many players having poor individual moments.
So Snagger, we are playing out from the back. Auba recieving the ball and trying to play it back to Saka who turns it over. Torreira is tracking Gosling who scores. Xhaka has two players he must cover to not make the cross from the left flank. And you still blame him for their goal? With “fans” like this it’s no wonder that Xhaka is leaving. The only thing I see is your confirmation bias.
Pressure Cover Balance. The nearest man gose to the ball, he had cover but backs off until the player enters the box to what make the tackle there? We have all seen what happens then. This is U10 coaching yes Torreira was bullied but it has to be stopped at source. Blogs questions his part in the goal and yes not all his fault but if this is him in the shop window no wonder it’s Hertha not Bayern Munich at the door. If you are happy with mediocrity so be it, I have my opinion and you have yours… Read more »
Snagger, Torreira not being the biggest guy in the world for all his heart, is most likely what cost us the goal. Goslings arm restrained him long enough
Man… seek therapy.
What a twat you are
That might be one of the dumbest posts I’ve ever seen on here.
When was the last time Ozil stood out? Yesterday.
And before that?
Xhaka is a better player than you are a supporter!
A player who can break lines with deep passing, and a player who finds space behind lines. An article about this a while ago, maybe a by-the-numbers piece, highlighted this.
Another thing about Xhaka is that he is our best option at winning aerial duels and certain physical battles. There was a game where Emery took him off, and all of a sudden, we lost control of the midfield. He then had Chambers and Luis pushing up to win those balls.
I like my Micky.
Just out of curiosityI had always wondered how ozil would fare in a tiki taka team. We don’t know for sure if Arteta will play tiki taka ala pep but it looks like we are. My curiosity shall be satisfied
I try to watch as many Man City matches on television as I can–I hate everything about the club and its ownership, but it is often extraordinary football. I don’t see much tiki taka in the way they play. Of course they sometimes pass the ball around when an opponent is sitting deep, but none of Aguerro, Jesus, Sterling, Mahrez, Sane, or DeBruyne–that is, their scorers–look like Spain circa 2008-2012. Maybe Bernardo Silva, certainly David Silva. The single most characteristic thing I see in Pep’s style is the extreme width of their wingers, and the fullbacks coming inside of them,… Read more »
Agreed. It is really there technical ability to move the ball quickly with a short pass that makes them dangerous. Most teams sit deep against them, much like teams did do us years ago. Now, we don’t have the technical skill to pass the way Manc does, nor have we been near it since Wenger’s last “good” years. We are miles and a lot of deep pockets(where is that?) away from Manc’s style.
Most of us fans have a very strong opinion about things we have very little clue about, just personal feelings and all..
Heuristic.
Well said!
Those are the fans who drove Arsene Wenger out after stopping him from winning the league in 15/16.
Xhaka was excellent except for defensively switching off for their goal. Yet another worrying lapse of concentration.
Mustafi has always been excellent except for something, seriously.
Really pleased Ozil was so good in training following that terrible foot injury. Good that he was able to train from the Sunday onwards seeing as he was out of Saturday’s game with that bad foot injury. Played pretty well today I thought, despite only recently recovering from a horrible foot injury. Shame he was taken off early, but that was probably down to recently suffering that terribly foot injury.
What’s the point?
What’s the point? Well I have for yeeeaaaarrrss wanted Ozil to be a success, but time after time he pulls out of games with these mystery injuries. Anyway, one of two things will happen now – he’ll either find the requisite motivation and commitment and do well, or he’ll hang himself.. either way it’s a win, I sincerely hope it’s the former.
c’mon
we’re better than making comments about people hanging themselves
Isn’t this sarcasm? My sardar is pretty strong on this comment.
Go on boy
I feel like we’ve seen this movie, oh I don’t know, 20 million fkn times…pap him in January.
Aww..fuck off with Emery already, will ya. Ozil knows a poor coach when he sees one. We needed about 12 months.
Or Emery and Freddie know a spoilt brat when they see it one. And Wenger knew how to indulge a spoilt brat.
This is the Ozil pattern. Starts great. Gets bored. Becomes disruptive. Gets substituted / dropped. Has a strop. Takes to social media. Waits for the manager to get sacked / replaced and starts again.
I was impressed with Ozil yesterday, but maybe a lot of it was down to the way the team played. He made himself lots of space and sent through some quality passes that should have led to goals. It was only Bournemouth and challenges will get harder over the next few games. No one on here can deny his ability, it’s all about consistency, that said it was a good start. There have been a lot of comments regarding our youngsters yesterday. The end product was poor from them but all in all they all played well and gave everything… Read more »
Lacazette was poor we missed Martinelli should ave scored at least 1 more goals but overall it was an improvement over the last 2 months. I know success will not b overnight hoping 4 a good run in the Europa league
Wenger knew how to indulge a spoilt brat. Of course, he also knew how to stay in the Champions League and win the FA Cup for a decade after we had little right to do so.
When was Ozil disruptive exactly? You people make up so much shit, and then bitch about things that didn’t even happen.
It’s all your fault; not Ozil’s, not Wenger’s, not Kroenke’s; all yours, and the sooner you get out of our club the better.
A Poisonous ??? Guessing the third letter is C ?
Have you seen the medical reports, x-rays, and his injured foot to allow you to judge him for missing the Everton game? If not, then I’d imagine you wouldn’t mind me judging you without knowing anything about you. I think you should be locked up for all the horse-shagging you’ve done.
We need to build from here. Skycraper we’ve been waiting for few years now. We need to build it from here.
Ozil was fantastic. If lacazette had put away his chances then Ozil would of been man of the match. Torriera back in defensive mid and made crucial tackles as well. Really not sure how badly Pepe must train because that’s 3 managers now and none seem to trust him to start. Nelson’s final ball was really poor which frustrates when we have 72million pounds worth of player sitting on the bench.
Maybe it’s just tactics.. Or maybe the manager is trying to see somthing.. Who knows. Right now I dnt care about one single player.. I care more for the team and if the team is performing then I dnt care who starts and who dnt. I actually can tell what the guys were trying to do today comapresd to before..
Please stop the “72million pounds” reference. It is not smart.
Really fantastic? No Bergkamp against Leicester that’s fantastic. That’s a benchmark for fantastic Ozil played a few nice passes that’s better than he has done for a long time but it doesn’t make it fantastic. Put Ozils performance today up against what KDB did to us the last week and say it was fantastic. Blame the manager or the system but Ozil will give a good game when he is in the right mood or frame of mind and is all too rare.
Bergkamp against Leicester? No, Pele against Sweden in the World Cup final, that the real benchmark for fantastic. What a stupid way to judge anything.
Pele V Sweden, Bergkamp v Leicester Ozil v Bournemouth . Spot the odd one out. Just saying fantastic not the adjective maybe influential in the first half best describes performance.
You really are one entitled tosser aren’t you?!
Why am I reading:
“New manager is impressed, because £350,000 p/w player, tries hard in training”….
Ozil finding some form, and regularly influencing games would be a right result, I’m just not convinced he’s got it in him, he hasn’t looked interested for a very long time.
Leopards don’t change their spots
Ozil will revert to type, sooner rather than later.
That’s the spirit, eh? Bash a player when he plays well. Proper fucking supportive.
If Arteta can give our players a clean slate then why can’t we, the so-called supporters, manage to do the same?
Because Ozil is now into his 7th season, this is not a young player, or a player settling into the league, he’s supposed to be a senior player who’s setting a good example on and off the pitch. He’s had questionable injuries and sickness, and generally stunk the place out for a very long time. He’s been petulant, some of his social media activity has been designed to cause division, specifically after Rennes away last season. The last time Ozil produced any consistent form was the first half of the 2015/16 season, which is 4 seasons ago now. I can… Read more »
You really miss Emery, don’t you Rich?
I wanted to give Emery as long as possible, As I felt it was going to be a 2-4 year project. And coming through what was always going to be a big transition, I felt there would inevitably be some very tough periods, but with fan sentiment the way it was, Emery’s position became untenable. I’m pleading the exact same level of patience with Arteta, as I’m not convinced there’s any easy fixes, I think he’ll need 18 months to begin to get his house in order, and probably a bit longer to make us competitive again. The last thing… Read more »
But we don’t need to get behind Ozil whenever he plays for us? Interesting how you pick and choose which players you get behind when they’re wearing the Arsenal shirt.
You’re only saying these things because the pundits who hate Ozil are saying them. You clearly don’t have a mind of your own with which to think – you’re just brainwashed.
“75-minute cameo ” … is this the supersized version of cameos?
Very hard for me to judge indvidual players against a poor Bournemouth side. We still did plenty wrong across the whole team. On the plus side there was something going on which made for better viewing, maybe players trying to play the ball forward quicker, maybe players putting in the extra effort I’m not sure what exactly but there was something different going on. We carry many injuries and games come up fast so patience is needed. Arteta seems to have a wise head on him for someone so young.
Whether he plays or not doesn t matter.When you look at Arsenal huffing puffing at Bournemouth they are along way from challenging for the games top prizes.MU beat MC through quick breakouts from defence. Arsenal take along time to do so.
By then the cavalry is back and making it difficult to shoot if not score.
I like the intensity in the Bourenmouth game but MU are a different proposition
with the ir speedy forwards and fast breakaways.
If the defenders go forward in nos like in the fm’ s time, the gunners could lose.
Our little terrier brokeup the enemy attack. Football
is about winning fairl or unfairly. Thats why the gunners were repeatedly fouled time and again
Its about time the gunners return the favour
Watched the match again. Thought Arteta provided a good structure for midfield. 1) He had Torreira play more restricted and closer to backline but also in line and closer to Granit. This provided the Swiss with better time on the ball but also played to the uruguayan’s strengths nipping at players and stealing the ball. 2) We also lined up in a 2-3-5 or 3-2-5 when in possession. Granit dropped to a back 3 in line with Sokratis and Luiz or given more time to punt accurate long balls forward or push forward in line with Torreira and AMN in… Read more »
Well done, Santori! Up votes abound.
Point 1 is very important–Torreira and Xhaka covering the other’s weaknesses in possession; I genuinely don’t know why this was so hard for Emery to see. And Maitland-Niles moving centrally next to Torreira with Xhaka dropping back (a very Peppish idea) meant that the centre-halfs weren’t under the sort of constant individual pressure that inevitably leads to mistakes.
I think the word for all this is “structure,” and it is part of rebuilding the players’ confidence.
I liked the improvement in attitude from our players and for once we didn’t look like the Keystone Cops. I also liked the words of encouragement from Arteta toward Reiss Nelson – Nelson is definately a player with some talent but is very young and inexperienced and needs such encouragement. Lets not kid ourselves this is a long term project – lots of dead wood to clear in the club and investment in new players as well as development of young players like Nelson is essential – I just hope the board share the ambition of MA and let him… Read more »
I am unsure what started first – the media calling Ozil lazy or “Arsenal Fans” criticising him. But I still have to see evidence, other than occasional off-form (which is normal) performances, of any of the things that he is accused of. The handling of “the Ozil case” by Emery and Freddy is indicative of Emery’s management flaws and a focus area for Freddy. Public Praise – Private Censure is a cardinal principle of people management. It is most applicable in football, where misleading headlines, sensation stirring and click baiting tactics get “fans” discarding the reality that they see for… Read more »
To answer your opening sentence, it was the media calling Ozil lazy. Our fans are way too stupid to make their own opinions, and are regularly guilty of being brainwashed by the “experts”.